David Gilmour (album)
Encyclopedia
David Gilmour is the first solo album from Pink Floyd
guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour
, released in May 1978 in the UK and on 17 June 1978 in the US. The album reached #17 in the UK and #29 on the Billboard US album charts and was certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. The album was produced by Gilmour himself, and consists mostly of blues
y, guitar
oriented rock songs except for the ballad "So Far Away".
The album was recorded at Super Bear Studios in France between December 1977 and early January 1978 with engineer John Etchells. Then the album was mixed at the same studio in March 1978 by Nick Griffiths. The cover was done by Hipgnosis
and Gilmour.
There was no credit for playing guitar (which Gilmour did) on the original EMI pressings of the original album LP-cover. Gilmour is credited for contributing "Keyboards, Vocals". The CBS/Columbia pressings (outside Europe) listed Gilmour for contributing "Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals". Among those depicted on the sleeve are Gilmour's then-wife, Ginger
.
The album's only single was "There's No Way Out of Here" which flopped in Europe but did extremely well on American FM rock radio. The song was originally recorded by the band Unicorn (which Gilmour produced) in 1976 as "No Way Out of Here" for their album Too Many Crooks (Harvest Records
, US title Unicorn 2) and was later covered by New Jersey stoner metal band Monster Magnet
on their Monolithic Baby!
album.
The album is a Joker's Wild
reunion of sorts, with Rick Wills and Willie Wilson joining Gilmour for the recording of the album.
One of the tunes he wrote at the time, but did not use, evolved into the Pink Floyd classic "Comfortably Numb
" from The Wall
. However, one song included on this album, "So Far Away", used a chorus progression not unlike the chorus to "Comfortably Numb", albeit in a different key.
The instrumental song "Raise My Rent" includes bits that would later be resurrected in the Pink Floyd songs "What Do You Want from Me?
", "Hey You" and "Keep Talking
".
A slightly different version of the song "Short and Sweet" can also be found on collaborator Roy Harper's
1980 album, The Unknown Soldier
. Musically, "Short and Sweet" can be seen as a precursor to "Run Like Hell
" (also from The Wall), with its shifting chords over a D pedal point
, and a flanged
guitar in Drop D tuning
.
David Gilmour was re-released by EMI Records in Europe as a digitally remastered CD on August 14, 2006. Legacy Recordings/Columbia Records released the remastered CD in the US and Canada on September 12, 2006.
A five song promotional film was made to promote the album. The band comprised Gilmour himself on guitars and vocals plus the two musicians on the album (bass player Rick Wills and drummer Willie Wilson) plus David Gilmour's brother Mark on rhythm guitar and Ian McLagan
on keyboards and performed "Mihalis", "There's No Way Out of Here", "So Far Away", "No Way", and "I Can't Breathe Anymore". There were additional female backing singers on "There's No Way Out of Here" and "So Far Away". The performances of the tracks in the promotional film differed to the album versions.
"Mihalis" had an extended ending guitar solo.
"There's No Way Out of Here" was slightly shorter as one of the verses was deleted but the ending guitar solo was different from that on the album and had a clean ending instead of fading out like on album version.
"So Far Away" had an extended ending guitar solo on this performance and ended in a faster tempo than the album version.
The performance of "No Way" had Gilmour playing regular lead guitar solos at the end of the track on his Fender Esquire (with distortion) instead of the lap steel guitar solos (with distortion) that had appeared on the album version and had a clean ending instead of fading out like on the album (the remastered CD version of the album had Gilmour's lap steel solo extended this time to feature a duel between himself playing high notes on his lap steel and lower notes on his trademark Stratocaster during the fadeout on the remaster). The middle part of the album version, for where the first of two lap steel guitar solos were on the album version, was deleted.
"I Can't Breathe Anymore" had Gilmour playing a regular guitar solo at the end of this song's performance whilst on the album version (and on the remastered CD in an extended coda), a distorted lap steel guitar countered the ending guitar solo. The ending of the promo performance of "I Can't Breathe Anymore" was longer than on the album.
Also, Gilmour promoted the album with his first ever interviews with North American media and FM rock radio stations. The promotion paid off as the album made a respectable showing on the Billboard
album charts peaking at #29 (which until 2006's On an Island
) was Gilmour's highest charting solo album in the U.S. and eventually going Gold
.
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour
David Gilmour
David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
, released in May 1978 in the UK and on 17 June 1978 in the US. The album reached #17 in the UK and #29 on the Billboard US album charts and was certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. The album was produced by Gilmour himself, and consists mostly of blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
y, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
oriented rock songs except for the ballad "So Far Away".
