THE ENDLESS RIVER Calling it a “return to the creative principles” of ‘Echoes,’ ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond,’ and ‘Animals,’ Pink Floyd have revealed the cover art, track listing, and release date for their new album ‘The Endless River.’
Culled from the same 1993 sessions that produced 1994′s ‘The Division Bell,’ the 18-track ‘Endless River’ is shaped from a period that found Floyd members David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright jamming on “more than a hundred pieces of music” and then finishing the arrangements with producer Bob Ezrin and a group of studio vets that included keyboard player Jon Carin, bassist Guy Pratt, and percussionist Gary Wallis.
Newly augmented by additional overdubs from Gilmour and Mason, as well as archival performances from Wright, who died in 2008, the end result is a hybrid collection of new Pink Floyd music that Gilmour says “feels right” in 2014. “‘The Endless River’ has as its starting point the music that came from the 1993 ‘Division Bell’ sessions. We listened to over 20 hours of the three of us playing together and selected the music we wanted to work on for the new album,” he explained. “Over the last year we’ve added new parts, re-recorded others and generally harnessed studio technology to make a 21st century Pink Floyd album. With Rick gone, and with him the chance of ever doing it again, it feels right that these revisited and reworked tracks should be made available as part of our repertoire.”
Gilmour and Mason discussed the project for a cover story in the Nov. 2014 issue of Uncut, revealing that the album includes some organ work recorded by Wright in 1969, boasts an overall atmospheric tone, and was partially shaped by input from Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, who listened to the tapes and offered his thoughts at Gilmour’s request. The interview also includes lyrics from the sole vocal track on ‘The Endless River,’ titled ‘Louder Than Words,’ which offers a poignant overview of the band’s tumultuous history with lines like “We **** and we fight / But this thing that we do / It’s louder than words / The sum of our parts / The beat of our hearts / It’s louder than words.”
Promising “mellifluous keyboards, jazz-tinged drums, musique concrete, ethereal vocals, and distinctive, emotional lead guitar,” ‘The Endless River’ is due for release on Nov. 10 and available for pre-order now.
Pink Floyd, ‘The Endless River’ Track Listing‘Things Left Unsaid’
‘It’s What We Do’
‘Ebb and Flow’
‘Sum’
‘Skins’
‘Unsung’
‘Anisina’
‘The Lost Art of Conversation’
‘On Noodle Street’
‘Night Light’
‘Allons-y (1)’
‘Autumn’68′
‘Allons-y (2)’
‘Talkin’ Hawkin”
‘Calling’
‘Eyes to Pearls’
‘Surfacing’
‘Louder Than Words’
(from Ultimate Classic Rock)