The Division Bell

Personally I find Division Bell and Momentary Lapse of Reason to be really sterile affairs and very laboured in terms of songwriting. They're both padded out with vapid instrumental noodlings which, to me, lack any kind of impetus other than to say 'this is what we sound like so let's be atmospheric'.

I've long felt that Gilmour is a very limited songwriter and continue to believe that. His solo work is marked by a lack of strong compositions. He's a wonderful guitar player and a fine enough singer but he doesn't exactly leap out of the crowd when you say 'amazing writer'.

As usual in these situation there's a sum of the parts thing going on. It's that strange alchemy of disparate elements transmuting chords and notes into gold.  Remove an element and what have you got - for fans of Blackadder I think you get the musical equiavlent of Percy's 'purest green'. Gold it ain't.

The best of Floyd exists in the push and pull between Gilmour and Waters. The Waters vitriol that creates Dogs with the sublime playing that articulates that anger.

Waters is a rotten musician. He'll probably tell you that himself. But he was often a great writer. Gilmour is a superb musician and a gifted arranger but a lousy writer. Sum of the parts.

Post Waters Floyd was a triumph of style over content. Post Floyd Waters was full of fury but sounds insignificant.

While, in recent years I've more and more come to the conclusion that Floyd really only produced four 'great' albums Meddle, DSOTM, WYWH and Animals, I still think the Wall and Final Cut contained aspects of what made Floyd great - a fiery little synergy that made even their most laid back meanderings bite a little.

Everything after that was just an incomplete echo of what went before, a facsimile that in every repeition gets blurred at the edges until it's not recognisable anymore.

To me then, Division Bell simply represents some nice easy listening background music. To quote BB King: the thrill is gone.

There are 3 types of Pin Floyd fans...

-the Syd Barrets

-The Roger Waters

-The David Gilmours

I' m a  David Gilmour-type

And Division Bell is Pink Floyd at their best to me...

"The division bell" is actually a masterpiece of prog in my book. There are so many things I love about the album, but in essence I don't feel there's a weak track on it.

The concept is there alright, and whether Gilmour choses to admit it, Waters lurks in many of the lyrics.

"So I open the door to my enemies, and I ask can we wipe the slate clean, but they tell me to please go and f**k myself, sometimes you just can't win." Hmm, wonder who he's taking about there then?

Below is my "Division Bell" review, although you may normally find it in the reviews section ... I would only add to it that to me anything that PINK FLOYD writes (or Gilmour, or Waters) is not to be judged, but accepted. PINK FLOYD is the ultimate standard of prog music -- its works are always worth six stars. Other bands may just be excellent bands, but PINK FLOYD is the genius.

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