New Pink Floyd album is a 'tribute' to Rick Wright
Pink Floyd's new album 'The Endless River' is the band's "tribute" to late keyboard player Rick Wright.
The LP features music originally recorded for the band's last studio release, 'The Division Bell', in 1994 and features multiple parts recorded by Wright - who passed away in 2008 aged 65.
Guitarist-and-vocalist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason have been working on the album for the last several months with producer
Phil Manzanera, Youth and recording engineer Andy Jackson and the pair insist the record has been made in honour of their "special" bandmate.
Mason said: "'The Endless River' is a tribute to Rick. I think this record is a good way of recognising a lot of what he does and how his playing was at the heart of the Pink Floyd sound. Listening back to the sessions, it really brought home to me what a special player he was."
Gilmour added: "'The Endless River' has as its starting point the music that came from the 1993 'Division Bell' sessions. We listened to over 20 hours of the three of us playing together and selected the music we wanted to work on for the new album. Over the last year we've added new parts, re-recorded others and generally harnessed studio technology to make a 21st century Pink Floyd album. With Rick gone, and with him the chance of ever doing it again, it feels right that these revisited and reworked tracks should be made available as part of our repertoire."
The artwork for 'The Endless River' which is released on November 10 - appeared on buildings in 10 cities across the world, including an eight metre lit installation on London's South Bank.
The cover, an image of a man rowing on a river of clouds, was created by 18-year-old Egyptian digital artist Ahmed Emad Eldin, before being re-created by British design agency Stylorouge.
It is one of the few Pink Floyd covers not to be made by Storm Thorgerson - who passed away in 2013.
The album is mainly instrumental - although the track 'Louder Than Words' has new lyrics penned by Polly Samson - and is tracklisted across 'four sides' to represent the intended listening experience.
