A Momentary Lapse of Reason

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

A Momentary Lapse of Reason

A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd are an English Rock music band who initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock and space rock music, and later, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music....
's 1987 album

Album

An album or record album is a collection of related Sound recording and reproduction or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites....
, the band's first release after the departure of Roger Waters

Roger Waters

George Roger Waters is an England rock music musician. He is best known as the bass guitar player and one of the main songwriters in the English rock band Pink Floyd from 1964 to 1985....
from the band in 1985. The album reached #3 on both the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
and UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
charts. It was released in the UK and the rest of Europe on EMI

EMI

The EMI Group is a United Kingdom music company comprising the major record label EMI Music ? which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom ? and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York City....
and on Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label founded in 1888.Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound, being the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders....
for the rest of the world.

r Roger Waters

Roger Waters

George Roger Waters is an England rock music musician. He is best known as the bass guitar player and one of the main songwriters in the English rock band Pink Floyd from 1964 to 1985....
had declared Pink Floyd ended in 1985, David Gilmour

David Gilmour

David Jon Gilmour Order of the British Empire , is an England musician, best known as the guitarist, lead singer, and one of the main songwriters in the band Pink Floyd....
attempted to continue the band together with Nick Mason

Nick Mason

Discussion

Ask a question about 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason'

Start a new discussion about 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Album

Roger Waters

United States

United Kingdom

EMI

Columbia Records

Background

After Roger Waters

Roger Waters

George Roger Waters is an England rock music musician. He is best known as the bass guitar player and one of the main songwriters in the English rock band Pink Floyd from 1964 to 1985....
had declared Pink Floyd ended in 1985, David Gilmour

David Gilmour

Nick Mason

Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason is the drummer for Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1964. He also competes in auto racing events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans....
. A bitter dispute with Waters ensued, but Gilmour and Mason eventually settled out of court for the legal right to continue using the name Pink Floyd. In exchange, Waters dissolved his former management partnership with Steve O'Rourke

Steve O'Rourke

Steve O'Rourke was born in Willesden, London, England. He was well known for being Music management of the highly influential rock band Pink Floyd after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968 until his death....
and gained exclusive rights to some traditional Pink Floyd imagery, including the original flying pig

Pink Floyd pigs

Pigs are heavily featured in the artwork and stage shows of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd.Inflatable Pink Floyd pigs are one of the staple Theatrical propertys of their live shows....
design, almost all of The Wall
The Wall

The Wall is a rock opera presented as a double album by the England progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in late 1979. It was subsequently performed live, with elaborate theatrical effects, and made into Pink Floyd The Wall ....
concept and everything to do with The Final Cut
The Final Cut (album)

The Final Cut is a rock album by Pink Floyd recorded at various studios in the United Kingdom from July to December 1982. It is the last Pink Floyd studio album to feature the band's bass guitar and primary songwriter Roger Waters....
. Richard Wright

Richard Wright (musician)

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental performers or vocalists who are available for hire for live performances or recording sessions, as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical ensemble or who have acquired fame in their own right as bandleaders....
.

The recording sessions started in October 1986 as a new David Gilmour project. Gilmour revealed on the Shine On
Shine On (Pink Floyd)

Shine On is a nine compact disc box set by Pink Floyd which was released in 1992 to coincide with Pink Floyd's 25th anniversary as a recording and touring band....
and A Momentary Lapse of Reason episodes of In the Studio with Redbeard
In the Studio with Redbeard

In the Studio with Redbeard is a North American radio program, produced and hosted by Dallas, Texas based rock and roll disc jockey Redbeard....
that it was almost his third solo album as the material initially sounded too weak to be a Pink Floyd album. He then went on to say that by Christmas of 1986 that he had enough confidence to turn the album into a Pink Floyd project.

