Not an All-Time Rock Classic, But Still Really Good Music

When The Division Bell was first released, the common response was: "Well, it's not The Dark Side of The Moon". Well obviously it is not, but that does not mean that The Division Bell is not good, progressive rock music that falls below typical Floydian standards.



Put it this way, did the Beatles always put out something as good as Sergeant Pepper's Lonely hearts Club Band? Did Led Zeppelin always creatively equate their untitled fourth album (aka Led Zeppelin IV or Zoso) ? Does this mean that Let It Be or In Through The Out Door sucks? No, it does not. No artist has an entire catalogue completely containing five-star output. But The Division Bell is still an adventurous, well constructed progressive rock album, that effectively employs the trademark Pink Floyd atmospherics and sound effects.



The most significant aspect of The Division Bell is that for the first time since Wish You Were Here that it is truly a collaborative effort between the Pink Floyd principals, David Gilmour on lead guitar and lead vocals, Nick Mason on drums, and the full-time recording return of founding Floyd member Richard Wright on keyboards and vocals, who also contributes songwriting credits on five of the eleven tracks. Of course all of this is a result of David Gilmour's perseverance of having the Floyd continue as well as the band not being under the thumb of former member and creative force of Roger Waters.



The album kicks off with a short atmospheric instrumental, "Cluster One". It then immediately segues in to the funky-electric-piano laden but guitar driven "What Do You want From Me".



"Poles Apart" is a pensive lament to the beyond deteriorated relationship of David Gilmour and Roger Waters. "Marooned" is a dreamy, excellent instrumental with some of David Gilmour's finest guitar work of late.



The album does hit a bit of a musical stagnancy with "A Great day For Freedom", commenting on the 1989 falling of the Berlin Wall about five years too late. But in all fairness, Pink Floyd's last album, 1987's A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, was seven years prior to The Division Bell.



The stagnancy almost continues with the next track "Wearing The Inside Out" but a very pleasant and significant thing happens, for the first time since 1973's "Us And Them" from The Dark Side of The Moon, Richard Wright reemerges for the first time in 21 years on lead vocals. It is also to an extent his take on his relationship with Roger Waters.



The Division Bell finally regains its momentum on the remaining five tracks, which along with "What Do You want From Me" are the best cuts on The Division Bell. "Take It Back" with the familiar Gilmour staccato riff, shifts the album back into musical gear. The wailing sounds are actually from David Gilmour e-bowing an acoustical guitar. The upbeat and anthemic "Coming Back To Life" keeps things going musically, I think the song is a metaphor for the reemergence of Pink Floyd as a truly collaborative, functional unit, back from their early to mid 80's oblivion.



"Keep Talking", a highly progressive track, and the lead FM rock radio track that spent many weeks at #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It is a plea for humans to simply foster better communications and relationships with each other, as mentioned many times the synthesized voice on this song is provided by the famous cosmologist Dr. Stephen Hawking. Dr. Hawking suffers from a motor-neurone disease and is confined to a wheelchair; he cannot speak with out the aid of his synthasized device.



"Lost For Words" an accessible melodic, acoustic laden tack, opens up the Gilmour vs. Waters motif again, with David Gilmour accounting the rejection of his olive branch attempt for reconciliation with Roger Waters, which the latter ultimately rejects.



"High Hopes" concludes this great work, an epic a longing for the days of youth and when things were simpler, whether is was child hood or the earlier days of Pink Floyd. Surprisingly in 1994 this track garnered a good amount of FM rock radio airplay; it was fifth track of the album released to rock radio.



Another note of signifcance about The Division Bell that this was Pink Floyd's first number one album in 14 years, since its classic The Wall. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart and remained there for four weeks.



Is The Division Bell on par with The Dark Side of The Moon, Wish You Were Here or The Wall? No absolutely not, but if you find Meddle, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason or any other true collaborative Pink Floyd group effort to be really good music, then by all means do not pass on the The Division Bell.

A fitting coda

The music is as tight as ever, and thematically, Gilmour manages to come close to Roger Waters' brilliance in the seventies. THE DIVISION BELL, however, feels like a band saying "We're finished." And it would seem so. It's been 11 years, and Gilmour has been quoted as saying "the tank is empty." Now he and Waters are working through intermediaries to manage the band's huge library.



But let us talk of THE DIVISION BELL and Pink Floyd's swan song. Here, the band sounds more like a whole unit than it did on MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON. Credit Richard Wright, who does more of the writing and takes a few turns on vocals. Whereas MOMENTARY had Gilmour's fingerprints all over it, you hear all three members this time, with Mason's flare for sound effects more thoughtful. (Stephen Hawking doing a spoken intro? How Floyd is that?) Thematically, the songs seem to tie together. One song, "Take It Back," though, seems a better fit for MOMENTARY or even THE WALL. Still a welcome addition.



The band, however, sounds tired. How can I tell? Try singing "Have a Cigar" over "What Do You Want From Me?" Think they're trying to tell us something. Also, Gilmour's vocals sound a little flat in places, like he's not as into this as he once was.



It's the inspired final song, however, that tells you the sun is setting on Pink Floyd. "High Hopes" is a sad tune with a tolling bell in the background and poignant piano and guitar work throughout. Listening to it, you get the impression that the credits are rolling on a movie that ends on a down note. A terrific song, possibly the best of the post-Waters era, but also one that seems to say goodbye.

Severely Underrated by Critics

I don't understand why this album has been panned so much by critics.

I am a huge Pink Floyd fan, appreciating their music from Piper at the Gates of Dawn up to The Division Bell. I also happened to enjoy Momentary Lapse of Reason, although I may be in a minority there. The Division Bell doesn't suffer from Roger Waters's absense; in fact, I think it is strengthened by it. Towards the end of his career with the band, he became too controlling (The Final Cut consisted entirely of songs written by him, and not very good ones at that). I think the band sounds the best when all members write, but in terms of solo writing, I personally think Gilmour sounds the best musically (although Waters was the better lyricist). This album sounds more like older Floyd, with an ethereal, mildly psychedelic quality to it. To some degree it builds on the strengths of Momentary Lapse (flowing, ethereal sounds) without its weaknesses (too little involvement by Nick Mason and Richard Wright). Just because it is not as hard rocking as the Wall or as psychedelic as Piper at the Gates or Atom Heart Mother does not justify the criticism against it. Anyone who appreciates Floyd should enjoy this album.