As a huge Pink Floyd fan, who was raised listening to their classics such as The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, I was kinda disappointed by their last effort back in November of 2014. I mean it wasn’t a bad album, but it wasn’t Pink Floyd quality, yet I was extremely excited when David Gilmour announced his new solo album nonetheless and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.
As Gilmour was a huge driving force in Pink Floyd’s career, his new album still sounds a lot like Pink Floyd. The music still has this serene atmosphere.
The album starts with the track ‘5 A.M.’ which is an ambient track that reminds me of the Pink Floyd classic ‘Marooned’ but it still feels fresh and new, not just a rip-off of their old stuff.
Then you get to the title track, ‘Rattle That Lock’ which has a smooth rhythm to it, accompanied by a beautiful music video about the classic poem “Paradise Lost” which portrays Lucifer’s fall from heaven. The lyrics are beautiful and mainly speak about freedom.
Next up is ‘Faces of Stone’, which is a mesmerizing track, with an accordion track that adds a beautiful layer to it, accompanied by Gilmour’s stunning guitar work, and amazing piano work. This is definitely one of my favorite tracks of the album. I am listening to it while writing this, and the solo is just mind-boggling. Note that I have listened to this album around 5 times already.
The 4th track is ‘A Boat Lies Waiting’ which is a calm Piano track and a choir – which I think is just Gilmour’s voice layered multiple times- with a smooth guitar intro.
The 5th track, which is right in the middle of the album is called ‘Dancing Right In Front of Me’, and is definitely my favorite track of the whole album. It features a jazzy bass line, bluesy guitar riffs, and overall majestic writing. This song is on par with some of Pink Floyd’s classics, and that says something.
Track number 6 is called ‘In Any Tongue’, and is a really good track, and is also one of my favorites. It is a beautiful rock track, and it doesn’t really have anything special, yet Gilmour is an amazing writer, this track is just breathtaking.
Next up is ‘Beauty’; it starts with a smooth ambient track, similar to ‘5 A.M.’, but so different. Then it picks up pace, and becomes a bit bluesy. It’s like “progressive blues” if that even makes sense. The track just starts from ambient and becomes a blues-rock track in just less than 4 minutes, and then it fades out to nothing.
Another spectacular track is track number 8, named ‘The Girl In The Yellow Dress’. This track is a jazz track; it has the bass line, the piano, the slow drums, the clean guitar. It even has a sax. This track just makes me feel like I need a whiskey in one hand and a Cuban cigar in the other, while wearing a dark brown suit in a bar watching a live band play this song.
The 9th track called ‘Today’ is a decent track, but I didn’t like it much. It starts with a church choir then it becomes a funk track. I guess it’s just not my cup of tea, but you might like it.
And finally we get to the track named ‘And Then…’, which is an instrumental track, it’s just as beautiful as you would expect, but it wasn’t mind boggling either. Yet it’s beautiful nonetheless.
Now this is a 10-track album, but if you buy the deluxe edition you get 4 more tracks, 3 of which are different versions of ‘Rattle That Lock’, and the 4th is the orchestral version of ‘The Girl In The Yellow Dress’ which is a really good track if you’re into this kind of music.
Usually when I review an album, I also review the recording quality, but the quality on this track is just perfect, I mean the man has been recording for around 40 years now! So that’s all I’ll say about that.
So is the album worth it? Oh hell yes, this album is beautiful and is definitely worth every penny. It is one of my favorite albums of the year so far.
Edited by: NJ Bakr
