A Momentary Lapse of Reason: Underrated?

I think people are a little too harsh on A Momentary Lapse of Reason. It might not be as good as some of Pink Floyd's other stuff, but personally I think MUSICALLY it is possibly preferable to Atom Heart Mother, Umagumma Studio, a Saucerful of Secrets, the Division Bell and definately better than More OST. As an album, it is far more listenable than the aforementioned.

However, as a Pink Floyd album, it is somewhat eccentric, as it does not really follow the trend of anything heard previously. Certain things about this album make it different to previous Floyd, notably the 'electronica' of drum machines and cassio keyboards. Some say this instantly grounded the album firmly in 1987, in otherwords instantly dating it in a way from which the other albums are apparently immune. Although certainly sounding of thier time, personally, I think these add to rather than spoil the music as a whole. Then again, I am an 18 year old fan of 'electronica' artists such as Bjork and Goldfrapp, so I may be an atypical as far as Pink Floyd enthusiasts go. This 'electronicness', and the fact that it was made largely as a Gilmour solo effort is why I think it gets the stick it does. Nonetheless, I don't think anyone can really deny that there are some highly enjoyable pieces of music on the album.

Learning to Fly is one of my all time favourite Floyd songs: the guitar work is as good as anything on DSoTM, and I have to love that crazy electronic drum beat (made oh so better on Delicate Sound of Thunder and PULSE with its own 'solo' section before the sliding arpegio things and bass start). Sorrow is another strong beat-driven rock anthem, highly atmospheric with excellent guitar work. Another favourite is On The Turning Away, which is as good I think as any of Waters' string-driven balads, and with a superb guitar solo, and a Money-style tempo change in the closing solo.

Compared to the Floyds' previous work, the Final Cut, I think aMLoR is a far more enjoyable (even if it's not as emotionally driven or artistically meritable) piece of music, which I would prefer to listen to generally.

On the whole, I'd give the album a 70% rating.

I'm expecting a lot of flack from this, so fire away!

I prefer DG's first solo effort from the 70's

I like AMLOR, there are some really good tunes. But I can't listen to it on headphones - which instantly disqualifies it from being a Floyd album, in my book - because of the harsh distorted sound.

"On the Turning Away" really gets my goat because the guitar solo is so obviously patched together from multiple takes. You can definitely hear Gilmour riding the faders as he swaps lines in and out from different performances. Compare this with "Comfortably Numb," where the same technique is deployed flawlessly and transparently.

Even if I have my disagreements with doubleyew's view, I do think that AMLOR is a good album. It could have been better but it's not their worst, definitely.

It has some good music and songs but as a complete album is not in the same league as Floyds 5 or so best 70s albums.

It's shite!

AMLOR definately gets too much crap. If you can get past the fact that it's mainly a DG effort, I found it rather enjoyable. Granted, when I first listened, I didn't care for it much, but it grew on me. I especially like the instrumentals

I do agree in the fact that it doesn't compare to the 70's efforts of course.

Saw an Ipod in the city today on a bus, decided to take a peek and low and behold this album was playing through on it. It made me decide to listen through it again tonight and I agree it is quite good and definitely underrated. The sound isn't as "80s" and cheesy as I really previously thought and there are some quite good tracks, why is The Dogs Of War often voted the worst Floyd track ever (according to a magazine I have)? I thought it was quite good with a subtle reference to the "Dogs" from Animals towards the end and it has some great lyrics. Yet Another Movie also grabbed me as a great piece, my favourite apart from LTF and A New Machine was interesting. The good thing is it doesn't go on for very long so it doesn't get too boring.