Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

[Stephen]

I like High Hopes but that's about it. A band by the name of Pink Floyd trading on past glories. I liked the new vocalist, Stephen Hawking.

[Real Pink in the Inside]

Pink Floyd is the name emblazoned on the cover. Since 1987, David and Nick have had the legal right to the name.

This is all well and good if you're Gordon Gekko and think Huey Lewis and the News are hip.

It's a travesty that anybody has been bamboozled into thinking MLoR and TDB are real Pink Floyd albums instead of seeing each album for what they really are: Meaningless, materialistic pop products designed with the sole purpose to move money from your pocket into the pockets of Pink Fraud via album sales, record receipts, merchandise, etc.

Instead of listening to even a semblance of art, something designed to make you think or feel at some level like true Pink Floyd albums of the past, you are merely listening to a pop record with the brand name Pink Floyd emblazoned on it.

Pink Floyd truly deserved a more dignified ending.

[snifferdog]

Ok. That is your opinion and you are entitled to it. I still don't think this is the thread for getting into a row about whether it is a Pink Floyd record or not. The band's name is on the cover. In the eyes of the law the people who made it were entitled to call themselves Pink Floyd. You may not like it but there you go. Oh, and Guy Pratt is the greatest bass player ever. What a shame he never became part of Pink Floyd properly

[Real Pink in the Inside]

In the eyes of the law the people who made it were entitled to call themselves Pink Floyd.

There's no denying that. But that alone does not make it a REAL Pink Floyd album, nor does it change the fact that it is merely another 1990s pop record by a group of musicians who had their day in the sun many years before. They should have released it under another name, perhaps "Gilmour, Wright & Mason," instead of milking what had become the brand name Pink Floyd.

Guy Pratt is the greatest bass player ever.

I would not go so far as to call him the greatest ever, but he's quite good. He did a good job on the record.

[snifferdog]

I was being sarcastic

[Real Pink in the Inside]

I was being sarcastic

I knew that last bit was sarcasm, but was not quite sure about your belief in him being the best bassist ever. Also, I wanted to give some credit to him. He is unfairly derided by some folks.

[moom]

I dunno if this is the thread for arguing about whether it's a Pink Floyd record.

The conversation pertains to the album in question. It's not like we're suddenly discussing the price of tea...

I told him...

Okay, my probably last word on this... It seems to me we have pretty different visions. So all I am gonna do is say this: to me, what ONLY SOUNDS LIKE PF, BUT DOES NOT INCLUDE AT LEAST 2 OF ITS MEMBERS, IS NOT PF. But this album does include.

[Damn!t]

I can clearly remember the first time I heard something from that album.
It was in the shower, early '94, I had radio in the bathroom (idiot) and some radio station
played Keep Talking. I remember instantly thinking fuck, this must be Pink Floyd ...6 or 7 months later I saw them
live playing songs from that album.
Maybee I'm over sentimental about that era, but TDB to this day remains a very good *Pink Floyd album.
*purists can think what ever they want

[mosespa]

I conciously avoided this album for something like four years.

Of course, I heard "Keep Talking" on the radio...and maybe "Take It Back" on MTV or something...but I never even came close to taking active steps to owning this album until four years after it's release...and even then, it was given to me.

I remember thinking that it turned out better than I had thought...in fact, after a couple of listens, I realized that it was a couple of steps closer in the "right direction" than AMLOR had been.

I was eagerly awaiting the next album by the 3 man Floyd to see if maybe the'd get it right that time.

Sadly, that never did and never will happen.

And if OAI is any indication of what that album might have been...I'm rather glad that it didn't happen.

PF may have deserved a better ending than TDB...but they COULD have had a worse one, imo.

[davidjay]

i don't hate this album as much as some, but it's not my favorite either. it's got more of the floyd sound than amlor. even though it's not my favorite, i've bought it in more formats than any other floyd album. i got it on cd, cassette and vinyl looking for clues to the publius enigma. the only format i didn't get was minidisc (though i did get the amlor minidisc for it's enigma clues) if nick was right, and the enigma was a scheme by the record company to sell more albums, it worked on me! oh, and of course there's the mini-lp/cd version that's in my "oh, by the way" boxset. i almost forgot about that. damn, that's a lot of versions of the same album. i suppose if it ever gets released in 5.1, i'll buy that too. i am such a fool!

[PublicImage]

I like High Hopes but that's about it. A band by the name of Pink Floyd trading on past glories. I liked the new vocalist, Stephen Hawking.

I agree with this post. It is not bad as an album in its own right, but it strikes me as being very poor for a Pink Floyd album. They set themselves high standards because they are so talented, so it is reasonable to expect great things from them. To me, this fails to reach those standards, so I cannot give it a higher rating than 2/5. High Hopes is its redeeming feature, though, and it was a great note to end the album on. If only the rest was as good.

I think of Pink Floyd as a band who are great for re-inventing their sound with each album, or at least coming up with fresh ideas to keep them interesting, so that they don't repeat what has already been done on previous albums. Even if you don't like Animals, I'm sure you can at least appreciate them for trying something different instead of attempting to imitate DSOTM for more commerical success. This album does not do that, so it doesn't impress me as a Pink Floyd album. It relies on the sounds that defined Pink Floyd in the past and tries to re-live former glories instead of trying something new.

[Stephen]

Even if you don't like Animals, I'm sure you can at least appreciate them for trying something different instead of attempting to imitate DSOTM for more commerical success.

Asolutely, it just wasn't a direction that I liked.


I bought The Division Bell when it first came out and I admit that I was almost trembling at the thought of listening to a new Floyd album, and I did listen to it frequently during those first few weeks. Since then it's fallen out of favour with me though (apart from High Hopes) and if I'm in a Floyd listening mood this definitely wouldn't be on my list, so I assume it was more the novelty value of a new Floyd album that attracted me in the first place.

[Damn!t]

I bought the inflatable dummy when it first came out and I admit that I was almost trembling at the thought of trying a new toy, and I did use it frequently during those first few weeks. Since then it's fallen out of favour with me though (apart from the naughty bits) and if I'm in a dummy mood this definitely wouldn't be on my list, so I assume it was more the novelty value of a toy that attracted me in the first place.

[Stephen]

Hey that was told in confidence Bran.

[Damn!t]