DAVID GILMOUR

After Wish You Were Here, when Pink Floyd enetered the phase which led to their disbanding, both Wright and Gilmour released their first solos. While Wright's Wet Dreams was closer to the standard Floyd sounds, Gilmour released something slightly different.

The album opens with an instrumental "Mihalis", that reminds to the athmospheres of Obscured by Clouds. Gilmour probably liked this opener so to put something similar as openers on the two post Final Cut Pink Floyd albums. It's followed by a cover that's my favourite track "There's No Way Out Of Here". Some Ken Baker is credited as songwriter. Honestly I don't know anything of him but if this is what he's able to write I'd like to find more.

"Cry From The Street" is a blues opened by a solo guitar intro. It's a typical Gilmour's song on which his voice is clearly recognizable. It runs on the same binaries of Wright's "Funky Deux". When Gilmour is bluesy his guitar is not much different from his The Wall alter-ego Snowy White. The final shows the rock side of Gilmour, unfortunately the coda fades out.

Soft piano and drums open "So Far Away". We are back to the sounds of Obscured By Clouds or the B side of Atom Heart Mother. Not a great song as Fat Old Sun, but surely a consistent one. The guitar solo in the middle seems taken from Bridges Burning. Who likes that period of Pink Floyd will appreciate.

The side B is opened by "Short and Sweet". The guitar intro reminds to the previous "Cry from the Street". However this time it's not a blues. We will find songs like this on Momentary Leapse Of reason. Good guitar but nothing special.

"Raise My Rent" is very floydian. A slow guitar harping with soft drums and bass on which after 1 minute of intro Gilmour places a great solo. It's somewhere between Obscured by Clouds and Shine on You Crazy Diamond. Very athmospheric and one of the album's highlights.

"No Way" is another blues of the kind of "Cry From The Street", but slower. The slow tempo and the keyboard background make it more floydian. The guitar solo is a typical Gilmour's one. Who likes Sir David will like this song,

"It's Definitely" is an instrumental and probably the track that I like less here. Not a bad one, but it sounds more like an excersize for guitar effects. A bit too rocky maybe. When the bass starts playing a single note and keyboards stop it sounds like "what Gilmour would have liked to do onto One of These Days".

The closer "I Can't Breath Anymore" is another average song. Nice enough but I think it lacks feeling. It's too good to be considered a filler but not good enough to be a highlight.

The lineup consists of two former Jokers Wild and no keyboardist is credited except for the piano on "So Far Away". I suspect that keyboards are played by Gilmour.

This is an excellent album but not all the songs here are masterpieces. There's not a concept as in all the Gilmour's slos. It's a collection of songs that can live alone. I rate it four full stars but I've never thought about a fifth.