Why Pink Floyd recorded The Division Bell on a houseboat — and how jam sessions shaped 'High Hoves'

The band set up in guitarist David Gilmour’s houseboat, the Astoria, because it felt like neutral ground after the legal warfare of the 1980s. No record-company executives dropping in, no ticking clock — just a leaky floating studio moored on the Thames. The isolation forced the group to write and improvise in the same room again, something they’d barely done since Dark Side of the Moon.

One of those loose jams, built around a simple bass-and-drum pattern from Guy Pratt and Nick Mason, eventually became the coda of “High Hopes”. Gilmour and Rick Wright would stretch the ending out live in the studio, letting the tape roll for twenty minutes. The final track keeps that wandering spirit: the guitar solo that closes the album was played straight through in one take, recorded on the Astoria’s bridge while Gilmour watched the river flow past.