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Pink Floyd: The Division Bell

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: EMI Records
Released: 1994.03.30
Time:
 66:24
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Bob Ezrin; David Gilmour
Rating: ***....... (3/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.pinkfloyd.com
Appears with: David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright
Purchase date: 1994
Price in €: 14,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Cluster One (Gilmour/Wright) - 5:58
[2] What Do You Want from Me (Gilmour/Samson) - 4:21
[3] Poles Apart (Gilmour/Laird-Clo) - 7:04
[4] Marooned (Gilmour/Wright) - 5:28
[5] Great Day for Freedom (Gilmour/Samson) - 4:17
[6] Wearing the Inside Out (Moore/Wright) - 6:47
[7] Take It Back (Ezrin/Gilmour) - 6:12
[8] Coming Back to Life (Gilmour) - 6:19
[9] Keep Talking (Gilmour/Samson) - 6:09
[10] Lost for Words (Gilmour/Samson) - 5:14
[11] High Hopes (Gilmour/Samson) - 8:31

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


DAVID GILMOUR - Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Programming, Vocals, Mixing
RICHARD WRIGHT - Keyboards, Vocals
NICK MASON - Percussion, Drums

MICHAEL KAMEN - Arranger, Orchestration
TIM RENWICK - Guitar
JON CARIN - Keyboards, Programming
BOB EZRIN - Percussion, Keyboards
DICK PARRY - Tenor Saxophone
GUY PRATT - Bass

SAM BROWN - Background Vocals
CAROL KENYON - Background Vocals
DURGA MCBROOM - Background Vocals
JACKIE SHERIDAN - Background Vocals

KEITH GRANT - Engineer
JAMES GUTHRIE - Mastering
ANDREW JACKSON - Engineer, Mixing
TONY MAY - Photography
STEPHEN MCLAUGHLIN - Engineer
DOUG SAX - Mastering
JULES BOWEN - Mixing Assistant
GARY WALLIS - Percussion, Programming
CHRIS THOMAS - Mixing
STORM THORGERSON - Cover Design
IAN WRIGHT - Artwork
RUPERT TRUMAN - Photography
G. WILLIAM FORGEY - Sound Effects
STEPHEN PIOTROWSKI - Photography
EDWARD SHEAMUR - Orchestration
KEITH GRAND - Additional engineer
STEVE MCLAUGHIN - Additional engineer

JOHN ROBERTSON - Sculpture
ADEN HYNES - Sculpture

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded at: Astoria, Britannia Row, Abbey Road, Metropolis and The Creek Studios.

All songs written or co-written by members of Pink Floyd."Marooned" won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. THE DIVISION BELL was nominated for Best Engineered Album.The slow melodious instrumental overture that announces "Cluster One" trumpets the return of one of rock's most enigmatic ensembles; art rockers supreme--Pink Floyd. And in reclaiming center stage in the arena, THE DIVISION BELL straightaway tolls a characteristic chime of ambivalence, as a voice cries out from the heart of a massed chorale and strings, "What Do You Want From Me."But for longtime fans of Pink Floyd, THE DIVISION BELL offers an immense, reassuring sense of scale, as David Gilmour and company continue to expand upon the dark subtexts, rich orchestral textures and densely detailed arrangements that are the band's psychic and sonic signatures. A song such as the moody film noire jazz-pop intro of "Wearing The Inside Out" suggests the mysterious futuristic romanticism of the BLADE RUNNER soundtrack (or vice versa), with lyrics that offer a typically mordant view of life: the outcast in the center of his (or her) self-destructed world, striving for peace and redemption.And somewhere in the heart of all this darkness, David Gilmour's arching, anthemic guitar provides a powerful melodic focus, especially when he can provide all the "vocal" intensity himself, as on the moody instrumental tone poem "Marooned," where he seems to be floating out of Earth orbit until Nick Mason's strong, centered drumming grounds his elisions in the gravitational pull of a simple backbeat. The closing "High Hopes" mixes mysticism with a dream-the-impossible groove, as Pink Floyd looks back longingly at old times and old friends.



