Right now as I type this, I'm giving A Momentary Lapse of Reason a spin for the first time since...well...it must have been late 1992 or early 1993. I got the Shine On box set for Xmas in 1992, and I know I listened to every disc in the set to see if I could spot any difference in the remasters.

For some background, AMLOR was my first Pink Floyd album, and more or less my introduction to the band. I was 14 at the time (1987), fell in love with "Learning to Fly" on the radio and MTV, and got the tape. The only thing I really knew of PF before that was "Another Brick In the Wall (Part 2)" being played on the radio when I was much younger. I fell in love with AMLOR, and of course wanted to investigate further.

Long story short, I started to get a lot of the other albums. One day in 1989 at a pawn shop, I scored A Nice Pair and Relics on cassette for like $4 each. WOW, what a mind-expanding experience, the early Floyd to a 16-year-old.

Anyway, I eventually got all the albums in one form or another (pawn shop cassettes, flea market LPs, and the occasional $15 for a new CD) and started to dismiss anything after The Wall. The Final Cut is really a Waters solo album, AMLOR is really a Gilmour solo album, Delicate Sound is an overblown embarrassment, etc.

So in listening to AMLOR for the first time in 16-17 years, my opinion hasn't changed much. "Learning to Fly," "On the Turning Away" and "Sorrow" are pretty good, but the rest sounds pretty weak to these ears. I wanted to love it like my 14-year-old self did, but it just isn't happening. What are everyone else's thoughts on AMLOR?

Hello and welcome to the forum! Many, many, many, many people on this forum HATE AMLOR, I really dont know why, I think its pretty damn good....

I love all the songs EXCEPT for A New Machine pt 1 and pt 2, I think if they just worked on these two singles, or just developed 2 other singles this album would be phenomenal. But just my opinion!

Floyd 24/7 Wrote:Hello and welcome to the forum! Many, many, many, many people on this forum HATE AMLOR, I really dont know why, I think its pretty damn good....

I think it's the reverb on the drums in Learning to Fly.

But that's just me.

Pointy II Wrote:

Floyd 24/7 Wrote:Hello and welcome to the forum! Many, many, many, many people on this forum HATE AMLOR, I really dont know why, I think its pretty damn good....

I think it's the reverb on the drums in Learning to Fly.

But that's just me.

Yeah ive noticed this, I can see why this would throw many people off......what about the rest of the album instead of ''Learning to Fly''???

I'm going to be honset with you, I don't remember the rest of the album.

(09-28-2009 06:36 PM)leamanc Wrote:  What are everyone else's thoughts on AMLOR?

I like the album. Compared to their previous release, The Final Cut, it's a frackin' masterpiece. Compared to say, DSOTM or WYWH....it's okay.

I think some of the songs suffer from the heavy-hand of late 80s production values [drum machines, synthesizers, layers and layers and layers of instrument tracking], but there are some gems on there that I love regardless. Learning To Fly, On The Turning Away, Signs of Life, Another Movie, Terminal Frost....they put the album solidly in the middle of the pack if you were ranking all their releases. I know that's a minority opinion, but it's how I feel.

It just sounds very 80's, which is okay. Floyd had just parted ways with Waters and were finding their way. Dave did a great job of holding it all together.

AMLoR was one of my first PF experiences too, and I remember loving Learning to Fly most. Now I like Signs of Life and especially Terminal Frost yet more. Those three make the album still worth listening to for me. The rest isn't my thing, and some of it should never have made it on the album in my opinion.

On the background of today's music, and the fact that Pink Floyd will never ever record an album, its masterpiece...
AMLOR is much prefered that TFC and Ummagumma...

I still don't own a copy of this album. How embarrassing! :-o