The Division Bell

Pink Floyd

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 5, 1994)
• Original Release Date: April 5, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002A3T
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (452 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,755 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
As Roger Waters's solo career set into a sunset of suspiciously self-serving Wall revivals and compelling if modest-selling solo efforts, his former band became one of the few outfits in the soft live market of the 1990s to burnish its stadium-filling appeal. But their recorded output wasn't quite so rosy. As all post-Dark Side of the Moon albums must have a Big Important Theme, The Division Bell is vaguely about levels of separation (did you say, duh!?), with more than one not-so-opaque lyrical jab at the estranged Waters. But there's a sense that the band may have put more thought into its trademark audio gimmickry (well represented here by the actual sound of the earth's crust cracking--you don't get that on Rage Against the Machine albums!--and a "spoken" intro by Dr. Stephen Hawking, or rather his voice synthesizer) than it did into its songs this time around. The opening "Cluster One" has a hypnotic minimalist lure that dissolves all too quickly into the bluesy waffle of "What Do You Want From Me," while Floyd Mach III leader Dave Gilmour's usually lyrical guitar work is uninspired throughout, a definite Floydian slip. Still, the band maddeningly manages a few moments of the old grandeur here and there. The Division Bell is not a great Pink Floyd album, but an all-too-fallible simulation. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gilmour gives us his all--and shines with 'Division Bell', January 12, 2001

By	Jeff Edwards "RadioJeff" (Twin Falls, Idaho) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

The debate rages on--and is likely to continue for as long as original Pink Floyd fans face off against a new crop of younger kids who believe that post-Roger Waters hasn't harmed the band in any way. I find myself somewhere in the middle. Do I miss Roger Waters? Of COURSE I do, he is a musical genius (even if a bit arrogant) and you cannot lose someone of his talent and still remain the same. HOWEVER, no matter HOW you view his departure, the rest of the band has been able to fill that void with a couple of CD's (and a couple Live releases as well) that allowed Gilmour and others to shine in ways they never could in the shadow of Roger. Of COURSE, Pink Floyd will always be a better band united rather than divided much like The Beatles were better together than individually--but even without Waters their last couple of CD's were amazingly good...this one being the better of the two (although I would place 'On The Turning Away' at the same level as ANY previous Floyd song).

I have been in radio for years, and if the response to Pink Floyd's music by the listeners I have talked to is any indication, folks miss Roger, but they welcome (the majority anyway) Pink Floyd anyway they can get it, and view the band without him as still very worthy. I have had debates with my listeners sometimes for hours--some of them open minded, some view supporting Pink Floyd without Waters' as a traitorous act, well I consider myself a very open-minded person when it comes to music--ALL kinds of music, and 'The Division Bell' truly is a Pink Floyd album in all respects...not as good as 'The Wall' or 'Animals' or one of the all-time classics, 'Dark Side of The Moon' but STILL, a top notch CD with some masterful music performed by some of the best in the business. True fans will appreciate this album because no matter what your views may be, this is just good rock & roll music.

-DJ Jazzy Jeff

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gilmour, Mason & Wright, December 4, 1999

By	J O'Malley (Long Island NY) - See all my reviews

The Division Bell features David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright coming together and recording a very unified and reflective Pink Floyd album. All three with bassist Guy Pratt were the primary performers on the album produced once again by Gilmour and Bob Ezrin.

The album's primary theme is the breakdown of communication between people. The opening track Cluster One is a eerie and atmospheric collage of sounds and music. What Do You Want From Me features Gilmour's howling guitars. Poles Apart is a etheral and somber song. Marooned is a instrumental reeking of atmosphere and ironically earned the band it's first grammy award. Take It Back is a earnest and anthemic song about man's relationship with the earth, Lost For Words is apparently about Roger Waters, and the closing song High Hopes is a powerful and uplifting song about one's past, present and future.

The Division Bell may not be a true return to epic the albums of their past but it a welcomed return for Pink Floyd as a true working unit and showing that their music can stand up on it's own and not just in the shadows of their past.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new high point for Pink Floyd, October 8, 1999

By A Customer

I remember being 12 years old and hearing my mother play a tape of this in the car a few months after its release. I remember being an immiture and happy-go-lucky Spin Doctors and Dave Matthews Band band jokingly mocking High Hopes with lines like "And the cement was harder. And bottles are plasticer." Now, I am a smarter 17 year old Portishead fan who has everyone of those cassette tapes Mom bought of Pink Floyd in his room. Of those tapes, I consider this album behind only Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here in quality. I am so glad to finally have it on CD. If it is not a "real Pink Floyd album" then that's even better! Now there are two bands who can change my mood with a song and drive me to tears and smiles back-to-back (Wearing the Inside Out and Take It Back.) It's too bad the last two Pink Floyd albums are the two most prejudged albums in rock history. I guess you know what Gilmour said "Sometimes you just can't win." Yes, I am fully aware of all of the co-songwriting credits. I see nothing wrong with that. They are just replacing a part of the band that left when Waters bailed. Is there anything wrong with the fact that Waters has secsion musician drummers on his solo albums? Both are merely to improve the work. 85% of the record was written by David Gilmour, his wife and/or Rick Wright ensuring it was not just a faceless bunch of individuals on each song and that is not how it sounds by a long shot. The advise from Lost For Words seems to go right along with the situation described in the second Roger-inspired line of Poles Apart. This album is a mature, grim, and strange journey and a wonderful oddity.