Customer Reviews

On an Island (CD/DVD)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is NOT Pink Floyd. David Gilmour doesn't want it to be Pink Floyd. But it is a fantastic album by an amazing artist. It is best appreciated listening undisturbed start to finish with headphones on. David has gone all out in many ways... his web site gave tickets to see him perform on the Jay Leno show (which I was lucky enough to be a part of), he performed the first concert promoting his new album at the Mermaid Theater for lucky fans who won tickets from his web site. Later the Mermaid show appeared on the Big Screen. This cd has been re-released with a DVD of a performance for AOL, a song from his upcoming DVD Remember That Night, as well as a track from a performance he gave at Abbey Road studios for an upcoming tv event (I bought the DVD from his web site as a limited edition stand alone DVD and it is alone worth the price of the CD, but you get both!). His web site has gone all out with a blog and constant updates. Oh yeah- this is a review of the album... the title track is excellent with classic Gilmour guitar solos. The Blue features a guitar solo that gives a whole new meaning to the idea of "bending notes". Take a Breath has an incredible guitar solo at the end (and fares even better in the two(!) live versions on the DVD- and before you ask, yes both versions are worthy of being on the same DVD). I would say the only weak track is Smile, which I didn't care for much on his Meltdown DVD either. Aside from that, this is a really great album! And the more I listen to it the more it seems to just fit like a comfortable old shoe. Terrible imagery, but you know what I'm trying to say- right?

You do not have to be a pink floyd fan to pick this album up. I have had it since the day it was first released, and have continued to enjoy it ever since. David Gilmour teams up with Rick Wright and has an album of well written and quite memorable songs. Smile is a good slower tune, along with the title track, but my favorite is "take a breath". This just has a haunting quality to it. This album at times sounds like newer pink floyd (division bell, momentary lapse), but by no ways is it meant to be a floyd album, and for the most part, is very distinct in it's own right. Sure, two of the members of floyd are playing here, but it was not labled floyd for a reason. David Gilmour's previous two solo records were good (especially the self titled one), but this by far tops his previous work. Pick this up, you will not be dissapointed.

As for the bonus edition with the bonus DVD, it is well worth it. There is almost 50 minutes of live performance here, all shot with great clarity and sound. I purchased as second copy of the album to get it, but I would have paid the price for just the dvd. 8 total tracks, 48:30 run time, great collection of songs. Check this out.

Pay no mind to the brainless idiots out there running their ignorant mouths. If any of those fools had seen the live shows on the OAI tour, they would've been put in their place and understood the beauty of this CD. The guy is 60 years old for Christ's sake. David was, is and always will be, the man! I had the extreme pleasure of seeing and taping both nights at Radio City Music Hall, back in April 2006, and it was nothing short of incredible. Two of the best shows Ive ever seen/heard in my life and Ive seen some good one's. If you can get your hands on a bootleg of the second night at RCMH, you will understand and hear just how beautiful this CD truly is. Excellent work, David, and shine on old boy, shine on!!

For anyone that's been alive and listening to music for the last 30 years you know that David Gilmour is high on a very short list that makes up the greatest guitar players to ever pick up the instrument. Here he gives us his first new music in over 10 years. If you are looking for the unmistakable sound and feel of Pink Floyd, you may not find it. Gilmour shows us that although his name was made producing that sound and feel, it does not define his talent. This album for me was not as accesible as his previous solo efforts, but where it is good, it's better than just about anything else out there. He went exploring for some new sounds, some new styles and a fresh feel for his guitar magic to fit into. Although at times he may have gotten a little off the path, it is still refreshing to hear an established talent growing with his music and not trying to regurgitate the same things he has done his whole career.

While nice to have a copy of this DVD (as indeed it is always enjoyable to own anything featuring Gilmour) the quality here is rather suspect in places (to put it mildly). The opening track from the forthcoming "Remember That Night" collection ("Take a Breath") is very grainy, with unacceptable levels of picture noise. Having been at the HD launch at the Odeon Leicester Square, London a couple of weeks ago, I am pleased to say that the final version is infinitely sharper. The Abbey Road take of "Astronomy Domine" is VG - and was not among the tracks broadcast by Channel 4 in the UK from that session. Both picture and sound quality are by far the best on this disk. The AOL sessions are frankly disappointing. The picture quality is lamentable - being no better than average streaming quality and showing judder and re-fresh lag on my 100Hz system. If you already have the CD (which I have had since the original release date) I'd save your money if I were you and put it towards the "Remember That Night" collection - which, from what I have seen thus far, is vastly superior and more representative of David's normal attention to detail and James Guthrie's exemplary sound mastering. A DVD for completists only!

The sounds of Pink Floyd, and both Waters' and Gilmour's solo works have been constants soundtracks throughout my life. This album joins the others in this auspicious place.

Gilmour has crafted a thoroughly beautiful album, both lyrically and musically. This is truly soul-soothing stuff. Its one of those that when you get to the end, only silence or the repeat button are worthy follow-ons.

This is a quiet album, one that calls for an undisturbed afternoon in your favourite lounge. But quiet means neither slow nor boring. This is album is proof why Gilmour is one of the wolds greatest musicians.

