CD REVIEW: DAVID GILMOUR – Rattle That Lock

Shane | 7 October 2015 | 1 Reply

CD REVIEW: DAVID GILMOUR – Rattle That Lock
SONY
18 Sep 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8 ½ /10

Pink Floyd were never a light-hearted, ‘fun’ band, ruled for the most part by the ever-serious Roger Waters – even when David Gilmour took the reins after Waters’ resignation, he carried the band forward through three more rather straight-faced albums.

Thus, it’s refreshing – nay, exciting – to hear Gilmour sounding like he is having so much fun on this album, his fourth solo effort. Being the voice and lead guitar of Pink Floyd means there will always be similarities in sound, phrasing and tone between the man and the band, but here Gilmour seems to be relishing the chance to explore some different musical ground.

Rattle That Lock opens with the short instrumental 5am providing a musical bridge between Floyd’s most recent, mostly instrumental album Endless River and this album, and in the nine tracks which follow, every Floydish moment (Faces Of Stone, A Boat Lies Waiting, In Any Tongue), there’s something wildly different to soak into.

The title track has a poppy swing to it, Faces Of Stone may start like Pink Floyd but veers sharply with a French café feel to it. There’s a smoky bar-room feel to the jazzy blues of Dancing Right In Front Of Me, and the jaunty The Girl In The Yellow Dress, featuring a lovely cornet solo by Robert Wyatt rather than guitar.

All the while Gilmour proves himself a master by playing exactly what each song requires, and not one note more or less.

Today is lush pop rock featuring – as do most of the tracks here – lyrics by Gilmour’s wife Polly Sampson, and the album finishes how it started: with an atmospheric instrumental. Compared to opener 5am though, there is more David Gilmour about the piece, and less Pink Floyd – or perhaps we’ve learnt more about the man while listening to the album, so that we can see him as more than ‘just’ the guitarist in Pink Floyd now…

Australian residents can enter our competition to win a copy of Rattle That Lock HERE