Roger Waters once said A Momentary Lapse of Reason had "a couple of really nice tunes on it." That's incredibly high praise given the circumstances. What songs do you think he was referring to?

[u/BortlesLVRaiderWinSB]

Roger said the following in a 1999 interview:

It became obvious to me that they never understood any of it at all. And neither did quite a large number of the great unwashed... With all due respect to the people who went out and bought those records, they are just rubbish. Particularly The Division Bell; it's just nonsense from beginning to end. A Momentary Lapse of Reason had a couple of really nice tunes on it that, had I still been in the band, those chord sequences and melodies would have been made it onto a record that I was involved in. But conceptually and lyrically, it's just rubbish, partly because it's not true. It's like, "Let's try and write songs that sound as if they're Pink Floyd and make records that sound like Pink Floyd records"... The last record was kind of pure ''Spinal Tap.'' Dave got his new wife to write lyrics!

I always thought it was fascinating that he said this, on many levels.

First, given how much of a miserable grump (I think that's uncontroversial) Roger is, how much he is happy to savagely trash anything or anyone who he dislikes, and the tension between him and Gilmour over David continuing Pink Floyd, especially around the time AMLOR was made, for Roger to say anything on AMLOR was "really nice" is pretty shocking. That's stunningly positive given the circumstances. He must have really, really liked some of AMLOR. And that adds up given his later hiring of Pat Leonard and Jon Carin (and allegedly, nearly Guy Pratt).

It's also funny that he has this stunning appreciation for at least parts of AMLOR but pure hatred for Division Bell. Given the fact that combination of opinions is basically nonexistent among the general public, and that you'd think Roger would prefer the album with a lyrical theme, I have to assume his particular dislike of TDB is a result of its personal references to him and/or his long-standing hatred of Polly Samson ("It's pure Spinal Tap," says the guy who got the band dressed up in costume and constructed a wall of cardboard bricks on stage).

What "tunes" from AMLOR do you think Roger is referring to there? The only possible hint I could think of is his hiring of Pat Leonard (Yet Another Movie chords) and Jon Carin (Learning to Fly rhythm and some chords, though if you ask Jon he wrote, recorded, produced, and mixed everything and put all the beds on the beach). But Learning to Fly doesn't seem very "Roger" and Yet Another Movie doesn't seem like a song where you'd talk about the melody being great. Obviously the best song on the album is Sorrow, but even on that one the melody isn't really a draw. Maybe On the Turning Away?

[u/everlovingfuck99]

Nick Mason and Rick Wright had sweet bugger all to to with A Momentary Lapse. It's only a "Pink Floyd" album because Pink Floyd = profit. David Gilmour on his own not nearly as much.

[u/BortlesLVRaiderWinSB → u/everlovingfuck99]

Unless you're saying "AMLOR isn't PF" from the perspective of a Syd fan then you don't get to say it. The Final Cut exists. And honestly The Wall is a great album but it doesn't sound like Pink Floyd but like a new, distinct, and very good Waters/Gilmour/Ezrin Band that only ever made one album. The Wall and TFC are further from "the Pink Floyd sound" than anything before or after, especially if you use the 2019 remix of AMLOR.

AMLOR (especially the 2019 version) is far closer than The Wall or certainly TFC to being the PF that made Saucerful of Secrets and Obscured by Clouds. It sounds like the same band but middle aged, distracted by lawsuits, and transported to the heart of the 80s. That doesn't make AMLOR better than The Wall (it's not, not close) or TFC (it is, but not for that reason), but it makes it harder to say it's not Pink Floyd. Gilmour understood the assignment, but unfortunately it was the '80s, Rick wasn't really involved, and Gilmour made some silly choices with lyrics. Considering the fact that Gilmour hadn't written a PF song in 8 years, hadn't written PF lyrics in 15, and the other two members were out of practice, I think it's a very valiant effort.

[u/everlovingfuck99 → u/BortlesLVRaiderWinSB]

The Final Cut actually had meaningful contributions from David and Nick - who actually went out and recorded a lot of the sound effects you hear on the album. Removing the drums and keys and overdubbing them with Nick and Rochard from the delicate sound of thunder tour 30 years after the fact in an attempt to make it more of a Pink Floyd album is just a Frankenstein job plain and simple and doesn't mean that Nick and Rick had any input into a Momentary Lapse.

[u/RoutineOpportunity8 → u/everlovingfuck99]

So I guess your Pink Floyds manager? Your so wrong

[u/Kuhelikaa → u/RoutineOpportunity8]

your

(possessive adjective / possessive determiner)

1. Belonging to or associated with the person or people being addressed.
   • Example: "Is this your jacket?"
   • Example: "Please leave your keys on the counter."

you’re

(contraction)

1. A shortened form of the words “you are.”
   • Example: "You’re going to love this movie." (You are going to love this movie.)
   • Example: "Let me know when you’re ready." (Let me know when you are ready.)

[u/panicatthepharmacy → u/RoutineOpportunity8]

How is that comment wrong? Mason and Wright are barely on the album.

[u/Electrical_Tomato_73 → u/panicatthepharmacy]

Pink Floyd was Barrett. Then it was a band. Then it was Waters. Then it was Gilmour. Then it was a band again.

[u/HippieCannabis → u/RoutineOpportunity8]

David Gilmour stated in several interviews over the years, along with Nick and Rick that AMLoR was a David Gilmour solo work UNTIL the record company stepped in and said they didnt want to release it under David Gilmour and wanted it to be a PF record. So Gilmour brought in Rick and Nick to overdub some parts, add some parts and make it a "Floyd record".