| A Momentary Lapse of Reason is the thirteenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was released in the UK and US on 7 September 1987 by EMI and Columbia. It was the first Pink Floyd album since the departure of bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter Roger Waters in 1985.
Unlike many Pink Floyd albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason is not a concept album and is instead a collection of songs written by guitarist David Gilmour, sometimes with outside songwriters. It followed guitarist Gilmour's decision to include material recorded for his third solo album on a new Pink Floyd album with drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Richard Wright. A Momentary Lapse of Reason was recorded primarily on Gilmour's converted houseboat, Astoria. Its production was marked by a legal dispute with Waters as to who owned the rights to the Pink Floyd name, an issue resolved several months after the album was released. Though it received mixed reviews and was derided by Waters, A Momentary Lapse of Reason outsold Pink Floyd's previous album The Final Cut (1983), and was supported by a successful world tour. In the US, it has been certified quadruple platinum. Background editAfter the release of Pink Floyd's 1983 album The Final Cut, viewed by some as a de facto solo record by bassist and songwriter Roger Waters, the band members worked on solo projects. Guitarist David Gilmour expressed feelings about his strained relationship with Waters on his second solo album, About Face (1984), and finished the accompanying tour as Waters began touring to promote his debut solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking. Although both had enlisted a range of successful performers, including in Waters' case Eric Clapton, their solo acts attracted fewer fans than Pink Floyd; poor ticket sales forced Gilmour to cancel several concerts, and critic David Fricke felt that Waters' show was "a petulant echo, a transparent attempt to prove that Roger Waters was Pink Floyd". Waters returned to the US in March 1985 with a second tour, this time without the support of CBS Records, which had expressed its preference for a new Pink Floyd album; Waters criticised the corporation as "a machine". (more...) |
