Gilmour At The Hall

In 2006, David Gilmour released his first album in almost two decades. "On An Island" is an album full of beautiful melodies and atmospheric sound collages. It was a pleasant surprise from an artist that had not been heard from in awhile.

David Gilmour is a highly skilled musician and has amassed a large body of brilliant work as a member of Pink Floyd and as a solo artist. His versatility as a guitarist is incredible; from his gut-wrenching solo on "Comfortably Numb" to the spacey moody brilliance of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond I-V" to the blazing distorted guitar work on "Ibiza Bar," his influence and distinct tone is legendary.

Tomorrow, Sony is issuing a David Gilmour DVD release containing live performances from his May 2006 Royal Albert Hall run. This is a pretty calculated move. Usually successful albums and tours are followed up by a DVD memento. For David Gilmour fans, this will be a must-have release.

While I am certainly a fan of his solo work and his work with Pink Floyd, I will not be lining up to buy this DVD. DVDs don't do it for me. When do I have the time to watch music DVDs? I want to listen to the music, not watch it. I can listen in the car, on my home stereo, on my iPod, at work, etc. By issuing music solely on a DVD, it makes it difficult for the consumer to fully digest it. Sure, I can rip the audio from the DVD, but that takes time and effort. I guess I can use up tons of gigs on my iPod and just listen to the audio while the footage rolls on the screen. Or maybe I can finance a great home entertainment system and play the audio from the DVD on my home stereo speakers while the footage rolls on the TV. I'm sure there are some other lame alternatives. These just don't seem like the best options. All that just to listen to some tunes?

And of course, Best Buy will have an audio-only bonus disc with 3 songs. 3 songs? That is supposed to entice me to buy a DVD that I will rarely watch? Why not issue the DVD and the complete audio together? Even Springsteen does that.

David Gilmour is a legend and his "On An Island" project is a great musical ride. His shows from his tour dates were awesome. I would love to be able to get a CD version of this new Royal Albert Hall release or at least be able to download the audio of the songs on iTunes. But, Sony is only offering the consumer one option. You have to love the labels, instead of maximizing exposure to music; they give the consumer one option. What a joke. Who knows, maybe there will be a CD only version issued 6 months from now. That wouldn't be unheard of from the visionaries at Sony. At the end of the day, all I wanted was to listen to the music. Was that too much to ask for?