Check out “Louder Than Words” at the link!
Exciting new for Pink Floyd fans! Today the details and release date were released for the upcoming Pink Floyd album The Endless River. One major question as we waited was “who would do the artwork?” Storm Thorgerson, who worked as part of Hipgnosis and solo, designed most of the landmark covers thus far. Sadly he passed away in 2013. The cover for The Endless River was created by Egyptian artist Ahmed Emad Eldin. I must say I quite like it. It definitely keeps in with the spirit of Storm’s dream-like designs.
Now about the music. I’ll do this FAQ style…
“Who is performing on the album?”
We know that David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Guy Pratt and Richard Wright will be featured. But how – with Richard Wright gone? This album release stems from outtake material from The Division Bell period. In 1993 when The Division Bell was being put together, all of the members jammed together on Astoria, David Gilmour’s houseboat studio. Hours and hours of tapes were made and the best bits were sorted through and worked on and developed into proper songs. The band had joked around at the time that the instrumental sessions might be culled together and released under the title The Big Spliff. However, I’m sure a level of professionalism and perfectionism crept in and the idea was scrapped.
This past year a box set was released to commemorate The Division Bell‘s 20th anniversary. However, to many fans’ dismay, no bonus material was included. “But why?” we asked. We knew of the outtake material, and a few tracks had made their way around the collecting circles recently on a bootleg called Secret Rarities. So what gives? Well a month or so after the box set came out, a tweet was posted on Twitter by Polly Samson, David Gilmour’s wife, leaking some details of a “new” Pink Floyd album. Within 48 hours, the details were out. When David Gilmour went in to review the outtake material, he started tooling around with it. He added some backing vocals here, some guitar there, and started figuring out how to work the material into a proper album. The entire point of the project is to highlight Richard Wright’s contribution to the band. Many would agree with me that he was a sorely underrated but integral part of their sound.
Today the full details were released via Pink Floyd’s official website. There will be a single disc edition, a 2LP vinyl edition, and a deluxe edition with either dvd or blu-ray, with high definition audio and video content. The album will be mostly instrumental, with the exception of one song with lyrics titled “Louder Than Words”.
“Why isn’t Roger Waters on it?”
I can only speculate, but this material stems from 1994. Roger was not a fan of The Division Bell (to put it nicely). Roger and Richard Wright also were not exactly the best of friends. By most accounts, the firing of Rick by the band was mostly due to Roger’s strong arm and his opinion that Rick was not contributing enough. That rift never really healed. Having Roger come in and most likely start trying to dominate the project with his own ideas would most likely be a roadblock in David Gilmour creating a tribute to his lost friend and bandmate. Yes, Waters, Gilmour and Mason are on talking terms, enough that they all were together for a few moments at one of Roger Waters’ The Wall shows a few years back. But I have a feeling that Roger would not want to work on material related to an album that he considered a sore spot and that he criticized heavily.
“Why is Polly Samson credited as a lyricist?”
David Gilmour has made it no secret over the years that he uses the help of others in songwriting. From most of what I’ve read, Polly works his words into shape. David starts with the ideas and asks for help in making them sound better. David’s strong point was always the musical composition and overall sound. But he wants some of those songs to have words, and having an editor for a wife probably helps tremendously.
“What does this mean for Roger Waters or David Gilmour?”
I’m not sure. Leaked details have David Gilmour working in the studio with Graham Nash currently, who worked on Gilmour’s last album On An Island. And Roger has been quoted as saying he has an idea for a concept that he intends to pursue possibly called Heartland. Aside from those tidbits, nothing else is known. It would be great to see the members work on each others’ projects a bit. But I seriously doubt the remaining three members will fully reunite for a full blown project.
Here is the official tracklist – divided into LP sides no less:
SIDE 1
Things Left Unsaid
It’s What We Do
Ebb and Flow
SIDE 2
Sum
Skins
Unsung
Anisina
SIDE 3
The Lost Art of Conversation
On Noodle Street
Night Light
Allons-y (1)
Autumn ’68
Allons-y (2)
Talkin’ Hawkin’
SIDE 4
Calling
Eyes to Pearls
Surfacing
Louder Than Words
The bonus edition will contain a blu-ray or DVD (your choice) with the following:
‘The Endless River’ album in 5.1 Surround (DTS Master Audio) 96kHz /24 bit (48kHz /24 bit on the DVD)
‘The Endless River’ album in 5.1 Surround (PCM) 96kHz /24 bit (48kHz /24 bit on the DVD)
‘The Endless River’ album in PCM stereo 96kHz /24 bit (48kHz /24 bit on the DVD)
Video:
Anisina
Untitled
Evrika (a)
Nervana
Allons-y
Evrika (b)
Video material from standard definition sources
DVD Audio: 48/24
Bluray Audio: 96/24
Audio:
TBS9
TBS14
Nervana
DVD: PCM Stereo (48/24)
BLU-RAY: PCM Stereo (96/24)
The album can be pre-ordered below at Amazon – or also at the official Pink Floyd Website. Amazon is far cheaper, but the official site has a bundle where you can get a t-shirt with the artwork.
Mark your calenders!
The official page for the album can be found HERE!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=UUY2qt3dw2TQJxvBrDiYGHdQ&v=UHtlwQNVQeo
A 30 second sound clip can be found HERE!
CD/BLU-RAY EDITION
Here are some sound clips!
and the full EPK:
Rob's Wall Of Music 
Thanks for the article Rob. I would just point out that Roger officially left the band in the 80s so he would not be included regardless. Still, it would have been nice if he could have played a part as a “guest” lyricist or bass player. I’m thinking the legalities might also prevent this. I’m going to get the Blu-Ray on Day 1 (can use more credits on my Amazon account by then 😉 ).
Nicely put article Rob, have a good one.
Well stated. Roger is no longer a member by his own choice. And yes, it would have been cool to see him do *something*. But I have a feeling this is Gilmour’s baby. David and Rick were much closer so I think this is something david wants to do as a tribute to Rick. I’m sure in the back of David’s head is “well if I asked Roger, he’d come in and start taking everything over again”. Who knows. I’m still very much looking forward to this. I am a very big fan of The Division Bell, so I’m anxious to see where they take it 🙂
There is two version on Amazon. Amazon.uk says CD+DVD costs $17, while Amazon.com costs $28.98. If I buy the CD+DVD Delux box from amazon.com, is there a chance that I’ll have the same thing from pinkfloyd store?
On Amazon UK that price is in pounds, not dollars. It is £17.99 which converts to about $29.00. It should be the same thing that’s offered at the Pink Floyd store. The only thing is the Pink Floyd store offers a bundle with a tshirt, but it costs considerably more.
[…] I won’t spend too much time on the details of “why”, as I have all of that in a previous article HERE. Instead, let’s actually talk about the […]
[…] I won’t spend too much time on the details of “why”, as I have all of that in a previous article HERE. Instead, let’s actually talk about the […]