David Gilmour - On an Island (CD/DVD)

Includes Bonus DVD Disc: 2 1. Take A Breath (Live From The Royal Albert Hall) 2. Astronomy Domine (Abbey Road Session) 3. On An Island (The AOL Sessions) 4. This Heaven (The AOL Sessions) 5. Smile (The AOL Sessions) 6. Take a Breath (The AOL Sessions) 7. High Hopes (The AOL Sessions) 8. Comfortably Numb (The AOL Sessions) Album Description

Super Music from David Gilmour

If you like Pink Floyd and David Gilmour then this a must buy! This music never gets old and really sounds refreshing. You won't regret getting this CD or DVD. March 3, 2008

Gilmour's newest solo gem gets a deluxe makeover

Pink Floyd's legendary guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour's most recent solo album entitled On an Island was released in March of 2006.
On an Island is Gilmour's first new studio recordings since the 1994 Pink Floyd studio effort The Division Bell and his first proper solo album since 1984's About Face.
The album was co-produced by Gilmour along with Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera and Chris Thomas (who mixed Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Division Bell albums and has produced albums for Roxy Music, INXS, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, The Pretenders, The Sex Pistols and so on) and this album's musical styles run the gamut from Floydish sounding tunes to jazzy to blues, it has it all.
Castellorizon is an awesome instrumental and what a way to start the album. I subtitled this piece Let's Get Metaphysical Part 2 with DG's Stratocaster duetting superbly with an orchestra over 2 minutes into the instrumental. We then segue into the title cut to On an Island. It is an awesome song and is already a masterpiece which would not have sounded out of place on a Pink Floyd record. The highlight of this track is Gilmour harmonizing with 66% of Crosby Stills and Nash that being David Crosby and Graham Nash. Also, the guitar solos on this track of course are amazing. The Blue follows and is amazing with DG and fellow Floyd member keyboardist Rick Wright harmonizing on vocals very well. Gilmour's whammy pedal solos at the end of the track are amazing and cry shades of Marooned (if they don't sound like Marooned to you then you need ears cleaned). Take a Breath follows and musically reminds me of Coming Back to Life and is a great rocker though some will whine and complain about it and has Gilmour pulling out the stops on both lap steel and Stratocaster for the ending solos. The instrumental Red Sky at Night is awesome and David does a fine job on alto saxophone showing he can play any instrument and he also does some superb lap steel guitar effects here.
This Heaven follows and is a great song which has dirty blues rock guitar over a jazzy shuffle that positively swings and shows David can play any genre of music (he proved this on his David Gilmour in Concert DVD in 2002 where he sang an excerpt of a French Opera in French and also performed a version of the lullaby Hushabye Mountain). Then I Close My Eyes is a great instrumental in a different sort of tone, kind of reminds me of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast's second section but with some cumbus, glass harmonica and bass harmonica and Robert Wyatt's cornet added. Also, BJ Cole did some great dobro on this track and Gilmour's electric guitar playing here is amazing. Smile follows. I have always liked this song ever since Gilmour first performed it in 2001 and now sounds complete with David playing some great dobro on this track and strangely enough it is the original demo with an orchestra added. A Pocketful of Stones follows and is a nice ballad which is hard to put into words, arguably the best solo ballad Gilmour has recorded, especially the ending guitar solo gives me a shiver down the spine. The ironically titled Where We Start is a great way to end the album in a nice relaxing tone and cries shades of A Pillow of Winds from Meddle. Like Smile, the vocals and instruments were the actual demo recorded except for the drums and orchestra which were added on later. Still a great song.
On the versions that were initially sold at the Best Buy chain, there was a bonus track of an almost 7 minute blues instrumental jam called Island Jam which is a great number.
Then in November of 2006, the album was re-released again this time with a DVD which consisted of David Gilmour's AOL Music Session from April of 2006 filmed in New York City with stellar performances of On an Island's title cut, a spirited This Heaven, a laid back version of Smile, a rocking version of Take a Breath, an unearthly version of High Hopes with an ending that will bring a tear to your eye and a stellar version of Comfortably Numb with Gilmour's Pink Floyd bandmate keyboard player Rick Wright sharing the lead vocal. Also on the DVD is a taster of Gilmour's Royal Albert Hall DVD due out in 2007 with a excellent version of Take a Breath filmed this past May and an excellent version of Astronomy Domine from Abbey Road filmed in August of 2006.
If you go into this album with expectations ala David Gilmour's previous two solo album or even a Pink Floyd album then you will be slightly disappointed but if you are an unbiased fan and appreciate music like yours truly, take a listen!
Highly recommended! December 24, 2007

Worth it for Astronomy Domine alone!

Brilliant album, great live.

Check out the version of Syd Barrett's brilliant Astronomy Domine. Powerful! November 5, 2007

It's Gilmour, so it's great-but not his finest hour!

While nice to have a copy of this DVD (as indeed it is always enjoyable to own anything featuring Gilmour) the quality here is rather suspect in places (to put it mildly). The opening track from the forthcoming "Remember That Night" collection ("Take a Breath") is very grainy, with unacceptable levels of picture noise. Having been at the HD launch at the Odeon Leicester Square, London a couple of weeks ago, I am pleased to say that the final version is infinitely sharper. The Abbey Road take of "Astronomy Domine" is VG - and was not among the tracks broadcast by Channel 4 in the UK from that session. Both picture and sound quality are by far the best on this disk. The AOL sessions are frankly disappointing. The picture quality is lamentable - being no better than average streaming quality and showing judder and re-fresh lag on my 100Hz system. If you already have the CD (which I have had since the original release date) I'd save your money if I were you and put it towards the "Remember That Night" collection - which, from what I have seen thus far, is vastly superior and more representative of David's normal attention to detail and James Guthrie's exemplary sound mastering. A DVD for completists only! September 24, 2007

Age has no boundary

The funny thing about 'old rockers', they have perpective. Mr. Gilmour's Take Breathe is more that a breathe of fresh air, but giving life of rebirth. Here is a guy who was involved in one of greatest rock albums ever recorded, it was nominated for a grammy, only to lose to Bridge of Troubled Water back when. Politics, ya know. Can play any type of guitar style and he comes out with new gems. Technology has caught up with Gilmour but he is using it. This is an amazing piece of music! Anyone who is ever thinking about learning guitar, should listen to this. September 5, 2007

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