The haunting ethereal beauty of the songs and the impeccable virtuous guitar solos will have you stopping whatever you are doing to listen. It is full of subtle and refined details, even witty and quirky, yet never a sound out of place. It is minimalist yet lush. It is warm and organic. It is consistent in its vibe altough the songs are quite different from one another. It will make you feel good, make your eyes water, it will make you shiver and smile.

This album is not Pink Floyd, it is 100% David Gilmour. If you are a DG fan, this is an outstanding continuation/evolution of his solo work. If you are not familiar with his work, then this is the album to get familiar with. This is a fantastic timeless album that defies description. Get it. Get into it. Its a masterpiece.

Pink Floyd's legendary guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour's most recent solo album entitled On an Island was released in March of 2006.
On an Island is Gilmour's first new studio recordings since the 1994 Pink Floyd studio effort The Division Bell and his first proper solo album since 1984's About Face.
The album was co-produced by Gilmour along with Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera and Chris Thomas (who mixed Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Division Bell albums and has produced albums for Roxy Music, INXS, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, The Pretenders, The Sex Pistols and so on) and this album's musical styles run the gamut from Floydish sounding tunes to jazzy to blues, it has it all.
Castellorizon is an awesome instrumental and what a way to start the album. I subtitled this piece Let's Get Metaphysical Part 2 with DG's Stratocaster duetting superbly with an orchestra over 2 minutes into the instrumental. We then segue into the title cut to On an Island. It is an awesome song and is already a masterpiece which would not have sounded out of place on a Pink Floyd record. The highlight of this track is Gilmour harmonizing with 66% of Crosby Stills and Nash that being David Crosby and Graham Nash. Also, the guitar solos on this track of course are amazing. The Blue follows and is amazing with DG and fellow Floyd member keyboardist Rick Wright harmonizing on vocals very well. Gilmour's whammy pedal solos at the end of the track are amazing and cry shades of Marooned (if they don't sound like Marooned to you then you need ears cleaned). Take a Breath follows and musically reminds me of Coming Back to Life and is a great rocker though some will whine and complain about it and has Gilmour pulling out the stops on both lap steel and Stratocaster for the ending solos. The instrumental Red Sky at Night is awesome and David does a fine job on alto saxophone showing he can play any instrument and he also does some superb lap steel guitar effects here.
This Heaven follows and is a great song which has dirty blues rock guitar over a jazzy shuffle that positively swings and shows David can play any genre of music (he proved this on his David Gilmour in Concert DVD in 2002 where he sang an excerpt of a French Opera in French and also performed a version of the lullaby Hushabye Mountain). Then I Close My Eyes is a great instrumental in a different sort of tone, kind of reminds me of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast's second section but with some cumbus, glass harmonica and bass harmonica and Robert Wyatt's cornet added. Also, BJ Cole did some great dobro on this track and Gilmour's electric guitar playing here is amazing. Smile follows. I have always liked this song ever since Gilmour first performed it in 2001 and now sounds complete with David playing some great dobro on this track and strangely enough it is the original demo with an orchestra added. A Pocketful of Stones follows and is a nice ballad which is hard to put into words, arguably the best solo ballad Gilmour has recorded, especially the ending guitar solo gives me a shiver down the spine. The ironically titled Where We Start is a great way to end the album in a nice relaxing tone and cries shades of A Pillow of Winds from Meddle. Like Smile, the vocals and instruments were the actual demo recorded except for the drums and orchestra which were added on later. Still a great song.
On the versions that were initially sold at the Best Buy chain, there was a bonus track of an almost 7 minute blues instrumental jam called Island Jam which is a great number.
Then in November of 2006, the album was re-released again this time with a DVD which consisted of David Gilmour's AOL Music Session from April of 2006 filmed in New York City with stellar performances of On an Island's title cut, a spirited This Heaven, a laid back version of Smile, a rocking version of Take a Breath, an unearthly version of High Hopes with an ending that will bring a tear to your eye and a stellar version of Comfortably Numb with Gilmour's Pink Floyd bandmate keyboard player Rick Wright sharing the lead vocal. Also on the DVD is a taster of Gilmour's Royal Albert Hall DVD due out in 2007 with a excellent version of Take a Breath filmed this past May and an excellent version of Astronomy Domine from Abbey Road filmed in August of 2006.
If you go into this album with expectations ala David Gilmour's previous two solo album or even a Pink Floyd album then you will be slightly disappointed but if you are an unbiased fan and appreciate music like yours truly, take a listen!
Highly recommended!

The funny thing about 'old rockers', they have perpective. Mr. Gilmour's Take Breathe is more that a breathe of fresh air, but giving life of rebirth. Here is a guy who was involved in one of greatest rock albums ever recorded, it was nominated for a grammy, only to lose to Bridge of Troubled Water back when. Politics, ya know. Can play any type of guitar style and he comes out with new gems. Technology has caught up with Gilmour but he is using it. This is an amazing piece of music! Anyone who is ever thinking about learning guitar, should listen to this.

david gilmour is amazing he is and always will be one of musics greatest soldiers keep it up. i just listen to this album and realax. the music is so amazing and smile is such a great song i learned how to play it on guitar and sing it all the time .

One of Gilmour's best sleeper album. When I say sleeper I meant "no one knows about it" but it is a very slow moving album. Great tunes, fantastic guitar licks and just a real winner. If you are looking for "The Wall" type rock tunes this is not it.