On an Island
music — UK — 2006

6.0
It`s really a shame for me to say this but I`ve lost something in my heart that I guess will never return - it`s the passionate and ever understanding love for everything each and every single member (or former member) of Pink Floyd has done in his life. Take this new David Gilmour LP for instance. Most of the experts say it`s nice but I can`t really enjoy it for I can`t find anything at least remotely fresh in it. If a musician has used the same musical ideas over and over again (and his name isn`t Angus Young) you have very little need to listen to his latest work if there`s plenty of better music in his back catalogue.
"On an Island" starts with an instrumental entitled "Castellorizon" - a moody piece of ambient that transforms into a a slow guitar playing masterclass in the end. What a pity that Dave has recycled everything from "Shine on you crazy diamond" to some of the least bothering numbers of "A momentary lapse of reason" for it. Then comes "On an Island" which can be a tribute to both "The Dark Side of the Moon" and "The division bell". I still get my kicks from the former and some of the "Division bell" songs aren`t bad either, but the title song of Gilmour`s new album is just a repetition of stuff we already know and I can`t feel too much nostalgia about it - after all Gilly already used that trick on "High Hopes" when he tried to summarize his entire career in one song, on this island here you have warm and yet darkish arrangements but nothing with a slightest possibility of replacing the originals. "The blue" is yet another example for a "Divison Bell" song (on "Momentary lapse" the sound would be more 80-ish). In the end David Gimour is just an old man, who`s at least capable of accepting that he`ll never have another "Comfortably numb" again, but that doesn`t save "On an Island" from being a very average work.
2006-03-09
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