After a fresh read of your review and lots of listens to Piper i have to say you got it spot on. Astronomy Domine is a cracking opener, must have made people trip balls at the time. Bike and The Gnome ARE gorgeous pop songs and i don't care what anyone thinks.
Amen. The only absolute garbage songs are 'Take Up Thy Stethoscope And Walk' and 'Pow R. Toc H.'.
Despite the presence of a few outside album contributors, this release was a huge step in appeasing the bands fans sans Waters and seems to be the last album they will ever make. Richard Wright was fully incorporated into the band and his inclusion and contributions add some much needed gravitas.
A lot of the themes on the album seem to allude to communication breakdown and /or the ability to solve problems amicably. This of course can be associated with the Waters/Floyd scenario. Although legally; well done and dusted, emotionally it had barely raised it's head from the cot.
Musically there is only one track that conjures up the many horrors of AMLOR, and that is Take It Back. Written with producer Bob Ezrin, this was obviously an attempt at a hit single. Whether this was intentional or a part of a commercial contract honouring is debateable. We can go right back to Piper to conclude that Floyd do not make music for singles charts.
Upon a thorough relisten, it is surprising how well this album stands up to previous releases. When Gilmour put's everything into his solo's, it becomes clear how simple he keeps the music, yet so emotive. Album opener 'Cluster One' and 3rd track 'Marooned' work on Gilmour's undoubted talent and still come across as great guitar lead Ambient pieces and not self indulgent wankathons.
'What Do You Want From Me' is a generic rock track enhanced by some great blues tinged guitar work and 'A Great Day For Freedom' is one of Gilmours best works vocally.
'Wearing The Inside Out' is Wright's baby and it is so welcoming to hear his vocals dominate a track. After Meddle, the public barely got a chance to hear his unmistakeable vocals and lazy Jazz tinged compositions. The tracks opening replete with saxophone is one of my favourite Floyd pieces.
'Coming Back To Life' has a catchy hook but fails to raise the hackles but follow on track 'Keep Talking' is an effective riposte and features some great guitar work.
'Lost For Words' is a fairly standard acoustic pop song that does'nt seem to be inspire musically but the albums closer 'High Hopes' again retains Floyd's fondness for Musique Concrete and is a fitting ending to the career of one the world's best ever bands. Lyrically it points to a need to be somewhere else and a release from the machine that is Pink Floyd and is resplendent in it's own melancholy.
My friend bought it for $5 at Newbury Comics, and that's about all it was worth. It's sad when 'Take it Back' is the most upbeat song there, and 'What Do You Want From Me' doesn't seem awful. 'Cluster One', 'Marooned', 'Wearing Inside Out', and the last 3 tracks are all awful. Sometimes it seems they were thinking "We have all this shiny new space on our shiny new cd, so lets extend every song as far as we can".
One of the slowest, saddest, and awful albums ever released by an amazing band. May sound like I am overdoing it but this album was downright disappointing to me.
jimmd23
07-15-2008 09:04 AM
Syd Barrett is Pink. Not only did he come up with the name Pink Floyd, but he was the true inspiration of many of the bands later works. RIP Syd Barrett, Shine on you crazy Diamond.
jackhammer
07-15-2008 03:31 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Double X
(Post 497751)
My friend bought it for $5 at Newbury Comics, and that's about all it was worth. It's sad when 'Take it Back' is the most upbeat song there, and 'What Do You Want From Me' doesn't seem awful. 'Cluster One', 'Marooned', 'Wearing Inside Out', and the last 3 tracks are all awful. Sometimes it seems they were thinking "We have all this shiny new space on our shiny new cd, so lets extend every song as far as we can".
One of the slowest, saddest, and awful albums ever released by an amazing band. May sound like I am overdoing it but this album was downright disappointing to me.
So by this criteria 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason' is a better Pink Floyd album?
Demonoid
07-16-2008 06:38 AM
Well, I'd say The Division Bell was quite a decent release. For an album released in 1994, they had the Floyd touch left in them. It definitely was worth it in my opinion.
Double X
07-16-2008 07:51 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackhammer
(Post 497845)
So by this criteria 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason' is a better Pink Floyd album?
Nope, but barely. AMLOR has worse songs than the worst of Division Bell. Division Bell is sad and depressing to listen through the whole thing, but at least Division Bell shows traces of emotion. AMLOR is just plain dull, very little energy and their special effects aren't very good. Richard Wright takes a step down in his keyboarding skills (but shoots back up in Division Bell).
jackhammer
07-16-2008 12:22 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Double X
(Post 498042)
Nope, but barely. AMLOR has worse songs than the worst of Division Bell. Division Bell is sad and depressing to listen through the whole thing, but at least Division Bell shows traces of emotion. AMLOR is just plain dull, very little energy and their special effects aren't very good. Richard Wright takes a step down in his keyboarding skills (but shoots back up in Division Bell).
Strangely I don't find it depressing at all. Floyd's music has always been imbued with melancholia.
SubPop
07-16-2008 10:38 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackhammer
(Post 497845)
So by this criteria 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason' is a better Pink Floyd album?
I prefer AMLOR to the division bell. I think it has a number of pretty good moments.
I find the division bell almost unlistenable
Ghostrider
07-18-2008 02:45 PM
I like the Division Bell, it is probably the last PF album ever going to be released, unless some rumours about Gilmour and Waters getting together again are just pure fiction. I will quote something Boo Boo said in another thread, "PF were more about making soundscapes than just normal songs.", kind of sums up how I feel about them too. They are simply unique in my musical experience, and even an average album by them is still pretty damn good.
jackhammer
07-18-2008 04:14 PM
Even though 'The Division Bell' is not a particulary great album, in terms of the Floyd asthetic it is far more tolerable than the pop music of AMLOR. 'Yet Another Movie' and 'Sorrow' are nevertheless very good tracks from AMLOR.
Son of JayJamJah
08-02-2008 09:38 PM
I have reviewed the discography and found that without question Dark Side and Animals are my favorites.
Most of all I'd like to thank jackhammer for putting this together. Great thread, I love all the discography threads, especially when I love the band as much as I do Floyd. Reviewing their albums over the last two weeks was truly a delight.
Overall I'd rank them as such:
1. Darkside of the Moon - Near Perfection
2. Animals - Haha Charade you are
3. Wish You Were Here - Most melodic and musically sound album
4. Meddle - Brilliant at moments but lackluster at others. At a time my favorite of theirs. Fearless is flawless.
5. The Wall - No sure why Urban and Jack hate this one; a bit over rated maybe, but a ton of great songs and a brilliant story.
6. Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Syd Barrett had already lost it and it hurt this album. Great music, but I am left wonderinf what if.
7. Atom Heart Mother - Overlooked album, very raw, but very good.
8. Saucer Full OF Secrets - This one is great, but has no structure or order, this band could have been the greatest ever. God dammit Syd.
9. A Momentary Lapse of Reason - Not really like a Pink Floyd Album when i hear it but I like it.
10. Obscured by Clouds - Probably the best of their soundtrack work.
