Pink Floyd, the legendary English rock band that was formed in London in 1965, released their 15th and final studio album The Endless River on November 7 2014.
For all the diehard Pink Floyd fans, this news is bittersweet: It has been 20 years since Pink Floyd last released an album, and everyone has been waiting so long to hear their amazing music. But this will also be Pink Floyd’s last album, meaning this album is the band’s way of saying goodbye to their fans, and there will be no tours or concerts promoting this album whatsoever.
The drummer of the band, Nick Mason, reacted to The Endless River being Pink Floyd's last album by saying, “It’s a reasonably graceful departure,” and the guitarist David Gilmore said, "I think we have successfully commandeered the best of what there is ... It's a shame, but this is the end."
As UK’s first psychedelic space rock music band, Pink Floyd’s music has been exploring the deepest side of human consciousness and mental states. Their music does not strive for catchy tunes, and they don’t sing about partying, romance or anything mainstream. Their songs are set on a broader soundscape that often seem to come alive on their own. There are never a lot of lyrics in the songs, but the magnificent buildup of the music, and the deeply clear, soulful, almost heart-wrenching voice of the vocalist always deliver their music to the hearts and souls of the listeners. Pink Floyd speaks the unspoken, explores the unexplored, and faces what people are afraid to face—death, loneliness, madness, war, and the uncontrollable hysteria that’s broken out from the heart’s most vulnerable place.
The final album The Endless River has altogether 21 tracks and only one of them has lyrics, with the lyrics singing “Louder than words, The sum of our parts, The beat of our hearts, Is louder than words.” I think what the band is trying to tell their fans is that the messages they want to deliver cannot simply be delivered by words, they demand to be felt by our consciousness, and they are deeper than anything words can express. Also, the fact that the album is named The Endless River is not only because it is a tribute to the founder Syd Barrett who has passed away in 2006 and keyboarder who also passed away in 2008. Additionally, the album is a reminder to all the fans and everyone who has been touched and influenced by Pink Floyd’s music that everything has a physical end to it, but spiritually, there is never a point that symbolizes the end. Life goes on and on, and the music, the essence of it, will influence people generations after generations. Just like the endless river that never stops flowing, the world will never stop turning.
