A Momentary Lapse of Reason - Release and Reception

Release and Reception

... the remaining band members confounded pundits by extending their status as classic rock's most ponderous dinosaurs into the 1990s and beyond... Dave Gilmour gamely took on the Mantle of Conscience for topics ranging from the cold war ("The Dogs of War") to yuppie self-indulgence ("On the Turning Away"). And if this album sometimes evokes an uncomfortable feeling of a band on autopilot, it's one that can still turn out the likes of the anthemic "Learning to Fly" on cruise control.

I think it's very facile, but a quite clever forgery ... The songs are poor in general; the lyrics I can't quite believe. Gilmour's lyrics are very third-rate.

A Momentary Lapse of Reason was released in the UK and US on Monday 7 September 1987. It went straight to number three in both countries, held from the top spot by Michael Jackson's Bad, and Whitesnake's self-titled album. Although Gilmour initially viewed the album as a return to the band's best form, Wright would later disagree, admitting "Roger's criticisms are fair. It's not a band album at all."

The album is noticeably different in style and content from its predecessor, The Final Cut. Gilmour presented A Momentary Lapse as a return to the Floyd of older days, citing his belief that toward the end of Waters' tenure, lyrics were more important than music. Gilmour claimed that "The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here were so successful not just because of Roger's contributions, but also because there was a better balance between the music and the lyrics ". He also stated that with A Momentary Lapse, he had tried to restore the earlier, more successful balance between lyrics and music.

Q Magazine's view was that the album was primarily a Gilmour solo effort: "A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Gilmour's album to much the same degree that the previous four under Floyd's name were dominated by Waters", a view echoed by William Ruhlman of Allmusic.com, whose latter-day review refers to A Momentary Lapse as a "Gilmour solo album in all but name". The Toronto Star wrote "Something's missing here. This is, for all its lumbering weight, not a record that challenges and provokes as Pink Floyd should. A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, sorry to say, is mundane, predictable." The Village Voice reviewer Robert Christgau wrote: "In short, you'd hardly know the group's conceptmaster was gone—except that they put out noticeably fewer ideas." Sounds said the album was "back over the wall to where diamonds are crazy, moons have dark sides, and mothers have atom hearts".

A Momentary Lapse of Reason was certified Silver and Gold in the UK on 1 October 1987, and Gold and Platinum in the US on 9 November. It went 2× Platinum on 18 January the following year, 3× Platinum on 10 March 1992, and 4× Platinum on 16 August 2001, easily beating sales of the band's previous album, The Final Cut. The album was reissued in 1988 as a limited edition vinyl album, complete with posters, and a guaranteed ticket application for the upcoming UK leg of the band's UK concerts. The album was digitally remastered and re-released in 1994, and an anniversary edition was released in the US in 1997.