The music press responded with mostly negative reviews of the album (though Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
claimed it portended "a Floyd with a future"), despite its heavy airplay rotation on video and radio music stations. Many fans regard this album a David Gilmour effort, rather than an actual Pink Floyd album. The allmusic review refers to it as a "Gilmour solo album in all but name". Waters himself described it as "a pretty fair forgery or a good copy" of a Pink Floyd record; his most generous appraisal was that the album contained "a few bright moments when I heard something and thought, 'Well, maybe I'd have done something with that'." But Waters also commented that to him, Pink Floyd no longer existed.

Recording

The album was performed largely by David Gilmour and several session musicians. The most famous of these was Tony Levin

Tony Levin

Tony Levin is an American bass guitarist.Levin is best-known for his work with progressive rock pioneers King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. Has also been a member of Bruford Levin Upper Extremities, Liquid Tension Experiment and leads his own Tony Levin Band....
(of Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel

Peter Brian Gabriel is a Grammy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated England musician and songwriter. He first rose to fame as the lead vocals and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis ....
and King Crimson

King Crimson

King Crimson are an English progressive rock band founded by guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Michael Giles in 1969.They have typically been categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, although they incorporate diverse influences ranging from jazz, European classical music and experimental music to psychedelic music, New Wave mu...
fame), who played bass on most of the tracks. Nick Mason felt he was out of practice on drums, and thus many of the percussion parts were either programmed or delegated to others. For example, Carmine Appice

Carmine Appice

Carmine Appice is an American rock drummer of Italian ancestry. He is sibling to Vinny Appice, who also plays drums professionally. He was influenced by the jazz drumming of Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa had a classical music training....
played drums on "The Dogs of War" while Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner is a studio musician drummer who has contributed to the work of many well-known musician....
played on "On the Turning Away" and "One Slip". The drum machine, used on "Sorrow", was programmed by Gilmour.

Session keyboardist Jon Carin

Jon Carin

Jon Carin is a Record producer, artist and musician best known for his association with Pink Floyd, and more specifically its guitarist David Gilmour and former member Roger Waters over the last twenty three years....
, whom Gilmour met and played with in Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry

Bryan Ferry is an English singer, musician, songwriter and occasional actor famed for his suave visual and vocal style. Ferry came to public prominence in the 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Roxy Music, which enjoyed a highly successful career with three albums and ten single s entering the Top 40 charts in the United Ki...
's band at Live Aid

Live Aid

Live Aid was a multi-venue rock music concert held on . The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia....
, went on to collaborate with both Pink Floyd and Roger Waters

Roger Waters

George Roger Waters is an England rock music musician. He is best known as the bass guitar player and one of the main songwriters in the English rock band Pink Floyd from 1964 to 1985....
on subsequent albums and tours. Pink Floyd's original keyboardist Richard Wright

Richard Wright (musician)

Richard William "Rick" Wright was an English piano, keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter, best known for his career with Pink Floyd. Wright's richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound....
arrived during the sessions, but did not officially rejoin the band due to concerns about his severance contract with Waters (the initial album lists Pink Floyd as consisting of only Gilmour and Mason; however, later re-releases add his name). Wright can be heard playing on a few tracks, notably "Sorrow

Sorrow (Pink Floyd song)

"Sorrow" is the final track from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason although it was the seventh song from the album performed in the Momentary Lapse set of the 1987/88/89/90 tours....
", which features his background vocals. Most other keyboard parts on the album were played by Carin, Gilmour or Ezrin.

The recording heard in the middle of "Learning to Fly" is of Mason talking to an air traffic control

Air traffic control

Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based Air traffic controller who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other support for pilots when able....
tower in his private aircraft (both he and Gilmour became enthusiastic pilots after conquering their mutual fear of flying

Fear of flying

Fear of flying is a fear of being on a plane while in flight. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia or pteromechanophobia....
).

A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Pink Floyd's first fully digital recording

Digital recording

In digital recording, the analog recording of video or sound is converted into a stream of discrete numbers, representing the changes in air pressure or Color and luminance values through time; thus making an abstract template for the original sound or moving image....
; however, the acoustic drums and bass guitar tracks were recorded on analogue equipment.

