It’s considered to be one of the most intriguing album covers in rock history. The picture in Pink Floyd’s “A Momentary Lapse of Reason” is, just like the band, a visual representation of extreme surrealism. But what’s most bizarre than the cover itself, is the story behind it.
Designed by the late Storm Thorgerson, the image contains no CGI or photoshop trickery whatsoever. This piece of art took was made by a dedicated team of photographers, it cost more than $500,000 and it was made possible by laying 700 beds along a beach in Los Angeles!
For insight into where the idea came from, we look at Thorgerson’s 1987 book, Mind Over Matter: The Images Of Pink Floyd (Get it from Amazon
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“The idea for the beds comes from two sources. The first was a lyric line from ‘Yet Another Movie’ which read “A vision of an empty bed”. David [Gilmour] had drawn a picture for this which I liked, but not madly, so I rearranged the words to become “a vision of empty beds” and that’s it.
The second source was a lonely rower, or sculler, rowing himself down a dry cracked river bed. This was a reworking, I realize, of the swimmer in the dunes for “Wish You Were Here.” The beds then became arranged in a gentle curve stretching away from the camera, like a river, as in ‘river bed’! The same rower, Langley Iddens, occupied a fast moving bed for the concert film for ‘On The Run’ from Dark Side [of the Moon], a hospital bed like one from the cover. It all connects, somehow, somewhere.”
Finding the beds was not an easy task but when they did find them, it took two weeks to get them into the arrangement we now see in the picture. Oh, and when everything was ready, it started to pour (i mean how often does it rain in Southern California, right?) and they had to elaborate the scene again!
If you like what you read, then you will definitely love this one: This Is Why Beatle’s “I Am The Walrus” Was Intentionally Written With Meaningless Lyrics
Main Article Photo: Pink Floyd
Photoshop: I’m A Useless Info Junkie
Sources: The Amazing But True Story Behind One Of Rock’s Most Interesting Album Covers, A Momentary Lapse of Reason’: Pink Floyd’s Most Unreasonably Ambitious Album Cover
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