Richard Wright
Broken China

At the end of the triumphant "The Division Bell" tour, Richard Wright still has energy and inspiration to unleash in the creation of "Broken China."
According to Wright, the creation of "The Division Bell" was a moment of creative rebirth; however, he was not completely satisfied: the material composed by him and Gilmour allowed for the release of a double album that, in the original intentions, was supposed to feature a part that emphasized the song format more and another part that highlighted the more "ambient" style compositions. In the end, however, the solution was reached with a single album that combined the two parts, but it significantly penalized the "ambient" aspect (many discarded tracks are still unpublished). Another reason for dissatisfaction came from the desire, only partially fulfilled, to connect the different tracks with "sound bridges" and to structure a genuine concept album, with a main theme, as was the case with albums with Roger Waters. In the end, the album contains some main themes (the principal of which was incommunicability) but it could not be called a concept album.

Starting from these premises and struck by the pain derived from a friend's depressive anguish, Wright begins to write this concept album, aided by lyricist and producer Anthony Moore, a collaborator of Pink Floyd in the last two albums. The album is dedicated to "all those who have had the courage to face their past" and tells the story of the growth and evolution of a man trapped in a depressive spiral from which he will eventually free himself: as in some of Waters' works, there are also thinly veiled references to his own life ("Wearing the inside out" in this respect can be considered strongly connected to this album).

The album opens with the instrumental "Breaking waters", a sound collage that brings together some sound inserts present throughout the album and sort of a prophecy and future mirror of the protagonist's life described in the album. It is worth noting that a similar introduction was composed by Nick Mason for "Dark Side Of The Moon" ("Speak to me"). "Night of a thousand furry toys" is dominated by very squared rhythms and a dark and cold atmosphere enlivened only by the chatter of children and Tim Renwick's warm guitar. "Hidden fear" and "Blue room in Venice" are songs with ethereal and dark atmospheres where pain and depressive lethargy are palpable at every moment. "Runaway", "Unfair ground", and "Satellite" are instrumentals that follow one another painting desolate and foggy landscapes from which emerge ambient noises of great atmosphere and very suggestive guitar phrases. "Woman of custom" is a slow and delicate song in which Wright's uncertain vocal melodies are intertwined with those of Maz Palladino. Two other instrumentals are "Black cloud" and "Drowning", instrumental movements with atmospheres similar to the previous ones and acting as a bridge to the songs "Far from the Harbour wall" and "Reaching for the rail". The former highlights the beautiful rhythmic session composed by Manu Katche and Pino Palladino (session musicians with an enormous and noble resume) and the keyboards of Wright in the foreground. The latter, however, is a beautiful song in which Wright duets with Sinead O'Connor: the song's tone is epic and solemn (interesting is the small interlude in which the song fades into the background and one hears the chatter of people at a party accompanied by the sound of a pianist who makes the atmosphere more enjoyable) and O'Connor's interpretation is measured and sweet. "Sweet July" is an extraordinary instrumental, in the best Pink Floyd tradition (it can be compared to "Marooned"): guitarist Dominic Miller's performance is simply sublime. After such an instrumental, the song "Along the shoreline" pales a bit, characterized by overly squared and compact rhythms and cold keyboard sounds (Wright's voice is also "filtered" and cold in some passages). The album ends with "Breakthrough", the most representative song of the album. The track is entirely sung by the beautiful voice of Sinead O'Connor and is accompanied by the sweet guitars of Renwick and Miller. The track was supposed to contain a guitar solo by Gilmour, but it was removed during editing due to an uninspired performance by the guitarist. Nevertheless, Gilmour was impressed by Wright's beautiful song, and he reinterpreted it live in his 2002 concerts.

To conclude, a beautiful and intense album that stands out among the discography of Pink Floyd's solo albums.