Cover artwork

The cover shows 700 hospital beds placed on Saunton Sands, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large Counties of England in South West England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county but often indicating a shire....
. This effect was not achieved with trick photography

Special effect

The illusions used in the film, television, theater, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
; a team actually hauled the wrought iron

Wrought iron

Wrought iron is commercially pure iron. In contrast to steel, it has a very low carbon content. It is a fibrous material due to the slag Inclusion ....
beds over three hours from London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
to Devon and arranged them as seen on the finished design. When the team realised that the shoot would take more than one day, a single bed was left on the beach to see if the sea would have any effect on it over night. When they returned the following morning, the bed was nowhere to be found. Long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson

Storm Thorgerson

Storm Thorgerson is an English graphic designer....
produced the artwork.

The official Storm Thorgerson

Storm Thorgerson

Storm Thorgerson is an English graphic designer....
website actually covers a version of this story:

700, yes 700, wrought iron hospital beds separately made up and positioned on the beach. Madness to do it at all, but we had in fact to do it twice cos it rained suddenly the first time, dank grey dizzle, and we couldn't see the distant half of the beds.

This was the first Pink Floyd studio album since Animals
Animals (album)

Animals is a concept album by England progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 23 January 1977 in the United Kingdom and on 2 February 1977 in the United States....
to feature his work (not counting a design for the compilation album A Collection of Great Dance Songs
A Collection of Great Dance Songs

A Collection of Great Dance Songs is a compilation album by Pink Floyd released on 23 November 1981 on Harvest/EMI in the UK and Columbia Records in the U.S....
in 1981).

Inside the gatefold sleeve was a portrait of David Gilmour and Nick Mason, the first time that the members of Pink Floyd had been pictured on an album cover since 1971's Meddle
Meddle

Meddle is an album by England progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It was recorded at various studios in between the band's Pink Floyd live performances commitments from January to August 1971....
(not counting a poster of the band members on stage that came with vinyl copies of The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon

The Dark Side of the Moon is a concept album by the England progressive rock Musical ensemble Pink Floyd. It was released on 17 March 1973 in the United States and 24 March 1973 in the United Kingdom....
in 1973)

The vinyl copies had two picture labels. Side one depicted a black and white photo of a man rowing his boat. Side two depicted the beds from the front cover on a beach with the dogs of war running whilst a man is sitting on a bed and a female maid is standing up.

If you look closely, there is a person flying a Hang Glider, probably a reference to Learning to Fly

Learning to Fly (song)

"Learning to Fly" is the second song on Pink Floyd's album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The first single released from the album, it reached #70 on the Billboard Chart and #1 on Mainstream Rock Tracks....
.

Reissues and remastering

A re-mastered CD

Compact Disc

A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
was released in the early 1990s for Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, and in 1997 for the rest of the world. Another remastered version was released in the U.S. and Canada in October 2005 due to Columbia Records

Columbia Records

James Guthrie (record producer)

James K.A. Guthrie is a United Kingdom recording engineer and record producer best known for his work with the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, having served as a producer and engineer for the band since 1978....
and Joel Plante supplied the label with new masters, and thus the mastering credit was changed from Doug Sax to Guthrie and Plante. Also, a number of minor changes have been noted in the credits and legal text for this latest release, mostly reflecting changes in the band's business situation since 1997 (including the death of their manager Steve O'Rourke

Steve O'Rourke

Steve O'Rourke was born in Willesden, London, England. He was well known for being Music management of the highly influential rock band Pink Floyd after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968 until his death....
).

It is also the only one of the post-Waters Pink Floyd albums to have a remastered EMI version. The Columbia version is now out of print and will be re-released by Capitol/EMI in the not too distant future.

Track listing

All lead vocals performed by David Gilmour

David Gilmour

David Jon Gilmour Order of the British Empire , is an England musician, best known as the guitarist, lead singer, and one of the main songwriters in the band Pink Floyd....
except where noted.