The second post- Roger Waters Pink Floyd album is less forced and more of a group effort than A Momentary Lapse of Reason -- keyboard player Rick Wright is back to full bandmember status and has co-writing credits on five of the 11 songs, even getting lead vocals on "Wearing the Inside Out." Some of David Gilmour's lyrics (co-written by Polly Samson and Nick Laird-Clowes of the Dream Academy) might be directed at Waters, notably "Lost for Words" and "A Great Day for Freedom," with its references to "the wall" coming down, although the more specific subject is the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism. In any case, there is a vindictive, accusatory tone to songs such as "What Do You Want from Me" and "Poles Apart," and the overarching theme, from the album title to the graphics to the "I-you" pronouns in most of the lyrics, has to do with dichotomies and distinctions, with "I" always having the upper hand. Musically, Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Wright have largely turned the clock back to the pre- Dark Side of the Moon Floyd, with slow tempos, sustained keyboard chords, and guitar solos with a lot of echo.

William Ruhlmann - All Music Guide
© 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



"Alle Macht dem Sound: Düster dräut der Synthie, wild schwirren Effekte, machtvoll bricht Gilmours Gitarre zu typischen SpaceExkursen aus, kleine Selbstzitate verraten erstarktes Selbstbewußtsein. Pink Floyd wissen, was die Stunde geschlagen hat: Seit 'Dark Side Of The Moon' stehen sie erstmals wieder voll auf der Sonnenseite - rockiger, rhythmischer, weniger verspielt, gestalterisch souveräner."

Audio 5/94



As Roger Waters's solo career set into a sunset of suspiciously self-serving Wall revivals and compelling if modest-selling solo efforts, his former band became one of the few outfits in the soft live market of the 1990s to burnish its stadium-filling appeal. But their recorded output wasn't quite so rosy. As all post-Dark Side of the Moon albums must have a Big Important Theme, The Division Bell is vaguely about levels of separation (did you say, duh!?), with more than one not-so-opaque lyrical jab at the estranged Waters. But there's a sense that the band may have put more thought into its trademark audio gimmickry (well represented here by the actual sound of the earth's crust cracking--you don't get that on Rage Against the Machine albums!--and a "spoken" intro by Dr. Stephen Hawking, or rather his voice synthesizer) than it did into its songs this time around. The opening "Cluster One" has a hypnotic minimalist lure that dissolves all too quickly into the bluesy waffle of "What Do You Want From Me," while Floyd Mach III leader Dave Gilmour's usually lyrical guitar work is uninspired throughout, a definite Floydian slip. Still, the band maddeningly manages a few moments of the old grandeur here and there. The Division Bell is not a great Pink Floyd album, but an all-too-fallible simulation.

Jerry McCulley - Amazon.com



Nach dem Weggang von Roger Waters 1985 war David Gilmour entschlossen, Pink Floyd auch ohne ihn weiterzuführen. Doch war die Rest-Band so zerrüttet, dass A Momentary Lapse Of Reason 1987 noch faktisch ein Gilmour-Soloalbum wurde. Zum zweiten post-Waters-Album The Division Bell 1994 jedoch fanden sich Gilmour, Rick Wright und Nick Mason in beinahe alter Form wieder zusammen. Wogen hatten sich geglättet, Wunden waren verheilt, und so entstand in entspannten Sessions mit einer Armee von profilierten Gastmusikern ein auf Hochglanz poliertes Album, das zwar nicht ihren 70er-Jahre-Meisterwerken das Wasser reicht, die Band aber -- auch technisch -- auf der Höhe ihrer Möglichkeiten zeigt. Wright legt atmosphärische Synthesizer-Teppiche, Gilmours Gitarre pendelt zwischen malerischem Klangzauber und bluesigem Zupacken, alles vor einem an die Floyd-Klassiker Dark Side Of The Moon und Wish You Were Here gemahnenden, epischen Gesamtsound. Das finale "High Hopes" zählt schlicht zum Feinsten, was man von Pink Floyd seit The Wall gehört hat.

