ON AN ISLAND

You're bring told not to compare this to a PINK FLOYD album. I'm sorry, but I disagree. This has the feel of PINK FLOYD'S 1970-1972 work. Certainly some of the tunes here compare to the melodic work on Side 1 of 'Meddle', for example, or 'Obscured by Clouds'. But those albums were leavened by the acidic FLOYD sharpness, which is nowhere in evidence here.

'On an Island' doesn't have anything more to offer than cloying sweetness and a faint melancholic nostalgia. I'm really not sure what prompted its release: is this really all DAVID GILMOUR has to say after ten years? There are neither highs nor lows here. Outstanding musicianship and production, but nothing of interest compositionally.

This, then, is the bitter dregs of the WATERS - GILMOUR bust-up. While Roger amuses himself to death with the same album repeated for the umpteenth time - even the vitriol is greying with age - David ambles slowly through open fields, thinking quiet thoughts. These two men were made for each other. What a pity the bitter and the sweet will never come together again.

Lovely guitar work, and excellent vocals. Necessary but, however, not sufficient for a good album.