THE DIVISION BELL

3.5 stars. This would be PINK FLOYD's final studio album unfortunately. And while it comes across better then any of David Gilmour solo records it pales when compared to "The Wall" and just about all of FLOYD's albums before that. I honestly can understand the 4 star ratings and the 2 or 3 star ratings. It's an album that is well done with about 4 really good songs, but something is missing, and that "something" is Roger Waters. Love him or hate him I can't imagine him being on an album like this. I'll leave it at that.

"Cluster One" is actually a pretty cool instrumental. "What Do You Want From Me" is a song they used to play on the radio.The guitar is just killer. A top four track along with the next one "Poles Apart". I like how uplifting it is after the quiet interlude when the vocals come back after 4 minutes.The song closes with the master doing a guitar solo.

"Marooned" is an amazing guitar driven instrumental with piano.There are some inspiring lyrics on this album, like on "A Great Day For Freedom" and "High Hopes". The three tracks after "A Great Day For Freedom" really do little for me. Another gem though is "Keep Talking" (a top four). "Lost For Words" is ok. "High Hopes" is the other top four track and is a worthy track to be their final one ever.

Traces of their greatness can be heard here but overall I can't give this 4 stars. Still I like to give this a spin for the four tracks mentioned above.