Pink Floyd

A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

The grand return of Pink Floyd

Review Score:

(10/10)
The album indeed has an an 80's sound, but this is certainly not the 80's of "Safety Dance". A Momentary Lapse of Reason represents the best of that decade's possibilities--yes, the sound is "harder" than you might find before or after, but I greatly prefer this slightly edgier sound to the feel of current pop music. Although thematically not as unified as its predecessors, there is a definite flow in the mood of the album, from a guardedly optimistic beginning to a hopeless, bitter end. The sound clips are well placed to augment the running themes. Probably the best example of that is in "Yet Another Movie", one of the album's greatest stars, where clips from Casablanca set the scene for a world that seems to be entering into a second Holocaust--this time a nuclear one.

Despite what some say, I have a personal theory that there is in fact a loose theme on A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Judging from some of his output on his solo album About Face, Mr. Gilmour (the main lyricist) seems to have been quite concerned with the situation of the Cold War. It seems to me that the album, when you put it all together, has possibly got a nuclear-destruction scenario. Even the title A Momentary Lapse of Reason reminds me of the old description of what would happen if someone did push the nuclear button: MAD--Mutual Assured Destruction. Another clue may be in the instrumental "Terminal Frost": its title suggests nuclear winter, and the sound clip in it: "Never, ever again..." evokes for me the fear of a second Holocaust--for which a worldwide nuclear cataclysm would certainly qualify.

To me, all of the songs on this album have a place--even the much maligned "A New Machine" songs. Really, they were never meant to serve as full songs, but as interstitial pieces, they do fine at highlighting the atmosphere of desolation that sets in at the end of the album. The second half of the album, by the way (from "Yet Another Movie" forward) is where the strongest songs are, contrary to what some reviewers have said. Not only are the songs here the best (think of the fantastic "Sorrow", "Yet Another Movie", and "Terminal Frost"), but the flow of the mood is most coherent here.

Not only is "Yet Another Movie" an excellent song, but from a synthesizer standpoint, it takes advantage of the best the 80s had to offer. In my opinion, the synths of the 80s were best in music with a darker, mysterious mood, of which "Yet Another Movie" is a perfect example. The next second-side standout, "Terminal Frost", is a slow-moving, haunting piece that has some nice piano (by Mr. Wright himself, perhaps?), and also some very pleasant saxophone work as well as the guitar solo. In a way, it's almost like a darker version of the songs on Richard Wright's solo album Wet Dream. "Sorrow", of course, is quite good here, and of the three versions I'm familiar with, this is my second favorite, below the PULSE video version (which differs from the CD version in that it is utterly mean).

The first half has good tracks as well, but is slightly choppier in flow. Frankly, I think it's because "On the Turning Away" breaks up the mood, and would have probably been better off on About Face than this one. It's not a bad song--but it's a bit too cheery for the rest of the album. My particular favorites on the first half are "Signs of Life" and "One Slip" ("Learning to Fly" is good but I prefer it by far on PULSE). In a strange way, "Signs of Life" seems related to the later "Cluster One"--although with the synth and guitar reversed in prominence (the guitar as the more prominent one on "Signs of Life"...which makes me wonder if the reversal on "Cluster One" heralds Mr. Wright's return, musically). Even the songs I did not mention, or discussed in less depth, are still good tracks. Mr. Gilmour's lyric-writing is actually very good even if he doesn't show the conceptual inclinations of Roger Waters, and his guitar playing most certainly hasn't suffered.

It may seem surprising for an ardent Richard Wright fan to think so highly of this album, given his limited involvement--but even after all this time, I can't help still having a huge soft spot for A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Besides, Mr. Gilmour isn't half bad as a keyboardist--just as on his first solo album, it's clear he has a rather underrated talent. I'm not sure which parts are his...but nothing sticks out as being out of place, so I'm assuming whatever he did was up to standards. Even now I can't help but be impressed at how well Pink Floyd pulled through its darkest hour. It is a fine predecessor to The Division Bell, which fulfills the promises of potential made here.

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