All three are very interesting, as most Floyd fans–like yours truly–probably haven’t heard a lot of covers by Gilmour. The “Miscellaneous” section is quite interesting though, containing three live performances: Gilmour has a hand in a cover of “I Put a Spell on You,” sings the Lieber & Stoller/Elvis Presley track “Don’t” at a tribute concert, and lastly a version of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, arranged by long-time collaborator Michael Kamen. The “Spare Digits” section appears to be just additional footage that they had lying around once editing had been completed. As far as features go, the disc is nicely stacked as well.
It ruins that track completely and only an additional version with Bob Geldof (who played Pink in The Wall) somewhat redeems the whole thing.īut all in all, the main concert footage is choice. I realize he’s an icon of the scene and all that, but Don McLean shouldn’t be singing “American Pie” these days either. Unfortunately, Soft Machine member Robert Wyatt sits in on one of the renditions of “Comfortably Numb,” and–I’m sorry–but the lead in the song is not spoken word, and must be required to carry a tune. The choir he has backing him up is stellar, and amongst the rest of his band the standouts would have to be: the enthusiastic Chucho Merchan on double bass and Caroline Dale, who can play the hell out of a cello. Certainly, Gilmour’s voice is maybe operating at eighty percent of the capacity he once had, but he’s a smart singer and knows how best to work around this–seldom does the rawness show. And for the most part, this disc does an excellent job of cataloguing an eccentric mix of Gilmour’s own work, two songs by Barrett, some Floyd standards (including the lesser known but still wonderful “Fat Old Sun”) and some surprises–including a Richard Wright song (with the man himself coming out to sing and play the keys) and a selection from the opera The Pearl Fishers arranged by Gilmour, amongst others. From the opening strains of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (performed by Gilmour solo), it’s evident that these live performances (recorded at London’s Royal Festival Hall) are at the opposite end of the spectrum from Floyd’s bombast. The good news is that this, while not technically Gilmour “unplugged”, is certainly Gilmour stripped down. Granted, his guitar solos stick in the mind of anyone who’s ever heard songs like “Comfortably Numb,” but still he hasn’t been “seen” on stage for a while now. That’s all well and good, but it’s very easy to forget that Gilmour is, at his heart, a musician rather than some kind of meta-performer. Instead, the band opted for concerts that were larger than God, with the band dwarfed by lightshows, movies and special effects.
Then when Waters left, Gilmour ostensibly went onto…relinquish the front man position altogether. Originally brought in to Pink Floyd to balance their completely whacked out frontman, Syd Barrett, he went on to share an unsteady leadership of the band with bassist Roger Waters. “High Hopes (choral)” – choir-only versionĭavid Gilmour’s place in history is a unique one.
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