New Roger Waters album "Is This The Life We Really Want?" - June 2, 2017

Interesting. Mrs Pretzel has a similar viewpoint - even just the hook on the title track of Rattle That Lock makes her quite angry (I've grown to quite like it but she gets annoyed when we go on trains in France now!), but I put on Is This The Life without comment the other day and her ears perked up and she declared it the angriest record she had heard for ages, and very much liked the swearing.

 

...as it was the band of three other guys.

K.

 

It's a masterpiece.

It sounds new, but familiar, with elements nicked from previous high points and blended in for good measure.

If I had to compare it to his past work, I'd say it almost sounds like, what if The Final Cut and Amused to Death had a baby, and that baby was raised on The Wall and Wish You Were Here, then outfitted with a suit of armor that was studded with razor sharp shards of Animals?

Yeah... that about covers it.

Oh, and The Last Refugee rips my heart out and stomps on it every time I listen.

And my favorite track is Bird in a Gale.

 

Confused at first. Then I thought maybe there was some kind of last minute edit with a different version of the opening track.

Curiously, iTunes lyric function brings up the following lyrics against When We Were Young, which are obviously nothing along the lines of what is actually spoken by Roger:

I know your hopes and dreams they will collide,
Take all your things you'll go and run and hide,
Do you remember how it felt when we were young,
Do you remember how it felt when we were young.
Today we have the chance to feel again
To hear the sounds that brought us in
To laugh, to cry, to live again.
Today we have the chance to feel again
To hear the sounds that brought us in
To laugh, to cry, to live again
Like when we were young.
Like when were young
Like when were young
I know your hopes and dreams they will collide,
Take all your things you'll go and run and hide,
Do you remember how it felt when we were young,
Do you remember how it felt when we were young.

Written By:
Roger Waters

However, a quick google has shown that these are actually the lyrics to a song of the same name by Dillon Francis, maybe he will get a bit upset that Roger is getting credit for them!

 

...being led by Roger.

D.D.

 

This "Roger was Pink Floyd" argument is so 1984 (I literally remember a guy i knew saying that back then in high school)... as mentioned above, the bulk of the music created under the name (the) Pink Floyd was collaborative in nature... right up to Animals and even into The Wall a lil bit. That's just a fact. But hey, you believe what you need to

 

I am loving this album! I got the EU MPO pressing (not sure if its any different than the US). Great sound!

 

The idea that the band had a central figure doesn't rule out collaborative efforts with and among the other members. It's not an all or nothing proposition. Do you think that upon Waters' departure, David Gilmour did not become the band's de facto leader ? The "Roger was Pink Floyd" thing is neither here nor there and that's not the point I was making which is why I never made such a statement. I just don't see how the argument can be made with any degree of seriousness that Waters did not become the dominant artistic and conceptual force in the band, that it was some sort of perfect collaborative collective. Sure. Just like the Beatles ( sorry ) were. Or the Stones or the Who or the Kinks or AC bloody DC or... That doesn't mean that the other members don't play a note the leader hasn't written or that they only show up for photo shoots and shows. But guys like Waters or the Davies brothers or Angus Young usually rise to become the dominant force in their bands for a reason. They're filling a vacuum. That's just a fact. And if Pink Floyd became less collaborative and more Waters-centric, that ground was as likely ceded by the other three as it was seized by Roger The Usurper. But hey, you believe what you need to....
An argument that's "so 1984" ? Try 1972 :
"Became the special man- then we were Ziggy's band... And we bitched about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands? "

And outside of the more rabid fanbase that congregates around threads like these, the "bulk of the music created under the name ( the ) Pink Floyd" might as well have never been made. The majority of people see Pink Floyd's ouvre as consisting of four core records, with the stuff after The Wall being almost an appendix to the main body of work which is technically still the band ( and some would argue that ) but few people are going to consider The Final Cut ( which, for all it's excesses, I actually like ) or The Division Bell or The Endless River to be at the same level of quality or importance as The Big Four. If they think of those post-The Wall albums at all. And to these same people, Meddle and the albums leading up to it are, in a word, obscure to the point of non-existence. And Syd Barrett does not come up in conversation. Those records will have a fanbase here for certain but outside of the hothouse, not so much. Lots of people have heard Comfortably Numb. Far fewer have heard The Nile Song. And those who have not do not give a damn.

