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Record Label:
Columbia
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Release Date:
Nov 10, 2014
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The Endless River
User Score
7.5
Generally favorable reviews- based on 124 Ratings
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Summary:
The 15th and final full-length studio release from the British rock band features unreleased music from its 1993 Division Bell sessions.
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If ever an album begs repeated listening, it’s this one, which manages to surprise and reassure at the same time; you’ll want to return to it more than any other post-’83 Floyd album.
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A suite of mostly instrumental moods and fragments, The Endless River rolls like a requiem through familiar echoes.
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If the album looks back more than it looks forward, well, its makers have earned the right to a reprise. But then again, it wouldn’t work so well if they hadn’t managed to evoke something timeless all along.
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People tend to use the phrase “a footnote to their career” in order to damn a record with faint praise, but there’s a sense that a footnote to Pink Floyd’s career may be precisely what The Endless River is supposed to be: not a new album from an extant band, but an echo from the past--or a last, warm but slightly awkward group hug.
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Classic Rock Magazine
Dec 16, 2014
Overall, too much of The Endless River is suffocated by prog-normative dreariness and a high, conventional varnish. [Dec 2014, p.98]
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It’s interesting from a certain geeky perspective, but it's never quite as satisfying or substantial as you want it to be.
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What's blindingly clear is that, without the sparking creativity of a Syd or Roger, all that's left is ghastly faux-psychedelic dinner-party muzak.
See all 24 Critic Reviews
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Amazing, A fine, complex instrumental composition in style of their early work...The music spokes for it self, They finished what they startedAmazing, A fine, complex instrumental composition in style of their early work...The music spokes for it self, They finished what they started years ago...
If u don't get this album ur not a true Pink Floyd fan!!… Expand
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A fine, complex instrumental composition in style of their early work, with Richard Wright keyboards and David Gilmour guitar up front. ThisA fine, complex instrumental composition in style of their early work, with Richard Wright keyboards and David Gilmour guitar up front. This it is not recycled material heard before, but new music, not directly resembling anything after Wish you were here, on moments it's style can be associated with live part of Ummagumma and title song on Atom Heart Mother. It's a solid 8-9 stars, I'll give it a 10, because it has an iconic status in 2014 as their epitaph. A 10 also because some pretentious, narcissistic critics are trying to destroy it with bad reviews.… Expand
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Here we are 20 years later and it still feels the same, The Endless River is indeed endless, with sounds and scapes echoing from the past andHere we are 20 years later and it still feels the same, The Endless River is indeed endless, with sounds and scapes echoing from the past and rythems making all the sense instrumental music never could. It starts slow with a pulse that tells you that Pink Floyd beats still, throughout, it's smooth and vibrant with familar yet changing sounds but saddly ends rapidly as the srings, drums and keyboards die out.… Expand
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It's great to have such kind of album released in 2015. An ambient music album, more reminiscent of the first albums of the band, like MeddleIt's great to have such kind of album released in 2015. An ambient music album, more reminiscent of the first albums of the band, like Meddle or Obscured by clouds, than the most popular ones. Not a masterpiece, but a really good to hear one.… Expand
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As a Pink Floyd album, it's not necessary to say that the band have not been able to do something really good since Water's departure. But,As a Pink Floyd album, it's not necessary to say that the band have not been able to do something really good since Water's departure. But, looking deeper to "The endless river" and ignoring its shadow, we find a beautiful ambient work. It's true, Gilmour's guitar work is set far away from its glory days. In contrast, the disappeared Richard Wright offers us a gorgeous keyboard structure, reassuring (for the last time), his place as one of the best keyboardists. I must admit that I couldn't take my tears when I heard the final track "Louder than words", where Pink Floyd sign the end of a successful journey to the dark side of the moon.… Expand
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Beautiful album. Instrumental tracks that immediately remind you of earlier sounds of Pink Floyd. It is beautiful but not groundbreaking atBeautiful album. Instrumental tracks that immediately remind you of earlier sounds of Pink Floyd. It is beautiful but not groundbreaking at any point. It his more like it came from the late 70’s early 80’s era of Vangelis’ and Brian Eno’s instrumental sounds with a Pink Floyd-ish texture. Although I liked it, it didn’t feel right for what I expected from one of the most progressive bands of its time on what is presented as their last album 20 years after the release of the “Division Bell”. The artwork of the package is amazing!… Expand
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Fifteen years ago I would have been giddy at the news of a new Pink Floyd album. I'm a Pink Floyd loyalist, but when I heard the news thatFifteen years ago I would have been giddy at the news of a new Pink Floyd album. I'm a Pink Floyd loyalist, but when I heard the news that Floyd was releasing a new album, I sensed it a bit late in the game to have very high expectations for it. In preparation for this "event", I saddled up my Sennheiser headphones, smoked a phat bowl and cranked this album full through. And what I discovered is that Pink Floyd really has become their own parents--and let's not kid ourselves, these "leftovers" from the Division Bell sessions are really just the fruits of Dave Gilmour sitting in a Production studio and mixing his and Rick Wright's tracks from those older sessions.
The sound is clean and there are flickering moments, like on "Allons-y" and "Talkin' Hawkin'", that take you back to the classic Pink Floyd sound, but they never really get off their feet and the songs trudge slowly to no pay off. If you're hoping for the classic Pink Floyd sound to resurrect itself, you'll be disappointed; and if you are anticipating they would take their music to some new, exciting direction, here again you'd be disappointed.
There is very little life in these songs and what is there fails due to Gilmour's fading studio skills. Gilmour is simply not that great as a Producer (that was Waters). Especially noticeable in the first half of the album are the airy synthesizers which sound more Yanni than I am comfortable with. Gilmour's guitar lacks the power and volume of his earlier works--the best that I can describe it is that he sounds flat. With classic Floyd, even when Gilmour played quietly, his guitar was still on display and his long tones carried the music. Gilmour used to write solos that made us weep. There is nothing close to that here. I could point to any number of albums of a similar vein from the old Musax or Patchwork Libraries that do this 10 times better, and those albums were written 30 years ago.
Maybe what this album lacks truly IS LIFE. Division Bell wasn't a great album, either--it was good, yet still many stars better than Endless River. Where those Division Bell songs came to life was when Pink Floyd performed them live. The album that came out of the tour in 1994 was Pulse, among the best live rock albums ever made. Maybe these songs would come to life at a live Floyd show...… Expand
See all 23 User Reviews
