Pink Floyd’s record-smashing new studio project The Endless River has been described as a tribute to Richard Wright. Whether that’s true or not, it certainly has given long-time fans another chance to hear the band’s late keyboardist in full flight.
Just how the famously diffident Wright might have received all of this newfound attention remains, of course, unknown.
“Rick’s contribution is very, very big on this record — it’s all the way through,” Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour says, in an Amazon Q&A. “I think he would have been thrilled. I can’t see that he wouldn’t have been.”
The Endless River is built on leftover material from a renaissance era for Wright, who had little or nothing to do with a trio of Pink Floyd albums beginning with 1979’s The Wall before reemerging as a creative force on 1994’s The Division Bell. In the interim, it might have been easy for the group and its followers alike to forget how important Richard Wright — who died in 2008 after a battle with cancer — had been to the essential musical nature of Pink Floyd.
“It sounds a little mawkish to say this is a tribute to Rick,” Wright’s longtime bandmate Nick Mason counters. “It’s not that, but in itself it represents a great opportunity to remind people of just how much Rick contributed to the sound of the band.”
Listeners responded, sending Pink Floyd’s The Endless River to the top of more than a dozen album charts worldwide, including the UK, France and Germany. The project, which rose to No. 3 in America, surpassed all previous Amazon pre-orders in the UK.
“I hope that he would have been absolutely delighted with it,” Mason adds. “I think he would have been pleased with it.”
- Angell & Crane, “Himalayan Dial-Up” from ‘Angell & Crane’ (2024): Video Premiere - November 22, 2024
- Michael Attias, “Avrils” from ‘Quartet Music Vol. II- Kardamon Fall’ (2024): Streaming premiere - October 11, 2024
- Bryn Roberts, “Aloft” from ‘Aloft’ (2024): Video Premiere - September 20, 2024
