A Momentary Lapse of Reason

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Template:Album infobox Pink Floyd's 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason was the band's first album since 1983, and their first album since Roger Waters' departure from the band 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.

The album was performed largely by David Gilmour with session musicians, the most famous of which was Tony Levin (of Peter Gabriel and King Crimson fame) who played bass on most of the tracks. Drummer Nick Mason felt he was out of practice, and thus, for example, the drums on "The Dogs of War" were played by Carmine Appice instead. Keyboardist Jon Carin, another of these session musicians, went on to collaborate with both Pink Floyd and Roger Waters on subsequent albums and tours as well as their appearance at Live 8. Keyboardist Richard Wright arrived during the recording sessions, but did not officially rejoin the band (the initial album lists Pink Floyd as consisting of only Gilmour and Mason; however, the later rerelease adds Wright). Wright played on a few tracks, notably "Sorrow", in which his voice can be heard in the background.

The voice heard in the middle of "Learning to Fly" is Nick Mason talking to the control tower in his private aircraft (Both he and Gilmour are enthusiastic pilots). The song is also notable for being the first CD-only single to be released globally.

The album is Pink Floyd's first full digital recording; however, the acoustic drums and the bass guitar were recorded on analog equipment.

1 Cover artwork
2 Controversy
3 Quotations
4 Reissues and remastering
5 Track listing
6 Personnel
7 Certification (USA)
8 Singles
9 Charts
10 External links

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Cover artwork

The cover photograph, by long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson, shows 700 hospital beds placed on the Devon coast. (The beds were not replicated digitally; a team actually hauled the wrought iron beds over three hours from London to Devon and arranged them as seen on the album cover. [1]) This is the first Pink Floyd album since Animals that featured his work.

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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 broke up 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.

Due to the minimal contribution of Mason and Wright (and Waters having left the band for good), the album has oft been criticized for being too much like a David Gilmour solo pop album (much like how The Final Cut has been considered too much of a Roger Waters record). Many critics like to attribute the resurrection of Pink Floyd to Gilmour's two earlier solo efforts flopping miserably (both had reached chart positions many artists would consider respectable, but neither achieved anything like the success to which Pink Floyd had become accustomed), and pressure by its record company to produce another hit album under the name Pink Floyd.

Even though the album garnered a substantial share of criticism, it significantly outsold The Final Cut. Roger himself described A Momentary Lapse of Reason "a pretty fair forgery."

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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

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Reissues and remastering

A re-mastered CD was released in the early '90s for Europe, and in 1997 for the rest of the world. Another remastered version was released in the US and Canada in October 2005 due to Columbia Records losing the production masters. James Guthrie and Joel Plante supplied the label with new masters, and thus the mastering credit was changed from Doug Sax to Guthrie and Plante. Also, a number of minor changes have been noted in the credits and legal text for this latest release, mostly reflecting changes in the band's business situation since 1997 (including the death of manager Steve O'Rourke).

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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
(a) "Yet Another Movie" (Gilmour/Leonard), (b) "Round and Around" (Gilmour) - 7:28
"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

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Personnel

David Gilmour - Guitar, lead vocals
Nick Mason - Drums

With:

Richard Wright - Keyboards
Tony Levin - Electric bass, Chapman Stick
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

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Certification (USA)

The R.I.A.A. have certified the album:

gold and platinum, in November 1987
double platinum ,in January 1988
triple platinum, in February 1992
quadruple platinum, in August 2001.

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Singles

"Learning to Fly(edit)"/"Terminal Frost" - Columbia 38-07363; released September 15, 1987
"On the Turning Away"/"Run Like Hell(Live)" - Columbia 38-07660; released November 24, 1987
"One Slip" / "Terminal Frost"; June 1988

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Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1987	The Billboard 200	3
1987	Billboard CD Charts	1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1987	"Learning to Fly"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
1987	"Learning to Fly"	The Billboard Hot 100	70
1987	"On the Turning Away"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
1988	"The Dogs of War"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	10
1988	"One Slip"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	5
1988	"Sorrow"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	36