When word came several months ago that Pink Floyd was releasing a new record, there was quite a bit of excitement. I believe that it set a record on Amazon for pre-orders. Even if it is the David Gilmour-led era Floyd, it is still Pink Floyd. And the years have actually been kind to the Gilmour-led era, especially 1994’s Division Bell (the last record of new material they released).
The Endless River is interesting. During the Division Bell sessions, they recorded a lot more music than was released in ‘94. Much of it was instrumental ambient music. They seriously considered releasing Division Bell as a double with the second album being more ambient and instrumental. Keyboardist Richard Wright was especially enthused about the material left in the vaults.
Fast forward and Wright dies in 2008. Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason recently revisited this material and decided to put it out. They fleshed it out a bit and added some more parts, and so here we have The Endless River, which David Gilmour has stated that in no uncertain terms will be the final Pink Floyd record. Unlike statements like that made by other musicians who have embarked on three or four “Farewell Tours,” you can usually take Gilmour at his word. They decided to release it as a tribute to Wright. (Roger Waters, of course, was not involved with this material.)
As to the music itself. In one sense, you would expect this to be quite good. The weakness of the Gilmour-led years was always lyrical. Without Rogers Waters’ dark, dystopian visions, Pink Floyd’s lyrics were pretty banal during the 80’s and 90’s, but the music was always good. So an all instrumental record should be great if you are ejecting the weakest factor.
It is organized into four approximate 15 minute suites. But the weakness here is pretty obvious when you look back at the source material. In many cases, this sounds like what it really is. Unfinished pieces of music strung together. Many of the “songs” are two minutes or less, and sound like promising intros to a full song that never then develops. Quite a few of these pieces are frustrating because right when you feel like it should take off or Gilmour could really stretch out for several more minutes on one of his majestic guitar solos, the song fades into the next one. Also, it is not like this is leftover material from Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here, it is leftovers from a decent record from the early 90's.
Something else of note is that there are echoes all over this of Floyd classics. The opening suite is a shadow of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” there are reverb references to Gilmour’s “Run Like Hell” guitar, another track has echoes of “Time,” while another is a variation on “Us and Them.”
Only one song has vocals and lyrics, the closer “Louder Than Words.” Clearly intended as a big statement and comment on Pink Floyd as a whole, the message being that even though we have fought, our music is more important than the personal differences that have plagued the band. But again, the lyrics are without that Waters edge (here written by Gilmour’s wife, Polly Sampson). The song is unremarkable really, although it has a nice guitar intro that sounds a lot like “Hey You.”
With lowered expectations, this record is enjoyable enough. But as much as you might like certain moments here and there, when you finish listening it is difficult to remember any particular song that stands out. Perhaps that’s the point. This is more a quiet, minor coda to Pink Floyd’s legacy than a major final statement. And I guess that’s OK.
** out of *****
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