I like the Endless River a lot. I played the CD everyday as I was driving to and from radiation and chemo treatment back in 2018. We all connect to different music for different reasons. I don’t really care if most Floyd fans hate the album. It helped me get through a very rough time in my life. These days i play it as much as I do Atom Heart Mother and Meddle.
I very much enjoy this album. Dave and Nick both said this music was intended to be ambient music based on the division bell along with a tribute to Rick. Mission accomplished!! If the music remained unreleased, the fans and Press would be begging for it to be heard. So sit back and enjoy some ambient wandering of you mind and try to forget your worries of the day.
I listened to this album in its entirety over a few sessions a few years ago, and remember thinking it just feels like background music in a rather comfortable and pleasant restaurant. It no way compares to their best work but it's all a matter of opinion.
I really like this album, it’s my go to when I need something to help calm me down. It’s only really something I feel you can listen to in one go though. It only works that way
It should've been a bonus disc on an anniversary release of The Division Bell. If they'd made it very clear that it was leftover jams, it wouldn't have sold nearly as many copies as it did. Clearly we did not all understand what it was. I'm a Pink Floyd fan and an ambient fan. The Endless River is an official Pink Floyd album and that's how it should be judged. It sucks. As a bonus disc? It's a nice curio.
I understood these were relics, not a properly made album. I think it's too weak for attentive listening but decent for falling asleep. I'd even recommend it to anybody suffering from insomnia. It is lacking cleverly conceived compositions - it's like an extended improvisation. Musicians of that class, just by improvising and recording, could have well released an album every week, with recorded jams. It's right I think to treat it for what it is: listening to a flow of pretty sounds and aural textures rather than inquire for remarkable musical solutions; enjoy the nice cover rather than delve into interpretations which end up in a very feeble philosophy. Regarding the label of _elevator music_: there isn't a skyscraper tall enough yet so that this music could unfold before you reach your floor. The Endless river, looped, awaits for a trans-Earthly London-Sydney elevator (go on, Elon M!)
@@nectarinedreams7208 If that's how you see it, I'd be interested in your opinion of The Final Cut. Because that's exactly the same case. Leftover stuff that didn't make it onto The Wall for various reasons. Either they didn't fit the concept or Gilmour didn't want them or Ezrin rejected them. Waters then turned them into (pretty much) his solo album...
@@lubos1207 The band had every intention of completing the material from the get go. These Waters crybabies can’t handle the fact that Richard Wright was the most important member in the band. The Final Cut were rejects from The Wall because David, Rick, Nick Mason and Bob Ezrin didn’t like the material when they were recording the band demos for The Wall in 1978/79. In this case, the material was shelved because of David’s personal life taking an unexpected turn and had FOUR CHILDREN with Polly. I am happy with The Endless River myself and actually listen to it more often than Animals, The Wall and The Final Cut nowadays.
"The Endless River" is a fine culmination to the Pink Floyd musical story. Their true gift was always the space in between the notes and words which each member over the years utilized to great effect with help from the electronic tool sets of FX and band mate empathy. This album is the quiet reflection of the that majestic quest. We were offered twelve studio albums over the first sixteen years until the messy split, then three albums from the Pink Floyd banner over the past 40 years. Thank goodness for the various solo albums the guys offered, their perspectives are still much valued and appreciated by my ears. "The Endless River" doesn't shine like "Wish You Were Here", but it does glisten in the twilight. Thanks for the look back and the thoughtful takes.
As someone who is quite deeply rooted in ambient electronic music, I adore this album. Of course, Animals is still my favorite, but this is actually better than The Division Bell, in my humble opinion.
This is not bad at all. I have heard some try to even call it a money grab by Gilmour and Mason. They really need more money don't they? This clearly is a statement to honor Richard Wright. I have only heard it a few times. Every time I listen to it, I leave with that same conclusion. Wright has always been underappreciated in the Pink Floyd sound scape.
If they didn't need the money then why release this? I firmly believe the whole Gilmour era was about making money at the expense of quality as they knew they didn't have the same draw as solo artists.
@@JohnnyPaton They were planning on completing the material going back to 1994/95. If David was about the money he would have toured the album but he didn’t because Rick is dead and you can’t have Pink Floyd without Rick. Roger has been touring ad nauseam since 2016 because he paid millions to ex-wife number four at divorce court. Now Roger’s losing fans at a lightning speed in the States and went from sold out arenas to 50-75% capacity because of his SJW shenanigans that started in 2010 and exploded in 2016.
@@terrencereardon6374 It's funny because if any of the members of Floyd were in it for the money it's Roger, he stands as a Socialist but has admitted that he in contrast to his political views likes making money, it's the main reason why he is continually it seems to be touring, he often decried the USA but has homes there and tours there because that's where the big money is to be made. One thing I do think is that David is probably more settled and happier in life than Roger.
