RATTLE THAT LOCK

With finally laying prog juggernaut Pink Floyd to rest to the tears of a billion and one rock fans around the world, former front-man and guitarist David Gilmour now positions himself to commit fully to a more low-key yet very worthwhile solo career. 2015's `Rattle That Lock, coming nine years after his previous sedate work `On An Island', has the musician offering ten tracks full of variety and inspiration, and despite mention from the man himself of a loose concept about "thoughts and feelings that all of us have in the course of a single day", it's more a collection of tunes peppered with similarly gentle observations and reflective thoughts that tie them together. Do not get confused - this is not much of a progressive rock album, and there's only a few sections here and there that remind of his former band, but it is a highly intelligent, reflective and melodic mix of blues, mellow contemplative rock, folk and light jazz. Oddly, despite often being melancholic and pensive, it also occasionally presents more upbeat and up-tempo pieces than might be normally expected of the artist, and it's a joy to hear David's voice sounding more relaxed, warm and freed than ever before.

Opening instrumental (yes, there are three of them on this disc, prog freaks!) `5 A.M' is a drift of ambient synths, delicate orchestration and Gilmour's heartbreaking guitar ruminations. The title track `Rattle That Lock' is an instantly enjoyable foot-tapping up- tempo bluesy strut with a great raspy lead vocal, a catchy melody and nice murmuring bass throughout, then ghostly pindrop piano and groaning accordion wafts through the despondent `Faces of Stone'. In just over four and half minutes, `A Boat Lies Waiting' calls to mind different eras of Pink Floyd - Gilmour's carefully weeping slide guitar intro harkens back to `The Division Bell', the murkier and beautifully wounded piano over field recordings of nature that follows instantly reminds of Richard Wright and the `Ummagumma' period, then uplifting soulful group harmonies from guests David Crosby and Graham Nash lift the piece to the heavens. The bluesy `Dancing Right in Front of Me' closes the first side and saunters from playful to downcast with lovely jazzy interludes.

Floyd fans will love the heavy guitars, dark lyric and brooding mood of `In Any Tongue', where the steady plodding drums would make you think the Nick Mason of the later Floyd albums had dropped by. Instrumental `Beauty' dashes through a range of ideas, initially opening with ambient synth drones, call and respond piano and guitar contemplations and careful percussion rises before picking up into tempo and taking flight with slow-burn guitar solos, and it's probably the closest the album comes to a progressive rock moment. Ex- Soft Machine founder Robert Wyatt guests on sultry and laid-back old-time jazz saunter `The Girl in the Yellow Dress', and his cornet soloing makes for a very evocative and memorable diversion. After opening with an unexpected gospel vocal arrangement, the surprising `Today' reveals itself to be a sleek up-tempo subtly grooving Peter Gabriel- esque pop/rocker, with ex-Pink Floyd player Guy Pratt's thick bass snaking between slinking New Wave 80's King Crimson-era metallic guitar jangling. Instrumental closer `And Then...' is a thoughtful guitar, electric piano and orchestral come-down to close the album in a tasteful manner that would have felt right at home on Pink Floyd's `The Division Bell'.

It's a relief to find Gilmour emerging with far more than simply his dignity intact here, if anything he sounds inspired and excited that the pressure of `that band' is past him now, leaving him free to offer more personal and approachable music without sacrificing intelligence and sophistication. The album is hardly some tired old man going through the motions, or worse, a collection of useless cover versions like so many `oldies' acts offer these days, and it's not a `guitarists solo album', with Gilmour resorting to endlessly dropping epic guitar solos as may have been expected of him. David has delivered a smart work full of rich variety, and `Rattle That Lock' might not only be more interesting than the surprise but welcome and reliable Pink Floyd swansong `The Endless River', but it could perhaps be his most satisfying and varied solo release to date.

Four stars for a mighty fine rock album from one of the most influential and important musicians in progressive rock.

social review comments | Review Permalink
Posted Tuesday, September 22, 2015 | Review this album | Report (Review #1468646)

