Customer Reviews

About Face

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Pink Floyd's singer and guitarist David Gilmour released his second solo album About Face in March of 1984.
The album was co-produced by Gilmour and Bob Ezrin (whom David worked with last on Pink Floyd's The Wall).
The album was recorded throughout 1983 in France and mixed at Mayfair Studios in London with engineers Andrew Jackson and James Guthrie respectively. The album was recorded after Pink Floyd disbanded following the completion of 1983's The Final Cut whcih saw relations between Gilmour and bandmate Roger Waters deteriorate.
In addition to David on vocals and guitar on About Face, he is joined by Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro, bass player Pino Palladino and keyboard player Ian Kewley (both from Paul Young's band). Plus there are guest appearances by Deep Purple keyboard player Jon Lord, Anne Dudley and Steve Winwood. Also helping on some of the backing vocals are Roy Harper, Sam Brown and her mother Vicky.
David wrote eight of the ten songs himself on this album including the pulsating opener "Until We Sleep", which is a great song. "Murder" is next and is the best track on the album with David pulling out all the stops on electric and acoustic guitars. "Love on the Air" is next and David wrote the music while Pete Townshend penned the lyrics to this song as well as the second half opening rocker All Lovers Are Deranged. The single "Blue Light" follows and is a good funky track. Steve Winwood plays Hammond Organ on this track as he did on Love on the Air. The only thing that dates Blue Light slightly are the horns but still a great track nevertheless. The ballad "Out of the Blue" ends the first half on a poignant note with the late Michael Kamen's superb orchestrations.
The US FM rock radio hit "All Lovers Are Deranged" kicked off the second half and is a great rocker. The anti-Roger Waters rocker "You Know I'm Right" follows and showed David was still angered and upset about Waters' ill-treatment to him during the torturous Final Cut sessions (who knew the two would reconcile in 2005). Next is "Cruise", which is apparently an ode to an MX nuclear-tipped cruise missile and a great song. The soaring classical music meets heavy soaring electric guitar instrumental "Let's Get Metaphysical" follows and beautifully blends Michael's orchestrations with some killer guitar work from Gilmour on his trusty Fender Stratocaster. The fittingly titled "Near the End" ends this album on a bittersweet but beautiful note and the ending acoustic then Stratocaster solos of Gilmour's at the end are some of his finest.
I first got About Face on cassette when I was 12 in February of 1988 and it is better on CD.
The album hit a modest #32 in the US and would eventually go Gold (500,000 copies sold) as a result.
About Face was finally re-released on September 12, 2006 on Columbia Records with digitally remastered sound, thanks to another Pink Floyd associate James Guthrie (who mixed the original album), and fully restored artwork.
The album is longer than either the original CD or original album as all of the tracks have fully restored endings and the sound on this is SUPERB!
I highly recommend this album to any Floyd fan!

To put it real simply, Pink Floyd were having major issues in the mid-'80s. Roger Waters pretty much wanted Pink Floyd to himself, as 1983's "The Final Cut" shows. Seemingly fed up with Floyd, and with a reservoir of unused compositions built up, David Gilmour brought back Bob Ezrin as co-producer, recruited a whole bunch of extremely talented players (Pino Palladino, Jeff Porcaro, and Steve Winwood, to name a few), and went about making his second solo album, "About Face", originally released in March of 1984.

"About Face" is an interesting title for the album. It could be taken as a sly jab of sorts at Waters. It could also be applied somewhat to the music... Granted, you really can't expect to completely take the Floyd out of Gilmour's sound, but it's not like fans would desire that of him anyway. However, the album finds Gilmour in control and doing things his way--Pete Townshend wrote the lyrics for two of the songs ("Love On The Air" & "All Lovers Are Deranged"), but otherwise, Gilmour wrote all of the tracks on the album himself--and David does have quite a few surprises up his sleeve here.

One thing that's pretty revelatory is to discover that Gilmour could deliver such an incredibly funky, uptempo pop-rocker with "Blue Light". Using his patented guitar echo, Gilmour bases this song around a mind-blowingly infectious guitar riff, and the song is an absolute blast, with additional thanks to the punchy horn arrangement. Also notice his very humourous, albeit slightly self-righteous spoken voiceover toward the end of the song. Granted, you could argue that precedence was set by some of the stuff on "The Wall", but still, it's pretty hard to imagine hearing something like "Blue Light" cropping up on a Pink Floyd record.

