ON AN ISLAND

This is an unexpected turn of events. I must say that my judgement of this album might be somewhat distorted by the fact that Dave worked on it in collaboration with some Polish musicians (for example Zbigniew Preisner, who conducted the orchestra, or Leszek Mozdzer, an acclaimed Polish jazz piano player) - and as a Pole I could be prone to stating a biased opinion. Forgive me that.

There is, however, an air about the album. Some songs ("Then I Cloes My Eyes", "Smile") have a distinct aura of Dave's bluesy guitar bits that bring us back to Meddle or Atom Heart Mother. The whole record is rather melancholic in its sound and lyrics and Dave's guitar is soloing almost all the time, which adds a certain flavour to the bluesy melodies and rhythms found in almost every song on the album. Moreover, lyrics found on the album bear a mark of Dave's previous achievements and keep pace with them in quality. There is no single average song on it, each and every track bears at least one positive note - excellent guitar play.

I don't find this album particularly fresh or brilliant, but listening to "On An Island" I'm not trying to dig up the old or look on David Gilmour's music through the prism of Pink Floyd. One thing the album is, it's relaxing. I recommend it strongly. It's great to have David back after twenty two years.