March 28, 1994 - The Division Bell

Six days after my last release and six and a half years since their last album "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason", Pink Floyd released their fourteenth album "The Division Bell" on March 28, 1994. After Richard Wright only helped out a bit on their last album, Wright is back to being a full-time keyboardist on this album and he, Nick Mason and David Gilmour wrote the music for this album as a collaborative effort. They used several bassists on their last album, but all the bass on this album is done by either Gilmour or Guy Pratt. Pratt played bass with Pink Floyd during the tour for their last album and he was invited back to help record this record. Let's check out the latest from these legends!

The album begins with the instrumental "Cluster One" and the opening minute is pretty quiet and unexciting with some strange quiet noises that seem to be slowly building in volume. After over a minute we hear some trippy keyboards that sound like actual music, and then Wright changes to some slow and epic piano and Gilmour comes in with some cool trippy guitar as well. Wright and Gupmout play off each other very nicely for some slow but cool stuff and after four and a half minutes Mason finally joins the fold with a light drum beat as Wright continues to lead the way on piano and Gilmour adds trippy guitar bits. The end flows right into the next track "What Do You Want From Me" and Pratt and Mason form a solid rhythm section, Wright plays some cool, quiet keyboards and then Gilmour comes in with a loud and epic lead guitar riff. Gilmour sings an epic verse to match and he still sounds as epic as ever on both vocals and guitar. Wright and a bunch of other backup singers back up Gilmour and the female singers sound good singing the name of the song in the background. This song is really just three long verses, with a short and sweet guitar solo by David inbetween them, and that makes for a pretty epic formula! Both of Gilmour'a little solos sound epic and great and each long verse sounds pretty cool as well. Track 3 is "Poles Apart" and Gilmour leads the way with a soft but fast-paced guitar riff that sounds pretty cool and he also plays bass on this song, backing himself nicely with some cool slow bass and Wright adds some slow and epic keyboards as well that sound pretty epic behind the fast lead guitar. Gilmour sings an epic verse overtop this riff and he sounds great going high and low in another great verse. After a couple long, epic verses Wright plays some trippy keyboards that nicely segue us to a new riff that sounds a bit creepy, and it slowly dissolves and shifts until we're hearing almost circus music! It's weird but also cool and then somehow they shift perfectly smoothly back into the epic main riff! It's a wonderous transition and now we're nicely jamming out another long verse before it's solo time! Gilmour delivers a long solo that isn't all that flashy, but as usual he makes things sound pretty epic and cool and he takes it all the way to the end of this seven minute track. The next song is another instrumental titled "Marooned" and we hear gulls in the background and waves as if we're at the beach while Wrigh plays some slow, dreamy and slightly psychedelic music on piano. Gilmour comes in with some slow but always epic guitar overtop and this is pretty much the basis for this song: David lightly soloing overtop some cool background piano. After a couple of minutes Mason finally counts in the rhythm section, but they just make things a little louder and it's still the same slow and epic music. We hear a long droning note at the end of the song and it carries over to track 5, "A Great Day For Freedom". Gilmour starts to sing a great verse, sounding like his usual awesome self, and Wright plays some pretty cool piano to back him in this epic opening with just the two of them. We hear some other synths in the background, but it's Wright and Gilmour in the spotlight and things flow toght into a similarly epic chorus. After another cool verse Mason finally joins in for the second chorus and then it's solo time as Gilmour plays a long, cool solo that perfectly matches the mood and takes us right to the end of the song. The next song is "Wearing The Inside Out" and Pink Floyd's old friend and common guest star Dick Parry is back with some more sweet saxophone as he takes the lead from the get go. Mason plays an interesting little drum beat and Wright adds some droning synths, but it's the slow and jazzy saxophone that leads the way. This is also the first track since "The Dark Side Of The Moon" to have Richard Wright on lead vocals! The sax falls away once Wright begins the verse and he sounds pretty good still! He leads a solid verse with Gilmour playing some slow and cool guitar to back him. The female backup singers show up again and they sing their own thing while Wright continues his lead vocals and together they sound pretty solid. They jam through a couple solod verses and