David Gilmour's second solo effort gets long overdue remaster treatment
928081
Pink Floyd's singer and guitarist David Gilmour released his second solo album About Face in March of 1984.
The album was co-produced by Gilmour and Bob Ezrin (whom David worked with last on Pink Floyd's The Wall).
The album was recorded throughout 1983 in France and mixed at Mayfair Studios in London with engineers Andrew Jackson and James Guthrie respectively. The album was recorded after Pink Floyd disbanded following the completion of 1983's The Final Cut whcih saw relations between Gilmour and bandmate Roger Waters deteriorate.
In addition to David on vocals and guitar on About Face, he is joined by Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro, bass player Pino Palladino and keyboard player Ian Kewley (both from Paul Young's band). Plus there are guest appearances by Deep Purple keyboard player Jon Lord, Anne Dudley and Steve Winwood. Also helping on some of the backing vocals are Roy Harper, Sam Brown and her mother Vicky.
David wrote eight of the ten songs himself on this album including the pulsating opener "Until We Sleep", which is a great song. "Murder" is next and is the best track on the album with David pulling out all the stops on electric and acoustic guitars. "Love on the Air" is next and David wrote the music while Pete Townshend penned the lyrics to this song as well as the second half opening rocker All Lovers Are Deranged. The single "Blue Light" follows and is a good funky track. Steve Winwood plays Hammond Organ on this track as he did on Love on the Air. The only thing that dates Blue Light slightly are the horns but still a great track nevertheless. The ballad "Out of the Blue" ends the first half on a poignant note with the late Michael Kamen's superb orchestrations.
The US FM rock radio hit "All Lovers Are Deranged" kicked off the second half and is a great rocker. The anti-Roger Waters rocker "You Know I'm Right" follows and showed David was still angered and upset about Waters' ill-treatment to him during the torturous Final Cut sessions (who knew the two would reconcile in 2005). Next is "Cruise", which is apparently an ode to an MX nuclear-tipped cruise missile and a great song. The soaring classical music meets heavy soaring electric guitar instrumental "Let's Get Metaphysical" follows and beautifully blends Michael's orchestrations with some killer guitar work from Gilmour on his trusty Fender Stratocaster. The fittingly titled "Near the End" ends this album on a bittersweet but beautiful note and the ending acoustic then Stratocaster solos of Gilmour's at the end are some of his finest.
I first got About Face on cassette when I was 12 in February of 1988 and it is better on CD.
The album hit a modest #32 in the US and would eventually go Gold (500,000 copies sold) as a result.
About Face was finally re-released on September 12, 2006 on Columbia Records with digitally remastered sound, thanks to another Pink Floyd associate James Guthrie (who mixed the original album), and fully restored artwork.
The album is longer than either the original CD or original album as all of the tracks have fully restored endings and the sound on this is SUPERB!
I highly recommend this album to any Floyd fan!
1102897
During an interview for VH1's "Legends" program, when asked about Pink Floyd's blockbuster "The Wall," David Gilmour said "It slightly lacks soul for me."
And indeed Gilmour had been at odds with founding bassist and then-lead songwriter Roger Waters over the direction of the band's music, live performances, album cover art, temperature of the frozen yogurt machine in Eel Pie Studios, and just about anything else band members can dispute. The Floyd output under Waters' authority had been increasingly dark, but a solo album, Gilmour's second, allowed the heralded guitarist to breathe a bit easier.
"About Face" is certainly more musical than Floyd's most recent album, "The Final Cut" - but, despite being a brilliant album, even the sound of the frozen yogurt machine shorting out had been more musical than that record. "About Face" finds Gilmour loosening up, and crafting some impressive pieces, free from Roger Waters' glare. Though the album is definitely dated in places, notably the driving, technologically heavy opener 'Until We Sleep,' "About Face" finds some of the "soul" that Floyd's recent work had been lacking, notably in the invigorating, horn-boasting 'Blue Light,' the distinctly 1984 pop-friendly 'Love On the Air,' the gorgeous 'Near the End,' the very un-Floydian 'Cruise,' and the ferocious 'All Lovers Are Deranged.' The ballad 'Out of the Blue' and the commentary on the death of John Lennon, 'Murder,' foreshadow some of the sounds and themes the reunited Pink Floyd would later explore under Gilmour's watch.
Released just a month apart from Roger Waters' solo effort "The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking," David Gilmour had obviously fared better than his erstwhile bandmate at branching out creatively. "About Face" would be the guitarist's final solo album until the hit "On an Island" in 2006, but it stood up well during those twenty-plus years, a solid album that reflects a musician's creative desires, personally and professionally.
3875166
Hi
I love this album and re-purchased it to see if the rest of the remasters were worth getting for the "sonic upgrade". And ...drum roll...the answer is NO! I own the Virgin releases (with most of the bonus tracks from years ago). I a/b'D the older disc and this new remaster with pro-quality headphones and struggled to see what, besides a couple extra tracks, I bought this for! Not really remastered at all! What a ripp off. The other release is years and years old and with todays technology there should be a huge differenece "if" they went back to the masters. I heard from an inside source (from the industry) that this may not have been the case! Why do they do this!? What a missed opportunity. Save your money folks..what a bummer. I did actually luck into a few remasters that Repertoire did a few years back, and they were a decent improvement but the label seemed to have abandoned that project after remastering "future Shock", Double Trouble" and the Ian Gillan Band Budokan" live disc. Weird but true. What a shame....Great album though, and totally worth having but just not for the "remastering" aspect. Music 5 stars remastering 2..averaged to 3 :(
2650160
This is a fantastic album I waited far to long to hear.  But maybe it was good to wait for this remastered version given what others said about the first release's sound quality issues. The music is superb, as good as much Beatles music.  In Harrison's catalog, some of his songs are strange, but this entire album is strong. The instrumentals on disc 2 are just fantastic music in terms of guitar work. I'd love to see Brad Paisley record the "Jeep" number just to see how another eminent guitarist in another genre would put his spin on it.
3824488
A great remastering job on a pretty under rated album.
Give this another listen.
10638
It was already a classic, but the remastering is like a perfect restoration of a museum-quality work painting; it's cleaner, a bit louder (but not in the loudness war fashion!), it's the way Mould intended, as he stated in the liner notes.  What Mould's done with the Sugar albums and what Corgan's done with the Pumpkins' catalog are how albums should be remastered; subtle  re-balancing and cleaning up here, tweaking and equalizing there.  Compared to the Nevermind "remaster disaster," these are works of art.  Well, that's not saying much, but you get the idea.