Josef Winkler -  Amazon.de



Wenn sich die verbliebene Pink Floyd-Rumpfmannschaft Gilmour-Wright-Mason mal aufmacht, von Zeit zu Zeit ein Lebenszeichen von sich geben, wird das gleich als bombastisches Multi-Media-Ereignis generalstabsmäßig geplant. Nur die Herren kommen auch in die Jahre: diesmal, so war aus wenig verschwiegenen Quellen zu hören, hätten sie vor der Welttournee fast vergessen, ein neues Album einzuspielen. Dumm: dann wären die Konten leer geblieben. Daß Pink Floyd weniger Zeit als sonst üblich für die Produktion hatten, ließ "The Devision Bell" weniger prätentiös werden. Damit ist alles positive gesagt. Man könnte gemeinerweise von einem einzigen quälend langem 70minütigen Gitarrensolo sprechen. Fakt ist: Pink Floyd zitieren und kopieren sich selber. Wish You Were Here On The Dark Side Of The Moon. Sogar die berühmte "Ummagumma"-Biene summt durchs hübsche Klangbild. Wish You Were Here On The Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd beklauen sich selber - gähn!

© HIFI Test - Detlef Kinsler



Alle Macht dem Sound: Düster dräut der Synthie, wild schwirren Effekte, machtvoll bricht Gilmours Gitarre zu typischen Space-Exkursen aus, kleine Selbstzitate verraten erstarktes Selbstbewußtsein. Ihr Management orakelte, man habe sich gar den Luxus potentieller Singles (unser Tip: What Do You Want From Me und Take It Back) geleistet. Pink Floyd wissen, was die Stunde kommerziell geschlagen hat: Seit Dark Side Of The Moon stehen sie erstmals wieder voll auf der Sonnenseite - rockiger, rhythmischer, weniger verspielt, gestalterisch souveräner.

© Audio



Zu den Dinos, die Steven Spielbergs Computeranimateure im "Jurassic Park" aussetzten, gesellt sich nun ein musikalischer Ableger der Art: Pink Floyd, wieder im Trio, wieder ohne Roger Waters, haben sieben Jahre nach "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" ein neues Studioalbum im Kasten. Dabei setzen David Gilmour, Rick Wright und Nick Mason auf Bewährtes: Wohlklingend-flächige Mosaike aus E-Gitarre und Keyboards ("Cluster One", "Marooned") entführen den Hörer auf eine Zeitreise in "Wish You Were Here"-Traumwelten. Dazwischen trampelt die Rock-Riesenechse mit erdbebengleicher Wucht durchs rhythmische Unterholz ("What Do You Want From Me"). Doch solche Schockattacken bleiben die Ausnahme. Das verbliebene Floyd-Trio bevorzugt entspannende Klangteppiche. Das hat auch seine Nachteile. So vermißt man gewiß hie und da das Moment der Unberechenbarkeit, für das der abtrünnige Waters stand - ausgerechnet in "Wearing The Inside Out" verstecken sich die Gefühle hinter einer Oberfläche aus Dudelsaxophon und Frauenchor. Aber Gilmour, Wright und Mason machen solche Schwachstellen wieder wett, vor allem in der zweiten Hälfte mit dem pulsierenden, vielschichtig gestalteten "Take It Back" und dem feierlichen Finale "High Hopes". Nicht fehlen dürfen auch die Floyd-typischen Effekte mit Herzschlag, Vogelgezwitscher und majestätischem Glockengeläut. Das opulente Booklet wird zum besseren Herausnehmen von nur zwei statt wie üblich sechs Zapfen gehalten. Und in die Außenleiste der Hülle ist der Titel in Blindenschrift eingraviert - so als wollten Pink Floyd sagen: Diese Musik erkennt ein Blinder. ** Interpret.: 07-09 ** Klang.: 08-09