Another striking element is that on a couple tracks, Gilmour sounds uncannily like Leonard Cohen, both in terms of the guitar-style and with the stately lead vocals. There's "Cruise", which is breezy and splendidly tuneful; and "Near The End", which is a hauntingly beautiful album-closing ballad, with acoustic guitar soloing neatly giving way to a soaring electric toward the end.

And there's more great stuff. The album-opening harmony-fest "Until We Sleep" is surprisingly reminiscent of psychedelic-era Beatles--a very catchy song that grooves along irresistibly. The roaring "All Lovers Are Deranged" is a brilliant, cathartic mid-tempo rocker with gloriously from-the-gut vocals from David on the chorus. "Murder" is an explosive 'power ballad' of sorts that starts off in Dylan-esque acoustic mode and features sumptuously melodic fretless bass guitar work. The contemplative orchestrated ballad "You Know I'm Right" is also excellent, with a rhythmically deceptive first verse, and a simple arpegiatted guitar part that recalls "Raise My Rent" from David's first solo album.

Others have complained about Gilmour's lyrics, saying things like "he's no Roger Waters" or that "writing lyrics isn't his forte". Granted, he didn't exactly make "About Face" an elaborate concept album, but regardless of this, his lyrics here are uniformly excellent--poetic and eloquently-written--and his precise renderings make the most of them.

One minor gripe is that Gilmour does have a bit of a tendency to get carried away with his wailing, effect-laden electric guitar work. Don't get me wrong, I realize it's a trademark of his, and on songs like "All Lovers Are Deranged", it simply rocks. Sometimes though, it does feels out of place in the context of the particular track--the most glaring example of this is on the instrumental "Let's Get Metaphysical" which has Gilmour wailing away backed by a full orchestra, and in this case, it's just not an appealing combination.

Overall though, this album is an excellent "About Face" for David Gilmour, and I think it's worth a try even if you're NOT a huge Pink Floyd fan. "About Face" is a must-have album for any serious listener.

(P.S. Listening to this CD version of the album, I notice a surprising amount of 'drop outs' on several of the songs which can be somewhat distracting, and it makes me wonder about the source that was used for this CD transfer. That said, this album could really use a nice remastering job.)

If you listen to About Face and Roger Water's Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking (relaeased a year earelier), you can HEAR the two components that once were Pink Floyd - Waters has all the concept and deep, biting lyrics, while Gilmour has the voice, is unbeatable with a guitar and makes the music SOUND good. Floyd purists will dismiss this album as too "pop", and it does depart sharply from the obsessiveness of The Final Cut, but no one can deny that this is ear candy (in a good way) straight through, with some of Gilmour's best guitar work, since he was free to do as he pleased. The opener, UNTIL WE SLEEP, sounds just like Pink Floyd would during Momentary Lapse and The Division Bell years - stunning guitar, haunting voice. The album has hit singles in BLUE LIGHT (i dont love the song but it did make radio and MTV airplay) plus hits waiting to be discovered in ALL LOVERS ARE DERANGED and CRUISE (i dont know why gilmour bothers to try his hand at a political statement when he knows roger waters does it better). There are some lighter, but enjoyable tracks in. LOVE ON THE AIR and OUT OF THE BLUE. Two of the more haunting, standout tracks (in addition to the excellent UNTIL WE SLEEP) are MURDER and NEAR THE END. If you liked Pink Floyd after Waters left the band, you will LOVE this album (and if you only like Roger Waters, of course you won't). It was nice to hear Gilmour get to lighten up a bit out of the constraints of the Pink Floyd that Waters ran like a dictator, and this album previews what Floyd would do in the late 80s and 90s. Great guitar work in almost every song, a short intrumental treat in LET'S GET METAPHYSICAL, overall a fine album.

First things first--how does this reissue sound? The CD sounds great with a much warmer feel, better depth and detail (although the first version sounded pretty good as well). Since there are no bonus tracks (I would loved to have had the demos included here as well as any works in progress such as discarded mixes for various tracks)you'll be buying this only for the improved sound of the album. Is it worth it? If you're a huge Floyd/Gilmour fan absolutely.

