In the second bridge (from 1:12), Gilmour provides a balalaika-style accompaniment on one of his guitars, the first time he has adopted this style since “Fat Old Sun” (Atom Heart Mother) in 1970! Stephen Hawking’s voice then launches into his message (at 1:30), with the balalaika-style guitar in the background: Speech has allowed…, and a little later (at 1:54): Our greatest hopes… The final bridge of the piece gives the guitarist a chance to play some good solo licks and enables McBroom to launch into some superb vocal improvisations reminiscent of “The Great Gig in the Sky”. Hawking’s voice makes a final entry at 2:30: All we need… The piece ends with a coda dominated by Wright’s Farfisa organ, whose sonority evokes Pink Floyd’s past, specifically More. “Talkin’ Hawkin’” is one of the triumphs of the album.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
Stephen Hawking, a lover of classical music, has admitted that he developed a liking for Pink Floyd after seeing them live.
Calling
David Gilmour, Anthony Moore/3:38
Musicians
David Gilmour: keyboards, electric lead guitar
Anthony Moore: keyboards
Nick Mason: percussion
Andy Jackson: effects
Recorded
Britannia Row, Islington, London: January 1993
Medina Studio, Hove: November 2013
Astoria, Hampton: 2013–14
Olympic Studios, London: 2013–14
Technical Team
Producers (1993): Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour
Producers: David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Youth, Andy Jackson
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Damon Iddins, Phil Taylor (Britannia Row)
Genesis
The music of this first piece in the final movement of The Endless River is ambient through and through. The mood is nevertheless pretty dark, as if the calling of the title were foretelling some momentous event. This is a composition by David Gilmour and Anthony Moore, who had already worked with Pink Floyd—as a lyricist—on the album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. With “Calling,” Moore, who is actually an experimental music and effects specialist, takes on the role of co-composer.
Production
After “Anasina,” “Calling” is the second title on The Endless River in whose recording Rick Wright played no part. There is therefore every reason to believe that the track dates from 2013 to 2014. The tone is set in the intro by various effects deriving from multiple sources: samples, synths, and sounds deformed by highly sophisticated processes of one kind and another. The sounds pan from side to side of the stereo field, and an astral pulse surges as if from nowhere moments before the extraterrestrial signals are interrupted by a violent kettledrum beat drenched in interstellar reverb. We then hear an oriental-sounding melody, played on a synthesizer against a background of a piano or guitar string being assiduously strummed. (This, at least, is what the strange noise sounds like.) This somewhat hallucinatory atmosphere is enhanced by synth pads, while the melody is taken up initially by a synthesizer whose sound is prolonged by infinite reverb, a second time by sampled piano, and a third time by the distorted guitar of David Gilmour, who uses his Whammy pedal to execute astonishing octave shifts (listen, for example, at 2:37). Nick Mason contributes to the recording by striking his timp with considerable power, often accompanying himself on cymbals to create either dynamic punctuation marks (for example at 2:15) or crescendos (at 3:14). Toward the end of the track, the melody becomes more harmonious and accessible and less dark-hued.
Great talent and an enormous amount of skill has gone into the making of “Calling,” but considered in isolation from the context of The Endless River, it is difficult to square the piece with the musical style of Pink Floyd.
Eyes To Pearls
David Gilmour/1:51
Musicians
David Gilmour: electric rhythm and lead guitar, keyboards, effects
Rick Wright: Farfisa organ, Hammond organ, keyboards
Nick Mason: drums, gong
Andy Jackson: bass
Recorded
Britannia Row, Islington, London: January 1993
Medina Studio, Hove: November 2013
Astoria, Hampton: 2013–14
Olympic Studios, London: 2013–14
Technical Team
Producers (1993): Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour
Producers: David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Youth, Andy Jackson
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Damon Iddins, Phil Taylor (Britannia Row)
Genesis
This David Gilmour composition might strike the first-time listener as bearing a resemblance to “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” on A Saucerful of Secrets (a track moreover credited to Roger Waters). But only for the first time listening, because even if a number of references to the past can be detected in it, as a whole it does not sound anything like vintage Pink Floyd. In terms of the development of The Endless River, the oarsman is continuing his journey along the waterway and the final stage is approaching…
Production
David Gilmour has constructed “Eyes to Pearls” around a hook he almost certainly plays on a clear-toned Strat plugged directly into the console. Thanks in part to the reverb, the sound of the guitar and his playing are somewhat reminiscent of Hank Marvin. Gilmour accompanies himself on another guitar that serves here as bass (presumably his Fender Telecaster Baritone), colored by fairly strong tremolo. Nick Mason thickens the texture with some furious beating of his gong before supporting the rhythm on his toms. Reversed cymbals then punctuate the Hammond organ chords, calling to mind “One of These Days” (Meddle). This is indeed a deliberate allusion, Gilmour precisely copying the beginning of the solo he plays on that track on his double-neck Fender pedal steel guitar with Fuzz Face distortion (listen at 1:20). Nostalgia guaranteed. Andy Jackson has come out from behind the controls and plays bass for the second time on the album. (The first time was on “Skins.”) Throughout the track we hear numerous synth effects and reversed sounds. “Eyes to Pearls” has an unfinished air and gives the impression of being a demo rather than a definitive version.
