Luck And Strange [CD]

Luck and Strange: is the fifth solo studio album release by David Gilmour - best known as the guitarist,vocalist - and songwriter of Pink Floyd. This latest release - in September 2024 - has a same but different (an oxymoron) feel to it,compared to some of his previous 'solo' albums.familiar rock songs and beautiful ballads; are now joined by folk and jazz leaning inclusions. It's a Gilmour family affair with contributions from David G's children; Romany,Gabriel and Charlie (co-songwriter on 'Scattered'),and not forgetting his wife Polly Samson writing all lyrics of album's vocal tracks - bar one. Along with other notable fine musicians' contributing EG: Guy Pratt (Bass G),Steve Distanisloa and the legendary Steve Gadd (drums),and Rob Gentry (keyboards). L&S album opener: Black cat - is a short instrumental burst.followed by - title track: err Luck and Strange - oddly enough 🤔 😂 It's origins date back to an informal 'Barn jam' session that took place at David G's home in 2007 (this is the updated version included here),featuring the late and very great - pink floyd co-founder and keyboard player - Richard Wright,and latterday contributions from David and Romany Gilmour and percussionist Adam Betts - apparently! Interesting lyrics too.optimistic and positive vibes of 'but let's hope it's not just luck and Strange a one-off peaceful golden age.that's a dark thought in the dark' - wonderful stuff! Same vibes on next track: The piper's call. This is followed by a rather short instrumental in - Vita Brevis - with the duo of Romany on harp and dad on slide guitar.flowing into Between two points: the only non-original composition on the album and a cover version of a Montgolfier brothers song; it sees Romany Gilmour taking on lead vocals,along with her harp playing puts in a superb performance on this track.a future named singing artist in the making? - she ought to be! Dark and velvet nights: is the most heaviest prog-rock offering on the album,and only track where DG hints at re-visiting his 'Floydian' past.superb musicianship (again). Next up 'Sings': is lyrically the most personal (to the Gilmour's at least) track on the album - have a listen if you don't believe me 😊 Final closing track on Luck and strange standard album - Scattered: is a truly excellent and epic closer. Although I've not previously mentioned the wonderful orchestral (and choir) contributions - and the main star of the show - David Gilmour's incredible guitar playing throughout - then here is an excellent place to start - on Scattered.they both excel in their specialist musical departments.an excellent and quite powerful end to an excellent latest solo album from the legend that is - David Gilmour 🎸🎤🎶 The one cd version I am reviewing,contains two bonus tracks; yes,I have ghosts: is the most haunting track on the album- appropriately! The second outing of Romany G on lead vocals and harp.with string quartet sampling and a special mention for John McCusker on fiddle 🎻 distinct and superb contribution,giving this track an authentic folk feel.David G makes an appearance or two on here as well 😀 Ultimate track on disc: Luck and Strange (original barn jam),is an expanded 14 minute jam of previous track 2 version.it was recorded at David Gilmour's converted barn at his farmhouse complex home. Taking place in 2007 and including contributions by; DG on guitar? Indeed!,Richard Wright: electric piano and the other afforementioned musicians on T2. A smashing sounding tight jam with a jazz feel to proceedings - a wonderful and poignant end to (re: Richard Wright) superb latest David gilmour (solo) album. With new co-producer Charlie Andrew on board; he does an excellent job as far as I can tell;with superb sound quality,balance of vocals and instruments are in the right places - part of what a record producers job is all about - I think 🤔 Took a few listens to convince me it's worth 4. 5/5 stars.take it from me - it is now!! PS: presented in soft digipack fold-out format with photos of Mr & Mrs Gilmour,full lyrics,musician credits for every track and extended credits and thank you's for all album contributors.plus photos and design by renowned artist and photographer - Anton Corbijn (including the distinctive album front cover). Stop press: hours before I completed this review; Luck and Strange by David Gilmour,enters the official UK 🇬🇧 albums chart straight in at number one.making it his third no 1 solo studio album to date - congratulations David - thoroughly deserved 👏 glad I could help by buying a 'physical' copy.