As far as the original album goes, like I said, it was already one of my favorites from the era I grew up in, and the b-sides are solid (I can see where Mould says including them as the second half instead would've made the album more like Copper Blue) and also sound better than their appearance on the B-Sides album.  Speaking of, the inclusion of the concert album from the original production run of that album is just icing on the cake, especially at the price.  I never heard the original version, so I can't say if this, too, was remastered, but it sounds great and is worth the price alone ($11.99 when I bought it).

Whether or not you have this album already, and have any love for 80s/90s alternative music, pick up the remaster.  It's worth it.  It's too bad more artists don't take this much time and care with their reissues.
1707199
I am not a fan of Led Zeppelin. I am a fan of most of Robert Plant's solo catalog. PRINCIPLE OF MOMENTS, FATE OF NATIONS, DREAMLAND and NOW & ZEN are my favorites, in that order. I also like PICTURES AT ELEVEN, SHAKIN N' STIRRED and MIGHTY REARRANGER (I detest MANIC NIRVANA.)

I harbored tremendous hope for the remastered versions of his extensive collection - so I coughed up 80 dollars for the box set.

The sound quality of my favorite album is significantly improved (the original CD actually had very good sound quality to begin with) but the bonus tracks left a bit to be desired.

BIG LOG, THRU WITH THE TWO STEP, STRANGER HERE THAN OVER THERE, OTHER AMRS, IN THE MOOD and MESSING WITH THE MEKON, all are remarkable songs with their esoteric lyrics, layered instrumentation and astoundingly passionate vocals. When Robert Plant sings with his enchanting lower ranges, his screaming high notes punctuate and accentuate the evocation of the tunes. When he just screams out with his Led Zepellin rebellion, his songs sound silly and immature. PRINCIPLE OF MOMENTS exemplifies the fore and never delves into the aft. This is truly a brilliant work of art.

The studio track is very nice. The live tracks range from deplorable to acceptable. The first sounds like an audience member recorded it with a portable cassette player while standing moving through the crowd.