I don't mind this album at all. If they hadn't tacked on the vocal track at the end I think it would be a little better. I still play this album once in a while.
Many years ago, Jethro Tull released Nightcap, a bunch of unreleased songs that Anderson said in the sleeve notes “may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but are a reminder of what could have been.” Endless River, for me, is similar in that it is a love letter back to the younger, more innocent and idealistic days of Pink Floyd. There were many parts the reminded me of my teenage self back in the 80s discovering the band for the first time. And like DSOTM and WYWH, it filled me with a new melancholy that I was older but not necessarily wiser. I rather like the final track too, with Gilmour’s soaring guitar work lifting the sombre themes of age and loss. Personally, I love the whole album; definitely a nightcap to end the day of Pink Floyd’s incredible career.
Given Gilmour stated there is no Pink Floyd without Rick Wright this is the only new material remaining (that we know of) that could be released under the 'Floyd' banner. Gilmour and Mason didn't have to release it, they're hardly short of a few bob, it could've gathered dust in a vault for decades. It was released to mark the passing of both Rick Wright and Pink Floyd in retrospect, it wasn't meant to conjure up grandiose ideas like The Wall and Dark Side Of The Moon, it was the more gentle signing off of a musical entity and in this endeavour I think it succeeds.
Division Bell did that for me, sort of a breaking of the band with a new sound, kind of like the Yes revival with Rabin. Cool songs but not proper Pink Floyd.
I really like The Endless River. Yes I agree it is very much almost a "background music" album but those glorious synths and soaring Strat are THE way to do it! For those commenting it shouldn't have been released as a separate album but as a Disc II in a The Division Bell reissue that was the intention at the time, it was even going to be called The Big Spliff or some such title. However, with Rick's death it eventually became his requiem and as such the band said in few interviews they felt if it was just a bonus disc then it would be too much of an afterthought almost and not the dedicated tribute to their lost friend they wanted.
To me The Endless River is the epilogue of Pink Floyd. It sounds like the extended version of Cluster One I always wanted. And I think Louder Than Words is such a beautiful way to end off Pink Floyd's discography. After all of the darkness of the band I love it ending with a word about the love and care and time they spent with each other being more important than any of the words they sang.
Everyone has always uderstood that Pink Floyd was great because of the synergy between Roger Waters' lyircs and vision combined with the musical depth of Gilmour, Wright and Mason. Everyone except the members of Pink FLoyd that is.
I find I do miss Waters' presence on this album just as I miss Gilmour and Wright on Is This The Life We Really Want. I actually like to listen to the two albums interwoven into a single playlist. Maybe I'm deluding myself but it feels like a whole Pink Floyd album to me that way.
“The Endless River” is my favorite Pink Floyd album that they did as a trio. It’s the Pink Floyd album I’d been waiting for for 20 years. So what if it’s based on material from the “Division Bell” sessions? Rick’s keyboard work is all over it, and David and Nick added new guitar and drum parts to it, and they stitched the whole thing together into, I think, a truly cohesive Pink Floyd album. Besides, some of the Floyd’s best musical moments have been the instrumental bits. And here, it’s almost all instrumental bits, save for the last song. Love it! I know not every Floyd fan digs “The Endless River,” some say the album is boring. But I think it’s really superb stuff. I consider “The Endless River” an instrumental progressive rock suite in four movements, with one song at the end. Works brilliantly for me. And although the album’s detractors say it’s just an “odds and sods” collection of “Division Bell” leftovers, I think the way they put the whole thing together, and slotting in the various sections into a four-piece instrumental suite, was amazingly done. And the Floyd really get to stretch out on this album, jamming away on their instruments. And I think the final song, the lovely “Louder Than Words,” is the perfect song for Pink Floyd to say adios with. “The Endless River” already seems to be an overlooked Pink Floyd album. There was a big wave of publicity for it when it first came out in 2014, but with no tour to support it, a lot of fans forgot about the album very quickly. Still, I, for one, think it’s a great album, and I’m grateful that Pink Floyd gave us one more studio album to add to our collections. And they also honored Rick in a big way as well by releasing it too, which is greatly appreciated by me. 🙂
I can’t comment, I’ve never heard it, and I’m a big fan. However, for some reason I have no appetite for it, never have, not even curious. After listening to your review nothing has changed. Not because of you I hasten to add, I like your videos.
I like the album. It's easy to listen to and does give faint hints of the Floyd from days gone past. It's no Wish You Were Here, but a nice addition to my Floyd collection. I like it considerably more than The Final Cut, except for, "Not Now John".
