Monday, September 7, 1987

Pink Floyd A Momentary Lapse of Reason released

A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Pink Floyd

Released: September 7, 1987

Peak: 3 US, 3 UK, 5 CN, 2 AU

Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 0.1 UK, 10.0 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: classic rock

Tracks:

Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

Signs of Life (Gilmour, Bob Ezrin) [4:24]
Learning to Fly (Gilmour, Ezrin, Anthony Moore, Jon Carin) [4:52] (9/5/87, 70 US, 1 AR, 34 AU)
The Dogs of War (Gilmour, Moore) [6:10] (9/26/87, 30 AR)
One Slip (Gilmour, Phil Manzanera) [5:05] (9/26/87, 5 AR, 50 UK)
On the Turning Away (Gilmour, Moore) [5:42] (9/26/87, 1 AR, 55 UK, 48 AU)
Yet Another Movie (Gilmour, Patrick Leonard) [6:14]
Round and Around (instrumental) [1:13]
A New Machine, Pt. 1 [1:46]
Terminal Frost (instrumental) [6:17]
A New Machine, Pt. 2 [0:38]
Sorrow [8:47] (3/5/88, 36 AR) *

Songs written by Gilmour unless noted otherwise.

* Chart info for live version released on 1988’s Delicate Sound of Thunder.

Total Running Time: 51:09

The Players:

David Gilmour (vocals, guitar)
Nick Mason (drums, percussion)
Richard Wright (keyboards)

Rating:

3.232 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

This was the Pink Floyd album that divided its fans into two camps; those who thought the now-departed Roger “Waters unifying vision and lyrical ability” ^AMG “was the heart and soul of the band and those that preferred “the kind of atmospheric instrumental music and Gilmour guitar sound typical” ^AMG of Floyd in its heyday.

With respect to those in Waters’ camp, 1983’s The Final Cut made it clear it was time for Waters to go. He was pushing music that lacked the accessibility of Floyd’s previous efforts. Even as monstrous as 1979’s The Wall had been, it suffered under the weight of Waters’ over-reaching concept. Still, that album worked because the rest of the band reigned him in. By The Final Cut, Waters had reduced his fellow bandmates to session players on what was effectively his first solo album. Compare the liner notes of The Final Cut and Waters’ first solo album, 1984’s The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking; about the only difference between the numerous players on the two albums is the absence of the other Floyd members on the latter (and the presence of some guitarist named Eric Clapton).

When Gilmour and Co. decided to soldier on as Pink Floyd, Waters did a lot of whining about who had rights to the name and even took his ex-bandmates to court, but, truth be told, neither incarnation bore the same sound as classic seventies Pink Floyd. The resulting A Momentary Lapse of Reason is arguably a “David Gilmour solo album in all but name,” ^AMG but it offered up exactly what album rock radio wanted; big anthems that would rock stadiums alongside the band’s stellar classic rock catalog. Heck, regardless of whether you attach the name ‘Pink Floyd’ to it or not, who can argue with whether or not songs like Learning to Fly, On the Turning Away, and One Slip, weren’t perfectly suited for radio stations needing some nice slabs of classic rock?