When I first purchased my David Gilmour Tickets for the David Gilmour Tour I had not heard the new album yet. This is a brilliant album, but if your expecting a Pink Floyd album I have to warn you this is not it. However if your a fan of Davids solo work in the past, and can appreciate a highly personal album then your in luck. The album starts off with Castellorizon, and almost tricks you into thinking this album is to lay the same groundwork as Pink Floyd's last album The Division Bell. Its a brilliant instrumental that gets you in the mood almost immediately.
The next song is On an Island, this song is fantastic and was put together superbly. Crosby and Nash helping with Vocals adds something wonderful to the feel of it, and Davids leads are nothing less then top notch.The next song is The Blue, wow this was my favorite of them all. This song has all the makings of being a classic, however it wont get the radio time it deserves to do so. The first half of the song is slow going, but Davids vocals are beautiful and the second half rips through some wonderful guitar playing almost mirroring the timeless instrumental Marooned.
Next is Take a breath, This is a great song with a eighty's rock sort of feel to it, the vocals are great and the lyrics and guitar match up to it. Following Take a breath is Red Sky at night, another instrumental featuring Davids first attempt at Playing saxophone on a studio album. Its a great song but clearly not one of the best of the album.This heaven is another High note of the album mixing wonderful vocals and guitar. Then I close my eyes is a song I just don't get, its almost like a bad attempt at some of Pink Floyd's early day songs, its slow moving and doesn't make much sense to me musically. Smile has always been a good song, but I question Davids thought process on having his wife Polly sing some vocals on it.
However it doesn't destroy the mood of the song and i still like it alot. A pocketful of stones is another attempt at early Pink Floyd days, and while lots of Floyd fans swear by it already I'm not convinced. The final song is Then I close my Eyes. Its a great song that ends the album on a High note with great structure and lyrics.My overall rating for this album is 4 out of 5 stars. The first 4-5 songs make you believe your in for a true stonker of a album, but some of the lower parts I mentioned brings it down from 5 to 4 stars. Overall this is a wonderfully produced album and well worth grabbing a copy and setting it in your CD player to random with Floyd classics. So its not a Floyd album, but It can get along with them in its own way. Enjoy it, it might be the last title in Davids collection.
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