LONDON 1984

I don't know who is responsible for this live album by David Gilmour. The question is if the guitar player himself is aware of it. I mean it's far-fetched to think that it's released for economical reasons, even less for musical. Not that the music is below standard, but the quality of the recording definitely is. Just the title of the record, London 1984, is as unpretentious as the value of the whole package. To begin with, who has produced the album? Who is responsible for the recording? Is everything taken from this single recording? Who mixed the sound? No information is evident from this half-official(!?) release from 2009. The basic idea is nothing to complain about. To document Gilmour´s tour from an era when no one really knew where Pink Floyd were found to be. He had released "About Face" the same year, this plus the debut solo from 1978, and a number of inevitable P.F. hits form the foundation for London 1984. It's especially interesting to hear "There´s no way out of here" and "Short and sweet" from the first album. Regarding that Gilmour didn´t tour with that album, it's the very first time they are aired live. The latter is co-written with Roy Harper and this vocalist is present on the spot with his vocal part. An equal number of songs are taken from The Wall, in form of "Run like hell" and "Comfortably Numb". Note that the Floyd songs are credited Gilmour/Waters in contrast to the original which is vice versa. The battle of the giants, one may say. Remaining songs are logically picked from About Face. It's difficult to express if they are improved here or not as the whole recording seems unfinished. Is it mixed at all? It doesn´t seem so. The vocals disappear at times in the background. Just like you have closed a door behind you. The price is about mid price but it doesn´t help much if you won´t listen to it. It would certainly have been interesting to attend the show in question with this seven men strong band + guests. But spend your money on other live recordings with the Floyd guitarist instead of this.

Gilmour as a solo artist often disappoints. With the exception of his excellent first album, his compositions are rather mediocre and the delivery is closer to reasonable - but hardly sensational - Rock than what we could expect from a former PF front man.

Here, he plays with his usual elegance, something that he deserves credit for. The problem is the actual song selection and live interpretation of such. That is before I touch on his backing band consisting of capable artist seriously underutilized.

Mick Ralphs (Bad Co.) doesn't get much chance to shine and his presence is a complete waste here. Same for Chris Slade (MMEB) on drums, who is relegated to keeping time only and one wouldn't realize that we are dealing with an otherwise excellent artist. The rest of the band too, are doing what they are paid for (and doing it well), but exciting they are not. (Perhaps not permitted?) I am not familiar with the sax player/singer and whilst he seems like a very likable person, both his voice and style on sax appears to be a serious mismatch to the material he is featured on.

Contrary to Gilmour's excellent singing and guitar work, due to track selection and interpretation, the overall effect of this performance as a whole is not much more than mediocre.

(This input is offered via the actual DVD release, something that's not listed on PA.)