Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Discussions about Pink Floyd and Solo Official Album CDs and DVDs.

Rate This Album

5 - Best
14
10%
4
30
21%
3
40
28%
2
29
20%
1- Worst
30
21%
 
Total votes: 143

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Vlad The Impaler
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by Vlad The Impaler »

Oh, I enjoyed this album but it's not one of their best and I can easily understand why that is. They were trying to find their footing in a new Floyd situation. Hey, they could have done worse...but it was a maiden-step post-Waters, and they all admit he was important. Division Bell showed more confidence down the road but Momentary was a virgin journey and was doomed to suffer without a prime component present just like Final Cut...and to some degree the Wall as well... (to my ear anyway) suffered due to lack of an other-than-Roger input component. Obviously The Wall had some decent Gilmour input so it's not quite the same scenario as The Final Cut, granted. Both albums have their pluses...or cons...to various fans ears but neither is the Floyd at it's peak...collaboration-wise...in my trivial opinion. Doesn't mean you can't listen and enjoy nonetheless. Up to personal taste...but no one should be fool enough to think their taste takes priority over any one else's taste. Look at any youtube comment section (or insert a name of a webboard here) to see how people can miss that simple point.
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by Kerry King »

Vlad The Impaler wrote: no one should be fool enough to think their taste takes priority over any one else's taste.
Only for oneself does ones taste take priority over anyone else's taste. Yet while my tastes take no priority over anyone else's tastes, all the other Pink Floyd studio album take priority over A Momentary Lapse Of Reason.
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Vlad The Impaler
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by Vlad The Impaler »

Kerry King wrote:
Vlad The Impaler wrote: no one should be fool enough to think their taste takes priority over any one else's taste.
Only for oneself does ones taste take priority over anyone else's taste. Yet while my tastes take no priority over anyone else's tastes, all the other Pink Floyd studio album take priority over A Momentary Lapse Of Reason.
The point being...many do in fact think their opinion is the only one that matters. Sad but true and boring as hell. How you feel or anyone feels about Momentary is an individual thing to be sure...as is true of all things anyone could possibly form an opinion about.
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by twcc »

In my opinion, it's a good sleeve -

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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by Vegetable Layne »

Anything Storm did for Floyd was class A material. Amazing that they filled that beach with all those beds for real.
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by danielcaux »

I have been listening to this album a lot recently. IMO it's far better that The Division Bell, which I still think is Pink Floyd's blandest and more uneven and repetitive album.

This one is pretty solid, with the only really unlistenable flaw being that awful cheesy sax solo in Dogs Of War which totally ruins the song, along with Dave's cock rock singing on it. All the other songs are pretty decent and flow together really well. The album has a dark icy atmosphere which I love. Reminds me a lot of the Blade Runner OST by Vangelis at some parts. It has that futuristic vibe going on, which for some people is the main reason for disliking it, go figure. Pretty decent "instrumentally oriented" songs on side B too. And while I'm not a fan of Sorrow, it does an ok job as closing track, although I do think the album would have been better if they had left that track out and used On The Turning Away in its place, leaving the album at 41 min in length.

The other thing, as a big fan of Discipline era King Crimson, I have always being puzzled by the hate that One Slip often inspires in some fans. This track is awesome in my opinion, it has Levin's Chapman stick as an aural background net giving texture to all the song and sounds catchy yet avant-garde at the same time. It's the most innovative track from the record, Pink Floyd still forging a path forward in their sound, instead of backwards like they would basically do on the next album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHedekI5w4w
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by theaussiefloydian »

