ON THE TURNING AWAY

'On The Turning Away' - Pink Floyd (Single)

'On The Turning Away' is a single from Pink Floyd's album 'A Momentary Lapse Of Reason'. With the band now dominated by the mellow voice and guitar tones of David Gilmour, it is arguable that the band had now become an extension of Floyd's guitarist's solo career. With that in mind- like most of Floyd's other material from this album- this song feels very much like a David Gilmour solo tune. It makes ample use of gospel choirs, is driven by Gilmour's distinctive and soaring voice, and leaves enough room for him to strut his bluesy guitar solos. Alas, as a result of David being the only one with real creative control at this point, the song feels somewhat one sided and lacks the dynamic that defined Floyd's best work. All the same, it is an uplifting tune that almost feels like a gospel affirmation, with no little credit going to the choir for that association. Although not necessarily catchy or even entirely intelligent a song, it is uplifting, and the emotional effect is more or less intact. All the same, it's not one of the band's better tracks.

Capping off the 'On The Turning Away' single is a live rendition of the famous song 'Run Like Hell', which is defined by its very distinctive guitar tone. Like usual, Pink Floyd does a very good job with the live performance, but especially due to the fact that there are so many other live recordings of this song available in the band's discography, it would be hard to recommend checking out this single for the b-side alone. Overall, a fairly decent single, but nothing special from a band that has seen much better days.

'On the turning away' is a single from "Momentary Lapse of Reason" which is not half as bad as some Floydians would have you believe. Granted, this album is no masterpiece and comes sandwiched in between some amazing Floyd material, namely "The Wall" and "Division Bell", however it is a pleasant well performed journey with some moments of grandeur. 'On the Turning Away' is innovative in places and perhaps more than anything typified the sound of the times, remembering that 1987 was a difficult year for prog bands. Many were wiped out due to the new wave influences so it is admirable that Pink Floyd were somehow able to blend in without selling out completely. The song is a slow melancholy piece that grew on me due to constant exposure on live DVDs.

On the flip side is a live version of the wonderful 'Run Like Hell' and I am not sure where it comes from as there is no indication but it sounds terrific. I guess this single is worth picking up for the sleeve design that is rather romantic and unusual for Pink Floyd, but this is perhaps an unnecessary single for the band in many respects.

1987 release containing a live version of "Run Like Hell" from THE WALL album and "On the Turning Away" from A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON, an album that failed to impress me. The single is one of the highlights of an otherwise poor Pink Floyd album. I'm just one of those folks that need to have Roger Waters as part of PF, I guess. The live song is good, of course, but it is already available on other live releases. Hard to rate this but overall it is pretty good so I guess I can swing 3 stars it's way. Good, not great,

I know Pink Floyd's 1987 studio release may not be the most satisfactory of it's brethren in the eyes of prog's common man, but I always loved it. For a while even, I found A Momentary Lapse of Reason to be one of my favorite albums of ALL TIME, and very likely my favorite from the band. Well, that was until I listened to Obscured By Clouds, but that's a different story. Back to the album. I loved every track of it, and even heartily excused ones that were less satisfactory than others due to the albums greatness. Of course, there were always the gold tracks, mostly looking at 'Dogs of War', 'One Slip', 'Learning to Fly' and of course, 'On the Turning Away'. Out of those, I'll be looking at the last one, which was probably my second favorite from the album in all.

You can't exactly call it an ode to Pink Floyd, mostly because, well, Pink Floyd is playing it. That might sound odd when I say it, but think about it. This song is less of a real masterpiece and more of a homage made by the band to their 1970's heyday. And, in effect, it's not bad. In fact, the slow beginning and sudden guitar drop signature of Gilmour fits much better than the crazed-waters period (1983). The whole song sounds relaxed, easily played, and sounds like a real treat, especially for a Floyd fan such as myself.

The other track of the single is a live version of The Wall's 'Run Like Hell', which is one of my favorite tracks from the original 1979 release. And this little live version is no exception. It's performed beautifully and effortlessly, although it really isn't enough to buy this as a single. So, this release for me gets a rating bordering on five, but just can't make it. I do highly suggest listening to these songs, especially the former.