On an Island - review

Dovregubben · Post by **Dovregubben** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:04 pm

I just got home after attending a very special listening at a Hi-Fi store in Oslo, where EMI Norway played the whole album.

Well - first of all, the album is great. It is Daves best solo album. And it is even better than The division bell. I have always thought that The Division bell is very up and down. But there are no weak tracks here. On the other hand, there might not be a new High hopes here.

Let's look at all the tracks:

Castellorizon is this albums Let's get methafysical.
On an Island - you have heard it. It is a great song. Mabye the best on the album.
The Blues was a little surprise. It gave me a feeling of "Burning bridges"... A very dreamy feeling....
Take a breath has a rough guitar. It is something between Until we sleep and Comming back to life. But it is far better than any of those. And the spooky piece of music we have heard on Daves web site lately is a interlude here. Great.
Red sky at night... This is something new.... Dave plays the sax. And this reminds me of the norgewian sax player Jan Garbarek and his album Rites. It is a very moody and wonderful instrumental track.
This heaven: an old fashioned blues song, but with a touch of Rearless / San Tropes...... I feel like relaxing in the sun with a drink... Yes I am in heaven !
Then I close my eyes.... This is also a instrumental, but this this is the track I am most unsure of. It started a little bit boring.... But then some cymbals slowly enters and it becomes a sort of jazz track. And after a while it even becomes more jazzy, when Robert Wyatt blows the horn. The track is mabye related to Terminal frost.
Smile - This is defenetly THE version of this song. The live version from 2001 is a drawing. This is the large painting with many colours.
A pocket full of stones: The most floydish track.... It reminds me of On the turning away and A great day for freedom - in the way the song is preformed, but not necessary when I think of the melody.
Where we start sounds like a song from About Face. It reminded me of Near the end and out of the blue. A great song.

So all in all, a great album. The songs that may get the most radio play are On an Island, Smile and Where we start. But This heaven and Red sky at night is also great.

In the EPK Dave say that he did a lot of things different than what he would have done if it were a PF album. And I think I understand what he meant. Because it do not sound PF. Of course we hears his voice and his guitar. But still, at least some of the tracks sounds a little different than I expected; The blue, Red sky at night and This heaven.

Eclipse · Post by **Eclipse** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 12:56 am

now i really want to give this one a listen, i love Dave's debut and division bell. Maybe i'll love this one too.

Neil1567/2 · Post by **Neil1567/2** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 12:15 pm

The April '06 edition of UK music magazine MOJO has just been published and includes the first press review I've seen of OAI:
"**** Ostensibly the follow up to 1994's sans Waters The Division Bell,On An Island is a hugely sensual work,its prevailing mood one of zen-like calm.Two georgeous,carpe diem love songs-the acoustic waltz Smile;the blissed out Where We Start-remind us that much of Floyd's dark side stemmed from Waters,and elsewhere,when Gilmour sings,"this earthly heaven is enough for me",you believe him.His wife Polly Sampson penned most of the lyrics,but as with Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's co-writes,tasteful,often affecting results transcend cosy domesticality.Sensitive orchestrations by Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner further cement the notion of a class act reborn,and examples of Dave's "feel personified"guitar solos are legion.The one on The Blue-a sublime piece of vituosity you can sense coming-gave me goose bumps" James McNair

Fantastic!! The magazine,which has Dave on the cover,also features a major interview,a free psych comp.CD and Flaming Lips and Secret Machines reviews.Nice!

Hitch Hiker · Post by **Hitch Hiker** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:49 am

I just can't wait another day let alone a week.

Post by **Keith Jordan** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:06 am

Here is one from Guardian....

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/stor ... 12,00.html

wiped · Post by **wiped** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:29 am

Neil1567/2 wrote:The April '06 edition of UK music magazine MOJO has just been published and includes the first press review I've seen of OAI:
"**** Ostensibly the follow up to 1994's sans Waters The Division Bell,On An Island is a hugely sensual work,its prevailing mood one of zen-like calm.Two georgeous,carpe diem love songs-the acoustic waltz Smile;the blissed out Where We Start-remind us that much of Floyd's dark side stemmed from Waters,and elsewhere,when Gilmour sings,"this earthly heaven is enough for me",you believe him.His wife Polly Sampson penned most of the lyrics,but as with Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's co-writes,tasteful,often affecting results transcend cosy domesticality.Sensitive orchestrations by Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner further cement the notion of a class act reborn,and examples of Dave's "feel personified"guitar solos are legion.The one on The Blue-a sublime piece of vituosity you can sense coming-gave me goose bumps" James McNair

Fantastic!! The magazine,which has Dave on the cover,also features a major interview,a free psych comp.CD and Flaming Lips and Secret Machines reviews.Nice!

Think I'll have to get this months Mojo so ..... cheers for the heads up