© Stereoplay



The brand new back-to-basics album, which took a year to record on and off Gilmour's boat, painstakingly attempts to re-constitute the group as something more than a one-man brand name with a famous repertoire. While not breaking any significant new ground musically, the sound here is more cohesive and delicately textured than anything the Floyd have recorded since the glory days of the 1970s. The tone is quieter, the guitar playing features Gilmour in lyrical, rather than screaming, mode. Wright, now a junior partner rather than paid employee, is heard more clearly here than he has been for the last 15 years. Gilmour's search for a lyricist has ended for the time being, with many tracks co-written by his new-ish girlfriend, journalist Polly Samson. Bob Ezrin has again helped out with the production.

Nick Mason: "There's more of the feel of Meddle here than anything else. This started as a group album, with the three of us spending a fortnight together just jamming. We put down over 40 sketches in two weeks, then things moved on. Some of those initial ideas might actually end up on a satellite album."

Rick Wright: "I've written on it. I'm singing on it. I think it's a much better album than the last one. it's got more of the old Floydian feel. I think we could have gone further, but we are now operating as a band. Only Nick has played the drums, and my Hammond organ is back on most tracks."

David Gilmour: "On this album both Nick and Rick are playing all the stuff that they should be playing. Which is why it sounds much more like a genuine Pink Floyd record to me than anything since Wish You Were Here. It has a sort of theme about non-communication, but we're not trying to bash anybody over the head with it. We went out last time with the intention of showing the world, Look we're still here, which is why we were so loud and crash bang-y. This is a much more reflective album."

www.pinkfloydfan.net
 

 L y r i c s


Cluster One

Instrumental


What Do You Want From Me

As you look around this room tonight
Settle in your seat and dim the lights
Do you want my blood, do you want my tears
What do you want
What do you want from me
Should I sing until I can't sing any more
Play these strings until my fingers are raw
You're so hard to please
What do you want from me

Do you think I know something you don't know
What do you want from me
If I don't promise you the answers would you go
What do you want from me
Should I stand out in the rain
Do you want me to make a daisy chain for you
I'm not the one you need
What do you want from me

You can have anything you want
You can drift, you can dream, even walk on water
Anything you want

You can own everything you see
Sell your soul for complete control
Is that really what you need

You can lose yourself this night
See inside there is nothing to hide
Turn and face the light

What do you want from me


Poles Apart

Did you know . . . it was all going to go so wrong for you
And did you see it was all going to be so right for me
Why did we tell you then
You were always the golden boy then
And that you'd never lose that light in your eyes

Hey you . . . did you ever realise what you'd become
And did you see that it wasn't only me you were running from
Did you know all the time but it never bothered you anyway
Leading the blind while I stared out the steel in your eyes

The rain fell slow, down on all the roofs of uncertainty
I thought of you and the years and all the sadness fell away from me
And did you know . . .

I never thought that you'd lose that light in your eyes


Marooned

Instrumental


A Great Day For Freedom

On the day the wall came down
They threw the locks onto the ground
And with glasses high we raised a cry for freedom had arrived

On the day the wall cane down
The Ship of Fools had finally run aground
Promises lit up the night like paper doves in flight

I dreamed you had left my side
No warmth, not even pride remained
And even though you needed me
It was clear that I could not do a thing for you

Now life devalues day by day
As friends and neighbours turn away
And there's a change that, even with regret, cannot be undone

Now frontiers shift like desert sands
While nations wash their bloodied hands
Of loyalty, of history, in shades of gray

 woke to the sound of drums
The music played, the morning sun streamed in
I turned and I looked at you
And all but the bitted residue slipped away . . . slipped away


Wearing The Inside Out

From morning to night I stayed out of sight
Didn't recognise what I'd become
No more than alive I'd barely survive
In a word . . . overrun

