Pink Floyd - The Endless River

The Endless River comes from material leftover from 1994’s Division Bell sessions reworked by guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason and it is the first Pink Floyd album in 20 years.  The album is a tribute to keyboardist Richard Wright who passed away in 2008 and contains many of his last recordings.  Bassist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Roger Waters, who left Pink Floyd in 1985, has had nothing to do with this project or any others in this David Gilmour led era.  With the death of Wright, The Endless River looks to be the last release in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame band’s career.  

From the moment the spoken word intro of “Things Left Unsaid…” haunt the listener’s eardrums to the final fading echoes of “Louder Than Words” this album is unmistakably Pink Floyd.  “Things Left Unsaid…”, with its mix of synthesizers and guitars, sounds like it would fit seamlessly into Pink Floyd’s 1975 masterpiece “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”  From there, the album’s tracks flow seamlessly together like many of the tracks on Pink Floyd’s 1973 Magnum Opus, Dark Side of the Moon.  The Endless River winds aimlessly along with “Sum” which showcases some signature guitar work from David Gilmour, “Skins” which shows off Nick Mason’s prowess as a drummer, and “Allons-Y” parts 1 and 2 which made me think that Gilmour, Wright, and Mason were beginning to recapture some of the magic that was Pink Floyd.  Bonus Track “Nervana” is a rip-roaring David Gilmour solo that rocks the hardest of any song on the record but would be more at home on a Black Keys album than with the mystifying organ of Richard Wright and the cautious, pensive drumming of Nick Mason.    

For the most part, The Endless River is a collection of short, 2 minute, instrumental jams with the trio of Gilmour, Mason, and Wright lacking any remarkable or catchy melody.  Only “It’s What We Do” and “Louder Than Words” exceed 6 minutes, which is uncharacteristic of Pink Floyd.  Most of the album features Richard Wright piano outtakes dressed up with guitars, synths, strings, and percussion, which sound like Floydian slips when compared to the epics that Pink Floyd has recorded in the past.  The Endless River is a fitting tribute to Wright and a pretty good final effort for Pink Floyd, but the creative genius of Roger Waters is noticeably absent.  Even though the record contains some flashes of brilliance and a few echoes of the past, The Endless River is aptly named.  It drags on endlessly without any direction or unifying themes binding it together like the masterpieces of the 1970’s.  But most importantly The Endless River lacks Waters.