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David Gilmour - About Face Audio CD

A fair review of the David Gilmour "About Face" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all David Gilmour reviews here, or go back to the David Gilmour tabs.

David Gilmour Band: David Gilmour
Title: About Face
Rating:
Release Date: 2006-09-12
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Until We Sleep 2: Murder 3: Love On The Air 4: Blue Light 5: Out Of The Blue 6: All Lovers Are Deranged 7: You Know I'm Right 8: Cruise 9: Let's Get Metaphysical 10: Near The End

Nice follow up
About Face is a natural transition and fills the blank between David Gilmour and the later Pink Floyd releases (Momentary Lapse of Reason & The Division Bell) as well as On an Island. I was and am a huge fan of Gilmour's first album, which came out right when the Columbia started distributing music videos to the record stores (pre- MTV) where I worked at the time. His solo work is incredibly refreshing. I highly recommend About Face and David Gilmour.


Pink Floyd as it could have been
This was released at about the same time as Roger Waters' solo album "The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking", and I find the Gilmour solo project more listenable. David Gilmour's "About Face" is a glimpse of what the "Final Cut" could have been, had only David Gilmour some input on the final product. Song highlights on "About Face" include "All Lovers Are Deranged", "Murder", "Blue Light" (even though some Floyd fans seem to hate this one), and "Until We Sleep". I only wish that Waters & Gilmour had been able to pool their creative resources together during this time, as the 1970's Floyd material proved superior in my opinion when the band collaborated. Alas, it was not to be. Although the Pink Floyd reincarnation of the late 80's and 90's was decent, one only wonders what could have happened. I still like this album, although it is a bit dated - but that doesn't mean it's bad.


buyer beware: original release worth it/ re-master not
I love this album despite some of the negativity I've read from Floyd fans, but this purchase was a disappointment for me. This was supposed to be a re-mastered version of this cd, but to be honest after listening to it I couldn't tell the difference from the original release. I recommend this cd for novice Floyd fans, but if you already have the original 1984 release, don't waste your money trying to upgrade to the re-master.


A step outside Pink Floyd.
Gilmour's guitar work has always been exceptional, but it really shine in some of the truly "rocking" tunes from this disc. Nice to hear what the real driving force behind Pink Floyd can do solo. If you like "Floyd" without Waters (and that's not difficult for me), then you'll love this disc.


About Face
It's nowhere as interesting as his first release. David Gilmour's second solo effort, About Face, leaves something to be desired. About Face peaked at #32 on the charts. There weren't any singles from the album that cracked Billboard's Top 200.

The album opens with "Until We Sleep", easily the best song on the album. It's really the only song that rises above the average. There's a kind of urgency within the song that makes it a dynamic effort. "Murder", among almost every song here with the exception of "Cruise", is an average effort; Gilmour does present us with a decent lead. It's the tempo change in the last third of this song that saves it. "Love on the Air" is co-written with Pete Townshend (The Who) that's a mellow song. It sounds like it could have been an outtake from The Wall. "Blue Light" could be the next best song. It has horns in it which gives it a sort of feel of being mainstream or R & B. A very unusual effort by him. "Out of the Blue" is a slow song that has some good lyrics. "All Lovers Are Deranged" is also co-written with Pete Townshend. It's got some decent lead passages but not what we normally expect from him. "You Know I'm Right" has some lyrics that will make you stop & think a little bit. This song is probably among the three best on the album. It sounds a little more like what we've come to expect from him. It has some horn sections in it that eventually gives it a little bit of a jazz tone. "Cruise" is easily the weakest song of the album. It's the closest thing to pop on the album; the last fourth of it turns to reggae. This just doesn't fit very well into the Gilmour song catalog. "Let's Get Metaphysical" is an instrumental. Is it a statement from Gilmour toward Olivia Newton-John who had a hit two years previously titled "Physical"? I don't know, there's nothing similar about them, my guess would be that Gilmour is telling us that there's a higher plane that we can reach. The album closes with "Near the End" . Gilmour treats us to a very good acoustical lead in the final section of the song, he then switches to an electric lead that's very subtle production switch.

The remastering is excellent, a vast improvement from the original. The booklet doesn't have any liner notes but lyrics to the songs are included. The band he uses is completely different from his first solo project. Jeff Porcaro (drums) was a highly respected drummer & was in Toto. Pino Palladino (bass) played with many artists. Ian Kewley (keyboards) performed with Samson. Guest artists abound & include Steve Winwood (piano & organ), Anne Dudley (synthesizer)(Art of Noise), Bob Ezrin (keyboards co-producer), Louis Jardine (percussion), Ray Cooper (percussion) & Jon Lord (synthesizer) (Deep Purple).

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You can see a complete list of all David Gilmour discography, or go back to the David Gilmour tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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