The Endless River Review

The intention is decent and the execution is inert. These are recordings the band already decided not to use in 1993, tidied, sequenced into four movements and released as a memorial to a keyboard player who is genuinely the best thing on it. Wright's organ and piano are lovely throughout, and there are two or three minutes here, particularly in the passages that quote Echoes, that will move anyone with a history with this group.

But an hour of texture with no theme, no tension and no destination is background music, and calling it a farewell does not change what it is. The one song with words, tacked on at the end, is a plea for communication written in phrases so generic that they could have been assembled from any greeting card, and judged on what is being said and how well, it has to take the mark. As a wake for a friend it is touching. As an album it is the least necessary thing they ever put out.