I love this album, many fans are saying it's a Dark Side level album, even David himself has proclaimed it's his best work since 1973, though personally I don't agree. Saying that it is still an amazing album, the tracks reminded me of the The Division Bell, the sounds and themes took me back to 1994. I would definitely say it's just as good as his third solo album On An Island, and on par with Division. Luck and Strange consists of awe-inspiring, ethereal tracks alongside lyrically poetic, foot tapping rock tracks with some blues mixed in here and there. He is a master of so many genres of music now, and he is pulling out all the stops here, not afraid to experiment. The track "Luck and Strange" and the much longer Original Barn Jam version of the same track are fantastic blues inspired rock tunes, these two are probably my favourite tracks on the album. The latter is a brilliant remastered demo recorded many years ago, with keyboards played by the late, great Richard Wright. The tracks "Dark and Velvet Night" & "The Pipers Call" are true Gilmour rock bangers with a bit of orchestral flair thrown in for good measure. The track "Yes, I Have Ghosts" is a lovely Spanish guitar sonata. The tracks "Between Two Points", "Sings" & "Staggered" are gorgeous, ethereal masterpieces, his daughter Romany has a beautiful voice on Between, she has an almost angelic, moody sound, you can hear she is David's girl. Each track has incredible production values plus the mix is excellent. Every element is on point from the backing singers to philharmonic orchestra. The new producer Charlie Andrew has added his non Pink Floydian influences to the album, and it helps give the record a freshness to the tried and tested Gilmour sound. More importantly, Andrew has allowed David to express himself with his heavenly guitar solos. David plays beautifully, he makes his guitars sing on every track, and he sings as passionately as ever, he is as good today as he was over 50 years ago, he is incredible. This is Gilmour's joint best album with On An Island, he is a living legend, a great man and artist. Thank you David. My copy of Luck & Strange arrived in perfect condition. So happy to own this amazing album. If you own a record player then get it on Vinyl, I bet it sounds even more unbelievably good!

I'm a big fan of Pink Floyd and had decided to have a bit more of a look at Dave Gilmours' modern day solo albums. 'On an Island' is a chilled masterpiece, 'Rattle The Lock' was rockier, but not on the same level - this album has a mix of both, a generally more 'rock' base with '...Islands'' chilled vibe and sheer quality. It has all and everything you'd want or expect from DG, with the odd curveball that makes things a bit more interesting - his daughter sings to great effect and his family had a hand somewhere in most elements, including the lyrics, which is nice, but it's the quality of the songwriting that stands out and makes it a very good album. I never imagined I would say it, but it just might be a better album than 'On an Island' - it just wouldn't let me take it out of the CD player!

Long time PF here. Took me years to appreciate On an Island. Only just getting on with Rattle That Lock, even now. But I was wowed by Luck and Strange almost right away. First listen on Spotify, while I wait for my Amazon pre-order to arrive, left me feeling a bit meh. But once the Cd arrived, and I had it on my Walkman, with some good ear buds, I started to enjoy it. The production quality calls for good listening equipment to appreciate the full effect. Lots going on, sometimes I'd say too much. A couple of tracks felt a bit like filler, being over produced, and might be better paired down, even "unplugged". Romany's contribution works well as a midway pallete cleanser. Polly's lyrics, I think, are clever and sometimes the meaning and imaginary doesn't hit you right away. I still look back on TDB and see new meanings. But sometimes it feels more like poetry to music rather than lyrics. In end though, the final proper track, "Scattered" blows me away. This is the finest collaboration by Polly and David yet. IMO it could be his finest work yet.

