ABOUT FACE

For me this is a pretty good rock album. For sure, this is not really progressive rock, but neither was Gilmour's first solo album and neither were most Pink Floyd albums. This is simply well crafted guitar based rock, featuring Gilmour's distinctive lead vocals and his distinctive guitar sound. It is not at all flashy. Indeed, this is rather laid back music, but with a certain edge to it. Some songs are rather mellow acoustically based (semi-) ballads. Not at all far away from the sound of Gilmour's more recent album, On An Island. Some songs remind me a bit of Camel, especially the slightly whimsical You Know I'm Right. The overall tone of the album reminds of the Stationary Traveller album.

One reason this is rated so low might be that only Pink Floyd fans give this album a chance. And if you expect it to sound like Floyd you are bound to be disappointed. This can not really be compared to Pink Floyd's music. For me, being more of a David Gilmour fan than a Pink Floyd fan, I can easily think of several Pink Floyd albums less appealing to me than this!

About Face is a decent rock album that you will enjoy if you don't expect too much from it, and in particular if you don't expect it to sound like Pink Floyd.