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The Division Bell is the fourteenth album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 28 March 1994 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and on 4 April by Columbia Records in the United States.
The second Pink Floyd album recorded without founding member Roger Waters, The Division Bell was written mostly by guitarist and singer David Gilmour and keyboardist Richard Wright.
It features Wright’s first lead vocal on a Pink Floyd album since The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). Gilmour’s fiancée, novelist Polly Samson, co-wrote many of the lyrics, which deal with themes of communication. It was the last Pink Floyd studio album to be composed of entirely new material and recorded with Wright, who died in 2008.
Recording took place in locations including the band’s Britannia Row Studios and Gilmour’s houseboat, Astoria. The production team included longtime Pink Floyd collaborators such as producer Bob Ezrin, engineer Andy Jackson, saxophonist Dick Parry and bassist Guy Pratt.
The Division Bell received mixed reviews, but reached number one in more than 10 countries, including the UK and the US. In the US, it was certified double platinum in 1994 and triple platinum in 1999.
Pink Floyd promoted it with a tour of the US and Europe; the tour sold more than 5 million tickets and made around $100 million in gross income. A live album and video, Pulse, was released in 1995. Some of the unused material from the Division Bell sessions became part of Pink Floyd’s next album, The Endless River (2014).
The Album was reissued again on 30 June 2014, as a “20th anniversary deluxe edition” box set and a 20th anniversary double-LP vinyl reissue.
The box set contains a new remaster of the album; a 5.1 surround sound remix by Andy Jackson; 2-LP record on 180g vinyl; a red 7″ “Take It Back” single; a clear 7″ “High Hopes/Keep Talking” single; a blue, laser-etched 12″ “High Hopes” single; book and assorted art cards.
The 2014 reissues saw the first release of the full album on vinyl as the 1994 vinyl release saw only edited versions of the songs to keep it to a single LP.
The Division Bell was reissued again with the Pink Floyd Records label on 26 August 2016.
A limited-edition 25th anniversary double-LP was announced on 11 April 2019, with a release date set for 7 June.
The reissue is on blue vinyl and uses the two-LP master created for the 20th anniversary vinyl release.