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| Why Pink Floyd's return is a timely one | Why Pink Floyd's return is a timely one |
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| There was a time when news of a new Pink Floyd album would have been met with snorts of derision or extended yawns. Actually, the news that there will be a new Pink Floyd album was met with snorts of derision and extended yawns from some Guardian readers, but not as many as there might once have been. It’s a long time since Johnny Rotten wore his I hate Pink Floyd T-shirt. In fact, even Rotten/Lydon has mellowed towards them, telling the Quietus in 2010: “You'd have to be daft as a brush to say you didn't like Pink Floyd. They’ve done great stuff.” | |
| The idea that the Floyd and their prog-rock ilk are outdated is itself, these days, obsolete. Flaming Lips are about to release a cosmic love letter to the music with their Electric Würms side project, and there are a number of great new prog bands, from Anathema to Kitten Pyramid. There is even a magazine devoted to prog, mystifyingly titled Prog. Its writers don’t just pen lengthy discourses on bands during the genre's golden age – much of the focus is also on the work bands are doing now. The current issue, for example, has Yes on the cover and inside features a 10-page article about their new album. The bar has seriously been raised as to what these so-called dinosaurs can achieve, or at least listeners’ expectations are higher than they might have been. | |
| That said, Pink Floyd’s forthcoming album, The Endless River, to be released in October, isn’t new-new. It comprises worked-up versions of songs first started during sessions for their last album, 1994’s The Division Bell. Again, Yes spring to mind: their 2011 album Fly From Here was based on the typically multipartite epic title suite – or hexalogy, if you want to be prog about it – which was circa 1980 and was reworked 30 years down the line. And the point is, it was good – really good. | That said, Pink Floyd’s forthcoming album, The Endless River, to be released in October, isn’t new-new. It comprises worked-up versions of songs first started during sessions for their last album, 1994’s The Division Bell. Again, Yes spring to mind: their 2011 album Fly From Here was based on the typically multipartite epic title suite – or hexalogy, if you want to be prog about it – which was circa 1980 and was reworked 30 years down the line. And the point is, it was good – really good. |
| By contrast, I have always found The Division Bell to be 66 minutes of crushing tedium, and so I'm less excited by the prospect of spin-off material from that period. There is some doubt about how far the Floyd will take those original demos, or how close in sound and spirit they will be to The Division Bell. In Floyd circles, the sessions are known as The Big Spliff (echoing the intoxicant-as-nomenclature that was The Pub Sessions, the name of Yes’ officially unreleased recordings from Paris in 1979). Floyd drummer Nick Mason described it as “ambient mood music", akin to "bands like the Orb”. Which makes sense: the latter ambient techno outfit were obvious Floyd-heads, meeting Dave Gilmour at a Melody Maker summit the year before the Big Spliff recordings. An hour of stoner jams would be great. | By contrast, I have always found The Division Bell to be 66 minutes of crushing tedium, and so I'm less excited by the prospect of spin-off material from that period. There is some doubt about how far the Floyd will take those original demos, or how close in sound and spirit they will be to The Division Bell. In Floyd circles, the sessions are known as The Big Spliff (echoing the intoxicant-as-nomenclature that was The Pub Sessions, the name of Yes’ officially unreleased recordings from Paris in 1979). Floyd drummer Nick Mason described it as “ambient mood music", akin to "bands like the Orb”. Which makes sense: the latter ambient techno outfit were obvious Floyd-heads, meeting Dave Gilmour at a Melody Maker summit the year before the Big Spliff recordings. An hour of stoner jams would be great. |
| The Endless River certainly won’t feature Roger Waters, nor will it include outtakes or reject songs from The Division Bell (see also: Led Zep’s Coda and New Order’s Lost Sirens). They’re discrete recordings courtesy of Messrs Mason, Gilmour and Wright that just happen to share a timeline with The Division Bell. At their inception they were purely instrumental, although disappointingly some, vocals have since been added by Gilmour and Durga McBroom-Hudson. (If the latter puts in an OTT performance similar to her one on The Division Bell's Wearing the Inside Out you may be forced to seek recourse with the vocal-removing software Audacity.) | The Endless River certainly won’t feature Roger Waters, nor will it include outtakes or reject songs from The Division Bell (see also: Led Zep’s Coda and New Order’s Lost Sirens). They’re discrete recordings courtesy of Messrs Mason, Gilmour and Wright that just happen to share a timeline with The Division Bell. At their inception they were purely instrumental, although disappointingly some, vocals have since been added by Gilmour and Durga McBroom-Hudson. (If the latter puts in an OTT performance similar to her one on The Division Bell's Wearing the Inside Out you may be forced to seek recourse with the vocal-removing software Audacity.) |
| Reactions to the news of Floyd’s first “new” album in 20 years have been mixed. Some are of the “no Waters, no Floyd” variety (echoing Yes once more and the reflex reaction of diehards to the absence of Jon Anderson on the band’s last two albums). Others consider it an opportunity for a decent memorial to Richard Wright; The Endless River will include some of the late keyboardist's compositions. Me, I’m neither snorting nor yawning. Because one of rock’s biggest bands are back and there's every chance it will be at least halfway decent. | Reactions to the news of Floyd’s first “new” album in 20 years have been mixed. Some are of the “no Waters, no Floyd” variety (echoing Yes once more and the reflex reaction of diehards to the absence of Jon Anderson on the band’s last two albums). Others consider it an opportunity for a decent memorial to Richard Wright; The Endless River will include some of the late keyboardist's compositions. Me, I’m neither snorting nor yawning. Because one of rock’s biggest bands are back and there's every chance it will be at least halfway decent. |
| • Pink Floyd to release new album, The Endless River | • Pink Floyd to release new album, The Endless River |