Pink Floyd – The Division Bell Review

Just two albums without Roger Waters and the wheels of the Pink Floyd machine were coming off. It is not as though they were attached all that securely in the final Waters-led albums, but the change in tone after A Momentary Lapse of Reason is staggering. The Division Bell, an album which serves as the final attempt if you cast aside the many cash-ins, collaborative performances and remasters to follow, is fine. Their hour-long attempt at recapturing the progressive-rock tones of their past, with David Gilmour writing and providing guitar to most of these tracks, is a heavy burden to carry. Much of The Division Bell feels like padding. Lengthy introductions, a sense Gilmour wanted the focus to be on his instrumentals, not the sparse songwriting. It all comes crashing down.  

Yet it remains a remarkable example of a band continuing in spite of itself or its departing members. Pink Floyd had shuffled its roster of available artists before when Syd Barrett left and they do much the same on The Division Bell, which only grows into its awkward, sudden sense of finality. Richard Wright is bumped up to vocal duties for What Do You Want from Me, a fair change to make considering the delicate piano work he provides there. Generally speaking, The Division Bell is quite nice. Given the context of its recording, it could be much worse. Only on closer inspection does it look a bit fraught, a tad underwhelming given the division spreading through the band at the time. Choices are the core of The Division Bell, and whether the rubbished suggestion these songs relate to Waters’ departure or as Gilmour continues suggesting, the bells of parliament, is fascinating. It sounds like a mournful experience, but then it also sounds instrumentally gluttonous and fixated on the fretwork from Gilmour. 

His time in the spotlight feels unremarkable yet he remains there, fooling around with some riffs Mark Knopfler could sneeze out. Yet when the lyrics cut through, as they do on the remarkable What Do You Want from Me, Pink Floyd comes to life once more, however briefly. Genuinely marvellous and likely the best post-Waters Pink Floyd song. Some tracks, whether Gilmour likes it or not, do sound like swipes at Waters, inevitably so given his departure. Poles Apart particularly, the putdown of an unnamed golden boy, and even without this context it sounds like a strong track. Go in with the same resentment felt for any artist whose bust-up has overwhelmed the music, and then feel those pleasant surprises. Gilmour still oversteps what his guitar should do but makes up for it with some refreshing lyrical turns.  

Follow-ups like Marooned and A Great Day for Freedom are neat pieces of work though nothing to turn your head. The latter, particularly, is one of those songs inevitably shadowed by this potential knock at Waters, but it never feels like The Division Bell is throwing too many punches. Pink Floyd had evolved, however inoffensively, under Gilmour’s stewardship. Where Pink Floyd was influential in their glory days, they feel impartial and often influenced by rock sounds of the times in the latter half of The Division Bell. Striking soft tones of everything from Dire Straits to U2, the instrumental work is a flash in the pan on bits like Take It Back. Instrumental spectacle was always a part of Pink Floyd, though rarely the main focus. The Division Bell tries and fails to flip it, but it remains a memorable farewell to the band, especially when the likes of Keep Talking and High Hopes, its brutality and charm, are the last moments of their work.