I like Endless River very much, taking me back to the mostly Instrumental days of the Floyd and a tribute to Richard Wright. I got it when it was released almost 10 years ago now and still enjoy its atmospheres. I have been a fan since i heard "See Emily Play" on the radio in the summer of 1967, loved the experimental days and the live bootlegs now widely available on here, through the 4 live concerts i went to in the 70s. I do not care for the Wall much, or the 80s follies, but Division Bell was a return to form for me and the band will always be one of my top favourites.
The album cover makes me think of Syd, especially when I'm listening to the last section of Shine On and the ending minute looks just like cover in my mind. Syd is finally at peace, gliding across the pillowy river of clouds into another world made of all his greatest hopes and dreams.
I bought the album on vinyl after hearing a couple of tracks..but never played it..was not enamoured by what I heard but had to have it being a Floyd fan...I'll get around to it at some point.
Imagine Wish You Were Here was the last Roger Waters Pink Floyd album and followed years later with The Endless River. Considering it then as a continuation of the feel of Wish You Were Here, but then with lesser words.
I love it. Nowhere near as good as the 70s Floyd, and there are so many aural throwbacks, but it is like mopping up a great sauce with some bread at the end of a meal. Why waste what is left? And I liked "Louder Than Words" a lot, especially the ending solo which is majestic.
I never thought much of The Division Bell, but The Endless River has a really open cohesiveness which makes it my favourite post-Waters album. That said, I highly recommend people seek out the "Forever And Ever" boot, which blends the two albums together into a very well-structured (and enjoyable) double album.
It's actually much more reminiscent of the 90s ambient music inspired by early Pink Floyd than of early Pink Floyd itself. I do like it. I have no problem with it, but I am a fan of 90s ambient music. If you like Brian Eno, the KLF, the Orb, Vangelis, or Jean Michel Jarre, this slots right in. There are Floydian elements that are quite enjoyable, mainly through Gilmour's guitar. I do hear Pink Floyd in this but in truth I might not if i were listening blind. I actually thinks it's an excellent piece of ambient work but i can understand the prog and rock fans that are the Pink Floyd fan core not going for it. The fact is - this is mire evolved than most pre-Dark Side Floyd because the entire ambient genre has evolved. It can't be considered in a Pink Floyd vacuum.
I absolutely love this album. As a tribute to Rick it is exactly what it should be. It very clearly illustrates what Rick brought to the Pink Floyd sound, and Dave and Nick are there to give it some flourish and embellishment. Much like Rick the album is not meant to blow your socks off, it is meant to put you into a state of mind, a different world, something almost intangible, and just barely glimpsed. I am a bit biased, because Rick is the biggest influence on my playing, sound design, and approach to composition, so for me this album represents the best possible farewell and thank you that Nick and Dave could give him.
Given what this album is - the only remaining pieces with Rick that had any sort of substance - it was right to release it. A final reminder of what was and will never be again. I treat it along the lines of Zep's Coda - great? No. Essential? Absolutely! You're spot on with the fact that neither of the protagonists in the multi-decade bitching will ever admit that the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts and for the majority of the 70s it really was and that's something we should listen and be thankful for
I love it! I also love the classics. I think this album may not be truly appreciated until many years have gone by. Much like the growing audience for Atom Heart Mother.
If you don’t go into it with impossible expectations, it’s a mighty fine record. You knew before it was released, that it wasn’t going to technically be a “new” album, but an album of unreleased music. All that considered, I enjoy it on a long drive. Still better than Shark Sandwich.
I like the endless river - it works even better with the video accompanying it by Ian Emes (who went to school with my dad!) - I think it’s a fitting epitaph- I’d have preferred it to be all instrumental but I’ll let them off 😅
The final Floyd album (CD-R/Playlist style): 1. Cluster One 2. What Do You Want From Me 3. Marooned 4. Wearing The Inside Out 5. Coming Back To Life 6. Keep Talking 7. Sum 8. Skins 9. The Lost Art Of Conversation 10. On Noodle Street 11. Calling 12. Eyes To Pearls 13. Surfacing 14. Talkin’ Hawkin’ 15. High Hopes
This was the release that made me cry: ENOUGH. I feel it's an "Endless River" draining every last dollar from their most loyal fans. Post-Roger PF, to me, is Garfunkel - without Simon.
...a peaceful and endless river, leading us to the awaited widespread delta, which eventually pours out its jetsam into the even more endless sea... very convenient at the end of the epic journey of that band... ☮
It’s an album I play as background music. It’s a joy to listen to when you are doing something at home. I don’t take it that seriously. It’s not horrible.
I think STE is compressing the Floyd catalog. He's right, and Gilmour obviously set out to do this, it sounds more like Meddle-era, than WYWH. But those are two different eras.
I suppose everyone has their opinion of what is a typical "Floydian" sound is. For me it's the period from '68 to '72. Autumn '68 is quite easily the best and only worthwhile bit of this album but it has to be borne in mind that it was recorded in 1968 by Rick Wright.
