PINK FLOYD

Following on from the band's last full-length album The Division Bell and indeed David Gilmour's dalliances as a solo performer and collaborator with The Orb, Pink Floyd finally get round to unleashing the makings of a 'proper' album. Well, 'proper' as in it has the words Floyd and Pink on the cover. The Endless River is essentially a long drawn-out assemblage of offcuts and outtakes from The Division Bell sessions in the '90s, right up to new recently-composed passages designed to glue the whole thing together. It's exactly as you'd imagine - the first piece is an intro that sets the tone for the second track which barely breaks step in much the same way as Shine On You Crazy Diamond, with the occasional trademark Gilmour guitar-squeal and funereal beat.

You wouldn't really want Pink Floyd to break sweat with ribcage-scaring dubstep or a guest slot from Kanye West, but some deviation might have been nice. Whatever, to paraphrase track three, The Endless River does indeed Ebb and Flow, often pleasingly, seldom randomly. Anisina is rather pretty but, barring one piece on here, it's crying out for a song - The Endless River is almost entirely instrumental, recalling the band's earlier more exploratory works. But it ain't no Animals, Meddle or, natch, Dark Side Of The Moon - it's the swansong of an act that is as likely to tour again as Led Zeppelin are to soundtrack the next John Lewis advert. On Louder Than Words, they wearily proclaim "we bitch and we fight../ with world-weary grace, we've taken our place...". In music history, regardless of how good or bad The Endless River is, Pink Floyd remain one of the most influential outfits this nation has produced.

This review also appeared on Flipside Reviews

Paul PLEDGER
17/11/2014