【搬运】【译】叉婊Pitchfork评Pink Floyd 2014年专辑《The Endless River》

搬运自：微信公众号【AKA】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整） 

翻译：谷歌街景

This mostly instrumental record is to late Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright what Wish You Were Here was to Syd Barrett: a eulogy of sorts, a commemoration of his contributions to the band in particular and to rock in general.

这张主要以纯器乐演奏的专辑对于Pink Floyd已故的键盘手Rick Wright来说就好像《愿你在此》对于Syd Barrett一样：它是对Wright在这些年中对乐队以及整个摇滚领域贡献的颂词与纪念。

Because The Endless River is so steeped in Pink Floyd lore, it’s worth going back at least momentarily to the very beginning. Nearly half a century ago, the band started life as a middling blues-rock outfit in London, patterned largely after the Stones albeit with a much smaller repertoire. To fill sets they would extend the songs they did know to great lengths; to justify not rehearsing, they emphasized onstage improvisation. Any technical insufficiencies were masked by sheer volume. Everything read as psychedelic and new, as their still developing chops took the band to places more skilled musicians might bypass altogether. The response was intense: Critics predicted that Floyd would replace the Beatles, and fans lined up around the block for happenings at the UFO Club and Seymour Hall.

因为这张专辑满溢着Pink Floyd的故事，哪怕花一小段时间去追溯他们的起源也是值得的。将近半个世纪之前，他们用着一套中等规模的布鲁斯-摇滚乐器出道。虽然当时表演的曲目很少，但是他们主要的模仿对象是滚石乐队。他们为了填充演出时间会把歌曲延长很多时常，同时为了对不进行排练这种行为“正名”，他们会着重在台上即兴创作，何技术上的故障都被乐曲的音量所覆盖。在乐队成员们逐渐成长的过程中，他们致幻与新奇的风格正将他们带向更加有技巧的音乐人们可能完全避开的领域。听众的反应是十分激烈的，乐迷在他们演出的场外排起了长队，当时的乐评家们甚至预测Pink Floyd可能会替代掉Beatles。

As the band progressed, of course, they refined their chops as well as their ambitions—the usual course for DIY musicians (except for Syd Barrett, who quickly absented himself from the scene after spearheading their 1967 debut, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn). Guitarist David Gilmour, brought in to replace Barrett, developed a graceful and patient style that lent Roger Waters’ songs a sense of eloquence and scale. Drummer Nick Mason honed his R&B beats into narcotized motorik timing, and Rick Wright tinkered with synthesizers to add fizzy drama to 1975’s "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", which updated '60s psych to '70s prog and remains his best moment.

随着Pink Floyd的发展，他们就像DIY音乐家们都会做的那样——不断精炼自己的技艺，不断提高自己的志向。（除了在发行完乐队的首张专辑《破晓风笛手》便离开的Syd Barrett）随后吉他手David Gilmour代替了Syd，他优雅而包容的曲风让Roger Waters的歌曲有了美与规模感。鼓手Nick Manson将他节奏布鲁斯式的鼓点磨练成了有麻醉效果的节拍器，Rick Wright用合成器把泡沫腾涌的戏剧艺术缝补进了1975年的“闪耀你那颗疯狂的钻石”，他们把60年代的迷幻摇滚升级成了70年代的前卫摇滚，并且一直维持在最好的水准。

All of them—sans Waters, who left the band back in the '80s—figure prominently on The Endless River, a long, predominantly instrumental album that is said to be Pink Floyd’s final cut. All the familiar sounds are here, with each member playing his usual role. The liquid sound of Gilmour’s guitar is immediately recognizable when it enters on the second track, tracing curlicues around the straight lines of Wright’s synths. The song could be "Run Like Hell" in slo-mo or the first half of Wish You Were Here, only with a gentler, more ambient thrust. The title is a wink: "It's What We Do". As regrettable as that album cover may be, it provides a useful metaphor for the relationship between the guitarist and the keyboardist: Gilmour is the punter guiding the boat, Wright is the cloud upon which he floats. Which leaves Mason as the oar, perhaps.

