# The Endless River
**The Endless River** is the fifteenth and final studio album by the English rock band [Pink Floyd](https://www.edgepedia.org/pink-floyd), released in November 2014 on [Columbia Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-records). Built chiefly from unused instrumental recordings made during the 1993 sessions for *The Division Bell*, it was created by [David Gilmour](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-gilmour) and Nick Mason as a tribute to the band's keyboardist Richard Wright, who died in 2008, and is almost entirely instrumental apart from one song, "Louder Than Words".[1](https://www.pinkfloyd.com/albums/the-endless-river/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | November 2014, Columbia Records; the band's first album in 20 years and its fifteenth studio album[1](https://www.pinkfloyd.com/albums/the-endless-river/) • [2](https://time.com/3420020/pink-floyd-new-album-endless-river/) |
| Source material | About 20 hours of unused instrumental material from the 1993 *Division Bell* sessions, recorded by Gilmour, Wright, and Mason[1](https://www.pinkfloyd.com/albums/the-endless-river/) |
| Format | A double album in four "sides", chiefly instrumental, with the single vocal-led song "Louder Than Words"[1](https://www.pinkfloyd.com/albums/the-endless-river/) |
| Dedication | A tribute to Richard Wright, who died of cancer in 2008 at age 65; Polly Samson called it his "swansong"[3](https://time.com/2959965/pink-floyd-new-album/) |
| Producers | 1993 material by Bob Ezrin and David Gilmour; 2013–2014 work by Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Youth, and Andy Jackson[1](https://www.pinkfloyd.com/albums/the-endless-river/) |
| Title | Taken from the penultimate lyric of "High Hopes", the closing song on *The Division Bell*[4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/pink-floyd-the-making-of-the-endless-river) |
| Artwork | Cover concept by Ahmed Emad Eldin, an 18-year-old Egyptian digital artist, realized by Aubrey Powell/Stylorouge[1](https://www.pinkfloyd.com/albums/the-endless-river/) • [2](https://time.com/3420020/pink-floyd-new-album-endless-river/) |
## Origins in the Division Bell sessions
The album's starting point is the music that came from the 1993 sessions for *The Division Bell*, when Gilmour, Wright, and Mason played freely together at Britannia Row and Astoria studios in England.[5](https://www.pinkfloydz.com/other-exhibits/the-endless-river/) Alongside the songs that became that album, the trio taped ambient instrumental experiments that Apple Music's album notes say they jokingly dubbed "The Big Bong Theory".[6](https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-endless-river/919600058) Producer Andy Jackson recalled that an unreleased ambient compilation drawn from the outtakes, known as *The Big Spliff*, preceded the album; the decision to turn the material into a record came after Wright's death, when Gilmour asked [Phil Manzanera](https://www.edgepedia.org/phil-manzanera) to "go and see what we've got", and the material then passed to Youth, who developed a first layer before the team concluded they had a record.[7](https://tidal.com/magazine/article/pink-floyds-final-cut-inside-the-endless-river/1-9612)
In 2012, Gilmour and Mason decided to revisit the remainder of the *Division Bell* session music.[8](https://dereksmusicblog.com/2014/11/28/pink-floyd-the-endless-river/) Manzanera painstakingly listened through the 20 hours of unearthed material and assembled a rough mix, which was then worked on by Manzanera, Jackson, and Youth into the finished double album.[1](https://www.pinkfloyd.com/albums/the-endless-river/) In late 2013, Gilmour and Mason reconvened in England to record new material to complete the album; Mason first laid down new drum tracks at the [Astoria](https://www.edgepedia.org/astoria-recording-studio), the band's houseboat studio on the Thames, on November 11, 2013.[7](https://tidal.com/magazine/article/pink-floyds-final-cut-inside-the-endless-river/1-9612) The finished record mixes the 1993 live-in-studio performances with new arrangements and recordings made in 2013–2014 at Gilmour's studio in Brighton.[9](https://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=5424)
