David Gilmour-Rattle That Lock (2015)
Artist: David Gilmour
Title: Rattle That Lock
Label: Columbia
Format: CD
Sell Date: 5/25/26
Condition: VG+/VG+
Discogs Last Sold: 4/12/26 NM/NM $6.97
Low: $3.00 M/M still sealed
Median: $5.42
Average: $7.34
High: $20.92 M/M
Current low price: $3.00 VG/VG+
Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 34
Have/Want: 1479/68
Where Sold: Newton, NJ
Time It Took To Sell: 3 years
Where and When Bought: Facebook marketplace lot
Gwiz-gau Grade: B-
Sad To See It Go: No
Nowadays even David Gilmour can't get a Gold record with CD sales for new albums from veteran acts plummeting the past 15 years or so. I'm guilty as well, getting this used in a lot a few years back and letting this fancy digibook copy go for seven bucks. Live performance is now where the money is made for these acts. The AOR infrastruction that gave David Gilmour radio hits with every release isn't there anymore. The last run of dates Gilmour came to NYC, I had to skip due to procrastination until the final night, where of course the price went up to HUNDREDS of dollars. Rattle That Lock I did manage to see at Madison Square Garden about 10 years ago on a walkup side stage seat that was around 100something dollars. Come to think of it, that is the only time I've seen him solo or at all since the Momentary Lapse of Reason tour in Providence.
I was familiar with this album from a rip on my hard drive I listened to a time or two around the time the album came out, but really only one song stood out to me: the title track. I don't really love the song and it's jaunty keyboard march. Maybe my mneumonic joke of replacing the words with "straddle that cock" gives me an eternal chuckle. I get more pleasure from the stupid comedy than I do the song. Ribald jokes in the inner recesses of the mind never told! The other thing about the song, is something about the melody makes the Steely Dan song "Show Biz Kids" go through my head.
I'm typing this on listen number three and these songs STILL aren't distinguishing themselves as they haven't on On An Island or The Division Bell or The Endless River. Gilmour has his sound and when "5 AM" opens the record you think of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" straight away. The closing instrumental "And Then..." also mines this territory. However, there is a sort of magic missing that David had in the 70's, lost a bit in the 80's and has had dimished returns ever since. I guess I've had this problem ever since the Division Bell where I expect to like whatever Dave does and really find the material muzak to my ears. Even when the echoes of Floyd ring out, it sounds clinical and forced professionalism. The best song on the record is the one where David eschews his "sound" entirely for a jazz vocal one: "The Girl In The Yellow Dress." "Dancing Right In Front of Me" employs a jazz piano in the middle of the song. "Today" probably has the closest thing to a Gilmour-style guitar workout, but the 4th listen this time in headphones, reveals it is buried in the mix under keyboards. Otherwise, this is mass setting music that seemingly doesn't connect on a mass scale, even if international stream totals tell a different story with 5 video tracks that have hits in the millions.
Popularity is a peculiar beast.
Pink Floyd-A Saucerful of Secrets (1968)
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