My thought is that Is This The Life We Really Want is a better record than any Floyd album post-The Wall or pre - Dark Side of the Moon. It is certainly a better record than anything in the solo discographies of any of the individual members of the band, including Roger Waters. He's finally ( no doubt with a big assist from Nigel Godrich) made the record we always knew he was capable of.
It's the record we really want. And after all this time, thank god.

D.D.

 

Is you girlfriend a prominent music critic?

 

We're probably all tired of reviews but here's another one anyway. Glide magazine; 9/10:

https://glidemagazine.com/187201/ro...follows-floyd-formula-precisely-album-review/

 

Maybe she should be. Pretty spot on IMO.

 

It's probably not worth going though your entire post, which started out pretty salty I might add, but I'll bite on a couple things. We see it differently and I'm ok with that. I get what you're saying about dominant forces in bands and that did happen in PF near the end of the 70's, however you initially referred to Pink Floyd as "Rogers band" with no qualifying statements, which is why I replied as I did. Roger Waters did rise to become the dominant force (and ego) in the band for sure, we agree with that... however as this was happening, and partly because of it, the band was falling apart... and then he quit, he just assumed the band would end. The others continued with Gilmour leading the way, by their second PF87 album they had started collaborating again, the way they had 20 years earlier. I just don't think you can compare Pink Floyd to The Who, Kinks or the Stones, those bands had dominant leaders/song writers almost from the get go, and still do... in some cases. Again, we can agree to disagree and move on in life.

Should also mention that many casual Floyd fans love the core 70's stuff obviously, but I've talked to many people over the years who love the Division Bell or MLoR, even list it as their favorite PF... it's what they grew up with, the shows they saw, part of their youth etc... these albums certainly would be near the bottom of my personal list but hey, people dig what they dig. I ran a popular Floyd site from 1995 until 2002, spoke to hundreds of fans from all over the world over the years, and it's not as neatly compartmentalized as you might think... many people know (or don't know) many things about Pink Floyd and enjoy (or don't) various musical aspects and eras of the band, I'm still happy when someone I don't really know brings up Syd Barrett in a convo about music. It happens, it just happened a few weeks ago at work!

I also agree that ITTLWRW is the best album by any of these guys in a very long time, but I wouldn't personally go further than that, there are aspects of other solo and PF87 albums that I enjoyed as well... but this Waters album is maybe the closest we'll get to that feeling you might have had listening to say Animals for the first time. It seems like you're kind of stating your opinion as fact, and in my opinion (which I'm pretty sure you disagree with) this stuff is subjective... I'm thrilled to be getting this album at this point in time, but I'm still going to be listening to say Obscured by Clouds, A Saucerful of Secrets and Pro's & Con's from time to time, and enjoying every second of them.

 

Yeah. I wanted to give RTL a fair chance during the road trip. It's just really outdated, lifeless music. It is the sound of a man very, very comfortable with life.

 

I'd agree, mostly.

But I think Meddle is amazing, probably .2 for me behind Animals.

Doesn't take away from the fact ITTLWRW is a stunning piece of work, easily eclipsing anything after The Wall.

 

Duluth News calls it "special" and "spine-tingling". They basically are shocked at how Waters seems to have lost nothing, juxtaposing him against his lifeless peers (CSN, etc).

Album review: Roger Waters' first LP in 25 years finds him as...

 

Maybe so, but I'd say after all these years David Gilmour has sort of earned the right to be comfortable with life, wouldn't you say?

I would be brazen to say that if CSN/CSNY would mend their fences, get off their asses and make a new album of original material, and then tour behind it, it would be just as snarkily p-litical as Waters' new album is, except CSNY probably wouldn't swear as much (maybe)

 

Is this the album we really want...

 

I haven't heard that one yet.

 

Exactly why I responded as well. That kind of post always comes off as antagonistic.

 

Really? My friend's sister likes it a lot!

So Wyoming's girlfriend's opinion is definitive proof? What about my friend's sister?!?!?

 

Surprising logic! The adult wise person always aspires to values of life and finds comfort in her acceptance. In such life there is a lot of fine, including music. You consider such outdated view on life gives nothing for the person?
Also there is life in furious rejection of all from what it consists. Yes, in each city there are garbage cans, but life exists not only on them.
What life you want to offer you and your children?

 

There went my coffee. Spewed all over!

 

That was a good one. Thanks Ton Roon.

 

The album fell from its #11 debut last week to #68 on this week's Billboard 200 chart. Ouch!