David Gilmour - On an Island
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Music CD Cover
Artist: David GilmourEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-03-07
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Castellorizon
- On An Island
- The Blue
- Take A Breath
- Red Sky At Night
- This Heaven
- Then I Close My Eyes
- Smile
- A Pocketful of Stones
- Where We Start
Free Music Notes for On an Island
Free Music Review: The closest thing we'll get to a new Pink Floyd album.
Hit: 4 Stars
Due to the untimely death of Richard Wright, there is next to no chance that there will a Pink Floyd reunion anytime soon. But don't fret, because David Gilmour's latest solo release, On An Island, will certainly quench the thirst for Pink Floyd fans old and new.
The trademarks are all there: The reflective and emotional mood, breathy sound effects, special effects seguing into another track, and of course, the voice and powerful guitar solos of David Gilmour. But there are some tricks on this album that are anything but Floyd, such as the R&B flavored "This Heaven," which is the jazziest thing Gilmour's ever created.
The album's first half is some of Gilmour's best work. The title track contains gorgeous harmonies by 2/3 of CS&N, The Blue feels like a dream, Take A Breath is reminiscent of The Wall-era Floyd, and tracks such as Red Sky At Night (with Gilmour on sax) and Then I Close My Eyes shows David in experimental mode, not afraid to change his personal style or his music.
Unfortuantly, the last few songs fall flat. Smile is a little on the campy side, and A Pocketful Of Stones is incredibly dull, something you would hear on a later-era Moody Blues album. Where We Start picks up steam near the end, but one would feel that if he ditched the last 3 songs and wrote some stronger material with, say, Richard Wright, it would be a much more satisfying album.
All complaints aside, On An Island is a very good album by a man who really doesn't need to prove himself anymore, and that's saying something. Reccomended for fans of The Division Bell, or any Floyd albums after Dark Side.
On an Island Poster
Japanese Digipak pressing. On An Island is the third David Gilmour solo album and his first studio recording since Pink Floyd's 1994 multi-platinum 'The Division Bell'. From the first moments of the sound collage that begins 'On An Island', you know it's a special experience that not only bears comparison with the best of Pink Floyd, but also confirms their lead guitarist and singer as an outstanding solo artist. Here he reveals a personal vision and a breadth of styles - folk, jazz, orchestral and rock - brought together as a unified piece by his lyrical guitar playing and instantly recognisable voice. On An Island is a collection of songs and instrumentals that had its genus in the critically acclaimed 2002 London Festival Hall concerts. Gilmour has stepped out of his super-group to discover he's still at his peak - and he's rightly pleased. 'It's my best and most personal work,' he says. 'Making it with my musician friends has been a positive experience on so many levels.' EMI. 2006.David Gilmour's solo career hasn't exactly been creatively restless; this is but the third album by the Pink Floyd guitarist, and first in 18 years. But that seemingly lackadaisical career ethos hasn't prevented Gilmour from producing some of his finest work here, an album whose soaring, lyrical guitar lines will be familiar to Floyd fans, yet one also blessed by often surprising nuances and delicate musical textures. Gilmour's Division Bell collaborator Polly Samson is credited with most of the writing, helping conjure a moody, texturally rich "island" that's as much musical as it is personally and lyrically metaphorical. "Castellorizon," the impressionistic opening instrumental collage, presages much of what's to come in subtle ways, with Gilmour's emotionally-charged guitar lines climbing into realms usually staked out by contemporary Jeff Beck.
Gilmour's choice of collaborators is equally compelling, from the evocative orchestrations of Polish classical modernist Zbigniew Preisner and expected contributions from Floyd (Richard Wright and proto-Pink mate Rado "Bob" Klose) to a host of guest turns that span both decades and styles: Georgie Fame, Phil Manzanera, Jools Holland, Caroline Dale and Robert Wyatt. The title track is graced by the stately harmonies of David Crosby and Graham Nash while the instrumental "Then I Close My Eyes" spins a hypnotic, bayou-meets-boho ethos where Dale's gentle cello lines meet the melancholy cornet flourishes of Wyatt to challenge the very notions of genre itself. "This Heaven" finds Gilmour in unexpected R&B territory, weaving playful riffs with '60s London scenester Fame's Hammond organ and finding its lyrical spirituality in simple, personal intimacy, a subtext that wafts through the upbeat airiness of "The Blue" to the spare "Smile," spinning a surprisingly romantic elegy that co! mes satisfyingly full circle on the closing "Where We Start." No man may be an island, but Gilmour has nonetheless crafted a rewarding artistic oasis on this, his finest and most gently personal album. -- Jerry McCulley
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