The record, published in March 1994, advocates communication and dialogue, as opposed to the album The Wallreleased in 1979, considered one of the group’s “hardest” albums, mainly dealing with isolation and abandonment.
The Division Bell, Pink Floyd’s fourteenth album, celebrates its 30th anniversary. When it was released on March 28, 1994, the album was announced to be the British rock group’s last. It was not until 2014, 20 years later, that Pink Floyd released a truly final project, entitled The Endless River . The album in question, released in November, is a pure product of the recording sessions of its predecessor.
Until the 80s, almost 20 years after the release of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, their first studio album, the group is at its peak. In the United States as in the United Kingdom, their albums explode the charts, reaching – almost systematically – the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 200 and the UK Albums Charts. Among their biggest hits, Money (1973), Wish You Where Here (1975), Another Brick In The Wall (1979) or even Comfortably Numb (1979). But two years after the album’s release The Final Cut, in 1983, thunderbolt: Roger Waters, one of the founding members of the group, withdrew from the project. A trial then follows, during which the ex-Pink Floyd singer attempts to dissolve the group and remove his name, but ends up giving up.
Two years later, in 1987, the group unveiled A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Then, in 1994, The Division Bell finally sees the light of day. If the reviews are mixed, the rankings are excellent: upon its release, the album rose to first place, in the United Kingdom and the United States. A first since Wish You Where Herereleased in 1975. The Division Bellthe group’s second studio album since the departure of Roger Waters, echoes the emblematic The Wall, published a few years earlier. It’s its exact opposite. The Wall is undoubtedly one of the band’s “hardest” albums, dealing primarily with isolation and abandonment. The Division Bell is considered a solution album, advocating communication and dialogue to resolve conflicts.
The title of this record is an obvious reference to the bell of the British Parliament, located at the Palace of Westminster, in London. The latter has a single objective: to indicate to parliamentarians that the debates are about to resume. The cover of The Division Bell revolves around two masks, displayed in the middle of a field and surrounding the Cathedral of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity in Ely, near Cambridge. The arrangement of the faces – both in profile, one on the right, the other on the left – leaves room for different interpretations. We can think that they are talking to each other or that they are one, forming a third face, this time facing forward. Like many other iconic albums, The Division Bell will be entitled to its reissue. In 2014, to celebrate the record’s twenty years, the group offered a collector’s box set, including a “remastered” CD, an HD version on Blu-ray, several vinyls, a brochure and some visuals. The same year, Pink Floyd released their last album, The Endless River . And unsurprisingly, it will be a hit.