One word reviews are not allowed, otherwise I would have written "disappointing". I'm sorry, but Sir David has not satisfied my tastes for the first time in his long career. Listening to the sample of Rattle That Lock released on his site few months ago I was expecting at least an album as good as About Face, but what we have is mainly discontinuity. I hate fading out finals of songs, and almost all the tracks fade out. The few spare guitar riffs seem to have no feeling, and that "feeling" was one of the best Gilmour's characteristics. Ok, there's some good. The Girl In Yellow Dress is as good as unexpected. A jazz song but it could have been Sting....well, not so bad (I don't like Sting). Good but outplaced. A full jazz album would have had its reasons, but this song is totally isolated from the context. If you decide to go for the version with the extra contents, please avoid the disco mix of "Rattle that Lock". It's absolutely the worst thing I have ever listened from Sir David....well, not really listened because I didn't resist for the whole length. If few years ago he did some interesting approaches to electronic and disco mixes in the very good album with The Orb, this mix is a total rubbish, also because the title track is poppy but not bad. The rest of the album has good moments here and there, so that it won't be a total waste of money, but this is not what I would expect from an artist like him. If this will be (I hope not) the last output of his career, there could have been dozens of better ways to close it. Just few words about the sax. We can appreciate that this is not David Gilmour's best instrument, but he plays it quite well and the work done on the mentioned "Yellow Girl" is one of the few highlights of the album. There's some good guitar "as we expect" in the opening and in the closing tracks, so it's not an album to throw directly in the bin. It's just that from David Gilmour I would have expected very much more

social review comments | Review Permalink
Posted Tuesday, October 6, 2015 | Review this album | Report (Review #1473048)

4.5: The fifth album by David Gilmour, the best yet in my opinion and actually being his more commercial successfully in his solo career, as I considered On Island too calm. After hearing the different, but really good On an Island and the disappointing About Face, I was only going to give it a pl ... (read more)

Report this review (#2169094) | Posted by mariorockprog | Wednesday, March 27, 2019 | Review Permanlink

Hi from Argentina: Any musician who released 4 solo albums in 44 years is surely not what we call a prolific one. Moreover, Mr. Gilmour is about to blow 76 candles on next March 6. So, few chances on getting a follower of this Rattle ... but please Mr. Gilmour, you can ! ...One who loves Pink Floyd ... (read more)

Report this review (#2132107) | Posted by Awaken 6am | Monday, January 28, 2019 | Review Permanlink

"Rattle That Lock" is David Gilmour's first solo studio album since 2006 and it came out less than a year after his Pink Floyd's "The Endless River". It features ten relatively short elegiac songs, half of them co-written with Gilmour's wife, the novelist Polly Samson. The major lyrical theme of " ... (read more)

Report this review (#1933608) | Posted by raigor | Thursday, May 24, 2018 | Review Permanlink

Lots of potential, but often squandered. Putting this album on one is immediately struck by a beautiful instrumental tune (titled "5am") with a great subdued Gilmour solo. However, just as Gilmour's solo is about to take off and you are getting into it, it fades out. This pretty well sums up the ... (read more)

Report this review (#1698248) | Posted by Walkscore | Friday, March 3, 2017 | Review Permanlink

RATTLE THAT LOCK, the latest album from David Gilmour, demonstrates that the ex-Floyd guitar player has firmly established himself apart from his former band, and feels free to do what he pleases. He doesn't seem to be bothered whether he sounds 'floydian' enough or not, though he works very har ... (read more)

Report this review (#1580303) | Posted by The Grand Vizier | Sunday, June 19, 2016 | Review Permanlink

I waited a while before I bought this album as I did not really enjoy "On and Island" that much and the mixed reviews also did not encourage me. Then after listening to the title track I got more curious and I bought it spontaneously seeing it in a record store. This one IMO is better than his l ... (read more)

Report this review (#1545541) | Posted by King Manuel | Monday, March 28, 2016 | Review Permanlink

The Master Is Back! This is a typical David Gilmour Styled Album. Great atmospheres, soothing instrumentals and tasty guitar licks. He shows that he's passion for music hasn't even gone down a bit with passion age. The lyrics are well written and are personal. Some people don't like this album be ... (read more)

Report this review (#1516609) | Posted by Progkid | Thursday, January 21, 2016 | Review Permanlink

It took several listens for me before I started to form an opinion of "Rattle That Lock." First of all, as masterfully as each song is played by Gilmour and company, I was craving a more thorough connection between each song, with one leading into the next. Second, I felt this album was much s ... (read more)

Report this review (#1475248) | Posted by crashandridemusic | Sunday, October 11, 2015 | Review Permanlink

Even with me being a big Pink Floyd fan, I never cared much for David Gilmour's solo material (or any solo albums from the other members for that matter) and this album here isn't changing my opinion. That is mainly because this album isn't really anything different from what we have seen from D ... (read more)

Report this review (#1467282) | Posted by Imperial Zeppelin | Sunday, September 20, 2015 | Review Permanlink

Some things, aside from scotch, do age well. Rattle that lock is the forth solo album from renowned Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. And folks, it's not bad. Not bad at all. Everyone by now should know the bombastic single and title track and I'm happy to say that Rattle That Lock is not rep ... (read more)

Report this review (#1464435) | Posted by SteveG | Thursday, September 17, 2015 | Review Permanlink

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).