With the new solo album from the former Pink Floyd and the re-release of a Britpop classic, the week is filled with nostalgia.
David Gilmour, Luck and Strange
Since he deactivated the group Pink Floyd, the British guitarist and singer has led a solo career as fruitful as it is peaceful. After the beautiful On an Island in 2006 and the disappointing Rattle That Lock In 2015, Gilmour returned with what he described as his best album since Dark Side of the Moonreleased in 1973.
The British rock veteran, now 78, called on forty-something Charlie Andrew to produce the album. A collaborator of Alt-J, the musician offered a sound that allowed his elder to sign his best album under his name. Since 1994, the guitarist has composed the songs for which his wife, the novelist Polly Samson, writes the lyrics. Their partnership continues here happily.
Surrounded by exceptional musicians – including Steve Gadd on drums – Gilmour reaches the heights on a large number of songs. We have rarely heard him as inspired as on melodies like The Piper’s Callfirst single from the album. The twilight tone of some of the lyrics matches the contemplative mood of an album imbued with notions of mortality and transmission. And then he has that soothing voice and that ultra-melodic guitar playing that made David Gilmour legendary: an immense musician in full possession of his means, modest and fulfilled, happy to share his music.
Oasis, Definitely Maybe
As luck would have it (?) the calendar would have it that Oasis’ first album was released just in time for the announcement of the band’s reformation. At the end of August 1994, Definitely Maybe was causing a sensation in what was not yet called Britpop. Announced by a handful of unstoppable singles (Supersonic, Rock and Roll Star, Live Forever), the group led by the Gallagher brothers stood out as a formation to follow.
We are blown away by the level of writing of Noel Gallagher, who studied English pop from top to bottom before composing his own songs. And we remain amazed by the nerve of his little brother Liam to take on so boldly singing like a little thug from Manchester. This anniversary version contains alternative versions of the group’s hits, which are taking another nostalgic and lucrative tour in 2025.
