Music Review: David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk
Published October 11, 2008
It has long amused me that so much acrimony, money, and energy was devoted to resolving the rights to the name Pink Floyd, only for David Gilmour, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason to do so very little with it once they "won" it. Since settling their dispute with Roger Waters, the Floyd made exactly two studio records under the Pink Floyd name (and released two live albums from the respective tours).
With the release of On An Island in 2006 – some 22 years since his last solo album About Face – Gilmour may have unwittingly proved Waters' point. There is no Pink Floyd without him. A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell may have been good records, but they weren't Pink Floyd records and that is how they were sold, packaged, marketed, and judged. A rose by any other name should smell as sweet, but let's not be naïve. Heavy was the crown, and Gilmour just couldn't convincingly pull it off on his own.
With On An Island, he didn't have to try. He was free to make an album of his own music. It's not a Pink Floyd record and it doesn't pretend to be. It's buoyed and marred by the strengths and weaknesses of the Waters-less Floyd records, but without the weight of a legacy it's easier to hear the album on its own, to hear all the things that Gilmour does unlike anyone else. Gilmour still doesn't have a lot to say lyrically (or is simply unable to say it), but the unmistakable tone and texture of his guitar and that gentle, tuneful, pleasant voice were all abundant. It wasn't until I listened to Live in Gdansk that I realized just how much I've missed that.
Live in Gdansk is the second live effort to be released from Gilmour's On An Island. Gdansk is enough to flood the market and is being released in 5 different packages. Maybe if he made records more than once a decade he wouldn't feel the need to flood the market with live souvenirs (full rundown of buying options).
In addition to the five different packages what sets Gdansk apart from Remember That Night, the first live DVD from the tour released last year, is the presence of the Baltic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Zbigniew Preisner (who wrote the string arrangements for Island). Gilmour is also joined onstage for the final time by his Pink Floyd colleague Richard Wright. Wright passed away last month after a battle with cancer.
Josh Hathaway is a Senior Editor for BC Magazine. He is formerly an award-winning journalist and broadcaster and publishes the BC Network site Confessions of a Fanboy.
- Music Review: David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk
- Published: October 11, 2008
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Review, Music: Rock, Music: Progressive Rock, Music: Classic Rock and Oldies
- Writer: Josh Hathaway
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I'm a longtime PF fan, having seen my first Floyd show in 1971 when they were still working out the kinks in Dark Side. I have to say that the whole "Roger is Pink Floyd" argument has been slightly disingenuous since the truth is that anything after Dark Side was on a decidedly downward and more Waters-centric twist. By the time the wall came out, the music was all about Roger and his unrequited depression over the loss of his father. And despite the title, the Final Cut was anything but the final word in coming to grips with Roger's loss. In many ways Wish You Were Here and Animals were prequels to The Wall and The Final Cut a series of outtakes.
So while I'll certainly agree that Roger was "Pink" as in the character in The Wall, I certainly disagree that Roger was the soul of Pink Floyd. He was no moreso the Band than Syd was, or Nick was, or David was... It was a band for crying out loud, not some kind of funky marriage arrangement...
As for what Nick, Rick and David did with the name Pink Floyd after the split, that's a little more problematic. I would tend to agree that David should have discovered (or rediscovered) his true love for being a solo act sooner and done it his way instead of mounting the massive machine that was The Pink Floyd every time he wanted to play out.
I think even he'd agree with that today.
And as far as a reunion, I was with David even before the loss of Rick -- why bother? David is a fantastic guitarist and a great stage presence. Nick is still fun on the drums. Roger, on the other hand, has devolved to playing Pink Floyd tribute concerts and taking years to put out almost zero new material.
Whoa, touched a nerve there, didn't you? LOL!
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Regarding the 'who is Pink Floyd' argument:
What is missing from the 'There is no Pink Floyd without Waters' point of view is a perspective on the Pink Floyd sound after Syd Barrett left and before the 'Animals' album, when Waters took creative control. This was the era of group collaboration. The sound of the final two Floyd albums, after Waters' departure, is consistent with that earlier period. Certainly the missing contribution of Waters is somewhat evident, despite the reproduction of his bass licks. But the result is by no means 'not' Pink Floyd. It is a return to the older spirit of collaboration.
I encourage Pink Floyd fans to scour the music of that earlier era, which I find extremely enjoyable. Even the dozens of bootleg recordings of their live work from that time are worth a listen. You might begin to realize that the Waters dominated era itself was 'not' the real Pink Floyd sound. That is certainly my opinion.