David Gilmour

On An Island EMI, 2006

Twelve years after The Division Bell, no one was expecting a new Pink Floyd album. But with his third solo record, Gilmour gave Floyd fans what they wanted.

The languid mood that saw Gilmour shying away from a post-Live 8 Floyd reunion suffuses the whole thing. It was partly inspired by a holiday on the Greek island of Kastellorizo, and watery imagery abounds – the dreamlike Take A Deep Breath makes death by drowning sound alluring. The pace rarely rises above the sedate, the title track and The Blue lap gently around Gilmour’s guitar.

The sound of a man easing comfortably into late middle age – unlike certain ex-colleagues.