Maps of Music

The Endless River (2014)

Where the lyrics of The Endless River take you, and where it was really made.

Richard Wright died in 2008, yet he is still heard on this album, which was built from sessions for The Division Bell.

Key places

Division Bell sessions in London (2014)

Recording site Britannia Row Studios — The Division Bell was recorded in 1993 and 1994 at this London studio. Its material formed the basis of The Endless River. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Gilmour's boat studio (2014)

Recording site Astoria (Gilmour's houseboat studio) — Gilmour's boat studio, the Astoria, was used for Division Bell recordings in 1993 and 1994 and for additional material in 2013 and 2014. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Additional recording in Hove (2014)

Recording site Medina Studios — Additional material for the album was recorded in 2013 and 2014 at Medina Studios in Hove. The point is placed at the town centre, not the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Organ recording at the Royal Albert Hall (2014)

Recording site Royal Albert Hall — Wright's Royal Albert Hall pipe organ playing was captured during a rehearsal for the band's 1969 show there and used on Autumn '68. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Endless River: fifteenth and final studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd
• Released November 2014: Parlophone in Europe, Columbia elsewhere
• Third Pink Floyd album led by guitarist David Gilmour
• First album after keyboardist Richard Wright's death; Wright appears posthumously
• Produced by Gilmour, Youth, Andy Jackson and Phil Manzanera
• Double album, mostly instrumental and ambient

Background

• Built from material recorded during the sessions for The Division Bell (1994)
• Wright died of cancer on 15 September 2008
• In 2013 Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason decided to revisit the unused Division Bell recordings and make a new album
• Only a small part of The Big Spliff was used; two of its tracks appear as bonus tracks on the deluxe version
• Roger Waters, who left Pink Floyd in 1985, was not involved
• No Endless River tour took place; Gilmour said it was impossible without Wright

Recording

• Division Bell material recorded 1993 and 1994 at Britannia Row Studios in London and on Gilmour's Astoria boat studio
• Additional material recorded in 2013 and 2014 on the Astoria and at Medina Studios in Hove
• Manzanera, Jackson and Damon Iddins spent six weeks assembling four 14-minute pieces
• Youth received two pieces and added guitar and bass parts
• November 2013 sessions included Mason, saxophonist Gilad Atzmon and bassist Guy Pratt
• 'Louder than Words' is the only track with a lead vocal, sung by Gilmour, with lyrics by Polly Samson
• The album title comes from a lyric on the last track of The Division Bell, 'High Hopes'

Cover

• Shows a young man punting a Thames skiff across a sea of clouds toward the sun
• Concept taken from a piece by 18-year-old Egyptian artist Ahmed Emad Eldin, titled Beyond the Sky
• Aubrey Powell, co-founder of Hipgnosis, found Eldin's work after Storm Thorgerson's death in 2013
• Final cover recreated by London design firm Stylorouge

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in 1965 by Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright; David Gilmour joined in 1967.
• Among the first British psychedelic groups, gaining an early underground following at the UFO Club.
• Known for extended compositions, sonic experiments, philosophical lyrics and elaborate live shows.

Members

• Nick Mason on drums (1965–present).
• Roger Waters on bass and vocals (1965–1985), becoming the primary lyricist after Barrett's departure in 1968.
• Richard Wright on keyboards (1965–1981, 1987–2008), who died in 2008.
• Syd Barrett on vocals and guitar (1965–1968), who died in 2006.
• David Gilmour on guitar and vocals (1967–present).

Career

• Concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979) made them one of the best-selling acts of all time.
• Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982) won two BAFTAs.
• Reunited with Waters for Live 8 in 2005; the last studio album The Endless River came out in 2014.
• Released 'Hey, Hey, Rise Up!' in 2022 in protest of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Sold over 250 million records; inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2008.

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: score of 58 from 24 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews
• Financial Times: Ludovic Hunter-Tilney praised the nostalgic 'Floydian' sound, reminiscent of work before The Wall (1979)
• The Music: Cameron Cooper gave the album three and a half out of five, calling it less like a swansong and more like a final homage
• The Guardian: Alexis Petridis described it as an echo from the past rather than a new album from an extant band, and praised the lead single and final track 'Louder than Words' as stately, poignant and open-hearted
• Rolling Stone: David Fricke called it an unexpected, welcome epitaph
• The Observer: called it an understated affair that is unmistakably the Floyd
• PopMatters: J.C. Maçek III found that without vocals something is clearly missing, and the listener is left wanting more
• The Independent: Andy Gill called it just aimless jamming, with little melody of distinction
• NME: called it a collection of spruced-up outtakes that works on limited terms but is never quite as satisfying as hoped
• Pitchfork: said it is quintessentially Pink Floyd and proves to be one of the few releases that sounds like a step backwards
• Los Angeles Times: Mikael Wood called it so excruciatingly dull that the band's name on the cover feels like a bait-and-switch

Reappraisal

• In 2024 Gilmour said the album was not originally intended as a properly paid-for Pink Floyd record
• Gilmour also said he had been bullied by the record company

Records

• Debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with sales of 139,351, the third highest opening sales week of 2014
• Pink Floyd's sixth UK number one
• Had been the most pre-ordered album on Amazon UK, displacing Four by One Direction
• The vinyl edition had sold 6,000 copies by 27 November 2014, the fastest-selling UK vinyl release of 2014
• Debuted at number one in France, Germany, Portugal, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand and Canada
• US: debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 with 170,000 copies in its first week; 355,000 by January 2015
• Sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide in 2014

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Pre-orders made it the most pre-ordered album in Amazon UK's history in the week before release; the following week, Take That's III broke the record.
• Wright is heard playing the Royal Albert Hall pipe organ in a recording made during a 1969 rehearsal, used on 'Autumn '68'.
• 'Talkin' Hawkin'' contains a sample of Stephen Hawking's speech taken from a British Telecom commercial, which was also sampled for The Division Bell.
• Samson wrote the lyrics for 'Louder than Words' after watching the band's interaction during rehearsals for their 2005 Live 8 reunion.
• Ian Emes, Pink Floyd's original animator, made a film using The Endless River music, released in 2019.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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