Pink Floyd – The Endless River (2014) review
Pink Floyd “The Endless River” (Parlophone, 2014)
Pink Floyd never made it to the 50 year mark, but they got
close, and “close” is more than I can say for Endless River, and album that
features an unremarkable cover of a gent sailing off into the sunset on a warm
sea of clouds … how very prophetic.
But allow me backtrack, and wonder for a bit.
close, and “close” is more than I can say for Endless River, and album that
features an unremarkable cover of a gent sailing off into the sunset on a warm
sea of clouds … how very prophetic.
But allow me backtrack, and wonder for a bit.
With this many years and albums behind them, Pink Floyd have
been many things to many generations, but never the same to all, and I
sincerely doubt there’s a fan who hasn’t gotten lost along the way, cherishing
several albums that speak to them, and forever selfishly hoping that Floyd and
Pink will find their way back to those special moments. I remember seeing Pink Floyd on their first
tour of America, it was an adventure to say the least, then again for Dark Side
of The Moon, and Animals. For me, Pink
Floyd were all about Meddle, Dark Side of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals …
after that they lost me. I genuinely
became tired and disenchanted by their infighting, and the constant repetition
of themes; though it’s been said that an artist paints but one painting, and
then constantly repeats it with variations.
So yes, there are those who stand firmly in the camp of Syd, and the mid
60’s Floyd, and those rooted in the 70’s, when home electronics hit their
golden age, and yes, many are still enthralled with The Wall, and all that
followed. But even with all their
experimentation, Endless River is not a proper Pink Floyd album, no matter how
much Floyd’s members try to insist that it is.
been many things to many generations, but never the same to all, and I
sincerely doubt there’s a fan who hasn’t gotten lost along the way, cherishing
several albums that speak to them, and forever selfishly hoping that Floyd and
Pink will find their way back to those special moments. I remember seeing Pink Floyd on their first
tour of America, it was an adventure to say the least, then again for Dark Side
of The Moon, and Animals. For me, Pink
Floyd were all about Meddle, Dark Side of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, and Animals …
after that they lost me. I genuinely
became tired and disenchanted by their infighting, and the constant repetition
of themes; though it’s been said that an artist paints but one painting, and
then constantly repeats it with variations.
So yes, there are those who stand firmly in the camp of Syd, and the mid
60’s Floyd, and those rooted in the 70’s, when home electronics hit their
golden age, and yes, many are still enthralled with The Wall, and all that
followed. But even with all their
experimentation, Endless River is not a proper Pink Floyd album, no matter how
much Floyd’s members try to insist that it is.
First and foremost, it’s nearly a posthumous release, as two
original members have drifted downstream, and most of the material harkens back
to outtakes and cutting room floor bits that at the time were deemed
unremarkable, yet here, strung together with other bits and pieces from the
60’s onward, somehow people have convinced themselves that Floyd are doing what
they’ve always done … drawing from their surroundings to create a sonic
landscape of vision and wonder. But it’s
not a sonic landscape, for the most part it’s an instrumental album that drifts
nowhere, channeling nothing, and climbs to no remarkable soaring heights. The lyrics are sparse, and when delivered,
still harken to personal imperfections, wrong doings, the fact that time has
passed them by, and the notion that no matter how sincere, amends can never be
made with either lost family or bandmates.
original members have drifted downstream, and most of the material harkens back
to outtakes and cutting room floor bits that at the time were deemed
unremarkable, yet here, strung together with other bits and pieces from the
60’s onward, somehow people have convinced themselves that Floyd are doing what
they’ve always done … drawing from their surroundings to create a sonic
landscape of vision and wonder. But it’s
not a sonic landscape, for the most part it’s an instrumental album that drifts
nowhere, channeling nothing, and climbs to no remarkable soaring heights. The lyrics are sparse, and when delivered,
still harken to personal imperfections, wrong doings, the fact that time has
passed them by, and the notion that no matter how sincere, amends can never be
made with either lost family or bandmates.
To be honest, Endless River comes off like the final two hour
special for a television sit-com series, where there are endless flashbacks,
outtakes worked in, and an attempt to tie things together … though sadly always
coming off a bit disingenuous. But, this
is the way of the world, people desire things to be drawn together, all of the
i’s dotted, and the t’s crossed. If
anyone should know that the curtains can not be drawn, and the door quietly
closed, it’s Pink Floyd, a band who made their mark by painting a hallucinatory
sky.
special for a television sit-com series, where there are endless flashbacks,
outtakes worked in, and an attempt to tie things together … though sadly always
coming off a bit disingenuous. But, this
is the way of the world, people desire things to be drawn together, all of the
i’s dotted, and the t’s crossed. If
anyone should know that the curtains can not be drawn, and the door quietly
closed, it’s Pink Floyd, a band who made their mark by painting a hallucinatory
sky.
I do not relish this bit of reality …
Review made by Jenell Kesler/2014
© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2014
