Pink Floyd fans have discussed the reason people “hate” one of their later albums so much, and believe the “lack of theme” could be a problem.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason marked the first album without bass player and writer Roger Waters, who left Pink Floyd in 1985. Two years later and the band released A Momentary Lapse of Reason, five years after previous studio album The Final Cut, which also marked the final appearance of Waters on a studio release from the band. But fans who posted to the Pink Floyd subreddit are trying to figure out “why people hate A Momentary Lapse of Reason so much”. One fan writes: “I hear how people often say that this is an album with only three good songs. But I started to love this album because of its dark and melancholic sound. What is the reason for people often taking it as a bad album.”
Theories have since been brought out by fans of the album, and those who consider it a lesser release in the Pink Floyd discography. One user wrote: “It has its flaws: lack of a theme, pointless tracks, some don’t like the 1980s sound it has, lyrically it’s not as good as previous albums. Personally, I like it though, I’ve listened to its songs many times.”
Another user replied: “The 80s sound is what I mostly don’t like. I listened to it a lot as a teenager when I first started listening to Pink Floyd but now I don’t think I have one song off the album on any of my playlists.” A third added: “For me, it’s largely the 80s production that marred many other 70s prog acts. Hate is a strong word though, I just don’t listen to it often.”
Not everyone saw the problems as the sound or style of the album, but in the personnel on the album. One user writes: “I could be mistaken but I thought it was said that David started this as a solo project first then evolved into a Pink Floyd album. I was thrilled when it came out and bought several copies for my friends. Yes, it has an 80s sound but it was also fitting for the time.
“Personally, I enjoy this album and The Division Bell. I’m a Pink Floyd fan of all their albums. Sid, Roger, David, Nick and Rick are all great writers, musicians and singers in the band and solos. Once a fan, always a fan.”
Production of the album was marred by legal issues of the time, with rights to who could use the Pink Floyd name left unresolved until months after the album released. It also marked the return of keyboardist Richard Wright, who had been sacked by Waters during the recording of The Wall in 1979. David Gilmour, who would lead Pink Floyd until their final show in October 1994, said he would fight the decision at the time.
He told The Sunday Times: “Roger is a dog in the manger and I’m going to fight him, no one else has claimed Pink Floyd was entirely them. Anybody who does is extremely arrogant.”
Fans of the band believe A Momentary Lapse of Reason is, ultimately, fine. One user writes: “I know that people tend to hate this album for a lot of reasons, and I get it. I’ll be the first to say that this sounds more like a solo effort from David than it does a Pink Floyd album. I wanted to hate it when it first came out.
“I was barely a teenager at the time, and back then, I was a lot less forgiving of bands that did anything different than what I was used to. I still bought it, though, and once I listened to it all the way through, I fell in love. In a way, I think this album needed to happen in the post-Waters era because as awesome as The Wall is on every level, and as political and bitter as The Final Cut is, this was just an album of good tunes and nothing more. I’m not shitting on the Waters era. I just think it would have been worse if they’d tried too hard to replicate earlier works.”
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