除了在80年代离开乐队的Waters，你可以在《无尽河流》中找到几位乐队成员的身影。这是一张以纯乐器演奏为主的并且据说是Pink Floyd的最后一张专辑。在这张专辑中乐队成员们都像往常一样进行着他们的演奏，你所熟悉的声音都在这里。在第二首曲目的开头，Gilmour流畅的吉他声一听便知，它好似在Wright的合成器周围镶嵌了一圈花边，这首歌就好像“拼命奔跑”的慢放版，或者是“愿你在此”的前半段，只是有着更加轻柔，更加氛围的推动力。这首歌的标题“这就是我们所做的”就好像在告诉我们专辑封面中所蕴含的比喻：Gilmour是撑船的船夫，Wright是漂浮在他下方的云，而或许Manson是那只桨。

Sadly, Wright died of cancer in 2008, long before The Endless River was even a consideration. To create a swan song for a perennially underrated rock musician, Gilmour and Mason—along with producers Phil Manzanera, Andy Jackson, and Youth—sifted through hours upon hours of sessions from 1994’s The Division Bell, highlighting Wright’s contributions and turning them into new songs. So River is to Wright what Wish You Were Here was to Barrett: a eulogy of sorts, a commemoration of his contributions to the band in particular and to rock in general. Perhaps the band’s most backwards-looking album, it is quintessentially and self-consciously Pink Floyd, for better or for worse. The Endless River is stately, grandiose, and searching, but it is also bloated, pompous, and so conceptually top-heavy it just might fall off the CD rack or crash your computer.

可惜的是，在《无尽之河》还没有成为一个想法的时候，Wright在2008年因为癌症逝世。为了给这位多年来被低估的摇滚音乐家一个绝笔，Gilmour和Manson与Phil Manzanera，Andy Jackson，Youth等几位制作人从1994年《藩篱之钟》的一些片段中筛选出了可以代表Wright的贡献的部分并把它们转化成了新的歌曲。所以《无尽之河》对于Rick Wright来说就好像《愿你在此》对于Syd Barrett一样：它是对Wright在这些年中对乐队以及整个摇滚领域贡献的颂词与纪念。无论好坏，这可能是最“Pink Floyd”的，也是乐队历史上最保守的专辑。《无尽之河》十分的庄严、宏伟、透彻，但它也同样臃肿、浮夸，过于夸大的概念可能会让它从CD架上掉下来并砸坏你的电脑。

Rather than scrappy young dudes playing to hallucinating fans in the '60s, Pink Floyd have long since become wizened music veterans. As such, they may be too professional and perhaps even too rich to make this music sound like anything other than a luxury item, an option on a sports car or a demonstration CD for home theaters. It’s been decades since we expected grit and glower from the band, but by the time Gilmour starts singing—18 tracks and 46 minutes into the album!—you might suspect that River syncs up perfectly with Cocoon. Not that guys their age can’t make vital music, but the only hint of the passage of time here is their refined chops. And we already knew they could play.

虽然Pink Floyd在60年代是向迷幻乐乐迷们演奏的年轻人，他们早就成为了消瘦的乐坛老兵。正因为如此，他们可能太专业甚至拥有太多的思想以至于让他们做的音乐变成了一种奢饰品——就像运动汽车或者是为了家庭影院而展示的CD那样。我们已经花了几十年来期待着这个乐队会给我们带来怎样的魄力与狂气，但是当Gilmour开始演唱的时候，专辑已经过去了18首歌，46分钟！！！你可能觉得《无尽之河》与《茧》十分同步。这些“老家伙”们已经不能做出充满活力的音乐，你唯一能听出的变化便是他们更加精湛的技艺，但这些东西我们早就知道他们可以做出来了。

In other words, Floyd’s best and worst impulses are crammed into these 52 minutes. "Sum" and "Skins" are admirably weird, as though the band went as far out as they dared and then took a few more steps. Thanks to the menacingly descending bass line and Mason’s tense drum solo, you can almost see the pulsing laser light show. Those songs elevate the first and second side, promising a more adventurous album than Pink Floyd deliver. The boat sinks beneath the clouds: As The Endless River threatens to live up to its title, the music veers into aimless, repetitive noodling, and the band settle for formless ambience rather than exactingly sculpted songs. There are a few disruptions, such as the Wall-size chords that open "Allons-y (1)" and a monologue by Stephen Hawking on the unfortunately titled "Talkin’ Hawkin'", but such flourishes more often prove embarrassing: Gilad Atzmon’s saxophone turns "Anisina" into an '80s sitcom theme, and the pipe organ on "Autumn '68" plays as a parody of Pink Floyd’s oceanic sound.