History and details
In an interview with Circus Magazine in 1978, Gilmour said this: "This album (David Gilmour) was important to me in terms of self respect. At first I didn't think my name was big enough to carry it. Being in a group for so long can be a bit claustrophobic, and I needed to step out from behind Pink Floyd's shadow."The album was recorded at Super Bear Studios in France between December 1977 and early January 1978 with engineer John Etchells. Then the album was mixed at the same studio in March 1978 by Nick Griffiths. The cover was done by Hipgnosis
Hipgnosis
Hipgnosis was a British art design group that specialized in creating cover art for the albums of rock musicians and bands, most notably Pink Floyd, T.Rex, The Pretty Things, UFO, 10cc, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Scorpions, Yes, The Alan Parsons Project, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, ELO and XTC...
and Gilmour.
There was no credit for playing guitar (which Gilmour did) on the original EMI pressings of the original album LP-cover. Gilmour is credited for contributing "Keyboards, Vocals". The CBS/Columbia pressings (outside Europe) listed Gilmour for contributing "Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals". Among those depicted on the sleeve are Gilmour's then-wife, Ginger
Ginger Gilmour
Ginger Gilmour, Ginger Gilmour, Ginger Gilmour, (born Virginia Hasenbein in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA on 19 January 1949, is an artist and former model, and the first wife of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.-Personal life :...
.
The album's only single was "There's No Way Out of Here" which flopped in Europe but did extremely well on American FM rock radio. The song was originally recorded by the band Unicorn (which Gilmour produced) in 1976 as "No Way Out of Here" for their album Too Many Crooks (Harvest Records
Harvest Records
-References:* Harvest Records collectors guide ISBN 978-5-9622-0021-7...
, US title Unicorn 2) and was later covered by New Jersey stoner metal band Monster Magnet
Monster Magnet
Monster Magnet is an American stoner rock band. Hailing from Red Bank, New Jersey, the group was founded by Dave Wyndorf , John McBain and Tim Cronin...
on their Monolithic Baby!
Monolithic Baby!
Monolithic Baby! is the sixth studio album by Monster Magnet, released in 2004. It is a follow up to 2000's God Says No. It would also be the first album featuring bassist Jim Baglino...
album.
The album is a Joker's Wild
Joker's Wild (band)
Jokers Wild were a mid 1960s blues-rock band from Cambridge, England.The line-up included guitarist David Gilmour, who went on to join Pink Floyd....
reunion of sorts, with Rick Wills and Willie Wilson joining Gilmour for the recording of the album.
One of the tunes he wrote at the time, but did not use, evolved into the Pink Floyd classic "Comfortably Numb
Comfortably Numb
"Comfortably Numb" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, which first appears on the 1979 double album, The Wall. It was also released as a single in the same year with "Hey You" as the B-side. It is one of only three songs on the album for which writing credits are shared between Roger...
" from The Wall
The Wall
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
. However, one song included on this album, "So Far Away", used a chorus progression not unlike the chorus to "Comfortably Numb", albeit in a different key.
The instrumental song "Raise My Rent" includes bits that would later be resurrected in the Pink Floyd songs "What Do You Want from Me?
What Do You Want from Me? (Pink Floyd song)
"What Do You Want from Me" is a song by Pink Floyd featured on their 1994 album, The Division Bell. It was composed by Richard Wright, David Gilmour, and his then-girlfriend and subsequently wife Polly Samson.-Song structure and lyrics:...
", "Hey You" and "Keep Talking
Keep Talking
"Keep Talking" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1994 album, The Division Bell. Written by David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Polly Samson, it was sung by Gilmour and also features samples of Stephen Hawking's electronic voice, taken from a BT television advertisement...
".
A slightly different version of the song "Short and Sweet" can also be found on collaborator Roy Harper's
Roy Harper
Roy Harper is an English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s...
1980 album, The Unknown Soldier
The Unknown Soldier (album)
The Unknown Soldier is the tenth studio album by English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Roy Harper. It was first released in 1980 by Harvest Records and was his last release on the label.-History:...
. Musically, "Short and Sweet" can be seen as a precursor to "Run Like Hell
Run Like Hell
"Run Like Hell" is a song from the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall.-Overview:The song is written from the point of view of anti-hero Pink during a hallucination in which he becomes a fascist dictator and turns a concert audience into an angry mob...
" (also from The Wall), with its shifting chords over a D pedal point
Pedal point
In tonal music, a pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i.e., dissonant harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes functions as a "non-chord tone", placing it in the categories alongside suspensions, retardations, and passing...
, and a flanged
Flanging
Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and notches are produced in the resultant frequency spectrum,...
guitar in Drop D tuning
Drop D tuning
Drop D tuning, also known as DADGBE, is an alternate, or scordatura, form of guitar tuning — specifically, a dropped tuning — in which the lowest string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D.- Uses of drop D tuning :In drop D the three bass strings...
