New Pink Floyd Album 'The Endless River'

[The Gunner's Dream]

Roger Waters... He is no less of a singer than he was in Pink Floyd

I don't know. Waters' voice was very powerful between 1979 and 1985. During that time his range was at its peak and his most difficult vocal tracks were recorded. Since 1987 he's gradually lost power in his voice (Amused to death being his all time worst vocal performance; he sounds dreadful on every track) and has resorted to this old man whispering/rasping vocal style ever since. A great shame because when he was younger he had a very unique voice.
Gilmour has a more "pleasing to the ear" voice type. He also never pushed his voice as Roger did on "The Wall" and "Final Cut" and "Pros and Cons". Gilmour's voice works best when in direct contrast to Roger's as on "Hey You" and "Comfortably Numb".

[Hudini]

Since 1987 he's gradually lost power in his voice (Amused to death being his all time worst vocal performance; he sounds dreadful on every track) and has resorted to this old man whispering/rasping vocal style ever since.

Waters' voice has had many ups and down over the years. I think 'Radio KAOS' is a very interesting example of drastic oscillations in singing quality, with most of the songs being sung so and so but also with some very powerful moments ('Who Needs Information', 'Home' bridges) and some incredibly bad moments too ('Radio Waves' and 'Home' verses).

I agree that 'Amused To Death' features some of his worse singing ever (I could swear he never bothered to try a second take on some songs), however some of the songs with strong vocal performances are ruined by bad vocal lines. 'Too Much Rope' is a perfect example of that. It's far from flawless, but it's as high as he could ever sing and to my amateur ear it's one of the most complicated vocal lines he ever had to deal with. However, you'll always sound like shit when a melody you're singing is shit, as is the case with it. On the other hand, the album version of 'Perfect Sense' in particular sounds like it had been sung by a dying man.

Whatever can be said about David Gilmour, his voice has always been pleasant to ears in several ways and has aged very well. There is no radical difference between his voice now and his voice 20 or even 30 years ago. If I didn't know better, I'd never tell that 'Louder Than Words' was sung by a man pushing 70.

[danielcaux]

Some of the keyboard sounds are a little dated, so I presume this is what Rick played in the '90s..

I was under the impression that this was a new song and that Rick didnt play on it. Am I wrong? And yeah the synths sound like King Crimson circa Thrack, and the beginning sound exactly like Each Small Candle! Maybe someone could make a mash up of those two so the four men Floyd fanatics can finally be happy!

Why some people utterly hate this woman is beyond me. She co-wrote much of TDB for Pete's sake.

I think you just answered your own question there!

[bboynexus]

Some of the keyboard sounds are a little dated, so I presume this is what Rick played in the '90s..

I was under the impression that this was a new song and that Rick didnt play on it. Am I wrong? And yeah the synths sound like King Crimson circa Thrack, and the beginning sound exactly like Each Small Candle! Maybe someone could make a mash up of those two so the four men Floyd fanatics can finally be happy!

Why some people utterly hate this woman is beyond me. She co-wrote much of TDB for Pete's sake.

I think you just answered your own question there!

No, according to the credits that were leaked, Wright is playing on the song.

[hypermikem]

I happen to like TDB. Then again, I tend to pay far more attention to the musical phrasing rather than lyrics anyway. Given the choice, I'd much rather have a guitar sing to me than any human. Lyrics can be profound sure enough, but the right tone and sound from a truly magical guitar can downright touch your soul and make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. You know....sort of like the solo on "A great day for Freedom".

[bboynexus]

I happen to like TDB. Then again, I tend to pay far more attention to the musical phrasing rather than lyrics anyway. Given the choice, I'd much rather have a guitar sing to me than any human. Lyrics can be profound sure enough, but the right tone and sound from a truly magical guitar can downright touch your soul and make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. You know....sort of like the solo on "A great day for Freedom".

The Gdnask version is insanely good.

[The Gunner's Dream]

'Too Much Rope'... it's as high as he could ever sing

Pretty close. He hits a D5 on "Too much rope". (Listening to that track again I was surprised he hit that note, wonder how many takes it took). The highest note I've heard him sing is the E5 a full step above that on "For the first time today, part 2".

[my breakfast.]

Gilmour has a more "pleasing to the ear" voice type. He also never pushed his voice as Roger did on "The Wall" and "Final Cut" and "Pros and Cons". Gilmour's voice works best when in direct contrast to Roger's as on "Hey You" and "Comfortably Numb".

Naw. A cursory listen to pretty much any live recording from 1971 - 1977 will reveal Dave pushing his voice beyond its limits.

[The Gunner's Dream]

Dave actually frequently sang pretty badly live during the early and mid-70's. Then again so did Roger.