换句话说，Pink Floyd最好和最差的元素都挤在这52分钟里面，“Sum”和“Skins”有着令人仰慕的诡异氛围，就好像他们达到了所能触及的边缘后又向外走了几步。我们要感谢那些险恶的重音和Manson紧凑的鼓点，听着这两首歌你几乎可以看到那炫目的灯光秀（译者注，这里可能是指Pulse演唱会，这场演唱会运用了大量的灯光技术，当时一个晚上所消耗的电量与一个城镇同样时间消耗的电量相当）。这些歌升华了专辑的第一与第二面(side)，向听众保证着一张Pink Floyd从来没有过的富有冒险精神的专辑。封面中的船在云朵中缓缓飘荡——就像专辑名称《无尽河流》那样，随后的曲目驶向了漫无目的即兴演奏与无形的氛围音乐，而不是精准定形的音乐。虽然有着像在《迷墙》中的弦乐（Allons-y(1)）和霍金的独白(Talking Hawking)，这些看似繁华的元素却让人尴尬。Gilad Atzmon的萨克斯把Anisina这首歌变成了80年代的情景喜剧，在Autumn 68中的管弦乐就好像是对Pink Floyd无垠的声音的拙劣模仿。

Perhaps the sax is obligatory, a nod to Dick Parry’s solos on Wish You Were Here. That would make sense, given the retrospective bend to The Endless River. For the devoted fan, these songs may comprise something like a musical memoir, with references to Wright and Barrett and even Waters ("We bitch and we fight…") as well as to previous songs and albums. Even the title takes inspiration from the final song on The Division Bell, an album which also featured guest vocals by Hawking. That kind of self-referentiality lends much-needed import to what is ultimately a minor entry in the band’s catalog. And there is something warmly reassuring about the familiarity of these sounds, as though Pink Floyd are settling affairs and squaring accounts.

或许萨克斯是必要的，这可以理解为对《愿你在此》中Dick Parry的致敬，联系上《无尽河流》的怀旧意味是合理的。对于老粉们来说，专辑中对前乐队成员的提及构成了像音乐回忆录一样的东西，甚至专辑中的曲目也从《藩篱之钟》中获取灵感。这种自我指称最终变成了乐队的“目录”中很小的一个条目。同时，你也可以从这些熟悉的声音中找到一丝温暖，就好像Pink Floyd在平息事端一样。

Too often "familiar" curdles into "lazy." As late as The Division Bell, Pink Floyd appeared to be a band constantly looking forward, intent on innovating their own sound if not rock as a genre. As a result, some of their lesser albums managed to build on previous successes, and even that notorious 1987 disaster A Momentary Lapse of Reason has no deficit of ambition or vision. There's something bold in the smaller scope of The Endless River, but it proves to be one of the few Pink Floyd releases that sounds like a step backwards, with nothing new to say and no new frontiers to explore. Of course, if there are no more Pink Floyd albums, then there is no collective future to anticipate, no new sound to build toward. Gilmour, Mason, and the ghost of Wright are closing out a half-century career not with a grand statement, but with a curious ellipsis.

做乐队“熟悉”的事情最终变成“懒惰”的情况已经发生太多次了。在《藩篱之钟》里，Pink Floyd仍然以一个眼光长远、积极拓宽自己的音乐的形象示人，结果就是，他们一些不太出名的专辑也建立在了先前成功的基础之上，甚至1987年灾难性的专辑《短时失智》也没有缺乏远见。在《无尽河流》的狭小视野中有着一些大胆的元素，但这些元素就好像是Pink Floyd发行的一些倒退性的音乐，只剩下不必再提的遗憾与探索新领域这一行动的确实。当然，如果之后不会再有Pink Floyd的专辑，那么也不会再有共同的未来供他们探讨，不会再有一同创作的音乐。Gilmour, Manson和Wright的幽灵没有用宏伟的说辞，而是用令人好奇的省略号结束了着长达半个世纪的伟业。