The Endless River is the final album by Pink Floyd. It is a ambient, instrumental farewell assembled from various recordings from before the death of keyboardist Richard Wright. It is not meant to be held up against classic albums like The Wall or The Dark Side of the Moon, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. It is a fine goodbye.
Like much of Pink Floyd’s work, The Endless River is designed to be listened to as a cohesive unit. Tracks fade into other tracks, making for a very immersive experience. In today’s single-oriented music culture, it is refreshing to see an album that is actually meant to be listened to as an album.
Unlike their previous work, there is very little in the way of riffs or melody. The sound is spacey, ethereal and minimalist in its musical exploration. While their previous albums were tailor-made for smoke-filled, postured attics, The Endless River seems like it would be much more at home in a parlor specializing in deep-tissue massage. That said, it is not some lame, jammy new-age album. It is deliberate, ambient and classic.
This format gives David Gilmour an opportunity to stretch out with improvisation. On “Things Left Unsaid,” Gilmour takes an Ebow to his acoustic guitar for some captivating, legato leads. After some tasteful slide work on “It’s what we do,” he returns to the acoustic sound for “Ebb and Flow.” Through the rest of the album he alternates between these two sounds, with occasional forays into his diatonic blues and classic rock roots (“On Noodle Street,” “Alons-y (1)”).
Gilmour’s leads are accentuated by Wright’s atmospheric keyboard. Though the synth sounds are not as sophisticated as those used by today’s artists, they are surprisingly warm and three-dimensional. Complemented with sparse drums by Nick Mason, supplementary bass parts and various other percussion instruments, these keyboard parts hold together the album. Without them, it would be an empty jam band record. With them, it is Pink Floyd.
In the spirit of its name, The Endless River ends the same way that it begins. A bouncing, inquisitive guitar part fades in on the first track, then returns to fade out at the end. This cyclical quality makes it seem like the album never concludes, and one can’t help but assume this is an intentional move for the final album of Pink Floyd. Though their time together has come to an end, the music lives on.
Rating: A-
