Rating: 8/10

Track Amount: 11

Running Time: 1 hour and 1 minute

Genre: Rock/Psychedelic Rock/Progressive Rock

Personnel: David Gilmour plus guests

Producer: David Gilmour & Charlie Andrew

Recording Location: Various, including Medina Studio, Salvation Studios, British Grove Studios, Angel Studios, Astoria Studio and Iguana Studios

Record Label: Sony Music

Art Direction: Anton Corbijn

Best Tracks: Between Two Points, Luck and Strange – Original Barn Jam

Quick Verdict: An articulate and interesting album release for fans of Pink Floyd’s guitarist

David Gilmour, for those of you who do not know, took over the responsibilities as a guitarist for the phenomenally successful Rock group Pink Floyd after their original singer, songwriter and guitarist, Syd Barrett, lost the plot between 1967-1968. Obviously, David Gilmour himself had massive shoes to fill after this occurred, but he managed to reveal himself as a phenomenal and wonderful guitarist, playing on hugely popular releases by Pink Floyd such as The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979). For anyone born after the year 2000 and who wasn’t around at this time, these releases forever changed Rock Music in particular and had anthems of those times forever in people’s discographies. After Pink Floyd gradually collapsed with bitter relations between singer-songwriter/bassist Roger Waters and David Gilmour occurring, causing the demise of the band, David Gilmour made various solo career efforts. With artistic contributions by David Gilmour’s wife, Polly Samson and addressing themes of ageing and mortality, this album went to #1 on the UK Albums charts, proving that he still had some musical magic in him. Let’s take a listen to this release, and we shall hear if it is more luck than strange musically.

1. Black Cat launches this album with a fade-in of electronic textures and sounds that are excellent. Surely this is more of an Ambient album to emerge? That is, until piano and gorgeous Fender Stratocaster guitars enter. This does sound marvellous yet moody throughout. Truly a cinematic sort of listening experience, this is a genuinely good opening track for this album. It gets dark at the end.

2. Luck and Strange begins with some sweet and melodic guitar progressions that are really quite sweet and excellent. Organ enters, and this tune gets moving and grooving. This is a very much post-Pink Floyd song that has passion and energy throughout it. David Gilmour sings some awesome lyrics that are surrealistic and impressionistic in their own way. He sounds great for a guy living towards the end of his days. Nonetheless, this is a fantastic song that is sweet and anthemic throughout. This music is a really divine listen in its own way. David Gilmour reflects on a lifetime of musical experience, and he distils his energies and efforts into a Rock symphonic sort of piece. The Fender Stratocasters and electronics mix very nicely indeed on this song. Undoubtedly, this is one of the better listens album wise nowadays, even though David Gilmour really struggles to hit the high notes in his singing. Not a big deal, all the same, given his age. He sings from a universal perspective and distils the Psychedelic and Progressive Rock brilliance of Pink Floyd’s past into this masterwork of music listening. The second half sounds remarkably like a Pink Floyd tune, even though it is more like a reflection on the better days of Pink Floyd. Regardless, the guitar soloing as we gradually approach the end is magnificent, as is the organ parts that match it in the opposite channel. The guitar soloing is very good, and it sounds like David Gilmour still has some genuine moments of talented surprise in his music. This wraps up nicely after nearly seven minutes in length. Excellent effort.

3. The Piper’s Call is a direct reference to the first Pink Floyd album, The Piper At The Gates of Dawn (1967). It begins with strummed classical acoustic guitars and what sounds like ukulele, alongside interesting and unique percussion to match it. David Gilmour sings nicely, although in a slightly raspy voice at hand. Even so, he looks back to the glory days of Pink Floyd and articulates a gorgeous and explorational tune about the ending of one’s days. Bear in mind that David Gilmour is very much in the later stages of his life, hence this lyrical focus on this album. All the same, this is a really dramatic and fantastic listen that, quite frankly, should be heard by more. The sounds and instrumentation reflect the adventurous and intelligent music spirit of David Gilmour. Lyrically, it is about the potential meeting of the devil after passing on. The chorus is really glorious to hear, and it showcases that David Gilmour has a unique and powerfully enjoyable musical sensibility. The guitar solo towards the end is very unique and fantastic to listen to. All in all, a really great tune to listen to, which has some impressive moments about it. A really great song, and a fine listen from this musically gifted and talented musician.