then it's time for a little sax break followed by a short Gilmour guitar solo. This leads perfectly into another slow verse as Gilmour plays some solid guitar while Wright and the backup singers sing another long verse. After this verse Gilmour goes off on a longer solo and this one sounds pretty epic as you'd expect from David as he plays some pretty sweet stuff. They then end this long song one nice light note. Track 7 is "Take It Back" and it has a slow and trippy opening that eventually turns into the main riff with Gilmour singing nicely overtop his guitar and the psychedelic keyboards. Things roll right into a pretty shirt chorus, and then it's back to another long verse. After another chorus it feels like solo time, but Gilmour just plays some light, trippy guitar that isn't bad by any means but is definitely not a solo while Mason adds some nice drums in the background. They bring it back to the main riff and after a final verse and chorus things start to fade away and we fade right into the next track "Coming Back To Life". The synths remain in the background as Gilmour plays a pretty epic and cool acoustic guitar riff to lead the way and he sounds great as usual. The guitar falls away as Gilmour sings the epic verse with just the synths backing him and after this long firet verse the rhythm section finally comes in as Mason plays a nice drum beat and Pratt adds some solid bass as well. Gilmour's guitar returns as they play a full verse this time and then it's solo time already as Gilmour delivers a long solo that as usual isn't too flashy but still sounds plenty epic. David sings just the end of the chorus and then they kick right into another long guitar solo! It's another pretty cool solo and it takes us all the way to the end of a pretty solid tune. Track 9 is "Keep Talking" and what starts as some more trippy keyboards and a quiet but catchy drum beat slowly builds into a cool main riff with Gilmour leading the way with some nice guitar. The voice of physicist Stephen Hawking opens the song as he talls about how speech separates us from earlier humans and then they kick into a cool verse led by Gilmour with some more nice contributions from the female backup singers. After the verse Hawking says "all we need to do is keep talking" and then it's solo time! Guitar is first as usual with Gilmour playing a solid solo but then we hear a keyboard solo from Wright! It's a rare sight these days but it sounds pretty sweet to me and it leads right into another cool verse, this time with some pretty epic talkbox stuff! Gilmour absolutely goes off with some pretty awesome talkbox in this cool verse, and then they just lightly jam out the ending. Up next is "Lost For Words" and it has a pretty slow opening with Mason playing an epic drum beat but not a whole lot else going on with the background keyboards. Gilmour eventually comes in with a nice acoustic guitar riff to lead the way and things sound nice and chill. David sings a nice verse to match the mood and after a couple verses there's a break and it seems like solo time, but nothing happens and they just go into another verse. It's funny to hear Gilmour sing "go fuck myself" in this verse and after it we finally do get a solo. Gilmour plays a simple but solid acoustic guitar solo that takes us right to the end of the song and we hear some church bells in the background as they shift into the longest and final song on the album "High Hopes". The bells remain in the background and after a quiet beginning Wright starts to play some slow but pretty epic piano. This leads nicely into the first verse as Gilmour sings nicely overtop Wright's cool piano and Gilmour and Mason provide the rhythm section. Things flow into a similar chorus and then they do it all again. They slowly jam out several verses and choruses before finally getting to a solo and it's a very long one, too long in fact with not enough really happening. It goes on for several minutes and while Gilmour sounds alright, it's not Floyd's best work and it goes on until it eventually fades to a stop and we hear a final ringing bell to seemingly close out the album. There's a short bonus bit at the end, but it just sounds like someone answering and then dropping a phone.

That is the end of "The Division Bell" and I thought it was a pretty solid album, but still nowhere near their best stuff. It was nice to have Richard Wright back in the fold and he added some cool stuff to this new Pink Floyd style that is almost entirely slow and epic. David Gilmour still sounds great on both vocals and guitar and for their last album made with entirely new material Pink Floyd show that they are going out on a high. I thought this album was even better than their last one, "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason", but it also doesn't surpass "The Piper At The Gates of Dawn" and their great albums of the 60s and 70s. Still a fine addition to the library, and although this feels like an ending, there's a surprise way down the road!