Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Discussions about Pink Floyd and Solo Official Album CDs and DVDs.

Rate This Album

5 - Best
28
21%
4
47
35%
3
24
18%
2
24
18%
1 - Worst
10
8%
 
Total votes: 133

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Faint
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by Faint »

Damn!t wrote:Image
i hate you :!: :cry:
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

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One word. Ebay.
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by flosyd »

Is it true? The division bell is about Gilmour & Waters?
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by Damn!t »

Yes. Cluster One is a fine example lol.

One or two songs are aparently about the famous relationship. Not the whole album of course.

The cover could might as well be about the two of them, talking shit about eachother back and forth.
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by David Smith »

Yeah, the cover has that whole 'its one face but made of two different heads' thing going for it. But loosely you can see WDYWFM as Gilmour addressing his audience, Poles Apart as being about the different era of Pink Floyd (the first verse directed at Syd, and the second no so subtly at Waters- 'Hey you, did you ever realize what you'd become' etc) Lost For Words details Gilmour's attempts to make peace )Gilmour has claimed in interviews that Waters did indeed tell him to fuck himself, as the song states) and High Hopes about the dissatisfaction the band felt about reaching their peak, complete with sounds from their early works. Some people draw parallels from AGDFF, but i cant say i buy in to that myself.

Quite how much of it is coincidence i don't know. If the central theme of the album is communication (except one duff bit about mother nature) then its no real surprise that failings in communication are a recurring motif of the album, and with gilmour having a particularly well documented case of failed communications then i think it was inevitable that his relationship with waters would enter the album.
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by flosyd »

Thank you so so so Much!!!! to David & Damn!t :) for clearly opening my eyes about the The division bell!!! when i bought the album 9 years ago..i was really confused with the album cover & some songs from the album!!! Album is awesome!!! and last month i heard the album is about Gilmour & waters and polly samson gave some idea about the lyrics!!!

Anyway Album is great & thanks for quick reply ;)


may god bless!

Peace Out!!!
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by David Smith »

Actually i never made the connection to the cover until Bran posted that, so can always get new floyd insights here :D First time i heard the album i really dug it, though not really so fond of it now. I do think there are three excellent tracks on it though, in the forms of Coming Back to Life, Lost for Words and High Hopes.
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by Damn!t »

As far as I know, Storm had to persuade Gilmour to confirm a cover that's dealing with communication and problems with it.
The amphasis and the main motif was a song Keep talking that deals with that.
So my brain fart might not be all that incidental in the end.

Poles apart studio version and particulary live version from that tour had one bloody great solo from Gilmour.
Simplicity, emotion and melody - all the things I love about that man.

As you were...
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by David Smith »

Yeah, I think your assessment for the reason of the cover is probably right
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by David Smith »

Damn!t wrote:Yes. Cluster One is a fine example lol
Actually, am i right in my belief that Cluster One doesn't have a bass present? Because starting the album with that is an effective way of underlining the status of the floyd as a three man band. I can't be bothered digging out a copy to find out, but one could see that as a fine reflection on the relationship between the two of them
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by Damn!t »

Interesting thought David.
We can see Cluster One being played on Astoria on Pulse dvd.
That mix def. had no bass guitar. Maybee later some low freq. synth was added to fill that blank.
I have to check it out on the credits.
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by jtull »

According to Wikipedia there's no bass on Cluster One

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_One


edit: hmm, there's no bas on Terminal Frost either. :o

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_Frost
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by oldperfume »

There were actually THREE Pink Floyd incarnations: 1) Syd's Pink Floyd (MY personal Fave!!)
2)The Waters Era from 68-80 & finally 3) Gilmour's version(I would say the weakest). "Marooned" actually won a GRAMMY for best Rock Instrumental!!! "Poles Apart" I believe is about Dave's disintegrated friendships with Waters, which was mutual & also about Syd, which he had no control over. The album is mediocre at best but Gilmour's Guitar is great. His songwriting leaves alot to be desired, especially when his girlfriend( now wife) Pooly Samson wrote almost half the lyrics...NOT GOOD. This is Pink Floyd in Corporate name only...sorry!!
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by MikeWaters »

Sorry to drag up an oldie...

