David Gilmour (album)

David Gilmour is the debut solo studio album by Pink Floyd guitarist and co-lead vocalist David Gilmour. The album was released in May and June 1978 in the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively. The album reached number 17 in the UK[1] and number 29 on the Billboard US album charts; it was certified Gold in the US by the RIAA. The album was produced by Gilmour, and consists mostly of blues and guitar-oriented rock songs, except for the piano-dominated ballad "So Far Away".

David Gilmour
Studio album by David Gilmour
Released	25 May 1978
Recorded	February–March 1978
Studio	Super Bear Studios, France
Genre	Art rock progressive rock blues rock
Length	46:19
Label	Harvest Columbia
Producer	David Gilmour
David Gilmour chronology
David Gilmour (1978) About Face (1984)

Production and recording

The tracks used for the album were recorded between February and March 1978 with engineer John Etchells at Super Bear Studios in France.[2] They were then mixed at the same studio by Nick Griffiths. Session musicians included bass guitarist Rick Wills and drummer Willie Wilson, both of whom used to be part of Jokers Wild with Gilmour.

Album's cover artwork

The album cover used for the first EMI pressings of the album LP was done by Hipgnosis and Gilmour and includes Gilmour, Rick Wills and Willie Wilson in the cover photo; Gilmour was credited on the cover for contributing "Keyboards, Vocals" although he played guitar. The CBS/Columbia pressings (outside Europe) listed Gilmour as contributing "Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals". Among those depicted on the inner sleeve is Gilmour's then-wife, Ginger.

Single and songs

The album's only single was "There's No Way Out of Here." The single flopped in Europe, but became popular on Album-oriented rock radio stations in the US. The song was originally recorded by the band Unicorn (as "No Way Out of Here") for their 1976 album Too Many Crooks (Harvest Records, US title Unicorn 2), which Gilmour produced.[3][4] It was also recorded later by New Jersey stoner rock band Monster Magnet on their Monolithic Baby! album.

One unused tune he wrote and demoed at the time would evolve, via collaboration with Roger Waters, into Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" from The Wall. However, a song included on this album, the piano ballad "So Far Away", uses a chorus progression not unlike the chorus to "Comfortably Numb", albeit in a different key.[5]

Likewise, the song "Short and Sweet" can be seen as a musical precursor to "Run Like Hell" (also from The Wall), with its shifting chords over a D pedal point, using a flanged guitar in Drop D tuning.[6] "Short and Sweet" was written in collaboration with Roy Harper, who recorded his own version for his 1980 album The Unknown Soldier.[7]

Promotion

A five-song promotional film was made to promote the album. The band comprised Gilmour himself on guitars and vocals plus the two musicians on the album (bass player Rick Wills and drummer Willie Wilson) plus David Gilmour's brother Mark on rhythm guitar and Ian McLagan on keyboards and performed "Mihalis", "There's No Way Out of Here", "So Far Away", "No Way", and "I Can't Breathe Anymore". There were three female backing singers on "There's No Way Out of Here" and "So Far Away": Debbie Doss, Shirley Roden, and Carlena Williams. The promo was recorded live at The Roxy, London.[8]

Also, Gilmour promoted the album with his first ever interviews with North American media and FM rock radio stations. The promotion paid off as the album made a respectable showing on the Billboard album charts peaking at number 29, which - until 2006's On an Island - was Gilmour's highest charting solo album in the US, eventually going Gold.

Song variations

The performances of the tracks in the promotional film differed to the album versions. "Mihalis" had an extended ending guitar solo. "There's No Way Out of Here" was slightly shorter as one of the verses was deleted, but the ending guitar solo was different from that on the album and had a clean ending instead of fading out like on album version. "So Far Away" had an extended ending guitar solo on this performance and ended in a faster tempo than the album version.

The performance of "No Way" had Gilmour playing regular lead guitar solos at the end of the track on his Fender Esquire (with distortion) instead of the lap steel guitar solos (with distortion) that had appeared on the album version and had a clean ending instead of fading out like on the album (the remastered CD version of the album had Gilmour's lap steel solo extended this time to feature a duel between himself playing high notes on his lap steel and lower notes on his trademark Stratocaster during the fadeout on the remaster). The middle part of the album version, for where the first of two lap steel guitar solos were on the album version, was deleted.

