A Momentary Lapse of Reason - Background

Background

After the release of their 1983 album The Final Cut (viewed by some to be a de facto Roger Waters solo record), the three members of Pink Floyd worked on individual solo projects. In 1984 guitarist David Gilmour expressed some of his feelings about his relationship with bassist Waters on his second solo album, About Face. He finished touring in support of About Face just as Waters began travelling with his new solo album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking. Although both musicians had enlisted the aid of a range of successful performers, including—in Waters' case—Eric Clapton, each found that for their fans, the lure of a solo name was somewhat less enticing than that of Pink Floyd. Poor ticket sales forced Gilmour to cancel several dates, and critic David Fricke commented that Waters' show was "a petulant echo, a transparent attempt to prove that Roger Waters was Pink Floyd". After a six-month break, Waters returned to the US in March 1985, with a second tour. He did so without the support of CBS Records, which made no secret of the fact that what they really wanted was a new Pink Floyd album. Waters responded by calling the corporation "a Machine".

At that time, certainly, I just thought, I can't really see how we can make the next record or if we can it's a long time in the future, and it'll probably be more for, just because of feeling of some obligation that we ought to do it, rather than for any enthusiasm.

“ ” Nick Mason, In the Studio with Redbeard (1987)

Meanwhile, after drummer Nick Mason attended one of Waters' London performances in 1985, he admitted that he missed touring under the Pink Floyd banner. His visit coincided with the release in August that year of his second solo album Profiles. The album contained the nominal single, "Lie for a Lie", on which Gilmour sang. With a shared love of flying, the two were taking flight lessons, and would together later buy a De Havilland Devon aeroplane. Gilmour also busied himself with other collaborations, including a performance for Bryan Ferry at 1985's Live Aid concert. He also co-produced The Dream Academy's self-titled debut album.

Waters had hinted at his future during a 1982 interview for Rolling Stone, in which he mused: "I could work with another drummer and keyboard player very easily, and it's likely that at some point I will", but in December 1985 he announced that he had left the band, and that he believed that Pink Floyd was a "spent force". Gilmour saw matters differently; the guitarist refused to allow Pink Floyd to fade into history, and was intent on continuing with the band: "I told him before he left, 'If you go, man, we're carrying on. Make no bones about it, we would carry on.'" Waters' warning was stark: "You'll never fucking do it." He had written to EMI and Columbia declaring his intention to leave the group, and had asked them to release him from his contractual obligations. He had also dispensed with the services of Floyd manager Steve O'Rourke, and employed Peter Rudge to manage his affairs. This left Gilmour and Mason (in their view) free to continue with the Pink Floyd name.

They threatened me with the fact that we had a contract with CBS Records and that part of the contract could be construed to mean that we had a product commitment with CBS and if we didn't go on producing product, they could a) sue us and b) withhold royalties if we didn't make any more records. So they said, 'that's what the record company are going to do and the rest of the band are going to sue you for all their legal expenses and any loss of earnings because you're the one that's preventing the band from making any more records.' They forced me to resign from the band because, if I hadn't, the financial repercussions would have wiped me out completely.

“ ” Roger Waters, Uncut (June 2004), explaining why in 1985 he left the band

In Waters' absence, Gilmour had been recruiting an array of musicians for a new project. Some months previously keyboard player Jon Carin had jammed with Gilmour at his Hookend studio, where he composed the chord progression for what later became "Learning to Fly", and so he was invited onto the team. Gilmour invited Bob Ezrin (co-producer of 1979's The Wall) to work on his new project, to help consolidate what material had been written. The invitation came only a short time after the Canadian had turned down Waters' offer of a role on the development of his new solo album, Radio K.A.O.S., which Ezrin had been unable to do: "... far easier for Dave and I to do our version of a Floyd record." Ezrin arrived in England in the summer of 1986, for what Gilmour later described as "mucking about with a lot of demos". At this stage there was no firm commitment to a new Pink Floyd album, and publicly, Gilmour maintained that the new material might end up on a third solo album. CBS representative Stephen Ralbovsky had different expectations however; in a November 1986 meeting with Gilmour and Ezrin, the guitarist was left in no doubt as to his feelings: "This music doesn't sound a fucking thing like Pink Floyd". Gilmour later admitted that Waters' absence was a problem, and that the new project was difficult without his presence. Gilmour had experimented with various songwriters such as Eric Stewart and Roger McGough, but eventually settled on musician Anthony Moore, who was later credited as co-writer of "Learning to Fly" and "On the Turning Away". The idea of a concept album was ditched, and Gilmour settled instead for the more conventional approach of a track-list of songs not thematically linked. By the end of that year, he had decided to turn the new material into a Pink Floyd project.