Basically, the short of it is, in my opinion this album is a very nice upgrade over the original masterpiece... but can a masterpiece truly be improved upon?
4345893
Animals is another Pink Floyd masterpiece. Stylistically and lyrically it is clearly a Roger Waters opus. However, I suspect that without David Gilmour's contributions the LP would have been just as interesting but not nearly as listenable or enjoyable. I do miss the spacey psychedelic sounds of the band's previous output going back to 1967. On the other hand ten years had passed since Piper and one cannot really quibble if the band decided to explore new territory. I don't quite understand why Animals is not considered by the majority of fans to be the equal of the two records that preceded it and the one that followed. For me each of the records is unique and brilliant. How often in Rock Music history has one artist or band managed the feat of creating four supreme efforts on the trot? The Beatles (Rubber Soul through to White - five records), Springsteen (his first four or six or seven), Stones (Banquet through Exile - five including the very fine live Ya-Yas), Dylan (1963-1969) and Van Morrison (Astral through Saint Dominic) are a few that come to mind.
4626707
Man, the sound quality isn't that good.  But where else are you hearing these songs live?  It has nothing to do with the remastering or whatever.  If you're a GG nut and have been waiting to hear something live from the band when Phil was still there, then, well, your options are limited.  As in, this is your only option.
2451078
My ex brother-in-law gave me this cassette for Christmas in 1985.  From that moment on, I started to acquire an interest in PINK FLOYD.  I have all the remastered edition of their studio albums, including this album.  I got this album because of the remake version of their classic hit MONEY that outdoes the orginal version from THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (my favorite PINK FLOYD album).  I heard this song was rerecorded because of problems between CBS and their first record label HARVAST that is part of the CAPITOL RECORDS division.  This version has a whole lot more better arrangement and it is also played at the same pace throughout the song.  Furthermore, the vocals, the sax (played by DICK PARRY) and guitar solos sound a whole lot better too. I suppose after hearing this version for 3 years and then listening to the original version that I do not like, I am just used to listening to this version on this album.  I am also half way surprised and not surprised about DAVID GILMOUR playing all the intruments on this version, considering the dark moments at this time.  The only other song I comment on is the acoustic classic WISH YOU WERE HERE, which happens to be the first song I learned how to play on my guitar.  I love the way the 12-string guitar sounds through a background speaker, or whatever, and the 6-string guitar.  Along with DAVID'S lead vocal are the acoustic piano and synthezer by RICHARD WRIGHT, the mellowed drumming by NICK MASON and the bass guitar by ROGER WATERS.  I do not know for sure whether the harmony vocal is sung by ROGER or DAVID.
817319
Hands down to this! First off the sound is amazing. You can finally hear Mike Anthony at last. The drums are awesome as well. Way better than the first remastered attempt from 2006. To be quite honest it sounds like vinyl. They got the bottom end right. I'm a Roth fan but a Van Hagar fan as well. Now if they would give the Van Hagar cds the same treatment it would be fantastic.
5150 and OU812 cds sound like crap so it deserves the same respect.
3762250
Video quality not 1080p (albiet it's an older concert). Audio is great and Gilmour kills it.
1622837
Yes, I like my other McCartney fanfriends broke down the other day and purchased the England EMI import version. Tired of waiting around and listening to "Maybe I'm Amazed" on our classic rock station. Disc one sounds different from disc two, maybe two different sources were used. The five stars are for the performance of the band. I would purchase this only if you can't wait for the domestic. Capitol, please put some effort into the remastering and packaging of this classic. I know you can do it - look at the reissue of "Band On The Run"!!!
1594341
THE BAND: David Gilmour (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Richard Wright (keyboards), Nick Mason (drums & percussion), Guy Pratt (bass), Tim Renwick (guitar), Bob Ezrin (keyboards), Dick Parry (saxophone).

THE DISC: (1994) 11 tracks clocking in at approximately 66 minutes. Included with the disc is a 22-page booklet containing song titles/credits, song lyrics, odd photographs perhaps relating to the songs, and thank you's. Recorded at Astoria Recording Studios (London), Brittania Row, and Abbey Road Studios. Label - Columbia.

