About Face (album)
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| About Face | ||
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| Studio album by David Gilmour | ||
| Released | March 27, 1984 | |
| Recorded | 1983 - Pathé Marconi Studio, Boulogne-Billancourt, France | |
| Genre | Hard rock Blues-rock Progressive rock |
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| Length | 45:18 (original album) 45:55 (2006 remaster) |
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| Label | Harvest Records, EMI (UK) Columbia Records, Legacy/Columbia (US) |
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| Producer(s) | Bob Ezrin and David Gilmour | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| David Gilmour chronology | ||
| David Gilmour (1978) |
About Face (1984) |
On an Island (2006) |
About Face is the second solo album of the Pink Floyd guitarist, David Gilmour, released in March 1984. The album was co-produced by Bob Ezrin and David Gilmour. Two songs were co-written by Gilmour (music) and The Who's Pete Townshend (lyrics), the rest by Gilmour himself. In May of the same year, fellow Floyd counterpart Roger Waters released his first official solo album The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking.
The album was recorded in France with engineer Andrew Jackson at a time when Pink Floyd's future was uncertain. The album was mixed by James Guthrie at Mayfair Studios in London.
Some of the musicians helping Gilmour out were the late Jeff Porcaro, Pino Palladino, Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord, and Steve Winwood.
Gilmour on the In the Studio with Redbeard episode spotlighting his 2006 solo effort On an Island looked back on About Face saying, "Looking back on it, it has some great moments on there but the whole flavour of it is too 80s for my current tastes."
The album featured the disco-style single "Blue Light" (later remixed by François Kevorkian and which was often voted as worst Floyd solo song according to the long defunct Floyd fanzine The Amazing Pudding) and another single, "Love on the Air". "All Lovers Are Deranged" and "Murder" were released as singles for North American rock radio and hit numbers 10 and 11 respectively on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts.
The album reached #21 in the UK and #32 in the U.S. and was certified Gold by the RIAA.
About Face was re-released by EMI Records in Europe as a digitally remastered CD on August 14, 2006. Legacy Recordings/Columbia Records released the remastered CD in the US and Canada on September 12, 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
- "Until We Sleep" – 5:15
- "Murder" – 4:59
- "Love on the Air" (Gilmour/Townshend) – 4:19
- "Blue Light" – 4:35
- "Out of the Blue" – 3:35
- "All Lovers Are Deranged" (Gilmour/Townshend) – 3:14
- "You Know I'm Right" – 5:06
- "Cruise" – 4:40
- "Let's Get Metaphysical" – 4:09
- "Near the End" – 5:36 (the 2006 remaster has a longer fadeout at 5:50)
[edit] Versions of "Blue Light"
- "Blue Light" (Single Edit) – 3:52
- "Blue Light" (12" Mix from the "Blue Light" 12" Promo Single) – 6:10
- "Blue Light" (Instrumental Version, B-side of "Blue Light" 12" Promo Single) – 6:13
[edit] Unused tune
Another piece of music written for the album was not used by Gilmour.
He asked Roy Harper and, separately, Pete Townshend, to supply lyrics, but felt that those provided were not messages that he could relate to. Harper subsequently used the tune, with his lyrics, as "Hope", on his 1985 album with Jimmy Page, Whatever Happened to Jugula?. Townshend used it with his as "White City Fighting", which has a markedly faster tempo, on his 1984 album White City: A Novel.
[edit] Credits
- David Gilmour - Guitars, Vocals, Producer
- Jeff Porcaro - Drums
- Pino Palladino - Fretless Bass Guitar
- Steve Winwood - Hammond Organ and Piano on "Love On The Air" and "Blue Light"
- Jon Lord - Synthesizer, Organ
- Anne Dudley - Synthesizer
- Ray Cooper - Percussion
- The Kick Horns - Horns
- Mickey Feat - Backing Vocals
- Roy Harper - Backing Vocals
- Sam Brown - Backing Vocals
- Vicki Brown - Backing Vocals
- Michael Kamen - Orchestration arranger
- Bob Ezrin - Producer, Orchestration arranger
- Andrew Jackson - Recording engineer
- Doug Sax - Mastering and remastering
- James Guthrie - Mixing engineer and Remastering
- Joel Plante - Remastering
[edit] Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | The Billboard 200 | 32 |
Singles - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | "Blue Light" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 62 |
| 1984 | "Blue Light" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 35 |
| 1984 | "All Lovers Are Deranged" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 10 |
| 1984 | "Murder" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 13 |
