Later Floyd
Posted by Twangothan on 12 September 2008 - 4:32pm.
I just finished Nick Mason's hugely enjoyable autobiography, and I'm tempted to get the later albums - "Division bell" and " A momentary lapse of reason", not least because I discover Bill Payne is on one of them, and the way he describes them makes me keen to investigate. I love the classic era Floyd (well, that's most of it really). Anyone got any views? Any good?
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The Division Bell
was surprisingly good I thought. Languid but melodic in the classic Floydian manner. ( And Sam Brown is on it ).
OK, sold
I learned from Nick's book that her Mum was one of their backing singers which is how she got the gig. There's a YouTube clip of her doing "Great gig in the sky" live.
Right...
...both are good. Not sure I'd put them up there with the best 70s albums as they aren't as consistent to my ears, though they have a few separate songs that match up- 'Sorrow', 'Learning To Fly' (a few dodgy 80s sounds aside), 'Wearing The Inside Out', 'Marooned' and 'High Hopes' spring to mind.
I also liked Roger Waters' solo effort 'Amused To Death'.
Thanks Twang
now that another "Rock Bio" that I have to sneak home.
Swap you
For Don Felder when you've read it?
Sounds like
a damn fine idea.
Much Underrated
'The Division Bell' is much derided but i've always loved it. 'Coming Back To Life' has some of Gilmour's best guitar playing, 'Poles Apart' is a classic and 'High Hopes' is as good a song to close a recording career as you're likely to hear. I hope they never record again as 'High Hopes' sums the band up very nicely.
There's only one song worthy of the name 'High Hopes'
and it's about ants and bulls and dams and stuff.
Altogether now...
"He's got high apple pie-ee-ie in the sky-ee-y hopes"
Just me then?
Oh.
My Views
The Division Bell is the better of the two albums, although Gilmour's playing almost becomes a cliche of itself at times.A Momentary Lapse does sound quite eighties at times and although it sounds like Pink Floyd, Wright and Mason hardly play on it! The album is full of sessions players. The latters confidence as a drummer shattered by the (at the time) nasty Roger Waters. I love the live versions of "Learning To Fly", "High Hopes" and "Sorrow"; available on the Pulse live CD. Try this live album if you don't already own it, you may be pleasantly surprised. Hope this helps. It seems fashionable to knock latter day Floyd albums.
'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason'...
otherwise known as...
A Momentary Lapse Of Cashflow
A Momentary Lapse Of Taste And Judgement
A Momentary Lapse Of Talent
It stinks... it is truly a giant, steaming turd of a record and should be disowned by everyone connected with it.
'The Division Bell' was better, but still a hackneyed facsimile of the band's glory years.
It doesn't stink...
if you don't think of it as a Floyd album. As a Dave Gilmour album, it's (largely) great.
Division Bell, by contrast, is totally by numbers Floyd and therefore much weaker to my ears.
We have to agree to disagree on this one...
it most certainly isn't a Pink Floyd album, despite that name being on the cover. I hate that record, I'm afraid. It is a joke.
No Love Lost
I think Roger Waters commented that "Momentary Lapse Of Reason" was "a great act of forgery", more recently Gilmour commented that sharing a stage with Waters at Live 8 "was like sleeping with an ex-wife". There will never be another new Pink Floyd album.
yeah but
how bad is it?? I hate to sound like my Dad but Floyd albums all start to sound the same to me. Gilmour's a boring guitar player but seems an awfully nice chap. 3 albums that matter Pipers, Meddle and live side of Ummagumma. Oh and Relics is a great odds and sodss thingy. That's it really and Syd's solo albums are mostly crap except for "No Good Trying" which sounds like a Pipers track.
You might like this 68-72 Floyd playlist
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/pink-floyd-best-1968-1972
Personally
I preferred the live album Delicate Sound Of Thunder to A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. Mind you, there's no escaping that both have got 'The Dogs Of War' on them.
But.........
Mason's drumming on Delicate Sound Of Thunder is pretty patchy at the best of times, but he did improve again. The best Floyd live show for me is Live At Pompei. Gilmour has never sounded better and Mason manages to play in time, for most of the time.
Division Bell is great
I prefer it to anything Syd Barret was involved with and lisytened to almost continuously at university. But it's not a patch on the triple high watermark of The Wall, DSOTM and WYWH.
Coming Back To Life
I love The Division Bell, Coming Back To Life is one of my favourite Floyd songs.