AMLoR is an interesting one for me, not because I dislike it (I don't), but because of the fact that it is as much a Floyd record as TFC was. In terms of the music... it's kinda cheesy sometimes, really. But all in all, it's an enjoyable album.
'Signs of Life' is a great opener. Pink Floyd's opening tracks have always been pretty awesome (with the possible exception of 'The Post War Dream'...) It's an eerie piece in it's own right, with Mason's voice reading that unknown poem to the synths used... just a really neat opener. 4/5
'Learning to Fly' is also pretty awesome, and one of the first tracks I remember hearing from the Floyd outside of DSotM. Great atmosphere on that track. 4.5/5
'Dogs of War' is where things begin to slide, really. I mean, I like it, but it isn't quite as good as the first two tracks. 3.5/5
'One Slip' is the only song I really dislike on Side 1. Whilst I can jam to it if I'm in a certain mood, it's by no means a great song. I do agree with danielcaux when he says it doesn't deserve the vicious bashing it (apparently) gets, but it is still a point of criticism for me, mostly because of the production. A little too 80's for my taste. 2.5/5
'On the Turning Away' then brings me back into it. Nothing like an epic Gilmour solo to end a side, and this one is no exception. 4.5/5
'Yet Another Movie' occasionally tests my patience, but it still succeeds to be a good song. What the hell it's about, I'm not sure I know. But I like it all the same. 3.5/5
'Round and Around' is a glorified transition, and I'm sure Pink Floyd knows it. Doesn't stop me from counting it as a separate track though, and I thoroughly enjoy it. 4.5/5
'A New Machine, Pt. 1' sounds like an experiment that failed colossally. I mean, I think I know what they were going for, but it's just kind of... eh. 2/5
'Terminal Frost' is a great instrumental track which actually evokes a lot of emotion in me. Not gonna lie, it sounds more like the feeling of flight than 'Learning to Fly' does. Gorgeous work. 4.5/5
'A New Machine, Pt. 2'... see my bit on 'Pt. 1'. 2/5
'Sorrow'... what can I say? Fantastic closing track, with some of Gilmour's finest lyrics in post-Waters Floyd. I know everyone gives Gilmour a lot of crap for not writing great lyrics, but the issue here is that for the most part of post-Waters Floyd, he was co-writing (no disrespect to Polly Samson - she and Gilmour have written some pretty neat things too.) However, when Gilmour wrote alone as he did for 'Sorrow', he shone a lot brighter than people give him credit for IMO. Anyway... 4.5/5
All in all, I gave the album a 3. The songs are good but as a cohesive piece something is a little lacking. However whilst I respectfully disagree with danielcaux when he says this is better than The Division Bell, I do agree that AMLoR does not deserve the bashing it gets. For a band that was struggling with unity issues, they did pretty well. I would like to know what became of the remix project though... the 80's sound is what I'm not a fan of.
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by AndrewJFisher »

I was born in 1980 and "Learning to Fly" was the first Pink Floyd(or Gilmour solo) song I heard. Possibly I caught "On the Turning Away" on the radio also. Except that I had sort of already heard Floyd cause I went to a school production in possibly '86 where the school choir sang "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2"(pretty radical for the time I guess). When I learned that song was also Floyd I was like "How can those two songs be by the same band?". Actually I first learned of Roger Waters too, at the time of Radio KAOS, I heard "The Tide is Turning" on the radio, but didn't even know he was once part of Pink Floyd until about 2001, learning also that The Wall was his concept and he'd written most of it. So I admit I favoured "Learning to Fly" and the "new Pink Floyd" at first. I bought Momentary Lapse of Reason in 2001, my first Floyd album. I remember looking at the credits when I got home and being a bit put off by the number of session musicians as I was used to listening to albums where a band of four or five played most of the instruments. And I hadn't even learned that Nick and Rick didn't play much on the album. My assumption at the time was that David Gilmour had always been the leader of Floyd, therefore the album was a genuine continuation of Pink Floyd. I soon learned about Syd Barret then about Waters assuming leadership, the build up of resentment towards him and finally the split.

