Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

Released in 1987

1983's The Final Cut was for all practical purposes a solo album for Roger Waters', and a poor one at that. The album contained none of the life and soul that Pink Floyd became so renowned for during the 60's and 70's. When Roger Waters split from the group in a hostile manner, many predicted Pink Floyd was for all practical purposes dead.

They were wrong.

A Momentary Lapse of Reason suffered little if any from the departure of Waters, and actually welcomed back former keyboardist Rick Wright. Many of the tracks contained a level of social commentary, such as the Cold War-influenced The Dogs of War, but far more importantly the songs contained life once more.

Some of the album highlights are:

• Learning To Fly – Lush, anthemic and nearly flawess, this track soars majestically and gets the album off to a great start.
• On The Turning Away – Hauntingly beautiful ballad with silky vocals and a standout guitar solo.
• One Slip – Fantastic guitar work and an almost tribal rhythm make this one of the standout tracks on the album.

Fans are somewhat divided on A Momentary Lapse of Reason, largely because Pink Floyd made this album a bit more mainstream, which of course resulted in impressive sales. While this is clearly a Pink Floyd album from a band reunited rather than one dominant member using the band as a pseudo-solo album, it does possess a different sound than their 70's output… but this is a good thing! Pink Floyd was so well loved due to their innovation and creativity – at no time in their career could they be accused of being stagnant.

When this album came out I had it on a near constant rotation, and to this day I enjoy it just as much. A Momentary Lapse of Reason has a dreamy, catchy and occasionally angry sound that flows together wonderfully, making it my favorite album in the band's career.

Rating : 9 stars

Track List Signs of Life Learning to Fly The Dogs of War One Slip On the Turning Away Yet Another Movie / Round and Round New Machine Pt. 1 Terminal Frost New Machine Pt. 2 Sorrow

Additional Resources:

• The Final Cut Review

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