Surfacing
David Gilmour/2:46
Musicians
David Gilmour: acoustic guitar, lap steel, bass, backing vocals
Rick Wright: synthesizers, keyboards
Nick Mason: drums
Durga McBroom: backing vocals
Recorded
Britannia Row, Islington, London: January 1993
Medina Studio, Hove: November 2013
Astoria, Hampton: 2013–14
Olympic Studios, London: 2013–14
Technical Team
Producers (1993): Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour
Producers: David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Youth, Andy Jackson
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Damon Iddins, Phil Taylor (Britannia Row)
Genesis and Production
Credited to David Gilmour, “Surfacing” is the penultimate piece in this Pink Floyd symphony. The atmosphere of the track resembles that of “Poles Apart” on The Division Bell, mainly because of the acoustic guitar parts that David Gilmour arpeggiates in a similar way. There seem to be three acoustic guitar tracks here: one in the center of the stereo field and another at either extremity. Augmented by a slight delay, the strings sometimes sound a little overloaded. The sound resembles that of Gilmour’s Ovation Legend 1619-4 rather than that of his Gibson J-200. Or could it be a combination of the two? Rick Wright supports the guitarist with synth pads punctuated by drum and bass crashes. Gilmour adds phrases on his Fender Deluxe lap steel before launching with Durga McBroom into backing vocals (from 0:35) that are every bit as breathy as on “Talkin’ Hawkin’” on the same album. What is remarkable is that the two singers continue their vocals until the end of the piece, sounding almost like sampled backing vocals. Nick Mason ensures a metronomic beat, favoring his superb Paiste cymbals (mainly the ride). Gilmour improvises on his lap steel with a distorted sound. He always seems to be able to find the resources to
play, never becoming jaded despite recording countless solos since the early days. “Surfacing” ends cleanly and logically. The last few seconds of the piece are filled with seagull sounds created by David Gilmour by playing close to the bridge of his lap steel. Intermingled with these birdcalls are church bells that usher in the last piece on the album, “Louder Than Words.”
Louder Than Words
David Gilmour, Polly Samson/6:37
Musicians
David Gilmour: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric rhythm and lead guitar, Hammond organ, effects
Rick Wright: Fender Rhodes, piano, synthesizer
Nick Mason: drums, percussion
Bob Ezrin: bass
Louise Marshall, Durga McBroom, Sarah Brown: backing vocals
Escala (Helen Nash, Honor Watson, Victoria Lyon, and Chantal Leverton): strings
Recorded
Britannia Row, Islington, London: January 1993
Medina Studio, Hove: November 2013
Astoria, Hampton: 2013–14
Olympic Studios, London: 2013–14
Technical Team
Producers (1993): Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour
Producers: David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Youth, Andy Jackson
Sound Engineers: Andy Jackson, Damon Iddins, Phil Taylor (Britannia Row)
Genesis
“Louder Than Words,” the only track on the album with lyrics, brings to a close not only the Pink Floyd symphony that is this album, but also the group’s musical adventure, which had begun forty-seven years before. It is with this composition, therefore, that the curtain falls for the last time on Pink Floyd’s recording career. Composed by David Gilmour with lyrics by his wife, Polly Samson, this song takes stock of the relations between the members of the group, Roger Waters included, at the time of their brief reunion for Live 8 in 2005. “At Live 8, they’d rehearsed, there were sound checks, lots of downtime sitting in rooms with David, Rick, Nick, and, on that occasion, Roger,” explains Polly Samson. “And what struck me was, they never spoke. They don’t do small talk, they don’t do big talk. It’s not hostile, they just don’t speak. And then they step onto a stage and musically that communication is extraordinary. So, I’d kind of made some notes at that time. I went off into my room absolutely without a piece of music, and wrote that lyric.”173 During an interview with Daniel Kreps for Rolling Stone, David Gilmour fills in a few more details: “Polly came up with the idea for ‘Louder Than Words’ as something that describes what we achieve when we make the music that we make. Neither Rick nor I are the most verbal people and so Polly was thinking it was very appropriate for us to express what we do through the music, but she’s helping us describe it in words as well.”11 The lyrics, which turn the spotlight on the Pink Floyd alchemy, on the extraordinary harmony and complementarity between the four musicians (at least until the divorce from Waters), are of great lucidity. “Louder Than Words” therefore meshes perfectly with the theme that had already been explored several times by Pink Floyd since The Dark Side of the Moon: communication and the lack of it between human beings.