But what did I actually think of Momentary Lapse of Reason when I finally heard it? In line with most others I can remember not much liking "Dogs of War" when it came on or "A New Machine". Part of it was, I felt Gilmour's singing was a bit boring and monotonous. I suppose I kept listening to the album, because of the weight of the Pink Floyd label, but if I'd known that many, perhaps justifiably, didn't regard it as genuine Floyd, I might not have bothered and maybe would not have even bought the album in the first place. However, I must've still had a preference for the post-Waters stuff, 'cause the second Floyd album I bought was Division Bell, which I suppose I find equally as good as or slightly better than AMLOR. My interest in Floyd is based on partly interest in "rock" in general(as opposed to "pop"), partly Floyd's unquestionable status as a giant in rock music, alongside Zeppelin, AC/DC, Metallica etc., partly that their stuff seems more complex and intelligent than those other bands and partly because I think I do genuinely like some of their stuff, both the Waters and post-Waters stuff(and some of the Barrett stuff).

Even if I treat AMLOR as Gilmour-solo I can't really compare it to his other solo albums, 'cause I haven't heard enough of them. Even then I find it hard to separate Gilmour from Floyd when I judge AMLOR. Basically I think AMLOR sounds like Dire Straits, probably inferior to Brothers in Arms and other Straits albums, but on it's own, separate from Floyd, a decent album. Actually I can't even honestly and certainly say it's inferior to any other Floyd album except perhaps The Wall.

Question for everybody....what it have been acceptable if Gilmour had released the album under the name David Gilmour's Pink Floyd or other name to suggest that it wasn't the same Floyd as before? (I'm thinking how there was The Animals and then Eric Burdon and the Animals).
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by AndrewJFisher »

Bumr50 wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2009 2:44 pm I don't think I've heard this before, and I'm sure EVERYONE will disagree with me, but 'Yet Another Movie' is a pretty ethereal track, even though the Floyd didn't arrange it.

There. True confession. [-o<
I just listened to it again, hadn't heard it for a long time. I think Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings" may have provided some guidance there. I'd compared the album to Dire Straits e.g Brothers in Arms before, but now that I think about it, maybe Mr. Mister is a good comparison too. I'm sure people who hate AMLOR have a similar dislike for Mr. Mister ;)
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by AndrewJFisher »

theaussiefloydian wrote: Mon Jun 12, 2017 9:49 pm 'Terminal Frost' is a great instrumental track which actually evokes a lot of emotion in me. Not gonna lie, it sounds more like the feeling of flight than 'Learning to Fly' does. Gorgeous work. 4.5/5
Funny how that four note hook could be so effective. Actually, though David appears to have said that Rick wasn't at his best in the recordings and that he and Nick didn't play much, that piano hook WAS played by Rick according to the song's credits on Wikipedia.
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by dbeamgeek »

What is the "flame"-like symbol used throughout the Momentary marketing? It's on the album cover by the title.
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by twcc »

^^^
I've not read it anywhere, but my personal feeling was that it was some sort of reference to phoenix, flames and a rising from the dead type symbol, the titles and lyrics also hint at this... :roll:
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by space triangle »

As I see it the 'flame' symbol symbolizes the phrase 'burn one's bridges' - “alienate former friends”. It could also refer to the very bad relationship between Roger and the other three PF members at the time. The 'flame' reminds me of the song 'Burning Bridges'(OBC) as well, that also talks about broken relationships between people/frends.
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by DarkSideFreak »

dbeamgeek wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 7:01 pm What is the "flame"-like symbol used throughout the Momentary marketing? It's on the album cover by the title.
It's fire, the opposite of water(s) :D
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Re: Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Post by cigar73 »

So what’s everyone’s thoughts on the remixed “Later Years” version of AMLOR?

It’s still not the best and it’s still not really PF but the removal of all the horrible 80s adornments have massively improved it IMHO.

Strangely enough it was, along with the Wall, the album that got me into Floyd but quickly became my least favourite.
Last edited by cigar73 on Sun Oct 11, 2020 6:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.