Pink Floyd - The Division Bell - Album Review

[Floyd]

The Division Bell depicts two large, metallic heads pointed directly at one another, their profiles combining to form a third visage. Constructed in an English field by celebrated artist and longtime Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson, it is a perfect corollary to an album that’s all about connection and communication. Some fans and critics have postulated that these themes constitute an olive branch to estranged member Waters, but they’re actually more reflective of a collaborative recording process that saw the existing band members feeding off one another like they hadn’t for years. Gilmour, Mason, and Wright improvised with each other until they had arrived at dozens of possible songs, then voted democratically on the tracks to include on the album. The process wasn’t without its hiccups, but it was a welcome steadying of the ship and a definitive punctuation mark on the Waters era, even if purists balked at the idea of Gilmour’s wife helping him with the lyrics.The result is indeed a more cohesive record than A Momentary Lapse of Reason. It’s also a welcome return to the dreamy, atmospheric soundscapes of an earlier Floyd; for the first time in nearly 20 years, the band had made an album that was easy to get utterly lost in. Which isn’t to say that The Division Bell has the same level of songcraft as The Wall and Wish You Were Here, but fans could at least rest assured that Gilmour-era Floyd had rediscovered something intrinsically theirs (and not, as is true with much of their ‘80s work, dominated by the personality of Waters). No song exemplifies this more than closer and album standout “High Hopes”, an eight-and-a-half-minute borderline masterpiece that revels in clanging percussion, cryptic vocals, and haunting strings.

Track Listing
1. Cluster One
2. What Do You Want From Me
3. Poles Apart
4. Marooned
5. A Great Day for Freedom
6. Wearing the Inside Out
7. Take it Back
8. Coming Back to Life
9. Keep Talking
10. Lost for Words
11. High Hopes