Page 35 - RYAN'S GIG GUIDE DECEMBER 2014

RGG December 2014 - p.35
The Endless River is the new studio album from
the musical goliath that is Pink Floyd two years
in the making and twenty years since Pink Floyd
released their last studio album On offer is fifty
two minutes of music utilising in part unfinished
recordings from The Division Bell sessions that
were made while keyboardist Richard (Rick)
Wright was still alive Augmented to this old
material are fresh recording sessions undertaken
by Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason with the
results built up and sequenced to form a new
album’s worth of studio material While it is clear
that Gilmour & Mason wanted to pay homage to
Rick’s playing from these archive sessions there
is something hollow in the final execution
A few snatched fragments of dialogue from the
band serve as an opening and then we fall
weightlessly into the meandering noodling that
is the hallmark of the album hell there is even a
track called “On Noodle Street” The Endless River
is virtually an instrumental except for the last
song “Louder Than Words” (penned by Polly
Sampson) and a brief passage on “Talkin’
Hawkin’” (spoken by Stephen Hawkins) On
“Autumn ‘ ” we get the chance to hear Richard
Wright playing the Royal Albert Hall’s organ from
the late ‘ s and while this oddity might peak
ones interest it is fleetingly brief lasting less than
two minutes and hardly essential While the
playing from Gilmour Mason & Wright
throughout the album is faultless; it never
reaches any dizzy heights in terms of musical
vitality tension or drama Far too frequently
musical motifs and arrangements just sound like
they have been cut and pasted from older albums
and it’s not just that they sound like they are from Zak
The Division Bell which would make some sense
seeing as some of the recordings on the album
date from that period For the most part these
echoes never seem to build or go anywhere
remarkable and instead just serve to remind you
how much more worthwhile and thrilling those
previous albums were
Fans will lament the passing of their musical
heroes as a largely spent force the casual listener
(or Gilmour obsessives) might be able to let the
album wash over them and extol the sound scape
as emotional and enchanting at least compared
to your average Rock band While ostensibly
there is nothing wrong in making a mature
ambient album you would be better served
listening to the Vangelis soundtrack to Blade
Runner than endure the endless piffle on here
Former band member (and co founder of the
band) Roger Waters once said during the
recording of Dark Side Of The Moon “In the
finished article the only thing that is important is
whether it moves you or not there’s nothing else
that is important at all” Pink Floyd albums usually
do move the listener by taking them on a journey
but here we are just paddling with one oar going
round in circles with echoes of former glories
ringing in our ears In the pantheon of Floyd
albums The Endless River has the ignominy of
being the weakest by some margin This may
prove to be Floyd’s last ever studio album but
that fact alone should not blind you to the
realisation that this is an album unworthy of the
moniker a Pink Floyd album
The album could be re titled: The Endless River Of
Money – Echoes of a once great band
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