4. A Single Spark begins with some electronics, including processed drum beats and piano to match it all. David Gilmour sings about the possibility of life after death in uncertain times, and it is quite clear that David Gilmour has some religious beliefs within him these days. Even so, this is a magnificent and great song that has a yearning nature to find out the possibilities beyond. His singing is rather raspy, but even so, this sounds really marvellous and makes for a fine listen about the creation of music itself. Alongside Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour is one of the best Fender Stratocaster players in music history. All the same, this is a pleasant listen and reveals David Gilmour as a decent, humble personality. The guitar solo in the second half of the song is magnificent and beautiful as well. This is genuine proof of the genius behind a lot of Pink Floyd’s music, more so than we really credit David Gilmour for. A seriously great listen, through and through. The symphonic strings also add a nice touch to the music at hand. A great listen from beginning to end, and proof of the musical mastery that is David Gilmour. It ends with some shiny guitars and a deeply emotional-sounding fade-out.

5. Vita Brevis is a short instrumental at less than a minute long. It has classical acoustic guitars, strings and slide guitar, sounding extremely beautiful. This is a nice addition to this album and sounds very pure in intent. Awesome stuff.

6. Between Two Points features Romany Gilmour. It has piano, strummed acoustic guitars, and classical guitar being plucked away. String keyboard sounds are present here as well. Romany Gilmour sings quite sadly about dealing with negative people who are traitors in life. This is a remarkably awesome and beautiful song that is quite a tearjerker in many ways. This is a simply beautiful and notable piece of music that sounds very sad, and would have the likes of Coldplay thinking twice about how they make their music following their own melancholy. Coldplay don’t come as close to this quality-wise these days as this tune does. In any case, this song is a pretty and moving listen about some of the negative experiences of life. A sad listening experience, but nonetheless, a really good one from this album. The Gilmour family do an excellent job at creating humble and humane music that strikes a chord emotionally. A really nice but heartbreaking listen at hand. This music is very sweet indeed, with a neck position Fender Stratocaster solo that sounds very picturesque. A decent song to hear, all in all. This sounds really unique and magical at hand, despite the depressing lyrical matter. Nonetheless, a good effort for what it is.

7. Dark and Velvet Nights begins with some violining on the guitar, and launches into an awkward-sounding but harder song at hand. It sounds like a poor attempt at Deep Purple at hand. David Gilmour sings a simplistic yet poor tune at hand. This sounds, quite frankly, very ordinary to listen to. The musicianship and playing are far from good. Sadly, this is merely filler on this album, and it does sound like it needs skipping upon hearing. The music is far from inspired, and the lyrics are drivel. This is a poor song that drags the album down, and David Gilmour also struggles to hit the high notes with his singing. Even a good album such as this one has its weak points, and this is proof of that. This tune sounds like garbage. Sorry to say that about music by David Gilmour, but this is not album-worthy material overall. The guitars at the end are good, but this is not going to be many people’s cup of tea. A good idea ruined by poor sounds.

8. Sings begins with some keyboard sounds that are eerie, before launching into a much better song than before that is deep and emotional in a love and romantic sense. David Gilmour makes some mostly good tunes on this album, and this is definitely one of the better listens from it. Some nice arrangement of instrumentation is present on this song, with layers of keyboards and guitar-based instrumentation throughout. All in all, a really sweet and fantastic listen which nicely delivers. This is extremely well structured and has some simple yet romantically passionate singing, which is different from other releases nowadays at the time of writing. The music and singing are really gloriously good, and this album proves that, indeed, David Gilmour was the musical core of Pink Floyd for the most part, and paints his rival, Roger Waters, as a bit of an egomaniac if you believe the hype. There is a tranquil section of guitars and sounds in the second half, with the sound of a baby murmuring on this tune, which is different. This is very sonically advanced sounding, before it continues into the final part of the song. Not bad. David Gilmour is more than just a guitarist; he is revealing himself to be a musician extraordinaire. A very good listen.

9. Scattered is a seven-minute-long piece of music that begins with some synth strings and heartbeat sounds, not dissimilar to The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973). David Gilmour begins to sing very nicely on this song, and he sounds like he is well aware that his time is approaching its end. This is a good piece of music that has some unique beauty and quality to it. David Gilmour sounds like a focused artist, for the most part, and this music is very much like a wonderful painting of art. This song is another solid listen, although it is not as good as the efforts that Pink Floyd generally made in the past. Still, the array of electronics and strings does sound interesting on this album. This has some pseudo-Classical Music styled piano playing and random instrumentation towards the middle, which is different. All in all, an adventurous tune but perhaps lacking musical consistency. Even so, this is not outright bad. The mixture of Classical acoustic guitars and keyboards makes for an intelligent and different listening experience overall. This does sound rather sweet, in its own way. A tranquil sort of guitar listening piece that is fairly typical of this album to listen to. Classical guitar is an underrated listen, for the most part nowadays. This is followed by a Blues-soaked Fender Stratocaster guitar solo that sounds really deep, soulful and magnificent throughout. All in all, this music is a good example of what David Gilmour can achieve, with or without Pink Floyd. The string section is also a very moody and moving musical touch. Nonetheless, a decent listen. It finishes up with David Gilmour singing clearly and emotionally about reflecting on life. A nice tune that is very human. It concludes with a repeated keyboard note.