"Signs of Life
Signs of Life (Pink Floyd song)

"Signs of Life" is the opening song on A Momentary Lapse of Reason, the first Pink Floyd album headed by David Gilmour, in the absence of ex-member Roger Waters....
" (instrumental, spoken word by Nick Mason
Nick Mason

Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason is the drummer for Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1964. He also competes in auto racing events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans....
) (David Gilmour
David Gilmour

David Jon Gilmour Order of the British Empire , is an England musician, best known as the guitarist, lead singer, and one of the main songwriters in the band Pink Floyd....
, Bob Ezrin
Bob Ezrin

Bob Ezrin is a musician and record producer....
) – 4:24
"Learning to Fly
Learning to Fly (song)

"Learning to Fly" is the second song on Pink Floyd's album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The first single released from the album, it reached #70 on the Billboard Chart and #1 on Mainstream Rock Tracks....
" (Gilmour, Anthony Moore
Anthony Moore

Anthony Moore is a United Kingdom experimental music composer, performer and producer. He was a founding member of the band Slapp Happy, worked with Henry Cow and has made a number of solo albums, including Flying Doesn't Help and World Service ....
, Ezrin, Jon Carin
Jon Carin

Jon Carin is a Record producer, artist and musician best known for his association with Pink Floyd, and more specifically its guitarist David Gilmour and former member Roger Waters over the last twenty three years....
) – 4:53
"The Dogs of War" (Gilmour, Moore) – 6:05
"One Slip
One Slip

"One Slip" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The album gets its title from a line of this song's lyrics....
" (Gilmour, Phil Manzanera
Phil Manzanera

Phil Manzanera is a musician and record producer. He was the lead guitarist with Roxy Music. In 2006 Manzanera co-produced David Gilmour's album On An Island and played in Gilmour's band for tours in Europe and North America....
) – 5:10
"On the Turning Away
On the Turning Away

"On the Turning Away" is a power ballad from Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Released as the second single from the album, it reached #1 on Mainstream Rock Tracks....
" (Gilmour, Moore) – 5:42
"Yet Another Movie
Yet Another Movie

"Yet Another Movie" is the sixth track, along with "Round and Around" on Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. It features soundbites from the film, Casablanca ....
" (Gilmour, Patrick Leonard
Patrick Leonard

Patrick Raymond Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist and music producer, known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna on many different recordings....
) / "Round and Around
Round and Around

"Round and Around" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. It shares the sixth track with "Yet Another Movie" and is a repetitive instrumental in Time signature#Complex time signatures It was released as a separate track on the live album Delicate Sound of Thunder....
" (Gilmour) – 7:28
"A New Machine (Part 1)
A New Machine

"A New Machine", parts 1 and 2 are songs from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. They serve as bookends to the instrumental track Terminal Frost, and feature David Gilmour's voice, electrically distorted, through a Vocoder and a rising synth note....
" (Gilmour) – 1:46
"Terminal Frost
Terminal Frost

"Terminal Frost" is an instrumental from Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. As with both parts of "A New Machine", a live version was never officially released by the band....
" (Gilmour) – 6:17
"A New Machine (Part 2)
A New Machine

"A New Machine", parts 1 and 2 are songs from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. They serve as bookends to the instrumental track Terminal Frost, and feature David Gilmour's voice, electrically distorted, through a Vocoder and a rising synth note....
" (Gilmour) – 0:38
"Sorrow
Sorrow (Pink Floyd song)

"Sorrow" is the final track from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason although it was the seventh song from the album performed in the Momentary Lapse set of the 1987/88/89/90 tours....
" (Gilmour) – 8:46

Live performances for the 1987–89 tours

"Signs of Life
Signs of Life (Pink Floyd song)

"Signs of Life" is the opening song on A Momentary Lapse of Reason, the first Pink Floyd album headed by David Gilmour, in the absence of ex-member Roger Waters....
" (performed after "Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Shine On You Crazy Diamond

"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a nine-part Pink Floyd composition with lyrics written by Roger Waters in tribute to former band member Syd Barrett and music written by Waters, Richard Wright , and David Gilmour....
(Parts 1–5)" or "Echoes
Echoes (Pink Floyd song)

