Post by DarkSideFreak on Mar 9, 2017 22:40:31 GMT 10
Starting with an apparently controversial album... I'm not sure why, but anyway.
Listened to this on David's birthday because where to begin with Floyd and honestly, I'm just too familiar with most of their stuff at this point (this may change when I get the Early Years boxes). So About Face it is, the solo album of his I'm least familiar with.
One thing is sure: it's very 80s, at least in places. Much more so than AMLOR. Several of the lyrics are pretty overtly political (and not bad at that, though I won't claim they're as good as Roger's - but I find the balance better here than on, say, TFC). The ones that aren't are the pretty weird two ones that Pete Townshend wrote - "Love on the Air" and "All Lovers are Deranged" (you may remember APFFN veteran Deranged who took his name from that song). The latter is maybe the most aggressive track ever recorded by Gilmour, only to be rivalled by "The Dogs of War".
Some of the tracks are unusual for Gilmour but they show that he's capable of more than just slow, dark, brooding songs. "Until We Sleep" is a very cold industrial kind of thing. I really like "Blue Light", generally 'lauded' as being the worst thing David every recorded. Those funk rhythms, man! It's like Phil Collins but better.
Sometimes the lyrics and music seem a strange combination. "Cruise" sounds like a Chris de Burgh type love song but he's singing about a nuclear rocket!!! Who said David couldn't do political satire? And then it turns into a reggae at the end. How bizarre. (Then again, maybe it's yet another case of him trying to rip off The Alan Parsons Project. You know, "Blue Light", "Keep Talking", "Marooned" and "Take a Breath" all sound like "Sirius" to me. "Anisina" and this track both bring to mind "Nothing Left to Lose", part 4 of the Turn of a Friendly Card suite. Maybe that's where he got the sudden reggae thing from. Maybe.)
However there are of course several Floydian type songs and I'd recommend the three-part "Murder", the Final-Cut-but-better-sounding "Out of the Blue" and "You Know I'm Right" (towards Roger?!) to any open-eared Floyd fan. Fans of the later period may also recognize "Near the End" as a TDB soundalike and the Gary Moore-ish blues-meets-orchestra "Let's Get Metaphysical" as his first flirtation with the style of On an Island.
If nothing else, even if you don't like one single song on this record, you'll at least have to admit what a fantastic singer DG is. The way he switches between soft and angelic and loud and snarling in "Murder", that unbelievably high part in "You Know I'm Right" or the deep and seemingly bottomless performance in "Near the End"... pretty impressive!
What to say. It's not a masterpiece. But it's not bad either. Some great guitar solos as well, but overall more of a song album (whereas the debut is maybe a bit more of a guitar album).
Listened to this on David's birthday because where to begin with Floyd and honestly, I'm just too familiar with most of their stuff at this point (this may change when I get the Early Years boxes). So About Face it is, the solo album of his I'm least familiar with.
One thing is sure: it's very 80s, at least in places. Much more so than AMLOR. Several of the lyrics are pretty overtly political (and not bad at that, though I won't claim they're as good as Roger's - but I find the balance better here than on, say, TFC). The ones that aren't are the pretty weird two ones that Pete Townshend wrote - "Love on the Air" and "All Lovers are Deranged" (you may remember APFFN veteran Deranged who took his name from that song). The latter is maybe the most aggressive track ever recorded by Gilmour, only to be rivalled by "The Dogs of War".
Some of the tracks are unusual for Gilmour but they show that he's capable of more than just slow, dark, brooding songs. "Until We Sleep" is a very cold industrial kind of thing. I really like "Blue Light", generally 'lauded' as being the worst thing David every recorded. Those funk rhythms, man! It's like Phil Collins but better.
Sometimes the lyrics and music seem a strange combination. "Cruise" sounds like a Chris de Burgh type love song but he's singing about a nuclear rocket!!! Who said David couldn't do political satire? And then it turns into a reggae at the end. How bizarre. (Then again, maybe it's yet another case of him trying to rip off The Alan Parsons Project. You know, "Blue Light", "Keep Talking", "Marooned" and "Take a Breath" all sound like "Sirius" to me. "Anisina" and this track both bring to mind "Nothing Left to Lose", part 4 of the Turn of a Friendly Card suite. Maybe that's where he got the sudden reggae thing from. Maybe.)
However there are of course several Floydian type songs and I'd recommend the three-part "Murder", the Final-Cut-but-better-sounding "Out of the Blue" and "You Know I'm Right" (towards Roger?!) to any open-eared Floyd fan. Fans of the later period may also recognize "Near the End" as a TDB soundalike and the Gary Moore-ish blues-meets-orchestra "Let's Get Metaphysical" as his first flirtation with the style of On an Island.
If nothing else, even if you don't like one single song on this record, you'll at least have to admit what a fantastic singer DG is. The way he switches between soft and angelic and loud and snarling in "Murder", that unbelievably high part in "You Know I'm Right" or the deep and seemingly bottomless performance in "Near the End"... pretty impressive!
What to say. It's not a masterpiece. But it's not bad either. Some great guitar solos as well, but overall more of a song album (whereas the debut is maybe a bit more of a guitar album).
Currently on the radio: "The Unforgiven"