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

Since last week's show at Hyde Park I've played it a few times. No doubt it's a strong album. Shame he didn't play more of it live.

 

What gets hammered are my ears when I listen to this with headphones.

 

Agree, although I guess four songs is not too bad. But I would love to have heard Wait for Her/Oceans Apart/A Part of me Died which he has played on a fair fee occasions throughout this tour, although sadly not on the three occasions I have been present!

The album itself is a beautiful piece with barely a weak moment and is something is a latter day triumph for Roger. For my money, it does not manage to quite eclipse ATD but it is a very different album. Much more of an intimate, stripped down affair and all the better for it. In reflection, the lack of guitar solos was both the brave and the right thing to do in this instance. The songs do not need them and tacking them on because it is more ‘Floyd’ would not have been contrived.

The green vinyl sounds great btw. I have to agree with a previous poster who said he felt it had a tad more clarity. Certainly it is a better pressing than my original. I went through three copies when the album first came out - all were scuffed and that is what I settled for in the end.

 

Working away from home so much, I mostly listen with an Astell & Kern KANN with 1more quad drivers and my hearing never gets fatigued - and the album sounds brilliant.

 

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this, my friend. There's not a lack of guitar solos there's a total absence of guitar solos. I don't find this to be a brave choice but rather one of ego as if Roger/Nigel wanted to prove they could make a Floydian-sounding album w/o one of it's most essential components. This limited the album musically and dynamically. I agree that this is a much different album than ATD, much more quiet and intimate but adding a guitar solo or two would not have been out of place. I'm not suggesting including guest artists like Clapton or Beck, which could be a distraction, or filling the album with screaming guitar solos. I feel that there are a couple of instances where a guitar solo (by Wilson or Killminster) could have added to the dynamics and emotion of the album which sounds monotonous to me for the most part. They wouldn't feel "tacked on" if the songs weren't restricted from solos to begin with, it would have been part of the writing process. A solo at the end of Picture This, for example, would not have felt out of place or tacked on, instead it plods along to the finish line with the synths. It's ironic that you feel that the addition of guitar solos would feel "contrived" to make the album sound more Floydian while I find the tacking on of obvious Floydian references (like the break during Smell the Roses for example) comes off as being just as contrived. Too each their own.

 

Well, I see it as the exact opposite Ron. It was not an attempt to sound Floydian but an attempt to sound like Roger Waters. I suspect Nigel told Roger to play 100% to his strengths and nobody elses. Now obviously, there will be numerous Floyd tropes in there because this is a Waters album. However, guitar solos were done by Dave and that was his strength so they were left out. The break that you mention in Smell the Roses is Waters through and through, hence its appearance as well as lots of other aspects that are very recognisable as Floyd related. Out of all of Roger’s solo albums, this to me sounds the purest in terms of it being a solo effort as opposed to trying recapture Floyd sound. Even the sticker on the front of the album makes no reference to previous Floyd escapades which is unusual for Floyd solo stuff.

Thats how I see it anyway. As you say, to each his own.

 

Guitar solos on Roger's previous albums were not played by Dave and were essential elements on those albums as well so unfortunately I can't agree with you on this point.

 

Like I say, I think there was an effort here to be 100% Roger. ATD had some great guitar solos, but I would argue they were there in an effort to make the album sound more Floydian and not necessarily more Waters. For what its worth, I think ATD scored high on the Floydian quotient and it was very much mission accomplished but thats another story!

 

In the previous solo albums Waters reminded listeners all the time "I am Mr. Floyd" therefore guitar were solo obligatory as one of business cards of Pink Floyd.
But I didn't hear original demos for this album ITTLWRW?, therefore I don't know whether Roger initially made references to the past.
It is possible that it and was work of Nigel Godrich - to show "naked" Waters as it is. Crepitation of drums: Waters couldn't play other game; absence guitar solo - Waters couldn't not only play such solo, but couldn't create them also.
And Nigel left the text, a voice, sound effects and the idea - everything that belongs to Waters.

 

I get it and acknowledge that. But this kind of self-imposed musical restriction seems unnecessary and IMO prevented the overall album from reaching it's musical potential. It doesn't matter whose decision this was.

 

I disagree but to each is own, Waters plays to his strengths here and as a massive proponent of tasteful guitar solos I find Gilmour just defaults into them as if they are expected.

David has a great voice and an ear for melody and sounds smooth and tuneful but I hear an anger and realness in Rog's voice and his lyrics are light years above any post Waters PF.

Although some us are going to disagree, I'm certainly not going back to RTL like I am this and I like it in fact I much prefer it OAI but Rog tapped into something here without resorting to cliche and what is expected.

I don't think neither Rog or Godrich are trying to be clever just truthful.

 

Great lyrics as always... I liked "Smell The Roses" despite the borrowing (it's his, anyway).. "Picture That" is really cool, something original (I prefer the live version on YouTube), and the title-track, which has a line that gives me chills every time I hear it..

Ants – maybe not ants
Why not ants?
Well because its true
The ants don’t have enough IQ to differentiate between
The pain that other people feel

I wish Roger had more input, since the production is lousy. Awful mix, compressed, no guitar solos.

 

The vinyl sounds terrific and as some have said no guitar solos needed, the one on Smell The Roses sounds a natural progression in that tune not like as sometimes DG's does on his solo work and post RW PF, where you get the impression he just does it because it's expected and this is David's strongest statment in any of his work.