"Echoes" is a song by Pink Floyd, including lengthy instrumental passages, sound effects, and musical improvisation. Written by all four members of the group , "Echoes" provides the extended finale to Pink Floyd's album Meddle....
")
"Learning to Fly
Learning to Fly (song)

"Learning to Fly" is the second song on Pink Floyd's album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The first single released from the album, it reached #70 on the Billboard Chart and #1 on Mainstream Rock Tracks....
"
"Yet Another Movie
Yet Another Movie

"Yet Another Movie" is the sixth track, along with "Round and Around" on Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. It features soundbites from the film, Casablanca ....
"
"Round and Around
Round and Around

"Round and Around" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. It shares the sixth track with "Yet Another Movie" and is a repetitive instrumental in Time signature#Complex time signatures It was released as a separate track on the live album Delicate Sound of Thunder....
"
"A New Machine (Part 1)
A New Machine

"A New Machine", parts 1 and 2 are songs from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. They serve as bookends to the instrumental track Terminal Frost, and feature David Gilmour's voice, electrically distorted, through a Vocoder and a rising synth note....
"
"Terminal Frost
Terminal Frost

"Terminal Frost" is an instrumental from Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. As with both parts of "A New Machine", a live version was never officially released by the band....
"
"A New Machine (Part 2)
A New Machine

"A New Machine", parts 1 and 2 are songs from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. They serve as bookends to the instrumental track Terminal Frost, and feature David Gilmour's voice, electrically distorted, through a Vocoder and a rising synth note....
"

The above 3 tracks were sometimes left out of the set.

"Sorrow
Sorrow (Pink Floyd song)

"Sorrow" is the final track from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason although it was the seventh song from the album performed in the Momentary Lapse set of the 1987/88/89/90 tours....
"
"The Dogs of War"
"On the Turning Away
On the Turning Away

"On the Turning Away" is a power ballad from Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Released as the second single from the album, it reached #1 on Mainstream Rock Tracks....
" (ended the first half of the show)
"One Slip
One Slip

"One Slip" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1987 in music album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The album gets its title from a line of this song's lyrics....
" (was the first encore on the 1987/88/89 tour)

The Momentary Lapse Tour, according to Tim Renwick

Tim Renwick

Timothy John Pearson 'Tim' Renwick is anEngland guitarist....
, was only supposed to last 11 weeks. Originally the band would play a show at Wembley Stadium, tour the United States Of America, and finish back again at Wembley, much like what Roger Waters

Roger Waters

Radio K.A.O.S.

Radio K.A.O.S. is a 1987 concept album/rock opera by former Pink Floyd bass guitarist and songwriter Roger Waters. It is his second solo album....
tour. The tour began on 9 September 1987 at Lansdowne Park

Lansdowne Park

Lansdowne Park is a historic sports, exhibition and entertainment facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by the City of Ottawa. It is located along Bank Street and is adjacent to the Rideau Canal, in central Ottawa....
Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the Capital of Canada. The city has population of 812,000, the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population municipality in the country and second largest in Ontario....
, Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, and finished at BC Place in Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is the largest city in British Columbia and the second largest metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest region....
, Canada

Canada

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
performance at Western Springs

Western Springs

Western Springs is a residential suburb and park in the west of the city of Auckland in the north of New Zealand. It is located four kilometres to the west of the city centre, situated to the north of New Zealand State Highway network....
in Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban areas of New Zealand with over 1.3 million residents, percent of the country's population....
, New Zealand on 23 January 1988 and finished at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are Borough s of New York City, and two of which are mainly suburban....
, on 23 August 1988. In the spring and summer of 1989, the band did another European leg of the tour, dubbing it Another Lapse. During the tour, the band played two consecutive nights in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the Dean Smith Center

Dean Smith Center

The Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center, usually called simply the Smith Center and popularly referred to as the Dean Dome is a multi-purpose arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina....
, where one of the men who the band was named for, Floyd Council

Floyd Council

Floyd Council was an United States blues guitarist and singer. He became a well-known practitioner of the Piedmont blues sound from that area, popular throughout the southeastern region of the US in the 1930s....
was born.