When you strictly compare what has been recorded in the studio (that places both Dave and Roger on an even plane- circumstances of a live performance are often unpredictable and have variable effects on the voice) then Roger has demonstrated a far greater range than David (if we are just talking low notes to high notes). Roger has 3 basic vocal styles- whispering (Perfect Sense) screaming (Sexual Revolution) and on occasion normal singing (Shine on you crazy diamond). Dave only has 2 or 3 approaches as well- the soft, soothing voice (Comfortably Numb) and the rough rock and roll voice (Young Lust).

But Roger at his best had a far greater range than Dave. That is probably one of the reasons Dave has retained his voice and vocal range- his parts aren't all that hard to sing.

[Hudini]

whispering (Perfect Sense)

I'd call that groaning.

But Roger at his best had a far greater range than Dave. That is probably one of the reasons Dave has retained his voice and vocal range- his parts aren't all that hard to sing.

Even if he did have the range, Dave wasn't stretching his voice to lengths Roger did. Roger's voice suffered a lot from his tendency to constantly push his vocal limits forward when he wasn't the best of singers to begin with. Dave learned what fits his voice best early on and stuck to it, even though his voice did deepen a bit during the 1980s. The same with his guitar playing, really. He is a great musician, but his signature style was already defined in the early 1970s and has developed very little over time. Some say that all of his newer solos sound like 'Comfortably Numb', but to me it's all 'Mudmen'.

[flank]

Hi All,

New here (again, as i had to re-sign up).

Not sure where on which thread i read it but there was part of an interview with Rick Wright saying he was unhappy / angry / disappointed with the song selections on TDB and wanted to make another album after TDB with the other songs either as PF or his own album. So this may be David and Nick acknowledging that the other tracks were at least in contention.

Was there also a comment that he was going to refuse to tour the division bell because of it?

I can't find it, if anyone can help would also like to know if this was originally a print or audio / tv interview as i can't find it on the net (its not part of the interview for 'Broken China' that i see on the net as far as I can tell)

ta

[Hadrian]

Richard Wright's second and final solo album, Broken China, came out in 1996, two years after The Division Bell album and tour. Between that record, and what we are getting now with The Endless River, it is safe to assume that we are about to hear (in one form or another) everything Rick wrote during that era.

Rick was working on his third solo album at the time of his passing, but that was brand new material. It was supposed to be a piano-only record (very interesting and different approach). Unfortunately the project never went very far.

I am not aware of any significant tension (such as threats of not joining the album tour) between Rick and David/Nick during the 1993-1994 period.

[flank]

Richard Wright's second and final solo album, Broken China, came out in 1996, two years after The Division Bell album and tour. Between that record, and what we are getting now with The Endless River, it is safe to assume that we are about to hear (in one form or another) everything Rick wrote during that era.

Rick was working on his third solo album at the time of his passing, but that was brand new material. It was supposed to be a piano-only record (very interesting and different approach). Unfortunately the project never went very far.

I am not aware of any significant tension (such as threats of not joining the album tour) between Rick and David/Nick during the 1993-1994 period.

Thanks for the reply, there was definitely a post or 2 (somewhere?) that mentioned an interview with Rick not being happy about the song selection for TDB and wanting the other songs revisited later with Floyd or solo, not the broken china tracks.

(I may be mistaken about the tour threat)

ta

[Hadrian]

I just noticed this page for Louder Than Words promotional single, stating 14 October 2014 as the release date. Is this a physical release, i.e. is it a 1-track promo CD sent to radio stations? It seems that it has a cover.

[raisemyrent]

hey lot,
it's Thanksgiving, so first and foremost, after having listened to it quite a bit, and even sat on the piano (prompted by an earlier post on it being 2-chord, but that belongs on a different future post), I'm just grateful that they released this song at all. I can't even imagine what a whole new album while be like.

I dunno how to do multi quote so:
Hudini, spot on with Jeff Beck, I only disagree with Roger's voice as has been brought up by others since. My thoughts on that is that Roger was always a deceivingly good singer. While he may not have the rich 'could sing a lullaby and in fact has' baritone of Gilmour, he was in a class of his own as well on the 'eerie' voice (e.g. comfortably numb). He has a deceivingly huge range as well. Or had. Something is not there anymore. Evidence, well I have heard it first hand, but he has resorted to double tracking lately, which means something has gone wrong and he wants to ensure that the performance is not ruined, while still singing live. Shame that some people accused him of lip syncing, but dogs will bark. So I don't think that it's ever been easy to settle the 'who's the better singer' question between those 2. They're just different singers.

Flank, it was me who mentioned the tension after recording TDB. I read it on Inside out. I honestly didn't have enough time just now to find the quote (it's supper time here). Consider it a promise now.
Cheers