A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON

More like a 2.5? 2.6? 2.7 if I wanted to be really generous. This was the first Floyd album to come out in 6 or 7 years, picking up the shattered pieces left from the much- lamented Final Cut, in Roger's wake of destruction. Floyd now had only three members of the original five, Barret included. David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Rick Wright. Rick had been the first to leave, just in time for The Final Cut. It took some convincing, but he was back. Floyd now had a repetitive, synth-induced, 80s feel, a little harder, a little raunchier. And they had a horrible addiction to the WE-NEED-A-LONG-GUITAR-SOLO-FOR NEARLY-ALL-SONGS-syndrome. Which can be so annoying.

Signs of life: All instrumental, a little synth intro with sounds of paddles, well, paddling, and a few water drips. Then a short synth bit that directly comes from the last track, Sorrow. One of the few tracks without long, overbearing, drawn-out guitar!

Learning to Fly: Easily the best song of the album. The drum beat is good, the lyrics interesting, the main theme good. A guitar riff that mostly continues all the way through, with the same drum beat, some organ too- doesn't necessarily sound like real Wright material, but it is him. It's a good song.

The Dogs of War: It took me a while to like this one. A few strings in a loop and some sort of orchestra-hit-like synth start up with some decent bursts of organ and, of course, a long drawn out guitar bit. Repetitive. The back-up singers are all good, some great saxophone too. Goes on a bit too long, like most of the songs on the album. It's good.

One slip: One slip is like many of the recent Floyd songs, same formula. Learning to Fly, One Slip. Sorrow, High Hopes, they're all fairly similar. It's one of the better songs, though. It's listenable, it's ok. Sort of catchy.

On the Turning Away: Even more long-drawn out guitar, but it starts out softly. Gilmour's singing is certainly good. But the song lacks any real quality, it's repetitive, soft sort of rock.

Yet Another Movie: More like yet another guitar solo, yet another boring song! Man, it sucks! It sounds like a soundtrack for Beverly Hills Cop, seriously! Yuck!

New Machine pt. 1: I hate this one. All it is is Gilmour's voice messed up with some voice- enhancer synth yelling about "It's only a lifetime, only a lifetime" over and over. Talk about grating on your nerves. I change the track right away!

Terminal Frost: Borrrrrrrrrring! Long, repetitive instrumental. Synths, guitar, all of it, over and over again!

New Machine pt.2: As if one wasn't enough!

Sorrow: A decent track, in the top 3 on the CD at least. Hard guitar in a distinctive riff starts up a relatively good, catchy tune. Sounds familiar? Signs of Life had a bit of this in it. Or it could be that every Gilmour track sounds exactly the same!

Well, it's a fix for any obsessive Floyd fan, and I'm definetly a Floyd fan. That's precisely why this gets a 2.5. Good enough for fans, not much else. That spark of it being decent is why the extra .5 is there.