Pink Floyd - "The Endless River" -- New Release October 2014 (Part Three)

I agree but let's wait for a proper full listen.

 

The Brits must love them some Pink Floyd… # 1 on Amazon.UK chart

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/music/ref=pd_dp_ts_m_h__1

We Americans on the other hand…not so much as it's getting beat by Annie Lennox, Neil Diamond, Bob Seger, Slipknot, Taylor Swift and SUSAN BOYLE!!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/music/37/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_m_3_2_last

 

How do you know this? Have you heard it?

 

don't forget Barbra Streisand.

 

No, of course not but I have heard the song (can't remember the name) and the two instrumental pieces that have been floating around. Unless those pieces are wholly unrepresentative of the album I stand by my words although I'd be really happy to eat crow! Put another way, what I described as pleasant sounding meanderings are chopped up after the fact jams, not compositions, and that's the rub in my opinion. (I really like the Derek and the Dominos deluxe version jam disc, but make no mistake, it's a far cry from the album proper.)

 

The trouble with a band like Pink Floyd is the weight of their history, and how that shapes expectations - even before anyone's heard anything.

Objectively, Division Bell (which I like) probably deserves more like 2.5 stars (out of 5) -- but that's largely because it's up against 5-star albums like DSOTM and WYWH (and Piper). Absent those (especially the two from the 70's), and the huge sales (and well-deserved successes) of The Wall -- of course Division Bell is going to be perceived as being half-baked at best (and maybe it is, even though much of it is quite good).

Based on the "expectations" associated with the band name, the very BEST Endless River could hope for from something like Allmusic is maybe 2.5 stars (at most). Hell, they only give 2 stars (not even 2.5) to Obscured by Clouds (a really fine album, for what it is) - so there's really a ceiling they're butting up against with the real successes (critical and commercial) of their prior work.

I'm still hoping Endless River is going to be slightly better (or maybe 'more interesting' is a better way of putting it) than The Division Bell (which I like), and "definitely better" than most of AMLOR (which is a bit of a mixed bag).

 

I think a mostly instrumental album based on cuts and samplers by the past can't top The Division Bell which was made by the three of them, at the same room, working on Pink Floyd songs with all the responsibility it represents. Really can't imagine a song with the strength of High Hopes in this new record (probably the one would be Louder Than Words and it's light years faaar away from HH). So the best we can get is "Marooned" and the mixed bag would be something in the lines of Signs of Life and Cluster One.

 

What a sad way to end it.

 

There's plenty of good melodic music out there. Check Rateyourmusic.com to find the latest.

 

Well, it does say Pink Floyd on the cover. If it stinks, blame the people who made it, not people expecting the band that's clearly printed on the album cover.

 

You know if you set yourself up for disappointment, it's generally a self fulfilling prophecy. Division Bell may be a 2-3 star effort based on the bands catalog, but I tend to rate things in the grand scheme of things. How many albums from that era are still ones I listen to on a regular basis? Not many. That says a lot for the album's quality at least for me. The Endless River just has to be more music I enjoy from a band I love to be worth owning. It doesn't have to equal or surpass anything.

We have some good reviews and we have a 2.5 star review. Some suggest discarding reviews because it came from source X. Some feel the album is a sad failure because of a journalists opinion in another review. To each their own I guess.

 

As has been stated many times, the 3 people who were PF from 1985 until Rick Wright's passing in 2008 made the music on this album. It's a PF album. Maybe not the PF that you claim to be the One True Pink Floyd, but Pink Floyd none the less.

 

Do you have any links to any of these reviews? I can't seem to find any, not even when I type in the obvious search terms. Thanks.

 

Yeah, 2.5/5 from German Rolling Stone = case closed. I probably won't even listen to it now.

 

It's either a grand critical success, on a par with the very best of the entire Pink Floyd canon -- or else a sad, epic failure.

Why can't it be a lovely example of what it is -- the remaining members of Pink Floyd working in the same kind of context in which they were typically accustomed in the early-to-mid 90's.

The Division Bell wasn't a sad ending (or wouldn't have been, had it turned out to be the last), neither was it a grand and epic success. But it was nice for what it was.

 

Just what has been reported in this thread. Prog Rock was positive (don't own the issue, just feedback in here). The German Rolling Stone was 2.5. Way back in one of the other parts of this ongoing thread there was a negative foreign review (Italian?). And another blurb back around the time they announced the vinyl pressings that was positive.

 

I think the Italian one wasn't really an actual review... more like someone's attitude on the idea of a new Pink Floyd album (much like what you'll find in these threads).

 

Blame Gilmour...

 

You've heard two short 30-second samples from a 55 minute record, not 2 instrumental pieces.

I've previewed about 15 minutes of this album over the weekend in addition to the final song which I really love and it becomes even better within the context of this record. I heard some of the opening sequence, a section leading up to Autumn 68 (Rick's RFH organ gave me chills) and a short part of the 3rd "side". It is pretty much as previously described being both new and very familiar at the same time. I personally feel that the approach to the musical components of this record are quite brilliant by including familiar musical aspects spanning the band's entire career. I have a feeling that this may be one of my favorite Floyd albums for that very reason. It is inspired.

Most critics are going to love this album as will the majority of Pink Floyd fans as well as the casually interested. Who won't like it? Post-Waters Floyd haters, folks who feel that Roger should have participated in this final album, people who feel that these were demos that weren't good enough for The Division Bell, and folks who already hate it w/o even listening to it.

 

Au contraire - what a wonderful way to end it. A loving tribute to their friend who passed away. Sweet and very much Rick Wright musically, it appears.

 

People that hate it for what it isn't, more than liking it (or at least being open to it) for what it is.

 

Can someone explain to me why Dark side of the moon sucks? I mean when it came out it got some bad reviews so...

 

I personally don't care for reviews. I care about what I like and what moves me.

 

AMEN!