Pink Floyd ( B21 )

The Endless River

In 2012, Gilmour and Mason decided to revisit recordings made with Wright, mainly during the Division Bell sessions, to create a new Pink Floyd album. They recruited session musicians to help record new parts and "generally harness studio technology". Waters was not involved. Mason described the album as a tribute to Wright: "I think this record is a good way of recognising a lot of what he does and how his playing was at the heart of the Pink Floyd sound. Listening back to the sessions, it really brought home to me what a special player he was."

Samson announced The Endless River in July 2014 on Twitter. Details were announced on Pink Floyd's website on 7 July, describing it as comprising "mainly ambient" and instrumental music. It was released 7 November 2014, the second Pink Floyd album distributed by Parlophone following the release of the 20th anniversary editions of The Division Bell earlier in 2014. Though The Endless Riverreceived mixed reviews, it became the most pre-ordered album of all time on Amazon UK, and debuted at number one in several countries. The vinyl edition was the fastest-selling UK vinyl release of 2014 and the fastest-selling since 1997.

Gilmour stated that The Endless River is Pink Floyd's last album, saying: "I think we have successfully commandeered the best of what there is ... It's a shame, but this is the end." There was no tour to support the album, as Gilmour felt it was "kind of impossible" without Wright. In August 2015, Gilmour reiterated that Pink Floyd were "done" and that to reunite without Wright "would just be wrong".

In July 2016, the band announced a forthcoming box set, The Early Years 1965–1972, containing 27 discs comprising CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays of outtakes, live recordings, new mixes and feature films.

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