The Division Bell Review

The improvement over the 1987 album is immediate and it comes down to people playing in a room. Wright is a member again, writes and sings, and his organ underpins everything the way it used to. The theme, roughly the failure to talk to one another, is thin and the lyrics never sharpen it, but the music is unhurried and generous. Marooned is an instrumental built around a whammy pedal and is more affecting than most of the songs with words.

Coming Back to Life and Take It Back are decent radio Floyd. What lifts the whole thing is High Hopes, which closes with a bell, a slide solo that ranks with the best Gilmour ever played, and a lyric about a childhood place that finally locates the vague nostalgia the rest of the album gropes at. Sixty six minutes is too long and the middle sags. Even so, this is the version of the post Waters band that actually justifies the name on the sleeve.