THE ENDLESS RIVER

Oh, Come on! So many 5 star ratings! Essential masterpiece? Hardly. As much as I love this band and respect their discography in full it´s very clear that those bits and pieces of songs, and a few left overs from The Division Bell, are a valid statement, but for the hardcore fans only. Can you imagine a non PF fan buying this record and enjoying it as much as it would do from any other of their catalog?

I`ve listen to this album repeatedly for the last few weeks and I can say I liked it. Not as much as I thought I would, but liked anyway. It´s a great tribute to Richard Wright, for this is the kind of material he shines (atmospheric/ambient music). There is only one song with vocals (Louder Than Words). Of course there is the fine Gilmour guitar solo here and there too. Of course the production and editing is simply marvelous too. You can´t expect any less from anything bearing the name of Pink Floyd after all this time. But mostly it´s really understandable why this staff was kept in the vaults for so long. Had they released it earlier especially before Wright´s death probably the reviews would be very less generous, to say the least!

Ok, I don´t want to sound too harsh. To nostalgic fans this CD is really something after so long. There are several nice moments and I guess it also stopped bootleggers from getting a lot of money out of the band if they somehow could get a hold of the same tracks and put it out with a much lower production quality. But let me say The Endless River is NOT in the same league as any of their previous records, composition wise at least. And if you think PF is not PF without Roger Waters, then don´t even bother.

Conclusion: good, but this is for fans, collectors and completionists only.