But I've always loved this album. Sure it's different from the other stuff but Pink Floyd, like all great bands, were constantly evolving. So like it or leave it... I personally don't like much from Pink Floyd until Meddle... some people couldn't evolve with them when Syd left and some couldn't follow when Roger left.

It's a great piece of work with a wonderful atmosphere to the album. Love it! :D
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Re: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Post by mastaflatch »

this is the first and only PF album i got to buy on its release day, boiling with anticipation. upon first listen, i thought it was a really great record but my enthusiasm has waned a bit over the years. in fact it's not a truly awful piece of work when put in context but even if it's the peak of the Gilmour-era Floyd, it's still lacking a genuine bite, both in the lyrics and the music.

Cluster One - the album starts strong with this dialogue that harkens back to SOYCD pt1 and Signs of Life. this is a clever track and it's one of my favorites on TDB. the fact that the guitar uses a little restraint doesn't hurt.

WDYWFM - this song is mindblowing for one thing: the mix. its arrangements are weird - it sounds like Gilmour's lead guitar parts are way too echoey. an approach à la Animals or even Time (which is drenched in reverb and echo but succeeds at sounding relatively natural/analogue) would have made it better, at least for me. anyway, nothing memorable here in Gilmourland - since this song sounds a lot like HAC, well, HAC wins. the organ/wah is cool but it's still a plain (lazy?) allusion to Money. the drums are ok. i'm not a fan of the compression they used or gate effect they used on it. again, something more natural would have worked better.
lyrically, at first i thought it was a great idea to adress the audience so directly but now i think that it's going nowhere and it's a bit pompous, really. i mean, Gilmour wasn't no semi-god at that time. no need to pretend that the fans are asking for the impossible; just release some good fuckin' music (and cut the coke lol). i know that Gilmour said that these lyrics came from a dispute between him and Polly but my opinion is that he felt a bit ill at ease with how condesending he came off and invented an excuse.

Poles Apart - this one really sets a peculiar, pastoral mood. kudos to Rick's organ work here which is a key element in this song, along with the lap-steel guitar. the middle-eight, i've alway been ambivalent as to whether it works or not. i still don't know but it doesn't ruin the song at all for me. the solo at the end is quite tasteful and it's one of the rare proper leads on TDB where Gilmour doesn't overplay. on the negative side, there's too much reverb on the vocals. this album is crammed with past PF references and this one reminds me of pre-Meddle acoustic numbers like FOS. had the voice been mixed closer, i wouldn't even complain about the simplistic lyrics. that "light in your eyes" line is really cringeworthy - i won't go any further in my analysis of this awkward set of lyrics other than resume it with three words: trying too hard.

Marooned - a Grammy for this? puh-lease! i suppose it makes sense if the academy had to choose between this and Kenny G. but otherwise, it's not worth any important recognition. sure, Gilmour delivers a few licks that can be qualified as "memorable" but from point A to B, it's very unsatisfying. it's Gilmour having a blast with his whammy pedal over MOR music; it's an over-long guitar solo that doesn't make me feel much; a good instrumental must have a plot and/or a killer riff of motif or hook. this song has none of it. only redeeming quality: Rick's piano work directly lifted from Wet Dream.

AGDFF - yet another song that starts off with a DRONE. wtf with that? seriously, Gilmour loves the opening drones huh? Marooned and this piece of garbage make a great elevator combo. the phaser on the lead guitar is awful while the solo itself meanders aimlessly. as for the lyrics, i can picture Gilmour or Polly saying "oh, so this is a Pink Floyd record and, uh, you know, Pink Floyd had this massively succesful album called The Wall and, uh, the Berlin Wall came down a few years ago so we HAVE to write something about it, right?" this stands like a sore thumb among the rest of the album. i really hate it.

Wearing the Inside Out - well, as much as i'd like to like Wright's composition, i can't help but to think that the guy has made some much better music before and after this. also, as much as i'd like to like Dick Parry's work here, i'm drowning in a flood of schmaltz. i love the synth solo though (classic Wright synth sound). this song didn't need like fifteen guitar solos, not counting useless lead intrusions in the verses and the chorus. i'm not a fan of the female mini-choirs but they don't bother me too much on this song...
the lyrics here are ok, nothing to write home about except that i find it pretty weird that Anthony Moore uses Waters' very personnal imagery to describe Wright's very personnal problems, hmm...

to be continued.... <ii>