A Momentary Lapse of Reason
Pink Floyd's album A Momentary Lapse of Reason was their first album since 1983 and followed the departure of Roger Waters in 1985. With the help of the singles "Learning to Fly" and "On the Turning Away", the album reached #3 on both the US and UK charts. The album was released in the UK and Europe on EMI. A re-mastered CD was released in 1997 for the world outside Europe.
Track listing
- "Signs of Life" (Gilmour/Ezrin) - 4:24
- "Learning to Fly" (Gilmour/Moore/Ezrin/Carin) - 4:53
- "The Dogs of War" (Gilmour/Moore) - 6:05
- "One Slip" (Gilmour/Manzanera) - 5:10
- "On the Turning Away" (Gilmour/Moore) - 5:42
- "Yet Another Movie" (Gilmour/Leonard) - 6:18
- "Round and Around" (Gilmour/Leonard) - 1:10
- "A New Machine (Part 1)" (Gilmour) - 1:46
- "Terminal Frost" (Gilmour) - 6:17
- "A New Machine (Part 2)" (Gilmour) - 0:38
- "Sorrow" (Gilmour) - 8:46
Personnel
- David Gilmour - Guitar, lead vocals
- Nick Mason - Drums
- Tony Levin - Electric bass
- Richard Wright - Keyboards
- Bob Ezrin - Keyboards, percussion and sequencers
- Jim Keltner - Drums
- Steve Forman - Percussion
- Jon Carin - Keyboards
- Tom Scott - Alto and soprano saxophone
- Scott Page - Tenor saxophone
- Carmine Appice - Drums
- Pat Leonard - Synthesizers
- Bill Payne - Hammond organ
- Michael Landau - Guitar
- John Halliwell - Saxophone
- Darlene Koldenhaven, Carmen Twillie, Phyllis St. James, Donnie Gerrard - Backing vocals
Controversy
After 1983's The Final Cut, band members went their separate ways until 1987, when Gilmour attempted to revive the band with Nick Mason. A bitter legal dispute with Roger Waters (who left the band in 1985) ensued, but Gilmour and Mason achieved the legal right to release an album as Pink Floyd (Waters, however, gained the rights to some traditional Pink Floyd imagery, including almost all of The Wall). Richard Wright re-joined the duo during the recording sessions of this album, but only as a salaried session musician.
This album has often been critized for having less substance than Roger Waters-era Pink Floyd. Waters described it as "A pretty fair forgery".
Quotations
"On the Momentary Lapse of Reason album, Nick's belief in himself was pretty well gone, and Rick's belief in himself was totally gone. And they weren't up to making a record, to be quite honest about it [...] Roger's very good at belittling people, and I think over the years he managed to convince Rick completely that he was useless and more or less convinced Nick of the same thing."
- - David Gilmour - Rock Compact Disc magazine, September 1992
"I must say, that under the circumstances, it's a superb title for a so-called Pink Floyd record."
- - Roger Waters - Penthouse Magazine, September 1988
