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

Hm, maybe that explains the bad drum sound on Roger's new album...

But honestly, it's never bothered me much. I think they're a bit low in the mix, possibly something that could be rectified in the coming 5.1 mix. Certainly doesn't annoy me like that compressed, flat snare on ITTLWRW... not to mention the hi-hat...

 

Agreed.

 

It actually makes me feel ill and a little disorientated...

The vinyl rip sounds better, still not great. I get a couple songs in and put on ATD instead.

 

That is a fantastic set of lyrics. This album took me a few playthroughs before I started to really like it. By day 2 I was already in love with it. It's different. Sure, I can see some people not liking a Waters album like this one because it's not quintessential Roger Waters formula. I applaud the efforts put into this record...it's more poetic, in my eyes. Softer overall, but still some parts with the typical venomous Waters bite.

Not to be a jerk, but how do you know how much input Roger had in putting this album together? After 50 years in the business and being partly responsible for some of the greatest rock n roll records of all-time, I have a feeling Roger isn't going to give an "O.K." to anything he doesn't approve of personally...But, that's just an assumption too. Obviously, I don't know how things went down in the studio.

Oh come on...That's a little extreme. Have you cut out "Speak To Me" from your Dark Side of the Moon digital albums? I will agree that it's an odd song...I can't really make out what it has to do with the rest of the record. Now, I know this record isn't quite as linear as P&CoHH or even ATD, but it seems like an odd opener for this album.

 

Love that line.

 

Well, Dave put lousy lyrics over One Of These Days and called it Dogs Of War, so they're even...

 

Regarding input in the studio; Nigel Godrich is not the typical producer in this sense. To me he seems to be very focused on getting things his way. Radiohead have worked with him for decades now and they might appreciate that particular relationship. McCartney I think was slightly shocked but went along for one project. In Roger’s case I think he also was slightly taken aback but thought: Ok. Here is someone that can help me actually get this album done!
Just my assumptions...

 

Roger was pretty specific about Nigel's input during interviews about the album.

Another worthless Roger vs David post.

 

Nick's drumming

with Carmine Appice on drums (not Nick Mason)

 

In response to a worthless David vs Roger post. What do you expect? Should all the Roger Waters haters on the board go unanswered.

 

How about defending the album for its merits? If you can only support Roger's album by knocking a Gilmour song (from over 20 years ago) then your argument is pretty weak.

 

Upon recent revisitation of Is This The Life We Really Want?, I have to say that it just wasn’t my cup of tea. For me, Waters’ best work is still with Floyd. In terms of being the total dominant force behind an album, I’d say that The Final Cut is his greatest achievement. I didn’t mention The Wall or Animals because I still believe, despite Waters’ control during this time, he didn’t quite ‘win’ on every musical issue.

 

Oh, you love Dogs of War? Good grief.

 

I don't see how you'd arrive at that conclusion. I hate it, one of the worst PF songs ever. But it has nothing to do with Roger's new album.

 

As much as I enjoy "The Division Bell", I always marveled at the number of rather obvious Pink Floyd "callbacks" planted throughout the album. You could sit down and make yourself quite a list.

Roger's previous solo albums didn't much look back to the sounds of his Floyd years, but this new one certainly does. Like “Division Bell”, I find myself sitting there going, "oh, there's 'Welcome to the Machine'", there's the 'stone stone stone' drone from "Dogs", there's "Sheep". There's "The Thin Ice"!

I suspect this is the producer's doing more than Roger as Rog never had to resort to such gimmicks previously. I don't mind it, exactly, but it is rather curious. It's like McCartney sneaking in the fire bell from "Penny Lane" into a 2018 track or something as a friendly nod, you know what I mean? Is it Pink Floyd's sound effect-y nature which opens to the door for planting seeds of subtle (and in some cases not-so-subtle) nostalgia? Is it just an accident because they are Pink Floyd or is it a deliberate move to make the listener feel safe and warm and sucker us into liking average material more than we should?

I re-listened to “ITTLWRW?” a couple months ago for the first time since the week of its release. I’m still not that enthusiastic about it. Maybe I’m just too old to listen to Roger complain. I was so gung ho about “Amused to Death” but I was still in high school when that one came out. Now I’m old too and have my own list of complaints and no time to listen to anyone else’s.

 

If you were in high school in 1992 then you are not old, at least in comparison to me! I know what you mean though. I just don't care for this album.

 

I'm going to have a moan now, i get sick of Roger's constant moaning.

 

His dad died in the war. Show some compassion.

 

Well to be fair, that's pretty much his M.O. which can wear one out over time. He tends to vent his angst through his work. Even "Part of Me Died," the closing track on new album, tries to disguise itself as a love song. The reviewer in Variety wrote:

"And then, in the closing “Part of Me Died,” he goes on to literally catalogue every bad thing he can think of in the world over the course of a couple of unbendingly bitter minutes, because he is Roger Waters, but also because he’s trying to provide some closing context for how the love of a woman supposedly makes him want to forget all that misanthropy."

I get the context he's trying to provide but coming from Roger it doesn't seem earnest to me. Instead it comes off as just another tired list of complaints accompanied by a simple, boring melody. Just my opinion.

 

Woah. He did? Roger should write a song about that to get it off his chest.

 

He doesn’t like to talk about it. I shouldn’t have said anything. Sorry.

 

And he could call it When the Tigers Broke Free.

 

... or Free Four.

 

In a parallel universe, Waters decided to write an upbeat album and all you funny folks here complain that it makes no sense that the guy who wrote a large portion of Animals suddenly doesn't feel as bitter as before and dismiss it as complete rubbish (or a rehash of Several Species, etc).