About Face (album)


About Face is the second solo studio album by the English musician David Gilmour. It was released in March 1984 by Harvest in the UK and Columbia in the United States. Co-produced by Bob Ezrin and Gilmour, the album was recorded in 1983 at Pathé Marconi Studio, in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. The lyrics of two tracks, "All Lovers Are Deranged" and "Love on the Air," were written by Pete Townshend of the Who.
The album received positive reviews and peaked at #21 on UK Albums Chart and #32 on the US Billboard 200. Two singles were released: "Blue Light" peaked at #62 in the United States, while "Love on the Air" failed to chart. The album was certified gold by the RIAA. A remastered reissued CD was released in 2006 on EMI in Europe and Columbia for the rest of the world.

Recording

The album was recorded with engineer Andy Jackson at a time when Pink Floyd's future was uncertain. It was mixed by James Guthrie at Mayfair Studios in London, England.
Gilmour said he wanted to take his time and make "a really good album" and "get the best musicians in the world that I could get hold of to play with me." Musicians on the album include drummer Jeff Porcaro, bass guitarist Pino Palladino, Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord, backing vocalists Roy Harper, and Sam Brown, orchestral arranger Michael Kamen, and keyboardist Steve Winwood.

Music and lyrics

When Roger Waters began production of the Pink Floyd album, The Final Cut, Gilmour claims, he requested Waters wait another month for Gilmour to develop some musical ideas himself, but Waters felt he was "on a roll" and already had plenty of material to complete the album, a very personal project about his father's death in World War II, and what Waters saw as the further victimization of those who survived it. Waters, seeing Gilmour and Mason's lack of interest in the concept, offered to make The Final Cut as a solo album, but Gilmour and Mason still wanted a Pink Floyd album, of any kind, to sell. "hey know songs don't grow on trees," Waters told David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine. "They wanted it to be a Floyd record."
Gilmour was later interviewed by Texas-based DJ Redbeard, on the radio program, In the Studio during which the focus was his 2006 third album On an Island. He commented on About Face saying that, "looking back on it, it has some great moments on there but the whole flavor of it is too '80s for my current tastes."
"Murder" was an outcry by Gilmour about the senseless killing of John Lennon, a longtime musical peer and inspiration to him. Gilmour embellished the song with a solo fretless bassline, adding an edgy funk groove to the acoustic beginning of the song, leading to an instrumental bridge, where the song picks up in the speed of the beat with more electric instruments. Gilmour collaborated with Townshend on the songs "Love on the Air" and "All Lovers Are Deranged," as Gilmour recalled: "I sent him three songs and he sent back three sets of lyrics. Two of them suited me well. One didn't. He did the two on About Face and he did the other one on his album." The lyrics for "Love on the Air" were written in a day, after Gilmour had asked for Townshend's help. "You Know I'm Right" was written in a similar vein to Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?" and was a dig towards Waters. "Cruise" was about Ronald Reagan having cruise missiles stationed in Britain at the time.

Cover art

The cover of the LP is a little wider than usual, approaching 12 1/2 inches. The inner sleeve bears lyrics and photographs of Gilmour, and exists in at least two variations. A sleeve for the UK Harvest edition has rounded corners and opens to the side; one for the USA Columbia edition has square corners and opens to the top, relative to the lyric text. Like the cover, the latter sleeve is wider than it is tall, and may not fit into the outer sleeve if turned 90 degrees. In one corner of both versions are printed the words "Fleudian slip," a play on the words "Freudian slip" and "Pink Floyd."

Release

The album featured the single "Love on the Air," with lyrics by Townshend, and the disco-style single "Blue Light", later remixed by François Kevorkian; "Blue Light" was released, backed with "Cruise", on 13 February 1984, while "Love on the Air", backed with "Let's Get Metaphysical" on 24 April. The album was released on 5 March in the UK, and on 6 March in the United States. "All Lovers Are Deranged" and "Murder" were released as singles for North American rock radio; the former reaching #10 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.

Critical reception

Writing for AllMusic, critic Tom Demalon wrote of the album "The songs on About Face' show a pop sensibility that Pink Floyd rarely was concerned with achieving," adding that "About Face is well-honed rock album that is riveting from beginning to end."

Track listing

Versions of "Blue Light"
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 lyrics as "White City Fighting", which has a markedly faster tempo, on his 1985 album , on which Gilmour plays.

Personnel

;Main musicians
;Additional musicians
;Production
The supporting tour for About Face, which lasted from 31 March – 16 July 1984, covering Europe and North America saw Gilmour perform the following songs:
  1. "Until We Sleep"
  2. "All Lovers Are Deranged"
  3. "There's No Way Out of Here"
  4. "Love on the Air"
  5. "Mihalis"
  6. "Cruise"
  7. "Short & Sweet"
  8. "Money"
  9. "Run Like Hell"
  10. "Out of the Blue"
  11. "Let's Get Metaphysical"
  12. "You Know I'm Right"
  13. "Blue Light"
  14. "Murder"
  15. "Near the End"
  16. "Comfortably Numb"
  17. "I Can't Breathe Anymore"

    Tour personnel

Roy Harper and Nick Mason joined him at his shows at the Hammersmith Odeon on 28, 29 and 30 April 1984, which were filmed.

Charts

Album
Chart Position
Germany Media Control Charts24
Norway VG-lista10
Sweden Sverigetopplistan13
Switzerland Swiss Hitparade15
US Billboard 20032

Singles – Billboard
YearSingleChartPosition
1984"Blue Light"The Billboard Hot 10062
1984"Blue Light"Mainstream Rock Tracks35
1984"All Lovers Are Deranged"Mainstream Rock Tracks10
1984"Murder"Mainstream Rock Tracks13