David Gilmour has claimed that he was “bullied” on Pink Floyd’s final album, The Endless River.
The guitarist made these comments while speaking to The LA Times, where he spoke about how the album came about in 2014.
During the interview, Gilmour stated that he was “bullied by the record label” into making that final album.
He said: “When we did that album, there was a thing that Andy Jackson, our engineer, had put together called ‘The Big Spliff’ – a collection of all these bits and pieces of jams [from the sessions for 1994’s The Division Bell] that was out there on bootlegs. A lot of fans wanted this stuff that we’d done in that time, and we thought we’d give it to them”.
Unfair expectations
This year marks a decade since The Endless River arrived in November 2014, a record which was almost entirely comprised of instrumental and ambient music.
Despite initial excitement around it, the album received mixed reviews following its release.
Suggesting that the expectations around the album were unfair, David Gilmour said: “My mistake, I suppose, was in being bullied by the record company to have it out as a properly paid-for Pink Floyd record”.
He also added: “It should have been clear what it was — it was never intended to be the follow-up to The Division Bell. But, you know, it’s never too late to get caught in one of these traps again”.
“it’s all past”
Elsewhere in this interview, David Gilmour spoke about the recent sale of Pink Floyd’s back catalogue to Sony, and how satisfied he was with this deal.
The band sold their catalogue to Sony, including recorded music, name and likeness in a deal worth $400 million.
“It’s history — it’s all past. This stuff is for future generations,” Gilmour stated. “I’m an old person. I’ve spent the last 40-odd years trying to fight the good fight against the forces of indolence and greed to do the best with our stuff that you can do. And I’ve given that fight up now”.
Gilmour also spoke of his immense relief to be finished with the band’s long history of business affairs.
“I’ve got my advance — because, you know, it’s not fresh new money or anything like that. It’s an advance against what I would have earned over the next few years anyway,” he explained.
“But the arguments and fighting and idiocies that have been going on for the last 40 years between these four disparate groups of people and their managers and whatever — it’s lovely to say goodbye to”.
Back in October, David Gilmour revealed that he had been “gently” encouraging his friend Kate Bush to perform live on stage again. More on this here.
