Back to musicianship

THE WALL was a masterpiece on a par with DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. But lose Wright and you get THE FINAL CUT, the album Roger Waters has been making over and over again for 22 years now. It's bloated, pompous, and waaay too self-indulgent. And on the actual FINAL CUT itself, Waters seems to forget Pink Floyd is a BAND.



A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON returns Floyd to what they did best, which is work as a unit. True, Gilmour never does attain Waters' mastery of concept and lyric, but he, Wright, and Mason lead a host of session players in everything else that makes Pink Floyd great, namely musicianship.



And you can tell the band is a whole without Waters from the first notes. SIGNS OF LIFE is all Richard Wright in the beginning and all Gilmour in the end, with Mason's babbling voices dubbed in for effect. You know this album will do something THE FINAL CUT is completely incapable of... Sounding like a Pink Floyd album.



Some say there's filler on this album. I wish someone would point it out to me, because I haven't heard it in 18 years. "Learning to Fly" and "Sorrow" make the album, and "The Turning Away" puts Gilmour's creative stamp on it. "Dogs of War," though, would do Waters proud with it's murderous rage against the global machine.



No, it's not DARK SIDE OF THE MOON or THE WALL. But it's right up there with WISH YOU WERE HERE and ANIMALS, and much more coherent and polished than MEDDLE.

Formulaic? Thank Goodness!

The departure of Roger Waters did affect the quality of Pink Floyd's music. However, this music still sounds Floydish and it is still worthy of the Pink Floyd name. We could all wish for Roger Waters to still be with the group, but sometimes you have to take what you can get. I would rather have a slightly weaker Pink Floyd album than no Pink Floyd at all. Even though the album may have been less great than some previous albums, there are still several excellent songs, "Learning to Fly," "On the Turning Away," and "Dogs of War."



Every Pink Floyd should have at least one instrumental, and those instrumentals should have progressive elements. "Signs of Life" meets those requirements. There are sound effects, a voice that is mostly unintelligible, and enough music that the instrumental is intriguing. Welcome to "A Momentary Lapse of Reason," says this introduction.



The second track on this CD is one of the best. Sounding much like classic Floyd, "Learning to Fly" has the dark essence of the moodiest Pink Floyd sound with intricately fashioned music and emotionally sung words. The pealing guitars and punctuated percussion are all hallmarks of Floyd as we have known them. While this excellent song breaks no new ground, it is familiar and enjoyable.



In retrospect, "The Dogs of War" was almost too late. This song is about the Cold War, which effectively ended when the Berlin Wall fell. Still, there remain threats in the world today and those threats have the potential to destroy this world, so there remains relevance to this song. Stylistically the song remains very similar to what Pink Floyd has done in the past.



I am reluctant to call "One Slip" filler. The lyrics are a philosophical exploration of what happens when someone succumbs to their feelings for another, and that other person simultaneously succumbs. I really enjoy the interesting lyrics, which are generally well written with but a couple of bumpy spots. The music is another matter; too mellow, too little challenge. In the Pink Floyd catalog the music of this song is near the bottom of the list.



Another of the excellent songs on this CD is "On the Turning Away." The lyrics are about the wealthy avoiding societal issues, most especially poverty and medical care. This song has generally straightforward lyrics matched with excellent music. The vocals are nicely layered and soaring, and sufficiently bombastic to make this song enjoyable for progressive rock fans. The guitars are dominant in several places in several styles, all interesting to hear.



"Yet another Movie" is an average song. The lyrics are reasonably good, but the music is too bland until the bridge, which finally shakes things up. This song is progressive long at about seven and a half minutes, but has little to commend it as a true progressive rock song. The beginning is ominous and foreboding, but is slightly out of context with the words, unless you expand the scope of the words to include any dramatic movie.



The next three tracks form a trilogy, with the instrumental "Terminal Frost" sandwiched between the songs "A New Machine Part 1" and "A New Machine Part 2." The introductory song has an electronically modified vocal singing the words, which form the introduction to the instrumental. Listening to this music casually I was struck by the similarity of portions of this music to Toto's music for the 1984 movie "Dune." This instrumental is nicely constructed with multiple elements and changes in tempo and style that makes this track interesting to hear. The music is generally mellow with accents that keep your ear interested. This track is musically least connected with the historical Pink Floyd style, though it David Gilmour proves he can craft good music with this track. "A New Machine Part 2" ties up the trio, again with electronically altered vocals. The vocals are simple, but provide an effective coda.



The final song is almost nine minutes long. "Sorrow" opens with crunchy guitars chords, leading into an elegantly crafted song as complex as a progressive rock song can be. The words are wonderful as they may be interpreted in multiple ways. I like to consider these words in view of a fantasy, a kingdom lost, perhaps from the point of view from one who knew the kingdom in its greatness, and now sees only decay. This song would do well as a theme song for portions of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, as I can imagine Roland Deschain feeling in this way for Gilead.



Few groups survive for very long, typically because the members have difficulty maintaining continuity of vision for more than a few years. Pink Floyd survived the loss of founder Syd Barrett, and then survived the loss of Roger Waters. Both losses hurt, but the group went on. The music on this CD remains true to the vision of Pink Floyd. The principal loss I see is that the group seemed to remain musically stagnant, or formulaic, after the departure of Roger Waters. However, if you like the Pink Floyd sound, the post-Waters CDs are respectable. Pink Floyd at its weakest is better than 95% of other groups. I keep seeing the term "dinosaur" in reference to Pink Floyd. Dinosaurs they may be, but they are gloriously talented dinosaurs nonetheless.

One of Floyd's best

The Amazon review is dead on -- when Waters left PF, I thought the band would fade away and fall apart. As I noted in my review of The Wall, "Great art requires technical skill and the ability to affect us emotionally or change the way we view the world. ... Roger Waters' music and lyrics are dark and disturbing." However, I also noted that "David Gilmore is one of the finest guitarists on the planet. Pink Floyd, as always, produces a universe engulfing soundscape..." Waters theatrical bent and dark, introspective lyrics were brilliant, and were the soul of the Floyd. Without Waters, the band had to rely on the technical skill of Gilmore. The Floyd has done this very well.



Last Sunday, I watched a video of Roger Waters - Live In The Flesh, which covered much of the same material as Floyd did in the Delicate Sound of Thunder tour. Although Waters guitarist was very good, he was not David Gilmore.



What was left after Waters departure is still a great band. The lyrics in this album may have turned from the Waters' dark introspective variety to Gilmore's social and political commentary, but the music is still Floyd's universe encompasing sound. In this reviewer's opinion, this album is still one of PF's best.