"I Can't Breathe Anymore" had Gilmour playing a regular guitar solo at the end of this song's performance while on the album version (and on the remastered CD in an extended coda), a distorted lap steel guitar countered the ending guitar solo. The ending of the promo performance of "I Can't Breathe Anymore" was longer than on the album.

Release and reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Tentative Reviews	[10]

The album was released in the UK on 25 May 1978, and on 17 June 1978 in the US, on Harvest and Columbia respectively.

In an interview with Circus in 1978, Gilmour said: "This album [David Gilmour] was important to me in terms of self-respect. At first I didn't think my name was big enough to carry it. Being in a group for so long can be a bit claustrophobic, and I needed to step out from behind Pink Floyd's shadow."

Track listing

All music composed by David Gilmour except "There's No Way Out of Here" written by Ken Baker. All lyrics by Gilmour, except where noted.

Side one

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
1.	"Mihalis" (instrumental)		5:46
2.	"There's No Way Out of Here"	Ken Baker	5:08
3.	"Cry from the Street"	Gilmour, Electra Stuart	5:13
4.	"So Far Away"		5:50

Side two

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
5.	"Short and Sweet"	Gilmour, Roy Harper	5:30
6.	"Raise My Rent" (instrumental)		5:33
7.	"No Way"		5:32
8.	"Deafinitely" (instrumental)		4:27
9.	"I Can't Breathe Anymore"		3:04

2006 Remastered Edition

David Gilmour was re-released by EMI Records in Europe as a digitally remastered CD on 14 August 2006. Legacy Recordings/Columbia Records released the remastered CD in the US and Canada on 12 September 2006. It features expanded versions of some of the tracks.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
1.	"Mihalis" (instrumental)		5:55
2.	"There's No Way Out of Here"	Ken Baker	5:20
3.	"Cry from the Street"	Gilmour, Eric Stewart	5:13
4.	"So Far Away"		6:06
5.	"Short and Sweet"	Gilmour, Roy Harper	5:30
6.	"Raise My Rent" (instrumental)		5:47
7.	"No Way"		6:12
8.	"Deafinitely" (instrumental)		4:27
9.	"I Can't Breathe Anymore"		3:43

Personnel

• David Gilmour – lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, lap steel guitar on "No Way" and "I Can't Breathe Anymore", piano on "So Far Away", harmonica on "There's No Way Out of Here", production, cover design
• Rick Wills – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Willie Wilson – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Mick Weaver – additional piano on "So Far Away"
• Carlena Williams – backing vocals on "There's No Way Out of Here" and "So Far Away"
• Debbie Doss – backing vocals on "There's No Way Out of Here" and "So Far Away"
• Shirley Roden – backing vocals on "There's No Way Out of Here" and "So Far Away"[2]

Production team

• Hipgnosis – cover design; photography

Chart performance

Chart	Peak Position
New Zealand Albums Chart[11]	22
Swedish Albums Chart[12]	20
UK Albums Chart[1]	17
US Billboard 200 Chart[13]	29

References

1. "David Gilmour | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
2. "David Gilmour | Music | David Gilmour | Official Website". www.davidgilmour.com.
3. "Unicorn official site". Unicornmusic.net. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
4. Unicorn discography at Discogs
5. Carruthers, Bob (2011). "The Wall". Pink Floyd – Uncensored on the Record (E-book ed.). Cooda Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-908538-27-7. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
6. Matt Resnicoff (August 1992). "Careful With That Axe David Gilmour Interview". Musician. Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
7. "The Unknown Soldier - Roy Harper | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
8. "David Gilmour: Wider Horizons". BBC. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
9. Raggett, Ned. "Allmusic review". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
10. "Tentative review". Tranglos.com. 1997-09-09. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
11. Hung, Steffen. "David Gilmour - David Gilmour". charts.nz. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
12. Hung, Steffen. "David Gilmour - David Gilmour". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
13. "David Gilmour - David Gilmour | Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 November 2013.

External links

• David Gilmour at Discogs (list of releases)