The Division Bell - Pink Floyd
By Eamon O'Neill
“The grass was greener. The light was brighter. The taste was sweeter” - Looking back to their early Cambridgeshire days on album closer ‘High Hopes’, it was a reflective Pink Floyd who conceived their 1994 release, ‘The Division Bell’. A lot of water had flown under the bridge to get them to this point, and bearing the scars of one of the most turbulent times in their history, they could be forgiven for looking back to happier times. 
Divided we stand.
Conceived a few short years after the final fallout from their messy and exhausting litigative split from co-founder and creative force Roger Waters, ‘The Division Bell’ marked a new beginning for the progressive rock giants. Although 1987’s ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’ came first, the three-piece - singer / guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason, and reinstated keysman Richard Wright - sounded much more assured.
This was a new Pink Floyd, confidently led by Gilmour, and the results were surprisingly effective from a band many thought would be lost without their key song writer. Where some were aghast at the thought of a Waters-less Floyd - not least Roger Waters himself - with ‘The Division Bell’, they produced their finest album since ‘The Wall’ (1980).
"It's easy to ignore them, God knows I've tried"
Looking back to their past not just lyrically, the band utilised not only some of the same equipment that had helped shape their most defining works, but brought back saxophonist Dick Parry, who had last recorded with them on their seminal ‘Wish You Were Here’ album back in 1975.
Sonically though, this was no throwback. This was Pink Floyd for the 1990s, mercifully shorn of the ‘80s affectations that had plagued ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason’ (so glaring that the album was reworked significantly for its 2021 rerelease). As a result, like their greatest albums, it still sounds timeless, almost three decades later.
Opening with the otherworldly atmospherics of ‘Cluster One’, it kicks off proper with ‘What Do You Want From Me’; a defiant, confrontational cry of exasperation, perhaps aimed at their former partner. A confident start, it’s followed by the beautiful ‘Poles Apart’. With its acoustic fingerpicking, lap steel slides, and fretless bass (courtesy of collaborator Guy Pratt who, to this day works alongside Mason, in his band Saucerful of Secrets), it’s as uplifting as Pink Floyd get.
"I made promises I cannot keep"
Flipping over to side two, the instrumental ‘Marooned’ saw Gilmour experiment with an octave-shifting guitar effect in his own uniquely tasteful way, while rallying call ‘A Great Day For Freedom’ with its galvanising message would later be reworked in 2022 as the b-side to standalone single ‘Hey, Hey, Rise Up!’.
Rounding out side two, ‘Wearing the Inside Out’ is notable for being the first time in two decades that Wright had provided lead vocals on a Pink Floyd song (the previous occasion being ‘Time’ and ‘Us and Them’ on ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, all the way back in 1973), on the track that also features the aforementioned Parry.
Switching discs, lead single ‘Take it Back’ was underpinned by a surprisingly commercial hook, and is more than reminiscent of a certain Irish act, with its use of echo effects on the guitars. The incredible backing vocal ensemble however, which include soulstress Sam Brown, lift the song beyond a simple U2 pastiche.
Closing out the album, ‘Keep Talking’, with its Steven Hawking sample and recurring guitar motif, is simply infectious, while the acoustics of ‘Lost For Words’ recall ‘Wish You Were Here’. Final track ‘High Hopes’ meanwhile, is the album’s crowning glory. Bittersweet, and achingly beautiful, it’s a fitting sendoff.
What wasn’t known at the time of its release was that ‘The Division Bell’ would sadly prove to be not only the band’s swansong (save for the posthumous ‘The Endless River’, released in 2014, which featured outtakes from the same recording sessions), but the last to feature Wright, who would pass away in 2008.
In among such towering achievements as having not one, but two of the best selling albums of all time - ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ is currently fourth, while ‘The Wall’ sits inside the top thirty - it’s easy to forget what a triumph ‘The Division Bell’ really is.
Given its significance, and with its thirtieth anniversary approaching in 2024, it seems unlikely that Pink Floyd will pass up the opportunity to celebrate this milestone with the release of an expanded or deluxe edition. Until then, the 2011 remaster is a fine placeholder.
Album Details
The Division Bell was released on 26th March 1994 and is available to buy on standard vinyl at Vinyl8.com
Tracklist
- Cluster One
- What Do You Want from Me
- Poles Apart
- Marooned
- A Great Day for Freedom
- Wearing the Inside Out
- Take It Back
- Coming Back to Life
- Keep Talking
- Lost for Words
- High Hopes
