A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON

The great gods of progressive rock -PINK FLOYD, YES, ELP, and GENESIS- hit their lowest creative point- and highest earning potential- in the 80s (I won't include KING CRIMSON in the lineup as they managed to succeed creatively on "Discipline" and the follow-ups). To be honest, "Learning to Fly", "Dogs of War", and "One Slip" were more enjoyable pop songs than most of what circulated during their time, and somewhat adventurous within a narrow scope. However, "On the Turning Away" seems so deliberately constructed that the cynic in me can't help but picture them in a room writing it and saying, "yeah, that'll make the fools hold up their zippos". The loss of Waters was probably not the death-blow that it seemed- his creative well was almost dry by the end of the 70s anyway, as "The Wall" and "The Final Cut" proved (need more proof? his solo albums...). It is open for debate whether Gilmour and Mason (did Wright have a say in anything at this point?) actually decided to milk the FLOYD name to pay the bills or if they just wanted to continue doing what they loved as long as possible; these guys proved time and again their dedication to putting on a great tour. I had the pleasure of seeing them perform right after this album's release and it was a magnificent show- although I would have preferred to have been born earlier so I could have seen them at their peak. So at worst, this album enabled the mighty FLOYD to continue (if not progress) making music for a while, fulfilling their own decade-old prophecy: "Let me tell you the name of the game, boy; they call it riding the gravy train."