.
David Gilmour was re-released by EMI Records in Europe as a digitally remastered CD on August 14, 2006. Legacy Recordings/Columbia Records released the remastered CD in the US and Canada on September 12, 2006.
Side one
- "Mihalis" – 5:46 (original album); (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 6:00)
- "There's No Way Out of Here" (Ken Baker) – 5:08 (original album); (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 5:24)
- "Cry from the Street" (Gilmour/Electra Stuart) – 5:13 (original album); (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 5:18)
- "So Far Away" – 6:04 (original album); (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 6:12)
Side two
- "Short and Sweet" (Gilmour/Roy HarperRoy HarperRoy Harper is an English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s...
) – 5:30 (original album); (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 5:33) - "Raise My Rent" – 5:33 (original album); (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 5:49)
- "No Way" – 5:32 (original album); (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 6:14)
- "It's Deafinitely" – 4:27 (original album); (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 4:29)
- "I Can't Breathe Anymore" – 3:04 (original album); (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 3:40)
History
"Mihalis" is Greek for Michael, and was the name of a yacht Gilmour owned at the time.A five song promotional film was made to promote the album. The band comprised Gilmour himself on guitars and vocals plus the two musicians on the album (bass player Rick Wills and drummer Willie Wilson) plus David Gilmour's brother Mark on rhythm guitar and Ian McLagan
Ian McLagan
Ian McLagan is an English keyboard instrumentalist, best known as a member of the English rock bands Small Faces and Faces.-Small Faces and Faces:...
on keyboards and performed "Mihalis", "There's No Way Out of Here", "So Far Away", "No Way", and "I Can't Breathe Anymore". There were additional female backing singers on "There's No Way Out of Here" and "So Far Away". The performances of the tracks in the promotional film differed to the album versions.
"Mihalis" had an extended ending guitar solo.
"There's No Way Out of Here" was slightly shorter as one of the verses was deleted but the ending guitar solo was different from that on the album and had a clean ending instead of fading out like on album version.
"So Far Away" had an extended ending guitar solo on this performance and ended in a faster tempo than the album version.
The performance of "No Way" had Gilmour playing regular lead guitar solos at the end of the track on his Fender Esquire (with distortion) instead of the lap steel guitar solos (with distortion) that had appeared on the album version and had a clean ending instead of fading out like on the album (the remastered CD version of the album had Gilmour's lap steel solo extended this time to feature a duel between himself playing high notes on his lap steel and lower notes on his trademark Stratocaster during the fadeout on the remaster). The middle part of the album version, for where the first of two lap steel guitar solos were on the album version, was deleted.
"I Can't Breathe Anymore" had Gilmour playing a regular guitar solo at the end of this song's performance whilst on the album version (and on the remastered CD in an extended coda), a distorted lap steel guitar countered the ending guitar solo. The ending of the promo performance of "I Can't Breathe Anymore" was longer than on the album.
Also, Gilmour promoted the album with his first ever interviews with North American media and FM rock radio stations. The promotion paid off as the album made a respectable showing on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
album charts peaking at #29 (which until 2006's On an Island
On an Island
On an Island is the third solo album by David Gilmour, best known as vocalist and lead guitarist for Pink Floyd. It was released in the UK on 6 March 2006, Gilmour's 60th birthday, and in the United States the following day. It was Gilmour's first new solo album in 22 years...
) was Gilmour's highest charting solo album in the U.S. and eventually going Gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
.
Personnel
- David GilmourDavid GilmourDavid Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
- electricElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
s, vocals, keyboards, lap steel guitarLap steel guitarThe lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....
on "No Way" and "I Can't Breathe Anymore", pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
on "So Far Away", harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
on "There's No Way Out of Here", producer, cover design - Rick WillsRick WillsRick Wills , is a British bass player. He is best known for his work with rock band Foreigner and his associations with the Small Faces and Bad Company.-Career:...
- bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals - Willie Wilson - drums, percussion
- Mick Weaver - additional piano on "So Far Away"
- Carlena Williams - backing vocals on "There's No Way Out of Here" and "So Far Away"
- Debbie Doss - backing vocals on "There's No Way Out of Here" and "So Far Away"
- HipgnosisHipgnosisHipgnosis was a British art design group that specialized in creating cover art for the albums of rock musicians and bands, most notably Pink Floyd, T.Rex, The Pretty Things, UFO, 10cc, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Scorpions, Yes, The Alan Parsons Project, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, ELO and XTC...
- cover design, photography - Sangwook Nam - remastering on 2006 remaster
- Doug Sax - remastering on 2006 remaster
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Pop Albums | 29 |