Rattle That Lock – David Gilmour
It is the fourth solo studio album by Pink Floyd singer and guitarist David Gilmour.
It was originally released in September 2015, on the record label Columbia.
The genre of the album would be considered all of the three in which being Rock, Jazz and Ambient, and the album lasts for 51 minutes roughly!
Gilmour completed short tours around Europe in September and October 2015 and South America in December 2015 to support the album, with a similar tour of the United States and Canada following in March and April 2016.
During his short tour around Europe, as previously mentioned I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall which was amazing for my first ever live music event!
The artwork for the album was created by Dave Stansbie from The Creative Corporation under the direction of Aubrey Powell, who has worked with David Gilmour and Pink Floyd since the late 1960s!
By any Pink Floyd Fans standards, Rattle That Lock is definitely worth setting aside the time to listen to properly to experience its inner meaning.
With lyrics by his wife Polly Samson, who has had a massive influence upon this album, Gilmour reflects heavily on an aspect of time passing by and the urgency to live what’s left to the fullest, which explains the opening with his creeping-dawn guitar overture ‘5 A.M’.
And the morning-train glide of the title track. The flow of moods — the waltz ‘Faces of Stone’; the jazzy-youth memoir ‘The Girl in the Yellow Dress’ (with distant bleats of cornet by Robert Wyatt); the martial rock, ringed with light, of ‘Today’ — is striking and effective, recalling the hooks-and-choruses side of 1971’s Meddle by Pink Floyd.
One of my favourite tracks off of the album would have to be ‘A Boat Lies Waiting’ with sighing harmonies by David Crosby and Graham Nash, and a mumbled monologue similar to that on ‘The Great Gig in the sky’ – is dedicated to late keyboardist Richard Wright so this may be Gilmour’s own life on display summarised within a spectacular album.
But Gilmour is, inevitably, most eloquent here as a guitarist, if it wasn’t for his playing and musicianship I wouldn’t be here today at Fareham Music.
In the iconic arcs of silvery treble illuminating the instrumental of one of the final tracks ‘Beauty’, the guitarist sounds like an expressive master of his craft, one who hasn’t aged a day.
And on that note, I definitely recommend setting aside to experience this album in full if you’re a fan of David Gilmour and Pink Floyd, or into Rock and Jazz because it’s bloody brilliant all round!
Ellie Thornton Music 