I have never really heard a Floydian say that they love the album The Division Bell, Well, I Do! I love the album, one of my favorites, I just can't see why no one else does.
I too love it actually, I have to say. Very underrated and overlooked album by many fans.
I think it's a great album! A Gilmour guitar tour de force, to be sure....beautifully produced.....and Rick's back in there contributing, Nick's pounding on the skins is nice and solid.....What's not to like? Great artwork too!
Only a few objective criticisms.......I think the song sequence could have been better if it was a little different, for instance. It's a little uneven in the lyric department, but when it's good, it's really good. On the whole, it's a much more solid and consistant record than Lapse was.....and it's very apparent that there was a group spirit involved in making it.
Would have liked to have seen one more to complete a trilogy!
I'm with ya gang...I love it as well...fabulous album imho...I think many of the latter recordings are underrated, not by me though....
I hate to be the downer, but I absolutely hate this record. Not just because Roger isn't there. I try not to let that influence my opinion too much, but when you go back and listen to the record, it really shows.
One of my biggest problem with the album is its length, at about an hour and 5 minutes, they seemed to have used all the ideas up about halfway through, and just recycle them throughout the album. The songs, in my opinion are much too long for what they are, and they could have (again in my opinion) gotten the message across in at least half the time they did. The exception to this, I think is "High Hopes" which is somewhat decent.
The lyrics on the album are awful. Some of it comes off as whiny ("Poles Apart" - the 'golden boy' stuff, "Lost for Words", "Keep Talking", "What Do You Want From Me." They just come off as half-ass jabs at Roger. And other spots in songs just come off as forced. It seems like, in a lot of spots, from what I remember, that David is just pulling phrases out of his ass just to make a rhyme. The one example that I always cite, that makes me cringe is "Promises lit up the night like paper doves in flight." I know David has never been a great lyricist, it's not trying to insult Dave, but it's never been his strong point, and I don't think the fact that he brought Polly in to help did much good. I'm not exactly sure how much is hers and how much is his, but from the overall product, I don't think it was a good thing.
The instrumentals are somewhat decent, I suppose, but I think Cluster One takes WAY too long to just get to the damn point. Marooned is bearable, I suppose.
Another problem I have is the backing singers, which make me want to strangle them. They're distracting when you're actually trying to listen to the music, because they're so obnoxiously annoying that they overpower everything else that's going on..and when the lyrics they're singing are a bunch of whiny drivel, it doesn't exactly help.
Musically, some of the melodies are nice, but again, they stretch songs out for much longer than is needed. Too much of a good thing can end up being bad. "Coming Back to Life" and "High Hopes" are probably two of the "best" things to come off this record, at least from David. The best non-instrumental tune, is probably Rick's first writing credit since "The Great Gig in the Sky" back in '73's The Dark Side of the Moon. I'm of course talking about "Wearing the Inside Out." Decent tune..It's nice to hear Rick singing, a pleasant change halfway through the album. They should have utilised Rick more, I think. I do hear/see that it's much more of a group effort than its predecessor, and that's cool, but I still think this album is a bit uneven, balanced one way.
I think vocal wise, hearing the same guy singing for nearly an hour got a bit tiring, aswell. I really think Rick is something they should have utilised more: songwriting and singing wise; if they had, it might have saved this record from being such a dire whine-fest. But as is, the record is just extremely tiring, and is close to, if not the worst thing Floyd has put out (In my opinion)
I tried to make this review sound as..well..professional in the way that I tried not to just blatantly attack the album, but pinpoint its weaknesses in my estimation, and why they drag the album down. I hope I was thorough, and I'd be willing to answer any questions/comments
TDB, not my favorite.
Sorry.
It's a good albumn music wise. As usual David's voice and guitar are excellent. My objection with thw albumn is I feel it's a little to snipping toward Roger. David made his feelings pretty clear on at least 3 of the songs. Lost For Words Is just plain nasty and uncalled for. Did David write those words, or did Polly? I guess Waldo and I hear someting other people don't
i also like the album. its one of my favorites. I think the songs are good. I hear what you guys are talking about. The are shots at roger throughout the whole album. Maybe the reason people dont hear it is david wrote the lyrics in a way so that i could be anybody?(a wild guess) but i like the album even woth those shots
I like the record. Maybe not my favorite of all time, but a good one nonetheless.
As for the shots at Roger, David would have to do another 3 CDs of them to even come close to being even.