Production
Pink Floyd’s last track was completed at David Gilmour’s Medina Studio toward the end of the sessions for The Endless River. It begins with the sound of church bells, which are carried over from the previous track, “Surfacing.” Are they announcing a wedding, a holiday, a celebration? Or are they harking back to “Fat Old Sun” on Atom Heart Mother? All that can be said for sure is that they are not here by chance, that they convey a symbolism that the group must have wanted at this precise place on the album. After a second or two of the pealing bells, which are joined by the ticking of a metronome, Gilmour launches into arpeggios on his electric guitar (presumably his Strat). His notes are steeped in reverb and colored by a chorus effect. He is answered by chords played on an acoustic guitar, probably his Ovation Custom Legend 1619-4, almost certainly in “Nashville” tuning (as on “Comfortably Numb” and “Hey You” [The Wall]). This second guitar is subject to an emphatic delay whose repetitions veer off into the opposite stereo channel. Rick Wright then comes in with an acoustic piano solo in his own inimitable style. The emotional power of this solo is all the greater when one stops to consider that it is the last by the late pianist on this final Pink Floyd album. Gilmour adds another, strummed, acoustic guitar, which is supported (from 0:28) by Bob Ezrin’s bass. Nick Mason makes his entrance in the first verse alongside David Gilmour, who sings what is his first lead vocal on an original recording in more than twenty years. It was Andy Jackson and Youth who persuaded him to pick up the mic again, Gilmour himself having little enthusiasm for singing, as Youth confirms: “Everyone around him was saying how he hates doing vocals, and he always leaves them to the last minute…”175 Given Gilmour’s status as one of the best rock singers in the world, whose voice is one of the Pink Floyd trademarks, this attitude comes as something of a surprise. For “Louder Than Words” he needed to get into shape in order to regain his usual high vocal standard. “Because the studio was in his home, he’d try it every day until he got all the lines he wanted. He ended up just doing it alone. It had been a while since he sang, so he had to get his voice limbered up, a bit every day.”175 As a great fan of Leonard Cohen, it occurred to Gilmour that he could sing the refrains in a lower register and get Louise Marshall, Durga McBroom, and Sarah Brown to sing the backing vocals an octave higher. This is surprising, given his apparent facility in forcing his vocal cords. The effect is interesting, but ultimately suffers from a lack of dynamism. In addition to Mason on drums and Ezrin on bass, Gilmour supports his vocal with lead guitar and a Hammond organ part in the refrains, while Wright accompanies on Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano, and the Escala quartet, with string contributions that are discreet to say the least, is reasonably recessed in the mix (listen, for example, at 1:59). After the final refrain, Gilmour launches into one last solo, probably on his “Black Strat,” with floating, soaring phrases and devoid of any trace of aggressiveness. This effect is reinforced by the backing vocals that accompany him throughout, accentuating the feeling of fluidity. It may not be one of his best-ever solos, but as always it is the emotion that counts. The piece ends with a reprise of the beginning of the first track on the album, “Things Left Unsaid.”
AN ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE VIDEO
Most of the video of “Louder Than Words,” directed by Aubrey Powell, were shot in the Aral Sea (Kazakhstan), whose desiccation, caused by Soviet cotton field irrigation projects, has resulted in the disappearance of almost every sign of life from the area. Since the nineties, various projects have been undertaken in order to try to prevent the Aral Sea from drying up completely. This is therefore in part an environmental video…
BONUS TRACKS DVD/BLU-RAY
The deluxe edition of The Endless River is available on DVD and Blu-ray. The package includes a 24-page book, postcards, and a bonus disc with six videos and three new songs.
TBS9
David Gilmour, Richard Wright/2:28
Musicians
David Gilmour: electric guitar, keyboards (?)
Rick Wright: keyboards, piano
Nick Mason: drums, percussion
Guy Pratt: bass
Recorded
Britannia Row, Islington, London: January 1993
Medina Studio, Hove: November 2013
Astoria, Hampton: 2013–14
Technical Team
Producers (1993): Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour
Producers: David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Youth, Andy Jackson
Sound Engineer: Phil Taylor
Genesis and Production
“TBS9” is one of the improvisations included in the original Big Spliff project but left aside when Gilmour, Mason, Manzanera, Jackson, and Youth began to work on the definitive structure of what would become The Endless River.
“TBS9” is a piece of ambient music that could easily have found a place in the first movement of the album. Based on a single hypnotic chord played by Rick Wright on the
Farfisa organ, the resulting ethereal atmosphere is reinforced by multiple synth and other keyboard parts, chimes, and guitar effects generated in all likelihood on David Gilmour’s lap steel. It is interesting to note the presence of various sound effects at the beginning of the piece that sound as if Nick Mason had sat down at his drum kit but not yet begun to play, his snare drum being made to vibrate by the sound of the keyboard bass notes alone. A minute later he launches his drum part for real, mainly working his various cymbals: ride, crash, and hi-hat. Wright adds a piano part, and Guy Pratt accompanies him on a bass that sounds as if it might be fretless. The finished piece reveals a potential that is worthy of being better exploited.
TBS14
David Gilmour, Richard Wright/4:12
Musicians: David Gilmour: electric lead guitar/Rick Wright: synthesizer, Farfisa organ, Hammond organ/Nick Mason: drums/Guy Pratt: bass/Recorded: Britannia Row, Islington, London: January 1993/Medina Studio, Hove: November 2013/Astoria, Hampton: 2013–14/Technical Team: Producers (1993): Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour/Producers: David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Youth, Andy Jackson/Sound Engineer: Phil Taylor
Pink Floyd All the Songs Page 79
