A Momentary Lapse of Reason

I don't care if A Momentary Lapse of Reason is basically a Gilmour solo album made by his backup band. I don't care that it's undeniably 80s apartment rock. I don't care that it's just songs. I don't care that it's more like a midi programmed performance by the animatronic Chuck E Cheese band than a Pink Floyd album.

I care that it's Pink Floyd again. Richard is there. He only added some background chord filler, and he's not an official corporate member of Pink Floyd, but $11,000 a week is a ridiculous amount of money, so who cares?

We think of these bands as just some dudes making music, but they aren't. They are executives with a board of directors, sub-managers, staff, phone calls, and business meetings (probably less formal than where you work, but identical in the legal sense). Roger quit the band, and he didn't want to hang out any more, but he still has his share of the business and he's "Director of Pink Floyd Music." He can object to what Pink Floyd does and it matters.

Also, we live in digital recording nirvana. They just got MIDI, but they are still making the album with tape. Want to tweak the phaser settings? You have to re-dub that part, put it back in the mix, and listen to how it sounds. Tape operator was an actual full time job, because someone had to physically operate tape recorders and itemize the recordings and literally do everything by hand. After the recordings are done they dump it into a digital machine to play around, but it's still a physical machine with buttons and knobs and the ability to permanently delete a month's work by setting your beer bottle in the wrong place or tripping over an extension chord. The concept of "undo" doesn't exist yet.

Tack on lawsuits and label execs saying "this isn't Pink Floydy enough," and Roger spying on them, and there's some serious stress involved. They can't fail, or it really is the end. No grand concept or story, no political pomposity, songs that people right now will like and that most of our fanbase will tolerate. The three remaining members of Pink Floyd wanted to make an album, and this is what they made.

Learning to Fly was almost certainly the first Pink Floyd song i ever heard when i was 7 or 8 because it was Pink Floyd's radio single. I love it. Yes, the album itself is undeniably 80s dad-rock, but it's not Bowie's sellout 80s pop, it's rock.

More importantly, it's a u-turn back into the sunlight 'cause Roger's turn to the darkside left a nasty aftertaste in everyone's mouth. No more turning away. Keep your eyes on the skies, and help each other out. We can't make the war machine stop grinding if we're constantly fighting each other. Take the best of what the people in your life have to offer, and keep learning to fly. I can't think of a more relavant message, dinosaurs of dad-rock or no.

You know what seals the deal? What's been missing from the last few albums? The Noir. That feeling that something isn't right, but you can't quite name it, and you won't see it until it jumps out and tries to bite you. That sound that whispers "sabotage," and tells you to be wary. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and we need to sniff and snuff it out. Whether it comes from the real life stress of making it, or from the natural melding of minds, or if it's simply a tonal quality that just plain sounds good, it's back on this album, and it's what makes Pink Floyd awesome in my head.

The Division Bell