COMMENTS: I wanted to dig this album. I saw the now obsolete "Division Bell Tolling Live" DVD way back when - and it looked like a fantastic show. In regards to the Division Bell Tour - I think it was such a hit because Pink Floyd always sounded great live, they had a great light show, and they weren't just playing songs from "The Division Bell". The few really good tunes from this album coupled with classics from the band's 70's material... always a good production. The other missing ingredient - Roger Waters - having left the band in '85 (due to irreconcilable differences). I'm convinced Waters and Gilmour made beautiful music together, but alone they struggled to survive (let alone make a classic rock album again). "The Division Bell" garnered two true radio hits with "Take It Back" and "Keep Talking" (listen for samples of Stephen Hawking's spoken word on this song). Both songs hit #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Gilmour's guitar work is amazing on some songs ("Marooned", "Coming Back To Life", "What Do You Want From Me" are the highlights). While on others, which is much of the album, is mostly uninspired atmospheric tired music destined for a life in an elevator or the local smooth jazz radio station. Long intro's, sound effects, and long exits make up more time on this album than they should. "The Division Bell" delivers partially - Gilmour's guitar is always recognizable to the long time fan; some nice shredding scattered within... but ultimately fits right in with their undistinguished 80's albums "The Final Cut, and "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason"... and nowhere near any of their classic 70's material (3+ stars).
744822
David Gilmour's self-titled first solo album was, without a doubt, the best one he did.  While not always the most innovative member of the Floyd in terms of composing (lyrics and music), he does do a quality job here of making a rock album.  Like any work written solely by Mr. Gilmour, this album relies on traditional chord structures and styles.  The lyrics are also pretty ordinary, not always even seeming personal to him (guy wants girl, guy can't have girl), although occasionally with some interesting wordplay.  If you enjoyed songs like "The Gold, it's in the..." and particularly "Childhood's End" from Obscured by Clouds, you should do well with this album.
Perhaps DG's musical best is "Raise My Rent", which, interestingly enough, seems to be the inspiration for "What Do You Want From Me?" on The Division Bell (my second favorite instrumential being "It's Deafinitely").  After that, I'd name "Short and Sweet", which departs a bit from a more standard rock format, giving it an easily memorable sound all to itself.  That's the trouble with this album--that certain songs are too "standard', and while they're well made, and showcase Mr. Gilmour's guitar and vocal talents well, they don't really stick in the mind.  "Mihalis" , for instance, while still very nice, is not as effective as Rick Wright's instrumental "Waves" in evoking the feel of the sea--one might guess the latter's subject matter without the title (Mr. Wright musically creates the sound of waves slapping into a boat's hull), whereas the subject of "Mihalis" requires explanation to get the intended images.  Mihalis, incidentally, was the name of Mr. Gilmour's boat.
Here are two of the other noteworthy moments to watch for.  Mr. Gilmour shows off his capabilities on multiple instruments on "Cry from the Street"--he does a nice job with the Hammond organ that would not seem out of place on a Pink Floyd album. Perhaps Rick Wright gave him lessons?  If so, he seems to have paid attention.  Also, the singing in "So Far Away" is some of the best I've ever heard from him anywhere, and perhaps the most difficult.  The rapid note changes are quite impressive--not the sliding, warbling sound so common in today's second-rate radio garbage, but clear, crisp notes each individually sounded in rapid succession.
Overall, this rates as Mr. Gilmour's strongest album.  Guitar enthusiasts will be happy to know that his playing excels throughout and his unique style is unmistakeable.  The only drawback is, unlike Pink Floyd and Rick Wright's albums, other instruments aren't generally ever invited to the forefront.  Even trumpet legend Miles Davis would yield the floor to other instruments, making his accomplishments no less remarkable.  Something similar might have helped here.  This, and other flaws, are why I can't award the full five stars.  However, this album has *earned* its four through very good work, and I think most Floyd fans should definitely consider buying a copy.
772870
As a lifelong Pink Floyd fan, it's only natural to check out solo efforts by the guys in the band.  This is by far, the best of any of the solo efforts that I've heard.  Water's releases are interesting and sometimes ingenious, but very uneven.  This is a solid set of excellent songs that any Floyd fan will enjoy.  If you buy any of Gilmour's (or any other solo effort from Floyd) this should be it!
2709104
I'm following up all the 40th anniversary remastered versions executed by Steve Wilson. His trademark is to improve the details and clarity of the original recordings without doing any harm to the original. So no unnecessary compression and equalizing have been used ! However, mr Wilson's achievement is not the best so far, probably due to the rather poor quality of the original recording back in 71.  Please pay attention to his 40th anniversary remaster achievements of Lizard and in the court of by King Crimson !  You won't believe your ears.  The second disc of this Tull album does not add much to the first one and could be skipped as far as I'm concerned.
I'm looking forward to new Steve Wilson material such as the Yes Album e.g. !  keep up the good work Steve !