David Gilmour

David Gilmour's two concerts assembled for Live at Pompeii mark the first time that the amphitheater has hosted a rock gig since Pink Floyd played there in 1971. They didn't play for an audience, however, they were filmed for Adrian Maben's documentary Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii. Gilmour's gigs – some 45 years after Floyd – bests their gig historically: It hosted a paying audience assembled from all over the globe, and it was the first time an audience had occupied the site since 79 AD. This double-disc set is the movie's soundtrack. Pompeii was just one of the historic sites Gilmour played on the tour, others included amphitheaters in Verona and Nîmes, Circus Maximus in Rome, a chateau in Chantilly, and five nights at London's Royal Albert Hall, none of which held quite the weight of history like this one.

Former Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour is not prolific. Rattle That Lock is only his fourth solo studio album (though it follows his late band's final album, The Endless River, by only ten months). Gilmour recorded some 35 songs for this set, some dating back 18 years. Trimming them to ten couldn't have been easy. Titled for John Milton's second book in Paradise Lost, Rattle That Lock is structured as an informal song cycle to reflect the sometimes random, sometimes weightier thought processes of a typical person in a single day. It begins, appropriately, with the instrumental "5 A.M.." Orchestrated by Zbigniew Preisner, Gilmour's signature slow, bluesy, Stratocaster sting enters just 30 seconds in, followed by fingerpicked acoustic guitars, gentle synths, and electric piano amid chamber strings to announce the title-track single.

Luck and Strange is David Gilmour's fifth solo record and only his third of the 21st century. The Pink Floyd guitarist clearly understands his life's privilege; he has made some of rock's most memorable music, toured its biggest stages, and been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He could easily coast along for the duration of his career. Instead, he has continued to tour, collaborated widely, advocated for numerous just causes, and donated the money from selling his home and guitars to charity. If he wants to make just one album per decade, he's earned the right. Appearing nine years after 2015's Rattle That Lock, Luck and Strange brings together a supporting cast that's both fresh and familiar, and also familial.

This CD is the audio soundtrack to the long, out of print US only released VHS video from 1984 called Pink Floyd's David Gilmour which was recorded and filmed at The Hammersmith Odeon in London in April of 1984. This classic 1984 concert was recorded and filmed towards the end of Gilmour's 1984 European leg of his first solo tour in support of his 1984 album About Face and sees Gilmour joined by an all-star band featuring Bad Company lead guitarist Mick Ralphs, ex-Manfred Mann drummer Chris Slade (who would join The Firm with Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers after the US leg of the About Face Tour ended in the summer of 1984 and he would later join AC/DC), longtime Pete Townshend percussionist Jodi Linscott, keyboard player Gregg Dechart (a Canadian who had played for awhile in Uriah Heep), bass player Mickey Feat (who had just played on the first Fastway album (the band formed by ex-Motorhead guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke) before joining Gilmour's band) and saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft and they deliver a blistering performance.

By the time of David Gilmour's solo debut, he had not only established himself several times over as an underrated, powerful guitarist in Pink Floyd, but as a remarkably emotional singer, his soothing approach perfectly suited to such songs as "Wish You Were Here." The self-titled album, recorded with journeyman bassist Rick Wills and Sutherland Brothers drummer Willie Wilson, later to be part of the touring Floyd lineup for its Wall dates, isn't a deathless collection of music in comparison to Gilmour's group heights, but is a reasonably pleasant listen nonetheless…

Live At Pompeii is the project from David Gilmour, and follows his critically acclaimed studio album Rattle That Lock from September of 2015…

Former Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour is not prolific. Rattle That Lock is only his fourth solo studio album (though it follows his late band's final album, The Endless River, by only ten months). Gilmour recorded some 35 songs for this set, some dating back 18 years. Trimming them to ten couldn't have been easy. Titled for John Milton's second book in Paradise Lost, Rattle That Lock is structured as an informal song cycle to reflect the sometimes random, sometimes weightier thought processes of a typical person in a single day…