ABOUT FACE

I really don't want to have to do this to one of my favorite guitarists, but David Gilmour's About Face deserves a 2 star rating. There are a few decent moments, but by and large this is quite depressing to listen to. The music is not terrible, but in most places the melodies and backing instruments are so generic and cliche that even Dave's enjoyable guitar lines can't maintain interest.

The only real keeper is Murder. A playful intro in 3/4 belies some deep lyrics, moving to a nice bass solo, chorus, majestic guitar line, and then a nice raucus guitar groove to finish. This is the great stuff we know Dave is capable of, but here we only get it once. I get it: Dave is trying to do something different from Pink Floyd. The album art has many pictures of Dave wearing a leather jacket with polka-dotted shirts and ties. I don't see how that translates to cheesy eighties dance numbers such as Until We Sleep and Love on the Air. Even worse, All Lovers are Deranged is so simple and anthemic that it could have been written by Kiss. The only other track worth returning to is Let's Get Metaphysical, which is a collaboration with Kamen that involves Dave playing over an orchestra. Dave does that well. Unfortunately, he doesn't do the other things very well on this album.

Even the best are entitled to the occasional dud. I'm glad Dave keeps trying, because he certainly has the talent and connections to make high quality, enjoyable music. He simply does not accomplish that here.