CAN'T KEEP MY EYES
FROM THE CIRCLING SKY
TONGUE-TIED AND TWISTED
JUST AN EARTH-BOUND MISFIT, I
is the thirteenth
studio album
by the English
progressive rock band
released in the UK
on
September, 7th 1987
by EMI
and the
following day
in the US
by Columbia Records.
It was recorded
primarily on the
converted houseboat
Astoria,
belonging to
the guitarist,
David Gilmour.
was the first
Pink Floyd album
recorded without
the founding member
Roger Waters,
who departed in 1985.
The production was marred
by legal fights
with Waters
over the rights
to the Pink Floyd name,
which were not resolved
until several months
after release.
It also saw the return
of the keyboardist
and founding member
Richard Wright,
who was fired
by Waters
during the
recording of
The Wall
(1979).
Wright returned as
a session player.
Unlike most of
Pink Floyd's
studio records
from the preceding decade,
A Momentary Lapse of Reason
is not a concept album.
It includes
writing contributions
from outside songwriters,
following Gilmour's decision
to include material
once intended for his
third solo album.
The album was promoted
with three singles:
the double A-side
"Learning to Fly" / "Terminal Frost",
"On the Turning Away",
and
"One Slip".
A Momentary Lapse of Reason
received mixed reviews.
Critics praised the production
and instrumentation,
but criticised
Gilmour's songwriting,
and it was derided
by Waters.
It reached number three
in the UK and US,
and outsold
Pink Floyd's previous album,
The Final Cut
(1983).
It was supported by a
successful world tour
between 1987 and 1989,
including a
free performance
on a barge
on the
Grand Canal
in Venice, Italy.
Background
After the release of
Pink Floyd's
1983 studio album
The Final Cut,
viewed by some as a
de facto
solo record by
bassist and songwriter
Roger Waters,
the band members
worked on solo projects.
Guitarist
David Gilmour
expressed feelings about
his strained relationship
with Waters
on his second
solo studio album,
About Face
(1984),
and finished the
accompanying tour as
Waters began touring
to promote his debut
solo studio album,
The Pros and Cons
of Hitch Hiking.
Although both had enlisted
a range of
successful performers,
including in Waters' case
Eric Clapton,
their solo acts
attracted fewer fans
than Pink Floyd;
poor ticket sales
forced Gilmour
to cancel several concerts,
and critic David Fricke
felt that Waters' show was
"a petulant echo,
a transparent attempt
to prove that
Roger Waters
was Pink Floyd".
Waters returned to the US
in March 1985
with a second tour,
this time without the support
of CBS Records,
which had expressed
its preference for a
new Pink Floyd album;
Waters criticised
the corporation as
"a machine".
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