A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON

Roger Waters left Pink Floyd at the peak of its popularity. Rick Wright also left, though he was roped back in to contribute a little to this album. After teh last few Waters-dominated albums, Gilmour now had to assume control of what is certainly the most commercailly successful prog band in history. To aid this daunting task, he recruited various musicians and songwriters to prove that Floyd could surivive without its lyricist, considered to be one of the best of all time. He got some impressive names, chief of which are probably Tony Levin and Carmine Appice, but he just couldn't pull it off. He's really the only member of Pink Floyd contributing to this record. Nick is there, though his parts are more often than not given to others. Rick showed up, but conributed nothing and barely played his instrument.

There are a few positive tracks that keep this from being a total mess. Learning To Fly and One the Turning Away are strong, and Sorrow is the best post-Waters tune bar none. It has the strongest lyrics on the album and the guitar solo is one of Gilmour's best, and that's saying something.

In the end, Lapse has a few strong tracks that can't hope to match the power of 70s Floyd. For the resulting tour, Nick and Rick would return to the fold and things looked brighter for the band, and 1994 Division Bell was quite good. This album is for devoted Floydians only.