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and competing in the Carrera Panamericana (where Gilmour and O'Rourke crashed), and later recording a soundtrack for the film. Gilmour divorced Ginger, and Mason married actress Annette Lynton. In January 1993 the band began working on a new album. They returned to a then remodelled Britannia Row Studios, where for several days Gilmour, Mason and Wright worked collaboratively, ad-libbing new material. After about two weeks the band had enough ideas to start creating new songs. Bob Ezrin returned to work on the album, and production moved to Astoria where from February to May 1993 the band worked on about twenty-five ideas. Contractually, Wright was still not a full member of the band: "It came very close to a point where I wasn't going to do the album", a situation which clearly upset the keyboardist. However, he was given his first songwriting credit on a Pink Floyd album since 1975's Wish You Were Here. Another songwriter credited on the album was Gilmour's new girlfriend, Polly Samson. She helped write "High Hopes" with Gilmour—along with several other tracks—a situation which, though initially tense, according to Ezrin "pulled the whole album together". She also helped Gilmour, who, following his divorce, had developed a cocaine habit. Michael Kamen was brought in work on the album's various string arrangements, and Dick Parry and Chris Thomas also returned. Keen to avoid competing against other album releases (as had happened with A Momentary Lapse) the band set a deadline of April 1994, at which point they would begin touring again. The album
title was chosen by writer Douglas Adams, and Storm Thorgerson once again provided the cover artwork. Thorgerson also provided six new pieces of film for the upcoming tour. The band spent three weeks rehearsing in a hangar at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California before opening on 29 March 1994 in Miami with an almost identical crew to that used for their Momentary Lapse of Reason tour. They played a mixture of Pink Floyd favourites, but later changed their setlist to include The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety. The band also renewed their acquaintance with Peter Wynne Willson. Waters declined the band's invitation to join them as the tour reached Europe, later expressing his annoyance that some Floyd songs were again being performed in large venues. A 1,200 capacity stand collapsed at Earls Court,