10. Yes, I Have Ghosts features Romany Gilmour. It begins with beautiful acoustic guitar arpeggios that are dual-tracked and stereo panned. This sounds really sweet and beautiful throughout. This is a rather selfishly written tune about the coming of death and what entails with it. Even so, this is a very fascinating listen with Romany’s backing vocals sounding really great as well. All in all, this is a very fine and fascinating pre-conclusion to a good album that needs to be explored more by contemporary music fans. This is nonetheless a very good song to listen to. If you want to hear proof of where Pink Floyd got their musical genius and inspiration from, then David Gilmour needs to be heard. This song wraps up with some gorgeous Classical acoustic guitar playing, strings and sweet melodies. A very good song.

11. Luck and Strange – Original Barn Jam is a 14-minute-long piece, beginning with what sounds like an electrified double bass as bass guitar, fragments of guitars and launches into a rather picturesque piece of music at hand. This has some interesting Fender Stratocaster riffing and organ as well. David Gilmour plays a nice and mellow guitar riff throughout, which is loose yet cool. This continues on nicely and just sounds right. Pink Floyd was, after all, notable for Fender-based guitar jams that were upgraded to be specific pieces of music at hand. Drums enter, and this piece sounds fresh and lively. All in all, this music has a great and unique flavour to it. If you have stayed through to this point, you are in for a real music treat. The guitar playing and ambience are absolutely fantastic throughout, sounding top-notch and ideal for a mellow jam at hand. The music is extremely cool to hear, and it has a unique and iconic flavour to it all. Think of a post-Pink Floyd Blues-style jam with some tasteful playing, and you are there. The sounds and playing by each jam band member are spot on and fantastically so. In a sense of inner space, this music is very much what fans of Pink Floyd and other Progressive Rock fans will enjoy. It continues to evolve in a chilled-out sort of way very, very nicely. A groovy and interesting tune is at hand here. David Gilmour plays a mean guitar for sure. This progresses between subdued soloing and the main riff at hand. If you need to take a long drive in the late afternoon in your car, this is suitable listening for you. A really nice tune at hand, which is driven and lovely listening. If music needs to be compared to art these days, David Gilmour is a great candidate for that. Absolutely awesome tune at hand. Sure, not everyone will value a lengthy listen of this sort, but if you want to hear purely great music, this is a good showcase for that. This tune is an excellent jam section with freeform playing galore. The other musicians in the jam session fight for space, but David Gilmour’s guitar playing is velvety smooth and fantastic throughout. In the second half, the bass guitar becomes prominent, followed by piano and some very woman tone styled electric guitar sounds throughout. The organ is awesome here as well, sounding quintessentially great to hear. A good and retrospective-sounding song that has an articulate flavour about it all. Many guitarists and Rock Music fans will definitely dig this song. A very awesome and powerful listening experience with rumbling bass guitar, pristine organ and that repeated guitar riff throughout. As we gradually reach the end, this tune sounds really very cool and sweet as it reaches that point. A fresh and simply pretty tune throughout, which has some real potential in its musicality. As we finally reach the end, this gets a bit more freeform with an interesting progression by all band members at hand. The guitar exits, leaving just the bass guitar and percussion, with dashes of organ playing coming along nicely. A good finish to a decent album. It wraps up with laughter and chatter by the band.

This is a very good album that, whilst not an absolute classic that is up there with the likes of Pink Floyd, does sound quite good in its own way. David Gilmour certainly is a talented guitarist, and although he is in the latter stages of his life, he and his friends and family work well on a decent album release here. Sure, some moments are better than others, but overall, guitar music fans in particular will dig this release. Should you listen to this album? If you love Pink Floyd’s more musical side and want to hear something similar, go for it. Fans of heavier music styles will wish to avoid this release, however.

If you like this article, please like, share, comment and follow me on The Ultimate Music Library. Thank you, Chris Airey.