Pink Floyd "Endless River"
 

This album is going to require some serious listening. There are eighteen songs presented by Pink Floyd here all trying to convey something different to the listener.
Even after a twenty year hiatus we can still immediately pick out that distinctive sound. Are we going to actually hear anything new and breath taking here? Probably not, but if you are a fan of long melodic songs this album is a must for you. It stands on the past efforts of perhaps some of the best musicians in our lifetime and it is worth a very intent listening.
The songs date back to a side project called the big spliff around the time of the Division Bell album! Numerous hours of recorded songs were listened to by the band and selections were made of what they considered the most interesting songs. A reworking of the songs was undertaken and Endless River is the result. There are also bonus tracks for those who want to seek them out.
Apparently this will be the last offering of anything new from Pink Floyd so all those who enjoy this band should take the time to bask in their past glories.:hphones:

I just need someone's opinion about this, because I haven't taken the time to give this album a proper listen, because I know the OP says that it is, but i'm curious if other people have said the same thing.

It's boring. Has some moments then ruins it in the same song with most cases. I think I said earlier: Kenny G attempts ambient music.

Lame. I had a feeling that would happen, just didn't want to waste my time listening to it. I may in the future, but I didn't really see it as an urgent thing to get a hold of.

I wasn't crazy about Division Bell as an album and I'm not really crazy about these newly released tracks. Maybe it's just my appreciation for Roger that doesn't allow Pink Floyd without him to sound half as great as they did with him.

The newly released material is a special treat for Pink Floyd's die-hard fans but it's kind of a sleeper for the rest of us.

I gave it a listen a few days ago, should probably give it another. Overall I felt that the album wasn't cohesive or set up right. It sounded inconsistent and lost in translation to me. There were only a few songs I can say that I did enjoy, but most of the others really didn't strike a chord in me. The album is good when you compare it to other releases, but it is not even close to being what they're capable of.

I'd give it a 5.5/10...

Very boring. Sounds like what it is, a bunch of unfinished songs that really needed Roger Waters. Might make a good soundtrack. Maybe a montage scene of intrepid thief's breaking into a bank. Or a Bill Bixby like character walking down a road with his backpack. If I just heard it without knowing who it was I might think Yanni or John Tesh except for the first song which appears to be a complete rehash of Shine on you crazy diamond.. Some brief moments of great guitar but overall just really boring.

From the lukewarm and largely mediocre reviews of this final release, I wasn’t expecting very much from my favourite band, though dearly hoping that I wouldn’t be too disappointed. The main reason for this was that the album was decidedly and emphatically going to be an instrumental album. The word used being ‘ambient’, which suggests a mellow, soundscape-type recording perhaps in the vein of ‘Tubular Bells’ or something noodling like that. My immediate thoughts were “why?” and how strange that there were not going to be any vocals apart from the final song (of 18 tracks) which presumably was made so that we had a promotional single for the radio.

What it is, you see, is a tribute in the most part to Floyd keyboardist and effects wizard Richard Wright who died in 2008. All of the music features his playing, the sound arguably which defined the band – alongside David Gilmour’s unmistakeable guitar. And the record is far, far from being mellow…

After a brief introductory sound effects piece, which was always the norm on a Pink Floyd album, the music comes in. And does it just. Loudly, it positively CRASHES its way in like a juggernaut. I actually turned my headphone selector down a notch and almost leapt from the floor where I was situated for this event. Nick Mason’s drums have never sounded so powerful, so up to the forefront of a Floyd album and it’s a joy to behold. Gilmour’s guitars are incredible. He never disappoints of course but he even excels his own considerable talents on this record. For the next hour the listener is subjected to a wonderful and incredibly well-produced album and when the final ‘song’ “Louder Than Words” ends the disc, it’s almost as if it doesn’t belong; As if the album perhaps SHOULD have been wholly instrumental, being the technically sound occasion that it is.

To this listener at least, it’s a magnificent record.

While I respect your view on the record. I can't keep myself from thinking that you're just a fan that is trying to color in a dull, empty canvas with vibrancy. Magnificent to you, but to others that address it for what it really is, it is dull and a disappointing final album. There's just not enough redeeming qualities of this album to make it noteworthy, other than the fact that there won't be another Pink Floyd record after this one. A shame...to go out on such a dull note.

