"Cluster One", an instrumental, is the opening track on

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

album, '' The Division Bell''.

History

It is the first Pink Floyd song credited to just

Wright Wright is an occupational surname originating in England. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a shipwright is ...

/ Gilmour since "

Mudmen Mudmen are a Canadian Celtic rock band. They are best known for their singles "5 O'Clock", "Saturday", and "Drink and Fight" as well as their covers of Spirit of the West's "Home for a Rest" and AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Ro ...

", from the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

album '' Obscured by Clouds''. The piece has never been performed live by the band, although portions of it were included in the sound collage tape played before their 1994 concerts.

Track overture

The

noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference aris ...

which opens the track caused some confusion among fans in 1994, who were unsure, on playing the album for the first time, whether or not their copy was faulty, as the noise lasts for just over 1 minute before any music begins. According to an interview with Andy Jackson, recording engineer for the album, this noise is electromagnetic noise from the solar wind. More precisely, this sound is a

very low frequency Very low frequency or VLF is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 3–30 kHz, corresponding to wavelengths from 100 to 10 km, respectively. The band is also known as the myriameter band or myriameter wave ...

record of dawn chorus and sferics, radio events respectively due to

solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between . The composition of the ...

interference with Earth's magnetosphere, and

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

strikes radio emissions interfering with Ionosphere; this sound has been mistaken for Earth's crust shifting and cracking.

Personnel

* David Gilmour – guitars *

Nick Mason Nicholas Berkeley Mason, (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He is the only member to feature on every Pink Floyd album, and the only constant member since its formation in ...

– drums, percussion * Richard Wright – piano, Kurzweil synthesizers, Hammond organ

References

{{authority control 1994 songs Pink Floyd songs Rock instrumentals Songs written by David Gilmour Songs written by Richard Wright (musician) Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Song recordings produced by David Gilmour 1990s instrumentals