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David Gilmour returns to the stage after twelve years since the release of "The Division Bell," the last album by Pink Floyd, and a full twenty-two years since "About Face," his last solo album.
The anticipation is truly high, but Gilmour seems used to it and delivers an album that, despite few novelties, is filled with compositions of the highest quality.
It all opens with ""Castellorizzon"," where the guitarist resurrects some musical themes from the best of Pink Floyd, including echoes of "Echoes" and the bells of "High Hopes," almost as if wanting to continue a group now buried and part of rock history. ""On An Island"" is a song that directly touches Floyd fans and takes them back approximately to the mid-seventies, as this piece vaguely reminds of ""Shine On You Crazy Diamond"." The harmonies of Crosby and Nash, Wright on keyboard, Klose on guitar, and a classic solo at the end by David Gilmour complete a piece that will become part of the entire production history of the guitarist. Even "The Blue" is another composition of high quality, sung together with Wright, leaving space for Chris Stainton, Joe Cocker's keyboardist. "Take A Breath" is the most decisive and least dreamy track of the ten on the list, but not the best. With the instrumental "Red Sky At Night", we return once again to those dreamy and melancholic sounds to be listened to in the dark and with closed eyes to obtain true sensations.
"This Heaven" is an astonishingly Blues piece that brings back the '60s with its lazy rhythm. Producer Manzanera, in this track as in some previous ones, plays the keyboard. "Then I Close My Eyes" is perhaps the only negative note of this album, composed to fill space and extend the duration of this "On An Island". "Smile" is another great song, where haunting atmospheres, maintained also in "A Pocketful Of Stones", take over and provoke thought.
The concluding "Where We Start" is a melancholic ballad that closes an album which disappoints no one. Collaborations, lyrics written together with his wife Polly Samson, producer Manzanera but above all the virtuosity of one of the most important guitarists in music history, make an album certainly more convincing than the latest by Pink Floyd.
It is obvious that a Gilmour without Waters (and vice versa) is not able to compose a better work than the entire discography of one of the most important groups in music history.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 On an Island (06:47)
Remember that night...
White sails in the moonlight
They walked it too...
Through empty playground, this ghost's town
Children again on rusting swings getting higher
Sharing a dream
On an Island.... it felt right
We lay side by side,
Between the moon and the tide
Mapping the stars for a while
Let the night surround you
We're half way to the stars,
Ebb and flow
Let it grow..... feel the warmth beside you
Remember that night,
The warmth and the laughter
Candles burn...
Though the church was deserted
At dawn we went down through empty streets to the harbour
Dreamers may leave ...but we're here everafter...
Da da da da da....
Let the night surround you
We're half way to the stars,
Ebb and flow
Let it grow..... feel the warmth beside you...
04 Take a Breath (05:45)
Take a breath
Take a deep breath now
Take a breath
A deep breath now
Take a breath
When you're down is where you find yourself
When you're drown there's nothing else
If you're lost you'll need to turn yourself
Then you'll find out that there's no one else
To make the moves that you can do
When you fall from grace your eyes in blue
Your every breath becomes another world
And the far horizon's living hell
Take a breath
A deep breath now
This kind of love is hard to find
I never got to you by being kind
If I'm the one to throw you overboard
At least I showed you how to swim for shore
When you're down is where you'll know yourself
Then if you're drown there's nothing else
When you're lost you need to find yourself
Then you'll find out that there's no one else
06 This Heaven (04:24)
All the pieces fall into place
When we walk these fields
And I reach out to touch your face
This earthly heaven is enough for me
So break the bread and pour the wine
I need no blessings but I'm counting mine
Life is much more than money buys
When I see the faith in my children's eyes
I've felt the power in a holy place
And wished for comfort when in need
Now I'm here in a state of grace
This earthly heaven is enough for me
So break the bread and pour the wine
I need no blessings but I'm counting mine
Life is much more than money buys
When I see the faith in my children's eyes
08 Smile (04:03)
Would this do
To make it all right
While sleep has taken you
Where I'm out of sight
I'll make my getaway
Time on my own
Search for a better way
To find my way home
To your smile
Wasting days and days
On this night
Always down and up
Half the night
Hopeless to reminisee
Through the dark hours
We'll only sacrifice
What time will allow us
You're sighing... sighing
All alone
Though you're right here
Now it's time to go
From your sad stare
Make my getaway
Time on my own
Needing a better way
To find my way home
To your smile
10 Where We Start (06:46)
Where we start is where we end
We step out sweetly, nothing planned
Along by the river we feed bread to the swans
And then over the footbridge to the woods beyond
We walk ourselves weary, you and I
There's just this moment
I light a campfire away from the path
We lie in the bluebells, a woodpecker laughs
Time passes slowly our hearts entwined
All of the dark times left behind
The day is done
The sun sinks low
We fold up the blanket, it's time to go
We walk ourselves weary, arm in arm
Back through the twilight
Home again
We waltz in the moonlight and the embers glow
So much behind us
Still far to go
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Other reviews
By Vinsex
Pink Floyd is greater than the sum of its parts, and 'the voice and the guitar' represents just a limb of that fabulous creature.
An self-commemorative album, which has disappointed me quite a bit, but which I hope (though I doubt it) to re-evaluate over time.
By tiziocaio1
The intro entrusted to "Castellorizon" is in full Pink Floyd style, a worthy opening to show us that things are serious.
Again "Then I Close my Eyes" recommended during makeout sessions.
By Ginger Drummer
Class is like fine wine, the older it gets, the more crystalline it becomes.
A wonderful, intense, emotional album, a true pearl of rare beauty and craftsmanship packaged by that genius sir David Gilmour.
By iside
The first track starts slow, slow, feels a bit like an old Pink Floyd hit, slips away without leaving a trace.
Hell, it sounds like an old Pink Floyd song.
By paloz
Who at sixty years old can still produce works filled with such emotion?
It could almost be defined as a small leap into the past, an old acquaintance, a rediscovered friend, a regained connection.