If I want that Rog than ATD & Pros are just the ticket but I'm so glad that he didn't feel the need to go down a well worn and expected route, this I think will be the album from his solo career which will age the best, I love Godrich's production on his work with Radiohead and I think he's bought another dimension to Rog here.

Although I understand some haven't liked the direction this album has gone in, I didn't expect to hear and album that for me anyway that would surpass ATD, thought possibly he was too long in the tooth and had left it too long to still have that anger and passion but you know I think he's more potent than ever here.

 

Yet another discussion devolving into a Roger vs David issue.

 

I'm not sure that can be considered a guitar solo.

 

Possibly not strictly but that segment is prodominately a guitar so maybe it is, it doesn't stop the song to go off on a whole different tangent, like I say it flows and then back into the vocal, it's all down to interpretation I know some recognise it as a solo and some don't. When I first heard this on the forum that there would be no solos it did worry me somewhat but the outcome was most refreshing and pleasing for me at least and I know others liked it.

Don't get me wrong I like songs that start somewhere then go in a completelty different direction, Floyd were one of the master of this but I think that it's nice to have something different. Also a nice tasteful solo is a joy but that doesn't mean something that doesn't lean into that direction should be dismissed.

Anyway I think Godrich might have got Rog to go in a direction he wasn't sure of and had he produced it himself or with someone who was more likely not to push him into where it went, we'd have got a more traditional Waters album.

I think if we get another album from Rog and I think that might be quite an if you might see something akin to ATD.

Also for the record if push came to shove Gilmour would be my favourite member of Floyd but as I've got older I don't quite fawn over him and side with as much as I used to, I personally think this album has shown that Waters has been able to go somewhere else but the safe territory we might have expected.

I'm sure that would have pleased many possibly yourself more but another run over his last album or something like it while would have kept a lot of Floyd and Waters fans happy some of us would like something different.

The thing is he has 3 other albums out there, I don't think we can all be expected to like all of his output.

 

I don't know about all the guitar solo stuff, but I'm actually thinking of dropping the first track, When We Were Young and replacing it with Supremacy. The intro's just a lazy fade in of dialog snippets. And I think the way it's been faded up from the muffled sound is just a dull studio cliche.

 

Just to clarify, I love that guitar part, however it's defined.

I agree 100%. In interviews Roger's pointed out that while he wrote the songs he let Nigel basically put it all together controlling the production and final sound, even if there were things that he would have done differently or not done at all. I really don't have an issue with Nigel's production (even though the Floydian references are heavy handed at times), it's the mix and mastering I have problems with.

Thanks for sharing this.

 

RTL may have less balls but it has far more variety in terms of different sounds, styles and themes. ITTLWRW feels like a rehash of older things to me, without any decent new ideas to spice things up. I did like the occasional quote here and there (the Echoes "ping" on ATD) but this goes far too far. Half the songs recycle "Animals", and awkwardly enough, it's mostly Rick's keyboard sounds and progressions that are being plundered...

But you know, I heard Deja Vu on the radio again yesterday and gosh, you could hit the pause button at any point and I could continue singing some old Floyd song. "Mother should I build a wall". "There was a kid who had a big hallucination". Etc. I'm not sure I've ever heard such blatant self-recycling before :/

It doesn't. Any wrecked drum set sounds better than the drums on this album...

I'm not sure the album would be any better if every second song had a guitar solo either - but some kind of instrumental counterpoint wouldn't have hurt, either? There's lots of other instruments you can use to make a song more colourful. Saxophone (The Gunners Dream), flute, violin, organ... just something to give us a pause from all the lyrics and give us something that has universal emotional appeal!

 

On having played drums myself a bit?

That snare sounds like it's hidden in the cupboard!

Problem is that Roger has a potent live band, and yet it never (!) gets a chance to shine here.

And in my opinion, Roger's songs benefit from having a strong instrumental counterpart. Especially because he is not a great musician himself. That's also the reason why I think he needs a writing partner, someone to take him out of his comfort zone and use different chord progressions, different instruments, etc. - it doesn't have to end up sounding like Floyd. Matter of fact, ITTLWRW does not sound like Pink Floyd. At least half of the songs sound very much like songs from "Animals", "The Wall" and "The Final Cut". I don't find that to be the case with ATD.

 

That's one of the few lines that made me sit up and listen. And the song itself is the only one that sort of appeals to me.

But "Picture That" isn't original. It's "One of These Days" with lyrics. Unfortunately, Roger seems to have forgotten that a band called Pink Floyd already did that years ago. It was called "Sheep". And it was better.

No disagreement there!

 

A bit?

Please...

 

Well, I had some drum lessons when I was young. And the set I was using at home didn't sound any good, but yet I'd still prefer it over the flat mess that's on this album. There was a time when all Floyd-related albums had great-sounding drums. Alas...

 

Your right. It's definitely a cross between those two songs, but I guess it's alright to use your own stuff. I should have specified original in terms of lyrics and rhythm delivery.. Picture ____, Picture ______

"Wish You Were Here in Guantanamo Bay" might be my favorite line. No habeus corpus - going pre-Magna Carta!

 

Not Animals. The drums sound like shoe boxes.