Castellorization - On An Island

As a Roger Waters fan I had programmed myself to look upon anything David Gilmour did with suspicion and derision. I laughed at his song writing skills and I was pissed at the fact that he continued to tour under the Pink Floyd banner, knowing all the while that the groups biggest hits were written by Roger Waters. As a fan of Pink though, I would slyly take a listen to what David's Floyd was doing, mainly because I missed that signature Floyd sound. To say I was often less than impressed would be an understatement.

Then I heard David Gilmour: Live In Gdansk and it blew me away, especially this song. On An Island so vividly displays the one thing David could always do and that's play that damn guitar of his. The lyrics are elementary, pedestrian even. They're nice but they aren't going to win any songwriting awards. No, the magic of this song is the second guitar solo.

The second guitar solo is a thing of absolute magic. David wails away on his ax as the strings playing underneath him add a layer to that solo that renders me speechless, and gives me chills. It's lightening captured in a bottle and I for one am thankful they recorded that moment because it was...perfection. I'm still not much of a David Gilmour fan, but thanks to On An Island I'm a bigger fan than I was, and that's saying something. Enjoy!