"Just a fan", lol, for the past 35 years bud. Personal opinion of course, a great album. :)

That's what I'm saying, you're a fan. For how long really isn't important to me though. You hear a magnificent album. We're calling it what it is, dull and a sorry excuse for a final album. It's like they didn't even try. I know what the album is and what it is comprised of, whatever. Instead of an album of all new material, they reworked old songs they had laying around, and put it out there like, here you go. Sorry there, Pink Floyd. This is a half ass album.

It's all good though. If you are satisfied with it. Good on you.

I'm a fan of all sorts of music bud. I have 7000+ albums and some of Pink Floyd's albums don't even rock my boat. Personally I think this is a superb album and again, that's only my opinion. Fan or no fan.
No idea why you are getting so worked up mate?

I feared you may think I was getting worked up, I assure you I am calm and composed. I'm just putting out there my views on the album, all the while not agreeing with your opinion of it, so I think this is a pretty tame and normal conversation from my perspective.

What kind of albums you got in that collection of yours?

No worries mate :)

I'm still finding my way around the forum. Is there a good place where I could post my music lists?

I'd recommend posting a journal in the members journal part of the forum. I think you need a minimum of 50 or 100 posts to make one, which may sound like a lot but I reached 100 rather fast.

But yeah, members journal area when you're able to post a journal, write one out with detail on what you intend to use it for. You can look at member journals right now to get an idea on how to go about it.

That's great. These look like good places to talk about very much anything. I'll get posting! Thanks :)

It's not as objective as you make it out to be. Ja coming to the conclusion that it's a boring and phoned in album is an easy thing to do, but I can imagine some non Floyd fans could dig the record as well.

They are.

Hang in. The initiation is tough, but once you're past that, it's all cool.

Kinda.......

Sorta........

Indeed. This place is great, it doesn't afraid of anything.

Brave newcomer, Floydy, who goes against the flow with your enthusiasm for this album! but yes, MB is a great place for swapping views - in fact we rather thrive on contrary opinions, so I hope you stick around.

Perhaps I´m not doing the album full justice, as I´ve only heard six minutes of It´s what we do, but I´m already overwhelmed with a soporific sense of deja vu. What sad irony that a band which was once a by-word for innovative music has chosen to lock itself into such a depressingly retro style.

(My apologies if I dent in any way your own perfectly valid enthusiasm, Floydy. Enjoy what your heart tells you to, and don´t worry about tedious wet blankets on the internet, ok?)

^ Sorry to sound pedantic, ContrivedN, but I have to wonder what this means - translated from what to what ?!

I don't really know what you were thinking you were going to hear here.....
It sounds like Pink Floyd. Perhaps not Dark Side Of The Moon, or the Wall for that matter, but if you think there is no colour on the canvas here perhaps you should get better paints. I believe from a pure artistic standpoint musically they deliver what they always have. A interesting collection of songs that are not bound by a three and a half minute requirement for consumer consumption.:clap:

I'll have an extensive review of this up in my journal hopefully by next week. If not, then definitely the one after that. It's already signposted, but I want to make sure I take the time to listen to it properly and not be influenced by what I think, or don't think, it should or will sound like.

It's no worry, Lisna. I can understand why you'd want me to elaborate on that, and I'll try.

This album wants to be grand, it wants to be epic, it wants to flow fluently but it gets in the way of itself. I think it was Ki that said that the album has its moments, but in those same songs, the album stonewalls itself or hits a wall. Parts of the album start of like they're going to go to that grand place we know Pink Floyd can go, that catches your attention fully...but, it never really happens here. So if the band aimed to take this material that they had around, and rework them in to an album that could live up to what other albums they've done lived up to, that's where it got last in translation. Because while this sounds like a Pink Floyd album, it lacks that certain charm or ambition their other albums mostly all had. This album just sounds...empty, dull.

Well, there is your explanation, I tried. Sorry if it doesn't help you understand what I meant, but at least I know what I meant by it haha.

