Recently, several events have occurred that have become real holidays for fans of the Pink Floyd group. Last year, the London Orion Orchestra recorded songs from the album Wish you were here in symphonic processing. Alice Cooper's vocals in several compositions of this disc are one of its indisputable advantages. And this year, the long-awaited new disc of Roger Waters saw the light of day.
Italy again
Recently, the music world has been thrilled by another amazing piece of news. David Gilmour has released a new live CD Live in Pompeii. The venue of this show is a landmark for the artist, since in the late sixties he performed there as part of the Pink Floyd band. That concert was also recorded and released on a record. A new show took place 45 years after that historic performance. During this time, much has changed.
David Gilmore from a musician of a beginner rock band turned into a star of world scale, and the team itself acquired the cult status of one of the greatest bands in the history of the genre. The guitarist and vocalist performs at this concert not only songs from the Pink Floyd’s repertoire, but also solo works, mainly from the last album. This fact is a great opportunity to get acquainted with the work of a musician outside the group.
Album Features
Recording is amazing sound quality. The guitar of David Gilmore is brought to the fore by sound engineers. Therefore, listeners can fully enjoy the signature sound of the instrument and the playing style of the famous rocker. This is precisely what is sometimes not enough when listening to studio and concert recordings of Pink Floyd.
On the records of the group, the sound of the solo guitar is recessed in the general mix. Well, and, of course, the parts of keyboards and percussion always sound so bright that sometimes they do not allow us to concentrate on the virtuoso playing of David Gilmore.
The other side of talent
So, the new record allows fans to fully explore the game style of Dave. A variety of song repertoire allows the audience to demonstrate the sound of the famous British guitar in the context of various musical styles. The program included both psychedelic compositions and lighter things from solo albums.
Surely many fans of the Pink Floyd group, listening to the first songs of the disc, will be surprised: what kind of music does our beloved and esteemed David play? Indeed, the concert does not begin in the way that many fans of the famous Englishman expected. The opening song is a song from one of Gilmore’s solo discs. Therefore, it is worth saying a few words about the musician’s work outside the native band.
Solo work
David Gilmour's first album was released in the late seventies. Then, after a concert tour in support of the new at that time disc Animals, the group was in a state of crisis due to creative disagreements between its members and the difficult financial situation. It was at this time that two Pink Floyd members, keyboardist Rick Wright and guitarist David Gilmore, decided to go to France to record solo projects. In this country, then many rock musicians from the UK worked. There, the bandmates started recording their own music albums in parallel with each other.
First album
Gilmour’s solo creations are not distinguished by the pomp and monumentality that are inherent in all Pink Floyd’s compositions. But the musician, according to his own words, had no intention of recording something too similar to the music of the group. He just wanted to find some like-minded guys to enjoy playing with them light, unobtrusive songs from material that was not used in Pink Floyd.
At the same time, another of his bandmates, Roger Waters, was writing material for the upcoming Wall album, which a few years later produced the effect of an exploding bomb and caused another surge in the team’s popularity. David was recording something completely different. Of course, in this album some features inherent in the musical work of Pink Floyd are guessed. However, in this work, David Gilmore seeks greater musical freedom.
Life outside the Wall
His solos have a more improvisational character. They do not sound memorized and do not differ calculated ideality, which is inherent in many songs of the group. We can say that in solo albums, another Gilmore, previously unfamiliar, more “home” appears before the audience. The lyrics of these songs almost do not touch on social issues. The fight against the vices of modern society, which was conducted by the Pink Floyd group since the album “The Other Side of the Moon” and peaked in The Wall, gives way to love themes in David Gilmour's solo albums.
Spotlight Guitar
A similar mood is saturated with all the records of the musician. Of course, each time it is a completely unique musical composition, original cycles of songs by an outstanding guitarist and vocalist, but they all have some common features.
For example, in these compositions there is always only one solo musical instrument, which is in constant focus - this is the guitar of David Gilmore. Other parties play a purely supporting role. This circumstance brings Gilmour’s creativity closer to Renaissance music. Here is the same crystal transparency of the musical fabric and the simplicity of texture.
As a rule, work on these albums was carried out in between concert tours of the group and work in the studio. Therefore, these works are a reaction to the work of the team, that is, its complete opposite. The only exception was the album About Face, recorded after the release of The Wall and, in many ways, its continuation.
Interesting album for everyone.
As for David Gilmore’s new concert recording in Pompeii, it should be noted that it met the expectations of many fans also because the guitarist and his team play the classical works of the Pink Floyd group with a certain accuracy in the performance of musical themes, adhering to the classical reading of these songs.
Therefore, unlike another concert artist recorded in Paris, where some of the compositions were changed beyond recognition, David Gilmore’s concert in Pompeii will be interesting not only to connoisseurs of his work, but also to those who will hear this music for the first time. On the other hand, the concert has a certain amount of improvisation in the solo parts of instruments such as the guitar and saxophone. One of the most successful concert numbers was the classic Pink Floyd thing The great gig in the sky. The new arrangement of vocal parts significantly refreshed the perception of this composition, long loved by all fans of the group.