In a revealing new interview, Pink Floyd's iconic guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour has opened up about the controversial creation of the band’s final studio album, The Endless River. Released in 2014, the album came two decades after The Division Bell, which was originally intended to be the band's farewell to the world. However, Gilmour reveals that he wasn’t entirely on board with the release of The Endless River, admitting that the record label played a major role in its creation.
According to Gilmour, the ambient jams recorded during the Division Bell sessions had long been in the vaults. These instrumental tracks were never meant to form a full album. However, when The Division Bell came out, the band had produced a large number of ambient tracks that fans eagerly bootlegged. Gilmour shared that the band had initially planned to release these recordings as a non-album collection, but the pressure from the label led to them being packaged as The Endless River, a proper Pink Floyd record.
In a candid conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Gilmour expressed his frustration, saying, “My mistake, I suppose, was in being bullied by the record company to have it out as a properly paid-for Pink Floyd record. 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."
Gilmour’s remarks shed light on the creative tension and commercial pressures that shaped Pink Floyd’s legacy. Despite The Endless River being marketed as the band’s final album, it’s clear that the process of its creation was far from straightforward.
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