## Announcement and release
News of the album became public on July 5, 2014, when [Polly Samson](https://www.edgepedia.org/polly-samson), Gilmour's wife and the band's lyricist, announced it on Twitter, pre-empting a tabloid threat to reveal it.[4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/pink-floyd-the-making-of-the-endless-river) Samson described the release as the "swansong" of Rick Wright, and Columbia Records confirmed it would be mainly ambient and instrumental music from 1993 and 1994.[3](https://time.com/2959965/pink-floyd-new-album/) The album was released worldwide by Columbia on November 10, 2014, with cover artwork appearing on buildings in ten international cities, including an eight-meter lit installation on London's Southbank.[10](https://www.soundandvision.com/content/producer-andy-jackson-recording-final-pink-floyd-album-endless-river) • [11](https://archive.pinkfloyd.com/news/past_topics) [Roger Waters](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-waters), who left the band in the 1980s, had no involvement.[2](https://time.com/3420020/pink-floyd-new-album-endless-river/)
## Music and structure
The album's 18 tracks are sequenced into four movements, described on the record itself as "sides", each carrying its own character: Side 1 opens with "It's What We Do", Side 2 centers on the percussive "Skins", Side 3 includes "The Lost Art of Conversation" and "Talkin' Hawkin", and Side 4 closes with "Louder Than Words", the only song with Gilmour's lead vocal.[10](https://www.soundandvision.com/content/producer-andy-jackson-recording-final-pink-floyd-album-endless-river) Each side runs between 12 and 15 minutes.[12](https://longkft.hu/audioblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Hi-Fi-Choice-January-2015-UK.pdf)
Much of the material is drawn from improvisation. Gilmour described the source recordings as partly improvised, "quite a bit of it is just the two of us, Rick [Wright] and me, or the three of us, improvising together".[4](https://www.loudersound.com/features/pink-floyd-the-making-of-the-endless-river) The music revisits familiar Floyd territory: "Anisina" recalls "Us and Them", while "Allons-y (1)" quotes the throb of "Run Like Hell".[6](https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-endless-river/919600058) Some pieces reach further back, including a sample of Wright playing the [Royal Albert Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-albert-hall) organ during a 1969 soundcheck, used in "Autumn '68".[12](https://longkft.hu/audioblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Hi-Fi-Choice-January-2015-UK.pdf) A synthesized voice of [Stephen Hawking](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-hawking), borrowed from his appearance in a 1994 BT commercial, appears on "Talkin' Hawkin".[12](https://longkft.hu/audioblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Hi-Fi-Choice-January-2015-UK.pdf)
**Louder Than Words.** The closing song carries lyrics by Polly Samson, the primary lyricist for *The Division Bell*, inspired by the historic 2005 [Live 8](https://www.edgepedia.org/live-8) reunion of Gilmour, Mason, Wright, and Roger Waters; Gilmour and Samson wrote about how the band members used to communicate with each other and create the music they did.[1](https://www.pinkfloyd.com/albums/the-endless-river/) • [13](https://www.floydianslip.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/later-years.pdf)
## Reception
Reviews were mixed. Time magazine summarized preliminary responses as ranging from tempered praise, "Short on catchy tunes, it's still an effective 53-minute trip", to unmitigated disappointment, and quoted Telegraph critic Neil McCormick's view that it was "not really a Pink Floyd album at all".[14](https://time.com/3570256/pink-floyd-endless-river-new-material/) The Guardian's review called it "a fitting footnote to their career", an echo from the past rather than a new album from an extant band, while noting that it sounds more like the Pink Floyd of *The Dark Side of the Moon* than any new album bearing their name in the previous 35 years.[15](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/06/pink-floyd-the-endless-river-review) Pitchfork described the record as a eulogy for Wright, comparable to what *[Wish You Were Here](https://www.edgepedia.org/wish-you-were-here-pink-floyd-album)* was for [Syd Barrett](https://www.edgepedia.org/syd-barrett), but criticized stretches of "aimless, repetitive noodling".[16](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20006-pink-floyd-the-endless-river/) Sputnikmusic found it a pleasant listen that lacked the depth of the albums it paid tribute to, and NME judged that as a final word on the band it felt like a lightweight coda from a heavyweight group.[17](https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/65095/Pink-Floyd-The-Endless-River/) • [18](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-pink-floyd-15772-322335)
