Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Gilmour, David
Label: EMI Records
Released: 2008
Running time: 149:10
Rating: 4/5
Is there any unspoken word left about this unique guitarist and singer, whose style has etched itself so deeply into our everyday lives, whether as a member of the mighty Pink Floyd or as a solo artist?
This release is a recap of the show from the last day of the 2006 “On An Island” tour, when David played with his “super” band in front of a 50,000-strong crowd. The whole thing that unfolded on 26.08.2006 also marked the anniversary of the 1980 revolution in Poland. To that end, David played A Great Day For Freedom (“Division Bell”, 1994) on this tour only in Gdansk, and not as an add-on to the repertoire, but in place of Coming Back To Life (also “Division Bell”, 1994). Coming Back To Life, in turn, had replaced Wearing The Inside Out (“Division Bell”, 1994) on the set list for the summer leg; the guys played the latter in the first part of the tour (through March 2006).
David Gilmour worked the entire current studio album “On An Island” (2006) into a two-and-a-half-hour live set. Since the megalomaniac majority of people come to his shows purely for the Pink Floyd material, he tweaked the set list a bit for the summer leg. In the spring leg of the tour, the first hour was devoted solely to “On An Island”. Evidently he figured out that this wears on the Pink Floyd-hungry crowd a little and bores them, so for the summer leg he shoved three “Dark Side Of The Moon” classics right to the very start.
This recording is also unique because the band is accompanied by a Polish philharmonic orchestra, which gives some of the Pink Floyd classics, as well as Gilmour’s newer stuff, a special musical moment that deepens the always atmospheric mood, laced with that eternal veil of psychedelia, inherited of course from Pink Floyd. Still, this cosmetic extra (the orchestra) mostly stays within the shadow of the rock sound produced by Gilmour and his inner circle. The classics that gain the most in quality from the orchestra are Fat Old Sun (with its otherwise rocked-up closing section), then A Great Day For Freedom, High Hopes and Echoes.
The sound of the recording is top-notch, in line with this musician’s great tradition of perfectionism. Compared to “P.U.L.S.E.” (1995), “Live In Gdansk” sounds much more “homey”, organic and less remote, next to the at times downright spacey or extra-terrestrial vibe of the captured sound on that Pink Floyd live album. You can also feel much less mass euphoria accompanying the recording. All the audiophiles out there will be especially happy about this treat.
The man was backed by a truly top-class lineup, including guitarist Ray Manzanera, one of the first names of the legendary art rockers Roxy Music, saxophonist Dick Perry with his indispensable solo in the outro of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, then there are David’s longtime touring partners from the “Waters-less era” Pink Floyd shows, Jon Carin (keyboards) and Guy Pratt (bass guitar), and on this list we absolutely can’t overlook Gilmour’s Pink Floyd “buddy” Rick Wright (keyboards). Speaking of Rick Wright, just a week before the official release of this live recording we were shaken by the tragic news that Rick had succumbed to a serious illness on 15.09.2008, so in that sense this release is a kind of farewell to a great musician and David’s lifelong friend. It’s probably the last official recording on which we have the honor of hearing Rick Wright, unless some “lost” recordings come out in the future. While we’re at it, let me also mention that during the summer tour of David Gilmour that this recording comes from, original Pink Floyd member Syd Barett passed away, so this document gains extra weight and symbolic meaning in that respect as well. So the beginning and the end of the process of releasing “Live In Gdansk” are marked by the deaths of two original members of Pink Floyd.
As expected, the second disc is much livelier, since it consists entirely of Pink Floyd classics. Gilmour is as precise as ever. A glorious master of the “slow hand”, which he pulls off with an elusive plethora of his uniquely stacked sequences of “pull offs” and his toying with sounds by leaning on the tremolo arm, he once again delights with his bravura playing, and the peaks of his performance hide in the closing “steel pedal” solo during High Hopes, as well as in the always unique and magical Comfortably Numb. The company on stage also proves to be an incredibly in-tune vocal choir. A lot of things can be “washed” and polished later in the studio, and this recording didn’t escape that process either, but e.g. the opening “slide” in the High Hopes solo is so strong and full, while at the same time the rest of the crew cover Gilmour phenomenally with vocal harmonies, that you can barely tell David isn’t contributing any vocals at that point. That’s been preserved completely authentically.
The band stays faithfully true to the Pink Floyd legacy all the way through, and the Pink Floyd material is played with filigree-measured precision, riding along the tracks of the originals. Of course they allow themselves some wiggle room in the already mentioned Fat Old Sun, then Gilmour’s vocal approach in Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and the megalomaniac Echoes, enriched with extra keyboard (piano) lines – this track will be the definitive highlight of the “Live In Gdansk” album for Pink Floyd connoisseurs. Echoes in particular stands out for its prestigious rock – symphonic “wickedness” and a mature, perfect upgrade of the rebelliously authentic original from 1971, with its heroin aftertaste.
After the inevitable years-long hiatus of Pink Floyd, the tradition of successfully squeezing money out of the wallets of the human race continues with “Live In Gdańsk” too, but the musical highs on it are such that every last rock fan simply can’t stroll past this release indifferently. “Live In Gdansk” remains the epitome of perfection, musical elegance and the overall uniqueness of Pink Floyd’s artistic expression as rock giants, untarnished. And the “On An Island” repertoire, as David Gilmour’s solo album, is so tightly bound to Pink Floyd that, drifting through the enjoyment of “Live In Gdansk”, it very soon becomes Pink Floyd-ish and beloved by the people all on its own.
Lineup
David Gilmour – guitar, vocals, Cümbüş on “Then I Close My Eyes”, alto saxophone on “Red Sky at Night”
Richard Wright – keyboards, synthesizer, vocals, backing vocals
Jon Carin – keyboards, backing vocals, lap steel guitar
Guy Pratt – bass guitar, backing vocals, guitar on “Then I Close My Eyes”
Phil Manzanera – guitar, backing vocals
Dick Parry – saxophone
Steve DiStanislao – drums, percussion, backing vocals
GUESTS:
Zbigniew Preisner – conductor, orchestrations
Leszek Możdżer – acoustic piano
Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra
Production
David Gilmour & Ray Manzanera
Track list
CD 1.:
1. Speak To Me
2. Breathe
3. Time
4. Breathe (Reprise)
5. Castellorizon
6. On An Island
7. The Blue
8. Red Sky At Night
9. This Heaven
10. Then I Close My Eyes
11. Smile
12. Take A Breath
13. A Pocketful Of Stones
14. Where We Start
CD 2.:
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
2. Astronomy Domine
3. Fat Old Sun
4. High Hopes
5. Echoes
6. Wish You Were Here
7. A Great Day For Freedom
8. Comfortably Numb