Won't hear a sound
From my mouth
I've spent too long
On the inside out
My skin is cold
To the human touch
This bleeding heart's
Not beating much

I murmured a vow of silence and now
I don't even hear when I think aloud
Extinguished by light I turn on the night
Wear its darkness with an empty smile

I'm creeping back to life
My nervous system all awry
I'm wearing the inside out

Look at him now
He's paler somehow
But he's coming round
He's starting to choke
It's been so long since he spoke
Well he can have the words right from my mouth

And with these words I can see
Clear through the clouds that covered me
Just give it time then speak my name
Now we can hear ourselves again

I'm holding out
For the day
When all the clouds
Have blown away
I'm with you now
Can speak your name
Now we can hear
Ourselves again

He's curled into the corner
But still the screen is flickering
With an endless stream of garbage to
. . . curse the place
In a sea of random images
The self-destructing animal
Waiting for the waves to break

He's standing on the threshold
Caught in fiery anger
And hurled into the furnace he'll
. . . curse the place
He's torn in all directions
And the screen is still flickering
Waiting for the flames to break


Take It Back

Her love rains down on me easy as the breeze
I listen to her breathing it sounds like the waves on the sea
I was thinking all about her, burning with rage and desire
We were spinning into darkness; the earth was on fire

She could take it back, she might take it back some day

So I spy on her, I lie to her, I make promises I cannot keep
Then I hear her laughter rising, rising from the deep
And I make her prove her love to me, I take all that I can take
And I push her to the limit to see if she will break

She might take it back, she could take it back some day

Now I have seen the warnings, screaming from all sides
It's easy to ignore and G-d knows I've tried
All of this temptation, it turned my faith to lies
Until I couldn't see the danger or hear the rising tide

She can take it back, she will take it back some day

She can take it back, she will take it back some day

She will take it back, she will take it back some day


Coming Back To Life

Where were you when I was burned and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching
Where were you when I was hurt and I was helpless
Because the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone else's words
Dying to believe in what you heard
I was staring straight into the shining sun

Lost in thought and lost in time
While the seeds of life and the seeds of change were planted
Outside the rain fell dark and slow
While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pasttime
I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life

I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the waiting had begun
And headed straight . . . into the shining sun


Keep Talking

For millions of years mankind lived just like animals
Then something happened which unleashed the powers of our imagination
We learned to talk.

There's a silence surrounding me
I can't seem to think straight
I'll sit in the corner
No one can bother me
I think I should speak now _______________ Why won't you talk to me
I can't seem to speak now ___________ You never talk to me
My words won't come out right ________ What are you thinking
I feel like I'm drowning ______________ What are you feeling
I'm feeling weak now ________________ You never talk to me
But I can't show my weakness __________ What are you thinking
I sometimes wonder _________________ What are you feeling
Where do we go from here

It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.

Why won't you talk to me ______________ I feel like I'm drowning
You never talk to me  _______________________ You know I can't breathe now
What are you thinking ________________ We're going nowhere
What are you feeling  _________________ We're going nowhere
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
Where do we go from here

It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.


Lost For Words

I was spending my time in the doldrums
I was caught in a cauldron of hate
I felt persecuted and paralysed
I thought that everything else would just wait

While you are wasting your time on your enemies
Engulfed in a fever of spite
Beyond your tunnel vision reality fades
Like shadows into the night

To martyr yourself to caution
Is not going to help at all
Because there'll be no safety in numbers
When the Right One walks out of the door

Can you see your days blighted by darkness?
Is it true you beat your fists on the floor?
Stuck in a word of isolation
While the ivy grows over the door

So I open my door to my enemies
And I ask could we wipe the slate clean
But they tell me to please go fuck myself
You know you just can't win


High Hopes

Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun

Along the Long Road and on down the Causeway
Do they still meet there by the Cut

There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before times took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
When friends surrounded
The nights of wonder

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some sleeping tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many times

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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