THE ENDLESS RIVER

I have never been so conflicted about getting an album as I was with this one. The positives were the fact that this is a tribute of sorts to Richard Wright and that it's mostly instrumental but the negatives for me were that the tunes are mostly out-takes from The Division Bell sessions as i'm just not into PINK FLOYD without Roger Waters being involved. Well obviously I picked the cd up with three bonus tracks that for some strange reason are better than the proper album songs(in my opinion). This comes just as advertised as it's very ambient and pleasant overall with mostly shorter tracks that blend into each other. There are lots of guests helping out including plenty of strings and backing vocals. Two guest bass players help Gilmour out in that department with Waters not being asked to be involved.

"Things Left Unsaid" feature spoken words and a spacey atmosphere with the guitar crying out and plenty of organ runs. "It's What We Do" is similar to track one as it's quite spacey but we get some sax here reminding me of "Wish You Were Here". "Ebb And Flow" is mostly keys and guitar while "Sum" has this cool sounding organ before the song kicks into gear 1 1/2 minutes in. "Skins" is just that, a song where Mason is the focus. "Unsung" is almost "Echoes"-like while "Anisina" is just too normal sounding and one I just can't get into. "The Lost Art Of Conversation" is spacey with laid back piano melodies. "On Noodle Street" is mellow with a beat and a spacey atmosphere.

"Night Light" is spacey with no beat while "Allions-Y (1)" is another ambient and spacey piece with a beat. "Autumn '68" is one of my favourites with the organ floating beautifully in the background. "Allions-Y (2)" reminds me of nineties CAMEL, especially the guitar. "Talkin' Hawkin'" has these spacey guitar expressions as spoken words arrive 1 1/2 minutes in. it turns calm late. "Calling" is dark and somewhat experimental but the sun comes out later on as it brightens. "Eyes To Pearls" is another favourite of mine. Picked guitar and atmosphere early on and the drums remind me of "A Saucerful Of Secrets". "Surfacing" has this uplifting sound to it that I enjoy. "Louder Than Words" is pleasant and a vocal track.

This is all very familiar and safe and in my opinion 3.5 stars is the perfect rating. A nice companion to "The Division Bell" and certainly if your a big fan of that album you need to pick this up, the rest of you might be disappointed.