Pink Floyd - The Division Bell (1994)

Album Review

Album Details

Highlights: High Hopes, Marooned, Poles Apart, Keep Talking

As of the beginning of the 1990s, Pink Floyd had been world leaders in invention and originality through their thirteen albums of pioneering Progressive rock. But with the coming of the new decade, the long and turbulent career of the Floyd looked close to over. Having reached their pinnacle midway through the 1970s, acrimony began splitting the group apart. Bass player, primary lyricist and some-time lead vocalist Roger Waters began exerting a dominating rule over all song writing and direction of the group. While this did produce still fruitful music such as their famed 1979 concept album The Wall[1], by 1985 Waters declared Pink Floyd defunct. Guitarist and now sole frontman David Gilmour revived the group, but after a less than impressive attempt to 'prove that they could get along without Roger'[2] in their1987 album, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason[3], and a troublesome world tour in 1988, Floyd fans welcomed the new decade with a sad hint of scepticism.

It was with much anticipation and joy that the announcement of another studio album to be released in 1994 came. The distinctly 80s sound of A Momentary Lapse Of Reason showed that even a band as creative and as withdrawn from conformist musical trends as the Floyd can’t avoid but to tap into the musical stylings of the time. This comes to fruition on The Division Bell. It has a distinctly 90s sound which makes it a rather interesting enigma within their catalogue, and something relevant to the broader scope of the decade.

The album opens with Cluster One, an ambient soundscape which as a Floyd fan, frustrates me because it is so clearly and obviously a cheap attempt at replicating the old dream-like Pink Floyd sound just for the sake of it. It lacks the true beauty of most of their ambient work, however it has a touch of very pretty piano and overall is perfectly pleasant.

Cluster One segues into What Do You Want From Me? This song is the pinnacle of the overt ‘90sness’ of the album. It is a fairly simple (for Pink Floyd) driving rock ballad of the 90s. There’s not much to note of the song really, only that David Gilmour’s songwriting is sufficiently mature through all of his experience, to make this a solid pop rocker.

The next two songs on the album are two of the very best. Poles Apart is for me the most underrated song on the album. It flows from characteristically beautiful work from Gilmour on the acoustic guitar and a compelling vocal melody, through a haunting circus-style middle section, and back. Marooned has the unlikely distinctly of providing Pink Floyd with their only Grammy award, for best Rock Instrumental. It is a beautiful dreamy palette of sounds for its first two minutes and although some rather out of place 90s drums interrupt the atmosphere somewhat, it remains a highlight throughout.

The rest of the album flows through a number of different styles. A Great Day For Freedom is a soft slow ballad which is pleasant but unassuming. Wearing The Inside Out is noteworthy only for being the first compositional and vocal contribution from keyboardist Richard Wright for over twenty years. Take It Back has a wonderful atmospheric intro but from then on is a pretty standard, if enjoyable, 80s reminiscent rocker. It segues fantastically into Coming Back To Life which shows the strength of Gilmour’s voice, but for the most part is a lowlight on the album. Keep Talking has an introduction very similar to Take It Back but from then on retains its intriguing atmospheres. It suffers from some distinctly 90s production values, but the combination of a weird and wonderful solo on a 'talk box'[4] and haunting spoken word parts from famous physicist Stephen Hawking preserve its value. The penultimate track Lost For Words is only really noteworthy for it’s disturbing similarity to Floyd classic Wish You Were Here.[5]

This run of all solid but no truly brilliant tracks leads appropriately to the album’s magnum opus High Hopes. Although perhaps not to the level of some of the band’s 70s classis, High Hopes is nevertheless a fantastic song, from its beautiful early ambience, complete with a ringing bell which adds a perfect texture to the song, to the lush piano and vocals of its verses, epic choruses, a soaring guitar solo to close the song, and a profoundly disturbing but thought provoking secret message at the very end. Overall, it is the clear standout.

The Division Bell pretty much received uniformly bad reviews on its release, and it’s distinctly 90s sound alienates a great many Floyd fans; however I find the album to be quite underrated. It is easily their best work since 1979’s The Wall and while the general lack of original substance does drag it down, it is still a highly enjoyable listen. The primary criticisms of the album are mostly founded only in the context of being a wider Pink Floyd fan. It is not an inventive masterpiece which will change the world and in the Floyd catalogue is surely on the lower end of the scale, but for any fan of 90s rock, The Division Bell should present an overall appeal.

Visit Pink Floyd's official website here.

Note: A real sign of the times and reflection of the burgeoning technology of the 90s was the 'Publius Enigma.' The Publius Enigma is a mysterious riddle in connection with The Division Bell which originated on the internet from an anonymous entity names 'Publius.' It claimed to present a riddle association with the album and offered a prize to anyone who solve the riddle. Fifteen years later it remains unsolved, and has been varified as geniune.

Read about the Publius Enigma here and here.

Try and solve the Enigma for yourself here.