Count me among those super excited to hear this news…until, that is, I read the article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/06/pink-floyd-new-album-the-endless-river_n_5561346.html

If you’re not interested in clicking the above link, a brief summary: The Endless River, the “new” album by Pink Floyd, will be released in October.  However, it isn’t exactly a “new” work.  The album was originally recorded back in 1994 in the wake of The Division Bell, the last “official” Pink Floyd album released, which itself was the second of the Roger Waters-less/David Gilmour-led version of the band.

I have mixed feelings about Pink Floyd post-Roger Waters.  I feel David Gilmour is an absolutely terrific musician and one of the all time best guitarists ever.  I also feel he can sing the hell out of a song.  Having said all that, it can be argued that Roger Waters was the dominant creative force behind Pink Floyd’s biggest successes, from The Dark Side of the Moon to The Wall.

In the end it was the collaboration between the two, friction and all, that helped make them create such brilliant works together.

The Final Cut, the “last” Pink Floyd album to feature Roger Waters, was a good but, in my opinion, not a great Pink Floyd album.  Why?  Because it was essentially a Roger Waters solo album masquerading as a Pink Floyd album.  David Gilmour was barely involved in the work and his input was missed.

The problem with the albums that followed The Final Cut were both similar and opposite: A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell were essentially David Gilmour solo-albums masquerading as Pink Floyd albums and, in the case of those albums, it was Roger Waters’ input that was missed.

So now we have the upcoming The Endless River.  It appears this album will also not feature any input from Roger Waters, which is a shame.

Nonetheless, as with all things Pink Floyd, I’ll give it a listen.

Not to sound like too much of a pessimist but I do have a suspicion regarding this album: Given the fact that this work has been sitting unreleased since 1994 suggests that it may not be all that great.  If the studios and musicians involved in its production believed they had a truly seminal work in their hands, wouldn’t they have released it already?

I suppose we’ll find out in October.