THINK FLOYD

THINK FLOYD pulls of a decent tribute to PINK FLOYD, and it's a nice listen for those who won't be bothered by band's unoriginality (they are a tribute band, get over it). The whole ordeal is somewhere between FLOYD's "Momentary Lapse Of Reason" and "Division Bell" but with the distinct change with singer sounding very much like ROGER WATERS. Hearing something like WATERS influence combined with "Division Bell" FLOYD does sound like a dream come true but I do think it gets more perfected on the next album, "Hope" gets thus three stars. Especially the title track which is marvelous and the one most probable to mistake for the real PINK FLOYD and "Scanning For Life" for example reminds of ROGER's solo work but more optimistic and spacey. Some trademarks do get to me, like shorter filler tracks having radio speaker like the intro of "Wish You Were Here". Also, there are more tracks that sound too "Momentary Lapse Of Reason", they somehow come up feeling very 80's and outdated to me. I'd recommend this to FLOYD fans only, since I don't think you will find some new groundbreaking space rock here.

Seriously ??

I respect all opinions here, but I can't figure out how someone can give four or five stars to this album. I was even unable to reach the end of it. I'm not against tribute bands, nor against imitations : for example, I like some Citizen Cain imitations of Genesis, I like some of IQ's ones, I like when Giraffe reinterprets The Lamb, and I was very happy to see, recently, a Pink Floyd tribute band trying to reproduce the Pulse tour.

But in this album with original material, we just have some reminiscence of the late Pink Floyd sound (the one of Momentary Lapse...), with a terrible singer who tries to imitate the typical Gilmour voice of the late Floyd albums... all the melodies are just refurbishing of original ones, where they add some typical Floyd gimmicks...

This is, at best, what the Watch does with Genesis, but with a very poor technical level IMHO. No pleasure at all for me, sorry.

My original review gave this album 2 stars, and 1 star for the previous album. However, upon further listening I definitely have to upgrade the two albums. While the immediate standout track is clearly "Hope," the other songs definitely grew on me. Who knows? I might upgrade even further someday...

I will go out on a limb and say the song "Hope" is the best and most Floydian song in the entire post-Floyd Waters/Gilmour canon. Squeeze it in somewhere on THE DIVISION BELL or ON AN ISLAND, and the albums get even better. Play it for your Pink Floyd-loving friends, and they will never believe you when you tell them it's not really Roger Waters. And they will swear it's possibly up there with "High Hopes" - or even better.

I can't wait for their next album.

Can an imitation of a musical style be "perfect" ? What's the meaning of "perfection" in imitation ?

Difficult to answer. If perfection in imitation is based on the ability to give illusion, then "Beyond boudnaries" is clearly a winner. Voice, guitars, keyboard, saxophone plays and composition are bufflng. One could clearly be misleaded in bieliving owning a true Pink Floyd album. An album which would take elements from Echoes (in Rebirth notably), Animals, and, most of all The Wall - but not solely. The most stunning composition is probably "Sea Of Dreams" which manages to mix the Gilmour aera (Division Bells) with the late Roger Waters solos (Amused to Death) manners. This song is an interesting glimpse of the Pink Floyd that could have been if ... "Awakening" finishes the way Eclipse finishes somehow.

The two weak domains of imitation are the drums for one part, not quite exactly à la Mason, and the general lack of chorus.

Can an obvious imitation be attributed 5 stars ? I would say yes, if only for the pleasure to listen to another Pink Floyd album. Even the illusion of it.