Album Reviews

As old-fashioned ear candy, David Gilmour’s On An Island is difficult to beat. Produced by seasoned studio pros intent upon making you stop what you are doing and actually listen, the record is a rich minefield of sonic surprises and delights, beginning with impressionistic musical sound effects mimicking foghorns, sea-gulls and the like, after which enters Gilmore’s familiar feedback-drenched, crescendo-capped guitar, and archetypal mid-tempo woozy balladry.

The album’s title song is not a metaphor. You’re literally on an island. Gilmour’s virtual tropical vacation revisited offers warmth, starry nights, lots of moonlight, sandy beaches and of course a love affair time share. You’re marooned for two sides, but with someone to share the sea, salt air and satisfied life.

There is some drama as on the “you’re the captain of your own ship” “Take A Breath, ” but for the most part it’s upbeat, as on “This Heaven,” which for Gilmour is earth.

Not much happens along the way but, after all, you are on vacation. With the exception of the introspective “Pocket Full of Stones, it’s all as comfortable as a pair of “relaxed fit” Dockers and that’s how it’s meant to be. Pink Floyd “lite?” Yes and as long as you don’t expect the band’s mystery and accept a dish of the pleasant outlines, you’ll enjoy your stay.

The recording is deep, dynamic, and probably digital, but very good digital. So it’s more about cleanly rendered outlines, pitch black backdrops and crystalline clarity than richly drawn textures. The digital reverb is clean but lacks the supple pleasures of a good old chamber or even a plate reverb.

Old familiar names dot the musical landscape: Manzanera, Crosby, Nash, Andy Newmark, Chris Thomas, Chris Stainton, Jools Holland, Georgie Fame, and B.J. Cole among them, all laying back in deference to Gilmour’s cause.

The LP was cut at Abbey Road judging by the matrix stamper and numbering system, and plated and pressed at PortalSpaceRecords (see interview with Roy Matthews and virtual tour of the plant elsewhere on this site). Pressing quality is outstanding, though some mold release compound or some other material required a few vacuum cleanings before the grooves became pleasingly silent, but the fit’n’finish of the LP is impressive. It looks and feels good as well as sounding so.

The packaging is sumptuous, from the thick papered gatefold jacket to the heavy artworked innersleeve and especially the full sized, heavy stock poster.

Though it doesn’t quite provide the cosmic experience of your favorite PF outing, On An Island is an album that long-time fans will appreciate as glints of the familiar and longed for musical moments reflect off its highly polished surface.