Personnel

David Gilmour
David Gilmour

David Jon Gilmour Order of the British Empire , is an England musician, best known as the guitarist, lead singer, and one of the main songwriters in the band Pink Floyd....
– vocals
Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the human voice, which is often contrasted with regular speech. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist....
, guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
s, keyboards
Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organ s as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic musical instrument....
, sequencers
Nick Mason
Nick Mason

Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason is the drummer for Pink Floyd. He has been the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1964. He also competes in auto racing events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans....
– drums
Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
, percussion
Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration....
, drum machine
Drum machine

A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums and/or other percussion instruments. Drum machines are very useful instruments for a wide variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music....
, sound effects

Additional personnel

Richard Wright
Richard Wright (musician)

Richard William "Rick" Wright was an English piano, keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter, best known for his career with Pink Floyd. Wright's richly textured keyboard layers were a vital ingredient and a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound....
– keyboards
Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organ s as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic musical instrument....
, backing vocals
Backing vocalist

A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. In some cases, a backing singer may sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry....
Tony Levin
Tony Levin

Tony Levin is an American bass guitarist.Levin is best-known for his work with progressive rock pioneers King Crimson and Peter Gabriel. Has also been a member of Bruford Levin Upper Extremities, Liquid Tension Experiment and leads his own Tony Levin Band....
– bass guitar
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
, Chapman Stick
Chapman Stick

The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. He set out to create an instrument designed for the "Free Hands" tapping method of both hands parallel to the frets that he invented in 1969....
Bob Ezrin
Bob Ezrin

Bob Ezrin is a musician and record producer....
– keyboards, percussion, sequencers
Carmine Appice
Carmine Appice

Carmine Appice is an American rock drummer of Italian ancestry. He is sibling to Vinny Appice, who also plays drums professionally. He was influenced by the jazz drumming of Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa had a classical music training....
– drums
Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner is a studio musician drummer who has contributed to the work of many well-known musician....
– drums
Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
Jon Carin
Jon Carin

Jon Carin is a Record producer, artist and musician best known for his association with Pink Floyd, and more specifically its guitarist David Gilmour and former member Roger Waters over the last twenty three years....
– keyboards
Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organ s as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic musical instrument....
Tom Scott
Tom Scott (musician)

Tom Scott is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, Conducting and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble L.A. Express....
– alto and soprano saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
s
Scott Page
Scott Page

Scott Page is a session musician, and is frequently hired to perform with bands on Concert tour. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, saxophone, flute and other instruments....
– tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone

The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the Alto saxophone, is the most common size of saxophone....
Patrick Leonard
Patrick Leonard

Patrick Raymond Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist and music producer, known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna on many different recordings....
– synthesizer
Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequency....
s
Bill Payne
Bill Payne

Bill Payne is a founding member of critically acclaimed United States rock and roll band , Little Feat. He is considered to be one of the finest American piano rock and blues musicians by many other piano rock musicians, including Sir Elton John....
– Hammond organ
Hammond organ

The Hammond organ is an electronic organ which was invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to Church as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s, it became a standard keyboard instrument for jazz, blues, Rock and r...
Michael Landau
Michael Landau

Michael Landau is a session musician and guitarist who has played on albums since the early 1980s with artists as varied as Seal , Steve Perry , Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona, James Taylor, Helen Watson , Wilson Phillips, Amy Holland, Joni Mitchell, Richard Marx, Miles Davis and Vasco Rossi....
– backing guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
John Helliwell
John Helliwell

John Helliwell is a United Kingdom musician and the saxophonist, and occasional keyboardist for the rock band, Supertramp....
– saxophone
Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-Bore transposing instrument musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a Single-reed instrument mouthpiece similar to the clarinet....
(mistakenly credited as John Halliwell)
Darlene Koldenhaven, Carmen Twillie
Carmen Twillie