Released after the dissolution of Waters' Floyd Gilmour plunged headlong into this solo album as a tonic to "The Final Cut". Co-produced with Bob Erzin ("The Wall"), the album features a number of stunning songs including the pulsating opener "Until We Sleep" and stunning "Murder". "Blue Light" was voted one of the worst solo tracks by a Floyd member ever and although the disco trappings make it one of my least favorite tracks it's still a well written song with a propulsive beat and nice guitar playing by Gilmour. The album is most notable for Gilmour's attempts to try a variety of sounds distinct from the sound he established with Pink Floyd.

Of the two tracks penned with Pete Townshend the rocking "All Lovers Are Deranged" is the stand out track. I would have loved to hear Gilmour's take on the "White City" track that Townshend penned lyrics for but as I mentioned there's no bonus tracks so I guess we'll just have to use our imagination. Gilmour did, however, use the same music and give it to Roy Harper to record with new lyrics for one of his solo albums but to the best of my knowledge Gilmour has never recorded that song himself.

The album closes out with the wittily titled instrumental "Let's Get Metaphysical" and the mediative ballad "Near the End". A fitting close to a terrific album that is well worth Pink Floyd fans attention. Although there have been complaints in the past that the album lacks the sharp lyrics of Roger Waters to compliment the music Gilmour does a capable job as lyricst and there's no way Waters would have come up with the lyrics for the two Townshend collaborations included here. A highly satisfying solo album I'd highly recommend this album to fans.

You can take a guy out of Floyd, but you can't take the Floyd out of the guy. That's probably an unfair statement since Floyd is, in part, what David Gilmour brings to the band. Gilmour's sound is unique and easy to recognize. Clear phrasing and astral sound are his trademarks. His solos are perfect, works of art that elicit images and emotions. "About Face" is different from a Floyd album, and at the same time very similar to one. This was he first release after the demise of the band, allowing him to experiment and do his own thing without having to clash with others. It is this freedom that separates this album from the true Floyd sound.

"Murder" is a good resume for Gilmour's talent. The song begins with acoustic strumming before a fretless bass solo marks the transition to a heavier feel. The solo is powerfully Gilmour. As the solo progresses it turns more into something that sounds like it was cut from "The Wall", a bit "Young Lust"-ish. The surprising song on the album is "Love On the Air", one of two on this album penned by Pete Townsend. Again, Gilmour takes center stage with his guitar, but there is some pretty good Hammond organ going on in the background. "All Lovers Are Deranged" is the other Townsend song. This one is quit heavier, and Gilmour's playing a bit on the dirty side. "Out of the Blue" borrows heavily from the Floyd arsenal. Gilmour gets a lick back on Waters with "You Know I'm Right".

Overall, this is a decent solo release from Gilmour, which is a precursor to revitalizing most of Floyd for "Momentary Lapse of Reason". It's a good showing, but not his best work. He proved that he could work without Waters on his first solo release (self-titled), and did again with the subsequent releases from Floyd.

Every member of Pink Floyd has made attempts to do soloalbums after the original Pink Floyd was disbanded. Roger Waters is the most known, for his excellent work on Pros and Cons and Amused to Death. What people dont see, is the underrated David Gilmour`s work.

He first released his soloalbum called "David Gilmour", which were quite good. Then many years later he released this, "About Face", a cd that can be compared to even the work of Pink Floyd. IMO, it is even better and more interesting to listen to this now, as the songs here are interesting, unplayed and fresh. Still they keep a special style, always switching between PF and Gilmour solo. This is very noticable on "Near the End" which sounds like a song from the Wall, and maybe even from Pros and Cons. But not even those two are really comparable, they are just closer than other cd`s.

Let me say it, this cd is very,very good.

The best songs here is "Murder", "Love on the Air", "Out of the Blue", "Cruise", "Let`s get metaphysical" and of course, "Near the End".

The rest of the songs are okay, although not as good as the mentioned.

Many complain about Gilmour`s simple texts, however I think this is a wrong doing. Gilmour makes strong, meaningful texts about life, with ordinary words that makes it easy to understand. He doesnt write things like "Are you satisfied with the way her swimsuit sticks to her skin" texts like Roger Waters, but he keeps the songs to the subject. Simple as they may, but they hold a meaning in every song, and makes it more accessible for other listeners too.

