On An Island

Personnel: David Gilmour; David Crosby, Graham Nash, Jools Holland, Andy Newmark, Phil Manzanera, Robert Wyatt.

Recording information: Abbey Road, London, England (2006). The men of Pink Floyd have always taken their time, turning out stately epics at a less than hectic clip. Accordingly, 22 years separate ON AN ISLAND from ABOUT FACE, the previous solo album by Floyd axeman/singer David Gilmour. On the latter, Gilmour was still trying to distance his own sound from Floyd’s, but with that band mostly a memory in 2006, he was free to honor its legacy, much as Paul McCartney’s later albums acknowledged the Beatles’ work. The template for ON AN ISLAND seems to be tracks like “Breathe” from DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. The mood is an overwhelmingly mellow, spacious one, with Gilmour’s trademark double-tracked vocals and plangent, liquid guitar tones flowing gracefully across almost exclusively slow-to-mid-tempo arrangements. But with Roger Waters missing from the equation, there’s a notable lack of misanthropy in Gilmore’s lyrical sentiments. The themes are more in keeping with the life of a fabulously wealthy elder statesman of British rock: placidly philosophical, with a luxurious air that finds its parallel in the elegant layers of guitar and keyboard lines that color the album in shimmering pastel shades. What the critics say… Q (p.121) – Ranked #45 in Q Magazine’s “100 Greatest Albums of 2006” — “\[The songs\] demonstrated the Floyd leader’s mastery of the reflective vocal and grand guitar showdown…“ Uncut (p.108) – 3 stars out of 5 — “\[T\]he tone is oceanic and the mood contemplative, with Gilmour’s keening guitar lines soaring across cloudless skies, hitting with extraordinary clarity notes that can usually only be heard by dogs.“ Mojo (Publisher) (p.p.88) – 4 stars out of 5 — “\[A\] hugely sensual work, its prevailing mood one of Zen-like calm.”