1987 - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

A Momentary Lapse of Reason
Pink Floyd, 1987



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Release date: September 7th, 1987

Recorded at: Astoria (Hampton), Britannia Row Studios (London), A & M Studios (LA), Can Am Studios (LA)
Village Recorder (LA), Mayfair (London), Audio International (London)

After the departure of Waters in 1985 and a tense period of well-published wrangling over rights to the group name, Gilmour began to put together a new Pink Floyd album in 1987 using the American producer of The Wall, Bob Ezrin, and working on songs with a squad of assistants, including Phil Manzanera. Like its predecessor, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason eventually turned out to be a solo album in all but name.

David Gilmour: "Both Nick and Rick were catatonic in terms of their playing ability at the beginning. Neither of them played on this at all really. In my view, they'd been destroyed by Roger. Nick played a few tom-toms on one track, but for the rest I had to get in other drummers. Rick played some tiny little parts. For a lot of it, I played the keyboards and pretended it was him. The record was basically made by me, and other people and God knows what. I didn't think it was the best Pink Floyd album ever made, but I gave it the best damn shot I could."

Nick Mason: "Dave was under a lot of pressure to come up with songs and he looked for help where he could find it. It was fun recording on the boat (Gilmour's floating studio at Hampton-on-Thames) but then we went to America and hired all these sessions musicians who could knock things off quickly. At the time it seemed like a reasonable route to go but that was quite alarming for me."

Rick Wright: "I wasn't a member of the band. By now they didn't know me. We hadn't played together for years. I was paid a wage on the sessions. I did get royalties on the album. Not as many as Dave and Nick though."

A Momentary Lapse of Reason Album Cover: For the first time since 1977's Animals, designer Storm Thorgerson was employed to work on a Pink Floyd studio album cover. His finished design was a long river of hospital beds arranged on a beach. The image was inspired by a phrase from "Yet Another Movie" and Gilmour's vague hint of a design that included a bed in a Mediterranean house, as well as "vestiges of relationships that have evaporated, leaving only echoes." The cover shows 800 hospital beds, placed on Saunton Sands in Devon (where, coincidentally, some of the scenes for Pink Floyd The Wall were filmed). The beds were arranged by Thorgerson's partner, Colin Elgie. A hang glider can be seen in the sky, a clear reference to "Learning to Fly". The photographer, Robert Dowling, won a gold award at the Association of Photographers Awards for the image, which took about two weeks to create.

Tracks:

• Signs of Life (Gilmour, Ezrin)
  
  [04:24] Vocals by Gilmour.
• Learning to Fly (Gilmour, Moore, Ezrin, Carin)
  
  [04:52] Vocals by Gilmour.
• The Dogs of War (Gilmour, Moore)
  
  [06:05] Vocals by Gilmour.
• One Slip (Gilmour, Manzanera)
  
  [05:07] Vocals by Gilmour.
• On The Turning Away (Gilmour, Moore)
  
  [05:39] Vocals by Gilmour.
• a. Yet Another Movie (Gilmour, Leonard)
  
  [below] Vocals by Gilmour.
• b. Round and Around (Gilmour)
  
  [07:25] Instrumental.
• A New Machine part.1 (Gilmour)
  
  [01:46] Vocals by Gilmour.
• Terminal Frost (Gilmour)
  
  [06:17] Instrumental.
• A New Machine part.2 (Gilmour)
  
  [00:36] Vocals by Gilmour.
• Sorrow (Gilmour)
  
  [08:46] Vocals by Gilmour and Wright.

Total Playing Time: 50'57

Musicians Featured:

• David Gilmour: Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards and Sequencers
• Nick Mason: Electric and Acoustic Drums, Sound Effects
• Rick Wright: Piano, Vocals, Kurzweil, Hammond Organ
• Bob Ezrin: Keyboards, Percussion and Sequencers
• Tony Levin: Bass Guitar, Stick
• 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
• Backing Vocals: Darlene Koldenhaven, Carmen Twillie, Phyllis St.James and Donnie Gerrard

A Momentary Lapse of Reason catalog numbers:

• LP: EMI EMD 1003
• CD: EMI CDP 7 48068 2
• 1997 US remaster: Columbia CK 68518

Other information:

• Produced by Bob Ezrin and David Gilmour
• Recording and mixing engineered by Andrew Jackson
• Assisted by Robert (Ringo) Hrycyna with Marc Desisto, Stan Katayama, Jeff Demorris
• Additional re-mixing: James Guthrie
• Special thanks to Anthony Moore, Phil Manzanera, Langley Iddens, Tim Daly, Mike Wennink
• Art Direction: Storm Thorgerson
• Front Cover concept: Storm Thorgerson and Nexus
• Graphic design: Andrew Ellis, Icon, London
• Photography: Robert Dowling
• Production: Lance Williams, Richard Straw
• Portrait: David Bailey
• Additional photography: Robert Mort
• Artwork: Mekon
• Spherical sound by Tom Jones, Ken Caillats, Sarah Bruce
• Recorded by Guy Charbonne, Le Mobile
• Additional sound effects by Andrew Jackson
• General technical and Musical instrument Supervision: Phil Taylor
• Mastered at Mastering Lab & Precision Laquer

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