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Thread: Roger Waters Solo Records

  1. #26
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Facelift View Post
    Pros and Cons - didn't like it much in the '80s (though probably then because it sounded nothing like Pink Floyd) but I still never cared for it much any more after that. I throw it on from time to time and treat it like an unintentional joke. There are definitely some LOL moments on it. And yes, the sound engineering is great, for whatever that's worth.

    Radio KAOS - I don't think that any of Waters' solo albums are anything special, but IMO this is the best of the lot, from start to finish. It's a total '80s time capsule album; I only play it when I'm listening to other similar-sounding mid/late '80s material. But I find it to be fairly tuneful and the concept is so far out and inscrutable that it rarely interferes with the songs. And unlike the worse MLOR album that his former band put out at the same time, the female chorus of singers that complement Waters' vocals neither sounded out of place nor cloying, but rather like they belonged in the songs.

    Amused to Death. - By far the most uneven of the three albums, IMO. I think the best few songs are better than anything on Radio KAOS (to say nothing of Pros and Cons), but that the few worst songs are significantly worse than anything on Radio KAOS. Perfect Sense (both parts), Too Much Rope and What God Wants Part 2 IMO range from unpleasantly superfluous to some of the most cringeworthy stuff I own. Elsewhere, Ballad of Bill Hubbard and It's a Miracle are uninteresting filler that also probably should have been cut. But if you get rid of all that stuff (and thanks to digital editing I have) you still end up with roughly a 45 minute Roger Waters album that is pretty visceral - musically it's tuneful and it has some bite and some punch and lyrically doesn't grate too much. For example, the title song sounds tiresomely redundant by the time you get to it, if you were to listen to the full album, but in its edited form the horse hasn't been beaten enough yet to become dead, so it actually does have some of the impact/resonance that was intended.
    Can you give an example of a "LOL moment" on Pros and Cons?

  2. #27
    Estimated Prophet notallwhowander's Avatar
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    Rog smoking dope and reading A. A. Milne to his kids?
    Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.

  3. #28
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by notallwhowander View Post
    Rog smoking dope and reading A. A. Milne to his kids?
    Ok, LOL! Musicbrainz.com lists Milne as a co-lyricist!

  4. #29
    Amused To Death is among my favorite albums of all time. Of his solo albums, I'd say Radio KAOS is a distant second and those dated sounds don't help its cause. I often wonder what the demos of KAOS would sound like.

  5. #30
    Jon Neudorf
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    I don't hear any LOL moments on Pros either. As far as it not sounding anything like Pink Floyd I think there are certainly moments texturally and of course vocally where it does.

  6. #31
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    I love Pros and Amused to Death, KAOS is kinda weak. I never tire of The Final Cut.

  7. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Can you give an example of a "LOL moment" on Pros and Cons?
    Jeez, are you really making me listen to this...



    "I said would you like to COME WITH ME?" (followed by string flourish. Why the dramatic emphasis?).
    Oh heck the whole rest of this track is a total laugh-fest.

    "THERE WERE ARABS WITH KNIVES AT THE FOOT OF THE BED!" Plus all accompanying sound affects

    The polka interlude. Although I guess I'll admit that this isn't really "LOL;" more just like embarrassingly stupid, since it doesn't really make me chuckle, but rather just feel sorry for the person who thought that it was a good creative choice.

    I mean, take your pick - finding LOL moments on Pros and Cons is like finding nuts in a Snickers bar. The whole Waters technique of singing something as a whisper AND THEN SCREAMING LIKE A MANIAC has to actually has to have some amount of narrative heft and/or judicious application; otherwise, it sounds utterly foolish.


    "WE GROW OUR OWN MAIZE!"

    "THE SPACE-HEATER RAN OUT OF DIESEL!"

    Ugh.

    Here, I'll do my own Roger Waters concept album about making dinner:

    (whispers) "We went to the grocery to buy food for a stir-fry"
    (screams) "BUT THE STORE WAS ALL OUT OF BROCCOLI!"
    (female chorus) "Out of broccoli!"

  8. #33
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Facelift View Post
    Jeez, are you really making me listen to this...



    "I said would you like to COME WITH ME?" (followed by string flourish. Why the dramatic emphasis?).
    Oh heck the whole rest of this track is a total laugh-fest.

    "THERE WERE ARABS WITH KNIVES AT THE FOOT OF THE BED!" Plus all accompanying sound affects

    The polka interlude. Although I guess I'll admit that this isn't really "LOL;" more just like embarrassingly stupid, since it doesn't really make me chuckle, but rather just feel sorry for the person who thought that it was a good creative choice.

    I mean, take your pick - finding LOL moments on Pros and Cons is like finding nuts in a Snickers bar. The whole Waters technique of singing something as a whisper AND THEN SCREAMING LIKE A MANIAC has to actually has to have some amount of narrative heft and/or judicious application; otherwise, it sounds utterly foolish.


    "WE GROW OUR OWN MAIZE!"

    "THE SPACE-HEATER RAN OUT OF DIESEL!"

    Ugh.

    Here, I'll do my own Roger Waters concept album about making dinner:

    (whispers) "We went to the grocery to buy food for a stir-fry"
    (screams) "BUT THE STORE WAS ALL OUT OF BROCCOLI!"
    (female chorus) "Out of broccoli!"
    I wasn't challenging you, I just wanted an idea of the kind of moment you meant. I get it -- maybe seeing the tour, which was staged in the same kind of way that The Wall was (big inflatables, sets, etc.) helped.

  9. #34
    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Facelift View Post
    (whispers) "We went to the grocery to buy food for a stir-fry"
    (screams) "BUT THE STORE WAS ALL OUT OF BROCCOLI!"
    (female chorus) "Out of broccoli!"
    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

  10. #35
    The eons are closing
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    Dude...I would so go to see an inflatable brocolli float over my head while Roger rages about Bird's Eye's GMO friendly practices.

    No flash freeze with freon! *rock*
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  11. #36
    cunning linguist 3LockBox's Avatar
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    Agree with the sentiments regarding Radio KAOS. I was a huge fan of it when it came out. The production is inexorably linked to the year it was released but sounded bad-assed on my car system. The song craft is strong but the subject matter is so topical and overwrought it's eye-roll inducing.

    I'll settle for Water's live DVD from '03 as a sort of 'best of' for his solo stuff.

  12. #37
    cunning linguist 3LockBox's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Facelift View Post
    (whispers) "We went to the grocery to buy food for a stir-fry"
    (screams) "BUT THE STORE WAS ALL OUT OF BROCCOLI!"
    (female chorus) "Out of broccoli!"
    Compact Disk brought high fidelity to the masses and audiophiles will never forgive it for that

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