THE ENDLESS RIVER

This is an odd album. Pretty much every reviewer I have seen has been very quick to mention that it's really just outtakes from The Division Bell. I am going to be the first one to say that this is simply not true. Much of it was recorded around the same time as The Division Bell, but whether they thought about releasing the disks together or not, in its original form it was still conceived as a separate piece. Think Ummagumma, with the disk they knew everybody would like and then the weird studio one (with this being the weird studio one, but better).

I think this is an important distinction, because if it isn't made people will just assume it's some sort of incomplete, half-baked CD thrown together out of desperation. In my opinion, this is one of Floyd's masterpieces, and I was not expecting to find myself thinking that. I find The Division Bell to be a serious snoozefest and I find Momentary Lapse to be just bad. I honestly didn't have much hope for the Gilmour-led Floyd. In contrast, I absolutely love the Waters-dominated albums (including The Final Cut), which many people find unbearable.

For me, this disc is Pink Floyd deconstructed, and it is breathtakingly beautiful. Listen to Roger's Pros and Cons for a Pink Floyd sound and try to pinpoint what is missing. The answer is this album. In the other Gilmour Floyd albums, they seem to try to fill the void left by Roger with stupid attempts at imitative lyrics and ridiculous numbers of studio musicians. Here they don't even try to fill that void, and having left that open they create a beautiful, previously undefinable example of exactly what the rest of Pink Floyd does and has always done.

This album is really a melting pot of all the styles Pink Floyd has ever done, ranging from Barrett- era oddness, to post-Barrett pandemonium and drama, to the classic stuff, to the sinister nature of the Waters era. It's all represented here in some form, but from a distance, reduced to its bare essentials. In this sense it really makes for a fitting goodbye. It encapsulates everything that Pink Floyd has always been about.

The Division Bell-ish closer, Louder Than Words, sums it up well (it's a bit disappointing when listened to on its own, but makes beautiful sense in the context of the rest of the album). What they do (not including Waters) does not need to include deep, metaphorical lyrics. Without Waters, the lyrics get in the way. That's why this album is perfect. Because the instrumentals are louder and more meaningful than words, in this situation, could ever make them.

The original lineup of Pink Floyd has always, in my opinion, touched something flawed and painful in the human spirit that nobody else could pull off with nearly as much finesse. Here they do it again, and I am incredibly sad to say that this will be the very last time. We will miss you.