Man, this really kills me to write especially coming from the place of being both a fan of Pink Floyd and David Gilmour for decades but the new album “Luck And Strange” that David has put out is just not for me.
I’ve listened to it several times and as much as I’ve tried I can’t get my head around it, I just can’t. It’s hard because when I think of David Gilmour, I think of Pink Floyd and that style and sound and compare but when I think of someone like say, Robert Plant, I seem to give him more leeway in changing his style with the work he is doing now instead from his Led Zeppelin days but I can’t seem do that with Gilmour for some reason. I liked his first two solo albums very much, but I will admit starting with “Rattle That Lock” I was starting to look differently at the music he was putting out and not in a good way. Look David Gilmour doesn’t owe me or anyone else anything. At this point in his life and career he should be able to create whatever he wants. Our prerogative is do we want to listen to it or not.
As for the album itself, there are a couple of tracks I did give more than my customary twice thru listens before writing the review. “Black Cat” does have some of the best new guitar work Gilmour has done in years. The track could have came right off his 1978 solo album “David Gilmour” or any Pink Floyd album. It was like he started with Track 1 and said “I’m going to throw you a bone Floyd fans”. “Sings” is also a beautiful song and his voice sound absolutely great on it. “Yes I Have Ghosts” is a nice song but I’m not sure I would rush to listen to again.
Those were really the only songs that caught my ear, that’s three out of twelve. A couple of tracks that stood out to me on the other spectrum were “A Single Spark” and “Dark And Velvet Nights” which are songs honestly, I don’t care if I ever hear them again. They seem just kind of thrown together, like they needed a fill even though I know that wasn’t the intention. To me they are just not good songs, especially when put side by side with any of his other solo work let alone his work with Pink Floyd.
Again, it is hard to dislike this album for me just because I put his prior work on such a high pedestal but that is the level of comparison and I’m afraid this does not come close.
