Artist: Pink Floyd
Album: The Endless River
Release Date: 10 November 2014
Reviewer: Essam Bubaker
Review Date: 29 November 2014
When David Gilmour of Pink Floyd announced that the band will be making a new album, The Endless River, the news came quite unexpectedly. Critics were skeptical that The Endless River would compare to Pink Floyd classics, such as The Dark Side of The Moon or Wish You Were Here with only two members of the original band on the album (David Gilmour and Nick Mason).
The Endless River continues the trademark Pink Floyd continuum of sound. However, the band took this continuum idea to the next level, by connecting separate albums together. Some may remember the last lyric of the last song of Pink Floyd’s next previous album (“High Hopes”, Division Bell 1994) ends with the lyric, “The Endless River, Forever And Ever”. The last song of The Division Bell and the first song of The Endless River, connect the albums, despite even the twenty year gap in between them.
David Gilmour and Nick Mason, said that this album is a mix of the songs that were not released while they were working on The Division Bell. They took those unfinished pieces and added the final touches on them, completing what they now call Pink Floyd’s last album.
The first song off of the album, “Things Left Unsaid”, just like the rest of the album is an instrumental piece, but it differs from all the rest of the album with the added backing vocals providing an ethereal overtone. Recommended tracks are Anisina, On Noodle Street, Night Light, Allons-Y 1, Autumn 68, Allons-Y 2, Talkin’ Hawkin’ , and Surfacing, however, the album deserves to be listened to in its entirety as the band intended. Pink Floyd closes the album with the track “Louder Than Words”, dedicated to deceased bassist Syd Barrett. Glimour and Mason said the lyrics to “Louder Than Words” are a representation of what Syd meant to them. Additionally, they justified why the album is instrumental, because they felt speaking through instruments means much more than words, for them. Even in the last song, they specify why making this album instrumental, because “We Bitch and We Fight, We Diss Each Other On Site…”
Comparing Pink Floyd’s most recent album with their well-known classics, the listener definitely gets a feel that it is the band’s most recent album. While not as good as Echoes, or The Wall, The Endless River represents a proper farewell to the music of Pink Floyd. The effort of Gilmour and Mason are well received, having produced a synchronized album that flows directly from Pink Floyd’s classic past into modern music.
I highly recommend The Endless River for anyone searching for new music, as Pink Floyd’s instrumental overlays appeal to most any listener. Pink Floyd will be touring for The Endless River starting in mid 2015.