A great CD; all the tracks are stand out

I have listened to this several times since its release. There are some ok songs and some very good ones. Highlights include the opening track Black Cat, the title track Luck and Strange, Between Two points with a very nice vocal by Romany Gilmour, and Dark and Velvet nights, But the absolute gem is Scattered. It has similar opening keyboard sounds to Richard Wrights work on Echo's along with acoustic guitar for most of the song leading to an outstanding David Gilmour's guitar solo that gives me goosebumps. If you like post RW Pink Floyd and DG's solo stuff, this album is a must in my opinion. The Stereo CD mix is the best way to listen to the album in my opinion, its a full rich sound with a good broad soundstage. This is how music is supposed to be heard anyway, as if the band is in front of you. The Atmos mix on Blu-Ray is ok but its muddy to some degree with David's vocal sounding vague, almost ethereal. Sadly, once again, its been mixed with far too little use of the centre channel too. The crucial thing that music engineers seem to forget is that Atmos multi channel systems have a centre speaker that has been designed very much with voice in mind because that's where most of the vocals come from in movies. They should really use it, particularly for the main vocal but they don't, instead the vocal has been mixed across multiple speakers and it just doesn't sound as if its front and centre like it does on the stereo CD mix. The one exception is The Pipers Call where the centre speaker is driven well on the Atmos mix but otherwise its seldom used to good effect. The use of rear surround and height speakers is quite good but overall the Atmos mix an inferior way to listen to the album in my opinion.

Great album

Bought for a friend who assures this CD was of top quality in terms of manufacture and sound quality.

Excelente álbum de David Gilmour, o melhor de sua carreira solo.

Świetna płyta, dwa utwory w bonusie, razem aż 11, dodatkowo na dwóch śpiewa Romany, polecam.

Me parece un álbum excelente. Y con un empuje y una calidad vocal encomiable para un músico de 78 años. No diré que sea su mejor trabajo en solitario, porque creo que ese puesto debe ser para About Face, pero quizá este vaya justo a continuación. También es cierto que, a mi parecer, las letras de Polly Samson han mejorado notablemente. -Black Cat es la típica suite de inicio, similar a la de otros trabajos, es decir, a 5.A.M. y Castelhorizon. Me parece bastante menos inspirada que estas. -Luck and Strange, que parte de una sesión de improvisación del 2006, cuenta con los teclados de Richard Wright y se nota. Además, algunos de los pasajes vocales son realmente preciosos. Gran tema. -The Piper's Call me parece una maravilla, con unos coros muy acertados, la inclusión de varias guitarras y un estribillo muy pegadizo y que se eleva. El final es muy cañero. -A Single Spark evoca, por momentos, el tono de On an Island. Una muestra de lo que la voz de Gilmour aún puede dar gracias a su colorido. Cuenta con pasajes de guitarra realmente preciosos. -Vita Brevis es un cortísimo paisaje, aunque precioso, con presencia de arpas. -El versionado Between Two Points es uno de los mejores temas del álbum. La voz de Romany es preciosa y el solo final que añade Gilmour es sencillamente perfecto (de los mejores momentos del album). Sin embargo, al ser una composición ajena, la letra resulta discordante respecto al resto. El álbum pierde algo de cohesión en su mensaje sobre últimos disfrutes previos a la muerte. Quizá debió ser una canción bonus. -Dark and Velvet Nights resulta bastante rompedora y pegadiza. Rompe con el ritmo hacia su parte central y luego regresa para rematar con un pasaje de guitarra. Gran trabajo de la percusión. -Sings es un tema algo más relajado y ensoñador, que termina con un minuto puramente instrumental y de gran valía. -Scattered es un tema que gana más y más según se escucha. Variado, lento en su comienzo y en su magnífico y romántico final, y más animado hacia su parte central. Una interpretación vocal majestuosa y unas letras que por momentos, aquí, sí que funcionan muy bien. Presencia de guitarra acústica y punteos muy agudos de la eléctrica. La imagen de un hombre en mitad de un río luchando contra la marea, como el anciano que lucha contra el tiempo que pasa y lo conduce hacia la muerte. Un cierre magnífico.

Lovely piece of work from the Gilmour family

Great CD, I had the concert and it was so good had to have the CD.