The Pink Floyd album David Gilmour said was made during an “an alarming time”
In the mid-1980s, Pink Floyd were in a state of complete disarray following the hostile departure of Roger Waters. At this stage, the progressive rock group looked as though they would be history, but despite losing the man responsible for much of their most acclaimed work, they decided to fight on.
Although David Gilmour wasn’t a founding member of the band, he joined in 1968 and significantly contributed to their golden years. However, as time went on, his relationship with Waters became more difficult as they found themselves disagreeing over the band’s direction. Ultimately, Waters quit the band in 1985 but tried to stop the band from retaining the Pink Floyd name in his absence.
A year later, Waters entered High Court proceedings to formally dissolve Pink Floyd, labelling the group a “spent force creatively”. Eventually, he agreed a deal with his bandmates after a tense legal battle, allowing them to continue releasing music as Pink Floyd.
Looking back on the agreement in 2004 with Uncut, Waters said: “They threatened me with the fact that we had a contract with CBS Records and that part of the contract could be construed to mean that we had a product commitment with CBS and if we didn’t go on producing product, they could a) sue us and b) withhold royalties if we didn’t make any more records.”
He added: “So they said, ‘that’s what the record company are going to do and the rest of the band are going to sue you for all their legal expenses and any loss of earnings because you’re the one that’s preventing the band from making any more records.’ They forced me to resign from the band because, if I hadn’t, the financial repercussions would have wiped me out completely.”
Making an album after losing a key member is challenging for any band, but the legal fight compounded their difficulties further. It wasn’t until Waters conceded defeat that they entered the studio to record A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. However, the cloud of his exit still lingered over Pink Floyd, and Gilmour admitted making the album was no easy task.
During an interview with The Sun, Gilmour reflected on the period and their first album without Waters, noting: “He was a big, big part of it. A major talent and our primary lyricist, So it was difficult. I would think of myself as more of a melodic type and Roger is more of an aggressive wordsmith. Different sides of us came together to create what we became.”
However, despite the difficulties, Gilmour was proud of their resilience: “It was an alarming time. It was a big thing to carry on Pink Floyd with Roger having gone.”
Drummer Nick Mason was surprised that Pink Floyd managed to complete A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, later telling In the Studio with Redbeard: “At that time, certainly, I just thought, I can’t really see how we can make the next record or if we can it’s a long time in the future, and it’ll probably be more for, just because of feeling of some obligation that we ought to do it, rather than for any enthusiasm.”
The lack of “enthusiasm” was self-evident in the final product, which failed to live up to the high expectations previously set by the band. However, the completion of A Momentary Lapse Of Reason was a minor miracle in itself.
