In 1983, Roger Waters, bassist, left the band Pink Floyd. He took his lead vocals and ideas with him and assembled an impressive studio crew to record his debut solo album “The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking.” The story segments were interspersed with Eric Clapton blues guitar riffs. However the wandering tale of Waters needed one or more tunes to hold things together. Even the climactic title track’s full blown chorus wasn’t enough to pull that out. A much more successful attempt for constructing a narrative that is enhanced by art rock was “Radio KAOS.” Mellow voice overs from Jim Ladd and unswinging rhythms enhanced the depiction made by Waters of a computer genius who is wheelchair bound and hacks into the nuclear powers. Despite its occasional horn lines and stiffened beat, “Radio KAOS” sounds as if it comes from a different time, which is a major part of the album’s appeal.
Communism’s fall was commemorated by Waters with his recreation of “The Wall,” the 1979 classic rock album from Pink Floyd, at the former Berlin Wall site. He was joined by a star studded cast that included the Scorpions, Sinead O’Connor, Cyndi Lauper, Joni Mitchell and Bryan Adams. The live souvenir album was more of a pleasing memory of a remarkable moment in history more than as a work with lasting artistic value. “Amused to Death,” Waters’ most intense indictment of today’s society, reaches a level of irony that is positively corrosive on “Perfect Sense” and “What God Wants.” Jeff Beck is an inspirational choice as the stunt guitarist. However the set has a low melody quotient and the voice of Waters sounds ravaged.
Fans still await, over ten years later, the successor to “Amused to Death.” “In the Flesh Live” details two tours from the late ’90s, cohesively blending solo material with old Pink Floyd. “Flickering Flame” is a compilation of random album cuts along with a couple movie soundtrack songs. “Music From The Body,” the 1970 collaboration that Waters did with Ron Geesin, avant garde artist, was intended originally to provide the musical backdrop for an underground film. With songs such as “More Than Seven Dwarfs In Penis Land,” the collection of jaunty ditties and strange sound effects is merely an amusing footnote for the discography of Waters.
