BROKEN CHINA

This is not an album to be overlooked by any fan of music.

By that I mean fans of Pink Floyd, fans of specifically Richard Wright's work with Floyd, fans of prog or fans of rock or fans of even broader genres of music.

Sonically pleasing in a way much different than Floyd material, Wright approaches this album as a soft ballady long piece with ambient jazz inflections abound. A concept album about his wife's depression, Broken China is perhaps one of the most emotional pieces of music by any artist related to Floyd. It has moments of light and moments of dark and reflects a clinically depressed mind so well it has a sort of indefinable morbid beauty about it.

It's definitely one of those albums the listener can really enjoy sitting in a dark room while pondering the questions of life. It has enough going on in the background to be interesting like most Floyd records but also retains the listeners interest through concept and through moments of pure catchiness.

It's a sad fact that Richard Wright's solo material is often overlooked in the Floyd catalog (even Mason's work is gone to before Wright's for some people) and while it's more understandable with Wet Dream (a decent album nonetheless) there is no excuse for the under-appreciated Broken China record, a record with such glistening beauty that literally anyone who listens to music as an emotional plug in can relate to.

(Plus lead vocals by Sinead O'Connor on two tracks! Check it out, guys!)