The Endless River was a big nod to the memory of Rick Wright and I think it was a great gesture by the band. Musically, it displays the softer and more melancholic side of Pink Floyd and I find it a very pleasable listen. It isn’t part of the core legacy of the band for me, but it was still a great way to bid the past farewell.
In my opinion all Floyd albums are complex, sophisticated and challenging in their own way. The Endless River is no exception. As Mick Wall stated, “Ultimately, though, it’s about textures, musical, artistic, emotional, and yes, it does all belong as one piece. For The Endless River is the most journey-like, life-to-death musical adventure Pink Floyd have plotted since The Dark Side Of The Moon...”
I enjoy the album myself. Nowadays it’s in higher regard for me than Animals which sounds controversial but I don’t need to hear singing about leaders who are now deceased all the time. The band had every intention to compete the material. What happened was a tour for The Division Bell happened so it was put on the shelf and also David Gilmour and wife Polly expanded the family with three children and David adopted her son Charlie so he put music career on indefinite hiatus except for solo albums and toured around his kids school schedules. Then Rick passed away and a few years later Youth, Andy Jackson and Phil Manzanera said let’s release the material. David and Nick agreed and recorded new guitars (specifically the solos hence the return of the Black Strat for one last Pink Floyd album), additional keyboards and vocals and drums and percussion respectively. The album got me through some trying times in 2014 (death of my Uncle who was my Godfather and the fallout with Rock and Metal Combat).
It's pleasant and relaxing, just like wearing a nice comfy pair of slippers and drinking a mug of hot chocolate and eating a couple of digestive biscuits whilst watching Flog It ...
That's just it. When Roger left, the band lost their edge. You can find that same edge in some of Roger's solo work, like "Amused to Death," which is a very fine album.
The Gimour era lacks edge, weight and clever, belligerent lyrics. There's no intelligent, cohesive themes or humour anymore. It all reeks of a cash grab.
I enjoy this album and just take it at face value. I'm glad that it was released and it certainly isn't anywhere near the worst album that they have made ; it seems like a fitting farewell.
Non facciamo paragoni assurdi che non stanno né in cielo né in terra. WHISH YOU WERE HERE per me è l'album numero 1...e credo che molti la pensino come me. Ma THE ENDLESS RIVER è un album molto pregevole che ho imparato ad apprezzare col tempo e con gli ascolti . È un fantastico viaggio nello spazio e un commovente tributo alla memoria di Richard Wright. PINK FLOYD...THE ENDLESS RIVER...FOREVER AND EVER 💓💓💓💓
With some monumental bands, like Pink Floyd, it may be better to be a fair weather fan, as I am, not a true Floydian, being only 11 when Dark Side dropped, and then never really catching up. Thus, I’ve always enjoyed pieces of Floyd, Gilmour’s solos in particular, while leaving aside their sketchier albums, the internal dramas, and Waters’ political bombast. I’m sure there’ll be beautiful moments on Endless River, as elsewhere. We’ll see, as my Mom used to say. (Don’t they all ?)
I like the album. Classic Floyd sounds capes. It would have been great I'd it had been woven into the Division Bell, which incidentally I love. It is well up there with their 70s classics in my view. My favourite Pink Floyd album is Wish You Were Here, so you shouldn't be surprised when I say I like the Endless River.
I still consider the Division Bell as the last Pink Floyd album. There are nice moments on this, but I’m rarely drawn to listen to it at full attention. It’s more of a companion piece to DB like I consider the Final Cut a companion piece to the Wall rather than a complete standalone album.
Any listener going into this thinking they were getting anohter "Dark Side" or "Wish...", or even "Division Bell", was wearing some serious blinders. Gilmour was very clear prior to the album's release what this disc was and what the listeners would be getting. I like it.
Hi, I believe this was a necessary albeit personal homage, to a much overshadowed genius. This amalgam of Wright's efforts together with David's touching guitar moments suggests to me, a respectful 'Bon Voyage farewell' to a man on his own final journey. 😎☯️🌱
I rather enjoy it. It isn't my top Floyd pick, but it provides an extended coda to Division Bell. It's not a major release, it is simply a statement that no matter what that river keeps flowing to whatever end.
I love this record. I think many reviewers are too vapid to properly describe instrumental music. Maybe they should've included this as bonus material on a deluxe edition of the Division Bell. Regardless, this is an album that I put on and let play all the way through. And Louder Than Words is a great track.
I think it's a fine album. It was never supposed to be a "proper" Floyd album. Merely a collection of outtakes stitched together from Division Bell jams but the trouble is as soon as it was released people saw it as an excuse to slag it off because it wasn't as good as Dark Side or Wish You Were Here. It was never intended to be.