The Melodies here are SO great! He uses a full band, his guitarplaying is topnotch although laid-back and it sounds relaxed, yet great. David Gilmour got a good voice, he never tries to raise the curtains just to make his voice go higher or better. He sings with a calm voice, and it all sounds even better than Roger Waters voice.

Near the end of this review, I will finish it off with a quick summary. For a more Melodic, less experimental Pink Floyd, turned into a rocker, this is the way to look. The sound is clean, fresh and interesting, the melodies are well written and the text do have a meaning. In short this cd is the best post Pink Floyd Album released up to date.

I cannot do anything else than highly recommend this to every fan of both Pink Floyd and David Gilmour.

Most certainly an underrated solo album from Pink Floyd's legenday guitarist. This is a not a Pink Floyd styled album what so ever. The songs are more relaxed and diverse..A nice mix of Rock, jazz/blues, ballads and a rather haunting instrumental.

Teamed with master producer Bob Ezrin and backed by musicians including Jeff Porcaro, Pino Palladino, Ian Kewley, with Michael Kamen adding his orchestrated touch. On this album David Gilmour is able to stretch out a bit and develop a diverse collection of songs. Two songs were co-written with The Who's Pete Towshend.

Standout songs include Until We Sleep, Murder, Out Of The Blue, All Lovers Are Deranged, You Know I'm Right and Near The End.

This is a good album, with lots of great guitar playing and surprisingly sharp lyrics. On the whole, it doesn't sound a lot like Pink Floyd, with the exception of the lone instrumental track, Let's Get Metaphysical, which is (albeit coincidentally) my favorite song on the album. It's no mere standalone track however, there are lots of other good songs on here too. Murder, Love On The Air, All Lovers Are Derranged, Cruise, and the solo on Near The End (I don't like the rest of the song all that much) are good as well. There isn't a bad song, although some are only about average, such as Until We Sleep, and the rest of Near The End. Bottomline: If you like Dave get this album, it's not very PF sounding, but you'll still like it.

David Gilmour's second solo album sounds more like mainstream eighties rock. Which is not to say that it is not good. It has moments of lyrical and musical excellence. "Until it Sleeps" is an interesting opening track. "Murder" is an intelligent reference to John Lennon's murderer. The rest of the album is sparking with some good rock and roll. The opening riff to "Blue Light" is amazing, though the song is easily a Steve Winwood collaboration. Not really as classic as his first solo album, but definitely worth listening to, and showed promise...which Gilmour ended up using when Pink Floyd reformed. Just as well perhaps, but this is still a good album.

First things first--how does this reissue sound? The CD sounds great with a much warmer feel, better depth and detail (although the first version sounded pretty good as well). Since there are no bonus tracks (I would loved to have had the demos included here as well as any works in progress such as discarded mixes for various tracks)you'll be buying this only for the improved sound of the album. Is it worth it? If you're a huge Floyd/Gilmour fan absolutely.

Released after the dissolution of Waters' Floyd Gilmour plunged headlong into this solo album as a tonic to "The Final Cut". Co-produced with Bob Erzin ("The Wall"), the album features a number of stunning songs including the pulsating opener "Until We Sleep" and stunning "Murder". "Blue Light" was voted one of the worst solo tracks by a Floyd member ever and although the disco trappings make it one of my least favorite tracks it's still a well written song with a propulsive beat and nice guitar playing by Gilmour. The album is most notable for Gilmour's attempts to try a variety of sounds distinct from the sound he established with Pink Floyd.

Of the two tracks penned with Pete Townshend the rocking "All Lovers Are Deranged" is the stand out track. I would have loved to hear Gilmour's take on the "White City" track that Townshend penned lyrics for but as I mentioned there's no bonus tracks so I guess we'll just have to use our imagination. Gilmour did, however, use the same music and give it to Roy Harper to record with new lyrics for one of his solo albums but to the best of my knowledge Gilmour has never recorded that song himself.

The album closes out with the wittily titled instrumental "Let's Get Metaphysical" and the mediative ballad "Near the End". A fitting close to a terrific album that is well worth Pink Floyd fans attention. Although there have been complaints in the past that the album lacks the sharp lyrics of Roger Waters to compliment the music Gilmour does a capable job as lyricst and there's no way Waters would have come up with the lyrics for the two Townshend collaborations included here. A highly satisfying solo album I'd highly recommend this album to fans.