Product Description

After a long protracted legal battle over the rights to thePink Floyd name, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright released 1987's A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON despite RogerWaters' protests. Retaining collaborators from Floyd's past(producer Bob Ezrin), this Gilmour-led version of the band crafted a number of songs that were as cerebral and introspective as anything Floyd had done in the past. The first single, "Learning To Fly", served as the unofficial anthem for this latest chapter of Pink Floyd.
The Andy McKay/Gilmour-penned "One Slip" uses the requisite bells and whistles along with Tony Levin's impressive stick solo to guarantee it a prominent place in the band's canon. "The Dogs of War" and "On The Turning Away" are perfect commentaries on the conservative mindset shaping the '80s at the time. The former is anominous screed composed at a time when the Cold War was still a reality whereas the latter is a sad swipe against the self-absorption of the Me Decade.

Track Listing

1. Signs Of Life
2. Learning To Fly
3. Dogs Of War
4. One Slip
5. On The Turning Away
6. Yet Another Movie
7. Round And Around
8. New Machine
9. Terminal Frost
10. New Machine (1)
11. Sorrow

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4741 in Music
• Released on: 1987-09-07
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Great album but not a timeless classic
I listened to this two evenings ago for the first time in 15 years and it sounded absolutely amazing. The sounds are diverse and and full of interest and I was on tenderhooks for the next thing coming along. On another listen last night the heavy 80's influence was all too apparant, especially the lyrics to some of the songs, if you are allergic to dairy products (cheese) then be careful. Their albums prior to this reflected the era they were made in, but there was/is a timeless quality too - Wish You Were Here will always be a masterpiece. For this album there is too much influence from the era of recording, too much immitation of the Floyd sound and not enough aloofness from everything else which is the true hallmark of Pink Floyd.

dated production let down good songs
Waters had left, and the remaining two Floyds (aided by Rick Wright) carried on in a controversial move that kept lawyers and journalists busy for most of the Eighties. "Momentary Lapse" suffers from a dated production, but contains a fine collection of songs that accurately re-create the Floyd sound of the seventies with mystical, aspirational imagery, sweeping solos, majestic and atmospheric keyboard parts, and understated, unfussy drumming from Mason. Aided and abetted by 17 session musicians, one could argue this isn't the Floyd but a solo Gilmour album under the Floyd tag - though quite how this would differ from the equally bloated "Wall" and "Final Cut" (and their respectively singular vision that makes them practically Waters solo records) I don't know

Different
The 80s was certianly an interesting period for music, but unfortunately, we only have one album to go on from Floyd, in which David Gilmour and Nick Mason started to create some more electronic sounds with their music. However, unlike The Wall and Animals, the songs do not really match, and because David isn't quite as good at writing lyrics, we are commonly left unclear as to what the situation is and the words that we listen to really mean.
After seven years of deciding what to do, David Gilmour released this package of hidden classics, fearful of being alone and what the comeback might be. Well, I can say that he has done a good job, and On The Turning Away is a classic that is mostly ignored over Sorrow and Learning To Fly (I hate Learning To Fly!) Themeless and padded, it is still a personal favourite.