David Gilmour sang about an endless river on "High Hopes," the last song on what appeared to be the last Pink Floyd album, 1994's Division Bell. Twenty years later, the same phrase became the title of The Endless River, an album designed as Pink Floyd's last. Assembled largely from Division Bell outtakes initially intended as an ambient project dubbed The Big Spliff, the record was sculpted into shape in 2014 by Gilmour, Youth, Andy Jackson, and Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera by adding guitar and Nick Mason's drums to original tapes that were laden with keyboards from the late Rick Wright. He's not the only missing member of Floyd, of course. Roger Waters is absent, as is the long-gone Syd Barrett, but their ghosts are present throughout the primarily instrumental The Endless River.
Taking as its starting point the music that came from the 1993 Division Bell sessions, The Endless River is Pink Floyd’s final studio album and a fitting tribute to Rick Wright whose playing was at the heart of Pink Floyd’s sound. With new parts, re-recorded others and generally harnessed studio technology The Endless River is a 21st century Pink Floyd album that went to number 1 around the world on release. The Endless River is mainly an instrumental album across four sides with one song, Louder Than Words.
Pink Floyd Records will release 'Pink Floyd The Later Years', an 18-disc set (5 x CDs, 6 x Blu-Rays, 5 x DVDs, 2 x 7" plus exclusive photo book and memorabilia) covering the material created by David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright from 1987 onwards. The period generated record sales of over 40 million worldwide and included three studio albums: 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason', 'The Division Bell' and 'The Endless River' as well as two live albums: 'Delicate Sound of Thunder' and 'Pulse'. With additional production from David Gilmour and Andy Jackson, over 13 hours of unreleased audio and audiovisual material, including the sought-after 1989 Venice and 1990 Knebworth concerts, 'Pink Floyd The Later Years' is a must for all fans.
The Later Years 1987-2019 is an explicit sequel to The Early Years 1965-1972, the 2016 box set that rounded up nearly all the loose ends and detours from the first era of Pink Floyd, the fearless period when they were figuring out what the band could do. The Later Years covers a different time, when their most pressing challenge was demonstrating that they could thrive artistically and commercially without the presence of Roger Waters, the bassist/songwriter who charted Floyd's direction between 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1983's The Final Cut…
The second Pink Floyd album recorded without founding member Roger Waters, The Division Bell was written mostly by guitarist and singer David Gilmour and keyboardist Rick Wright; it features Wright's first lead vocal on a Pink Floyd album since The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). Gilmour's fiancée, novelist Polly Samson, co-wrote many of the lyrics, which deal with themes of communication…