I acknowledge your points, but you make it sound as though I said this album doesn't have anything worth while. Yeah, it sounds pretty, but it is still a boring kind of pretty, if you get what I mean. But interesting? I don't agree there. This collection of songs doesn't engage me much at all. I could put on other albums by them, and be fully immersed. This album did little for me. And I also can't agree that they delivered what they always have. I have listened to Pink Floyd for a good length of time. And this is not what they band has always delivered. Not to me, it isn't.

Interesting review. I haven't heard "Endless River" yet. Lots of great albums have bad feedback. Sometimes it's even a good thing. And I didn't know this one was mostly instrumental. I assume that will push away most people, who connect mostly with the singing. I love The Division Bell, and I'm looking forward to listen to this one.

A lot of people are divided by the album, as it were.
All Pink Floyd's albums have instrumentals on them, but this is almost the full record. No matter, I enjoyed it :)

My biggest gripe with the album is the fact that I can't even consider it a traditional studio album. It's just a bunch of tracks that were never released, and judging by how it's been received, they probably should have kept the songs unreleased. It just seems like a final grab at people's money to me which really puts a damper on the ability to enjoy it.

Thanks for the explanation, ContrivedN; a nice description of the disparity that can arise between an initial concept, glorious and grand, and its ultimate appearance, paulty and lack-lustre. So, yes, "lost in translation" is a good phrase for it.

^ Bottom line, that ´s the important thing ! :laughing:

Shouldn´t judge a book by its cover, of course, but even the album art of Endless River suggests that we´re in for something that is saccharin but not substantial; put a ribbon across the corner and it´d make a good design for a chocolate box. How Syd Barratt would´ve loathed it !

Anyway, I´m glad Trollheart is going to give us his opinion. At present, I have more curiosity about his review than I do about the album.

I liked it, didn't love it just liked it. It did it's job and for guys in their 70's not too shabby not a great album, but certainly not bad.

I'm not viewing it as a Pink Floyd album. It's a b-sides collection, essentially. Looking at it like that, I wasn't disappointed or impressed. It was just a curiosity.

I'm also trying to remember that this is a tribute to Richard Wright. It's pretty clear they wanted the keyboards to shine through the entire album, and I think they did that brilliantly. Unfortunately, Richard Wright's keyboards always worked better in the context of the band. That's where his genius was...without him, the Pink Floyd sound would not have existed. It was subtle but essential. Focusing on him, however, yields some pretty boring drivel.

To me, the Division Bell was their final album (and still not really that great). This is just something to check out if you are curious.

Full, extensive review now up http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1509822

Liked the review a lot I would agree with nearly everything in there. I would like to say that after listening to it a few more times and reading numerous reviews and going back to past albums it really does show itself as a the if at times with like Trollheart said in his review are very closely related to Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and Skins could really just be a polished more ambient new - agey version of the war section in Saucerful Of Secrets, and again I agree with the Run Like Hell similarities.

Great review, thanks!

I've been hesitant to check this out. I'm a huge Floyd fan and don't want to ruin the magic. Sh-should I try it? Or should I just listen to Dark Side again?

It's worth giving it a shot and considering the background behind of the release and why it might not stand up to their previous discography.

I'd say that yes, this album is worth a listen, but just one. I listened out of respect of a band I have loved for a long time. But I was horribly let down. I know what this album is, I understand the bands intention behind it. But that isn't an excuse for what they offered as a final album. They could have put in the time to give fans what they deserved to have as a final album.

This is the note the band wanted to go out on, and I guess that is what matters. I don't believe a band should cater to every little demand from their fans, as believe that hinders any band creatively and stunts growth. I wanted a real new album like many of us wanted. But yeah, anyway...

So my opinions in this thread are now irrelevant. I enjoy this album.

I'd give it a 5/10... It's quite boring.

Your opinion is never irrelevant. It has just changed, that's all. Nobody expects us all to react the same way to the one album.

Nah, I'm OK if they stop.

According to Gilmour "I really don't see Pink Floyd in my future", so that's that. Kind of how I feel too, after listening to TER. Meh, maybe Nick Mason will release a solo ah no I can't keep a straight face! :D