Carmen Twillie Ambar is an American academic, lawyer, politician. In 2002, she became the ninth woman to lead Douglass College and the youngest dean in its history....
, Phyllis St. James, Donnie Gerrard – backing vocals
Backing vocalist

A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. In some cases, a backing singer may sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry....
Spherical sound by: Ken Caillat
Ken Caillat

Ken Caillat is a record producer, probably best known for producing the Rumours, Tusk , Mirage , Live, and The Chain Box Set albums of Fleetwood Mac....
, Tom Jones, Sarah Nean Bruce
Sarah Nean Bruce

Sarah Nean Bruce is an United States film & television movie producer, director and writer. She was born in Seattle, Washington and resides in Hollywood, California....
Recorded by: Guy Charbonneau
Guy Charbonneau

Guy Charbonneau, Queen's Privy Council for Canada was the longest serving Speaker of the Canadian Senate, serving from 1984 to 1993. During his tenure, amendments to the Standing Orders of the Canadian Senate extended the powers of the Speaker....
, Le Mobile, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
Additional sound effects by: Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (recording engineer)

Andrew Jackson is a British recording engineer famous for his work with the British band Pink Floyd. He first helped out on the film soundtrack to Pink Floyd The Wall in 1982....
General technical and musical instrument supervision: Phil Taylor
Mastered at: Mastering Lab & Precision Lacquer
Pink Floyd management: Steve O'Rourke
Steve O'Rourke

Steve O'Rourke was born in Willesden, London, England. He was well known for being Music management of the highly influential rock band Pink Floyd after the departure of Syd Barrett in 1968 until his death....
, EMKA Productions, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....

Sales certifications (U.S.)

The R.I.A.A. have certified the album:

Gold and Platinum (in November 1987)
Double Platinum (in January 1988)
Triple Platinum (in February 1992)
Quadruple Platinum (in August 2001)

Single releases

"Learning to Fly (edit)"/"Terminal Frost" – Columbia 38-07363; released 15 September 1987
"On the Turning Away"/"Run Like Hell (Live)" – Columbia 38-07660; released 24 November 1987
"The Dogs of War"; April, 1988 (US radio only)
"One Slip"/"Terminal Frost"; June 1988

Chart positions

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1987	UK album chart	3
1987	The Billboard 200	3
1987	Billboard CD Charts	1
1987	Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula.... 's album chart	2

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1987	"Learning to Fly"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
1987	"Learning to Fly"	The Billboard Hot 100	70
1987	"Learning to Fly"	UK Singles Charts	55
1987	"On the Turning Away"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
1988	"The Dogs of War"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	10
1988	"One Slip"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	5
1988	"Sorrow"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	36

Quotations

Release of the LP

A Momentary Lapse of Reason was released on the same day in the UK as the LPs Bad
Bad (album)

Bad is the seventh album by Michael Jackson. It was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic Records. The record was released nearly five years after his last studio album Thriller ....
by Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson is an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group....
and Actually
Actually (album)

Actually is the third album, the second of entirely new music, by the United Kingdom electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. It was first released in 1987....
by The Pet Shop Boys, both of which topped it at the first and second positions in the following week's album charts. It debuted at No. 3 and never rose any higher although sales remained brisk helped by heavy airplay, the overall welcome reunion of Pink Floyd, and the world tour which lasted over a year.

The album debuted at #43 on the Billboard 200 and, like in the UK, rose to No. 3 in the United States as Michael Jackson's Bad and Whitesnake

Whitesnake

Whitesnake is an England hard rock band, founded in 1977 by David Coverdale . The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple and by the mid eighties Whitesnake were writing in a melodic hard rock style....
's Whitesnake '87
Whitesnake (album)

Whitesnake is the eighth studio album by British hard rock band of the same name , released in 1987. The album was a major crossover hit and one of the top-selling albums in the glam metal genre, eventually selling over eight million copies in the United States alone ....
occupied the top two spots respectively at numbers 1 and 2. The album remained on the US charts for over a year.