The Division Bell

From Pink Floyd

Title: The Division Bell
Artist: Pink Floyd
Released: March 30, 1994 (UK), April 5, 1994 (US)
Total Length: 66:32
Label: EMI (UK), Columbia (US)

Contents 1 Track Listing 2 Review 3 Credits 4 Info

[edit] Track Listing

1. Cluster One (5:58)
2. What Do You Want From Me? (4:21)
3. Poles Apart (7:04)
4. Marooned (5:29)
5. A Great Day For Freedom (4:17)
6. Wearing The Inside Out (6:49)
7. Take It Back (6:12)
8. Coming Back To Life (6:19)
9. Keep Talking (6:11)
10. Lost For Words (5:14)
11. High Hopes (8:32)

[edit] Review

• Song Rating: 3 / 10
• Overall Rating: 3.5 / 10
• Best Song: Keep Talking

[edit] Credits

• David Gilmour - guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards and programming
• Richard Wright - keyboards and vocals
• Nick Mason - drums and percussion

with

• Jon Carin - additional keyboards
• Guy Pratt - bass
• Gary Wallis - percussion
• Tim Renwick - guitars
• Dick Parry - tenor saxophone
• Bob Ezrin - keyboards and percussion
• Michael Kamen - orchestral arrangements
• Professor Stephen Hawking - Digital voice on "Keep Talking"
• Carol Kenyon - Backing Vocals
• Sam Brown - Backing Vocals

[edit] Info

• "Marooned" was awarded a Grammy in the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1995. This has been Pink Floyd's only Grammy to date.
• EMI concocted an Internet-based "puzzle" known as the Publius Enigma in connection with the album's release. Officially it was never solved. On April 13th 2005 Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason was at the JBL Theater in the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington promoting his book Inside Out. One of the fans asked him point blank about the Publius Enigma. His reply was: "That was a ploy done by EMI. They had a man working for them who adored puzzles. He used to work for the Reagan administration. His job then would be to be in meetings with the President and when Reagan would say 'Let's bomb these people' he would say 'That's not a good idea sir!'. He was working for EMI and suggested that a puzzle be created that could be followed on the Web." Allegedly the prize was nothing tangible such as front row tickets to a show or a meet and greet with the band. The winner would allegedly get a crop of trees planted in his or her name in an area that was clear-cut or another such "prize" that was more of a philanthropic display than something you could hang on the wall. Mason confirmed that the three band members (Gilmour, Mason and Wright) were aware of the game, but had no direct involvement with it. The game was real and not a hoax, but it apparently lost steam and the person who started it left EMI and the whole affair was forgotten.
• he cover artwork, by long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson, shows two metal head sculptures, each over 3 metres tall and weighing 1500 kilograms. They were placed in a field in Cambridgeshire and photographed under all weather and lighting conditions over a two-week period, sometimes with visual effects such as lights between them. Ely Cathedral is visible in the background, as are lights (actually car headlights on poles), shown through the sculptures' mouths. Rumours circulated at the time of the photography that they were in excess of 80 feet high. In actual fact, they were closer to eight.
• This album marks the first time Richard Wright had sung lead vocals since 1973's The Dark Side Of The Moon, although he did provide backing vocals for Wish You Were Here, Animals, and A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. It also marks his first songwriting credits since Wish You Were Here.
• Douglas Adams, the writer of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy", chose the name of the album, being a friend of David Gilmour. This came about because the three band members could not agree on an album title (with both Pow Wow and Down To Earth being suggested) and Adams said he would give the band a name only if they made a donation to a Wildlife fund he was favouring. The band agreed, the name was suggested, and the donation was received as agreed.
• Samples of Stephen Hawking from a telephone advert provide the spoken word portions of "Keep Talking".
• A vinyl version was released and had edited versions of "Poles Apart", "Marooned", "A Great Day For Freedom", "Wearing The Inside Out" and "High Hopes".