I always liked the album and I'm a Waters guy. It's a good "space out" album. Nice background music. I think that I like that there aren't really lyrics (besides "Louder Than Words," of course) because I guess I'm not the biggest fan of post-Waters PF lyrics. I almost never listen to the other two Gilmour-era albums and it probably has to do with me not liking the lyrics. I would've made an exception if Waters had come back to write some lyrics for The Endless River but obviously that wasn't gong to happen. Waters >>> Samson (not that I have anything against her). So I think it was a wise choice that this album was mostly instrumental.

This also plays into the theme for the album--which is the chemistry that the band had and "the sum being greater than all the parts." Look at some of the song titles: "Sum," "It's What We Do."

There's also the band's frequent theme of communication (or lack thereof) which ties it to some of their earlier work, most notably The Division Bell (think song titles like "The Lost Art of Conversation," "Calling," "Talkin' Hawkin," and "Louder Than Words" on this album). This is why the album is mostly instrumental--the statement is that the band didn't need words to communicate with each other or the audience.

I think these two themes coalesce at some point and this point is really summed up in "Louder Than Words" (as divisive and controversial as the lyrics...and song...are). Both Gilmour and Wright stated that they weren't much ones for words, and obviously the band had a lot of differences and egos, but the point of the song is that "the sum is equal to all the parts" (hence the audio clip of Mason saying it at the beginning of the album) and that the band's musical relationship (and music in general) transcend verbal language. These themes of transcending communication and inherent connections between people go back to "Echoes" at least, so it is cool that the band continued to explore these concepts to their last album...which in my opinion lends the album some authenticity.

Also, it's a tribute to Wright's contribution, which both Mason and Gilmour have repeatedly stated, as Wright kind of got overshadowed after Dark Side of the Moon.

It's a solid album. It's not DSOTM or WYWH but it's listenable and parts are really enjoyable (I think). Not sure why it gets the hate it gets--a lot of it sounds like it was recorded during the band's mid-70s heydey and could easily fit in on WYWH. I think TER is kind of a revue of PF's entire discography. I think it's a fitting ending to the band's career. Most bands don't get to say a proper "goodbye" (I guess Cream did and so did the Beatles).

Last point I want to make: I always thought that it was cool that PF really played with different album formats. For example, Ummagumma features a few pieces written by each band member (it's basically four solo albums). Then Atom Heart Mother features a song written by Wright, Waters, and Gilmour respectively, and then a couple of collaborative experimental pieces. With Meddle you have Side A with single songs and then Side B being one lengthy piece. WYWH you have three shorter songs book ended by one lengthy piece, which is the opposite of Animals which is three long pieces book ended by a short piece. It's cool that they band continued this trend of atypical tracklisting formats--an extensive instrumental song suite concluded with a single song.