THE DIVISION BELL

I have never liked this album and probably never will. When I first got into Floyd, I decided to bye all their albums chronologically, I started with "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and the last album I bought was this one. Knowing, and having enjoyed the entire Pink Floyd catalogue, The Division Bell, along with A Monetary Lapse of Reason, was a huge disappointment to me. The reason I dislike it is not because it "Doesn't sound like early Floyd" I never expected I to, of course a band sounds different after 30 years, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I has to be worse. My main claim is that the album simply lacks idea and vision, the theme (communication amongst people) isn't very well executed, the lyrics might be among the worst I have ever heard, lyrics to me don't normally matter, the problem is, that on this record they are presented as if they really matter, and Gilmour's voice (as an elderly man), I cant stand it. The majority of the compositions sounds very annoying , pointless overproduced and uninspiring (Keep Talking ranks as one of the worst tracks I have ever heard). In spite of great musicianship, this album as a whole, as a thematic recording has nothing whatsoever to recommend it. Though I must confess that I occasionally enjoy tunes like Cluster One & Marooned that's the reason for giving it 2 stars.