## Significance
Gilmour has said the album is the band's final statement; Waters had not been in the group for over three decades and Wright had died, so the record closes the Pink Floyd catalog with the surviving trio's own material.[7](https://tidal.com/magazine/article/pink-floyds-final-cut-inside-the-endless-river/1-9612) Mason called it "a reasonably graceful departure" and described the album as a tribute to Rick.[7](https://tidal.com/magazine/article/pink-floyds-final-cut-inside-the-endless-river/1-9612) • [19](https://www.solo-rock.com/Revistas/pdf/Septiembre%202014%20Solo-Rock.pdf) A companion film, *Pink Floyd – The Endless River* (2014), was later released digitally by [Sony Music](https://www.edgepedia.org/sony-music) as a tribute to Wright featuring music from the 1993 *Division Bell* sessions.[20](https://www.sonymusic.com/sonymusic/sme-premium-content-announces-pink-floyd-and-david-gilmour-collection/)
## References
1. [The Endless River – Pink Floyd, official site](https://www.pinkfloyd.com/albums/the-endless-river/)
2. [Pink Floyd Announces Its First New Album in 20 Years, Time](https://time.com/3420020/pink-floyd-new-album-endless-river/)
3. [Pink Floyd's First Album in 20 Years Due in October, Time](https://time.com/2959965/pink-floyd-new-album/)
4. [Pink Floyd: The Making Of The Endless River, Louder/Prog](https://www.loudersound.com/features/pink-floyd-the-making-of-the-endless-river)
5. [The Endless River – Pink Floyd – A Fleeting Glimpse](https://www.pinkfloydz.com/other-exhibits/the-endless-river/)
6. [The Endless River – Album by Pink Floyd, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-endless-river/919600058)
7. [Pink Floyd's Final Cut: Inside The Endless River, TIDAL Magazine](https://tidal.com/magazine/article/pink-floyds-final-cut-inside-the-endless-river/1-9612)
8. [PINK FLOYD – THE ENDLESS RIVER, dereksmusicblog](https://dereksmusicblog.com/2014/11/28/pink-floyd-the-endless-river/)
9. [The Endless River 1993 & 2014 – gilmourish](https://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=5424)
10. [Producer Andy Jackson on Recording the Final Pink Floyd Album, The Endless River, Sound & Vision](https://www.soundandvision.com/content/producer-andy-jackson-recording-final-pink-floyd-album-endless-river)
11. [Pink Floyd | The Official Site, news archive](https://archive.pinkfloyd.com/news/past_topics)
12. [Music reviews, Hi-Fi Choice January 2015](https://longkft.hu/audioblog/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Hi-Fi-Choice-January-2015-UK.pdf)
13. [Pink Floyd The Later Years press release](https://www.floydianslip.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/later-years.pdf)
14. [Pink Floyd's Endless River Is Just the Latest Album to Recycle Old Material, Time](https://time.com/3570256/pink-floyd-endless-river-new-material/)
15. [Pink Floyd: The Endless River review – a fitting footnote to their career, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/06/pink-floyd-the-endless-river-review)
16. [Pink Floyd: The Endless River Album Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20006-pink-floyd-the-endless-river/)
17. [Pink Floyd – The Endless River, review 4, Sputnikmusic](https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/65095/Pink-Floyd-The-Endless-River/)
18. [Pink Floyd – 'The Endless River', NME](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-pink-floyd-15772-322335)
19. [Revista Solo-Rock, Septiembre 2014](https://www.solo-rock.com/Revistas/pdf/Septiembre%202014%20Solo-Rock.pdf)
20. [Sony Music Entertainment Announces Expanded Release of Pink Floyd and David Gilmour Film Collection](https://www.sonymusic.com/sonymusic/sme-premium-content-announces-pink-floyd-and-david-gilmour-collection/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Progressive and art rock albums › Classic progressive rock albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license