I was in my local Records store, stopped at the CD section, and there it was, Roger Waters' latest album. "Is this the life we really want?" Nice title. Provocative question. The short answer: "No!"
I haven't read any reviews. I really don't want to know what anyone else thinks of the record. I thought to myself, "I wonder what's on Roger Waters mind?" And I snagged a copy of the album.
I have lived with it for a week or so. Yes, it's a knockout. A major work from a major artist. Produced & Mixed by Nigel Goodrich, longtime Radiohead Producer/Collaborator. What a perfect match.
The record sounds amazing. Lush. Powerful. Layered. Sophisticated. Love the sound of the drums, keyboards, orchestrations. At the center of it all Roger Waters' uncivil voice, and his plain, resonant acoustic guitar.
Does Roger Waters rank with some of the great artists of our time like John Lennon, Bob Dylan, George Orwell and J.G. Ballard? Yes, he does.
He is Rock & Roll's Great Conceptualist! Rock & roll's Great Dystopian! There is no disputing Roger Water's bleak, gloomy, bitter, dark, alienated, disaffected, pissed off vision. We can't dispute it, we just happen to live in his world.
I love it that Roger Waters has not mellowed out. That he still has a chip on his shoulder. That he is still pissed off at the state of the world. Maybe, actually, no surprise, he's even more pissed off now.
He paints a corrosive picture of our current predicament, "The Death of the Post War (World War II) Dream." Fear in every heart. Drones in the sky. Refugees with no shelter. A harsh war on Immigrants. Guantanamo. A culture swimming in cheap shit and abundance. How we all have sold our souls and liberty, for a bit of security and $.
Does the "Grab them by the Pussy President" make an appearance? Yes, he does. There is even a snatch of audio featuring the voice of the bilious fraud. It's almost too much, but I think it works splendidly...
Yes, well, the actual lyrics are "Picture a Leader with no fucking brains..."
Anyway, a powerful, cohesive artistic statement from one of the best of his generation. I highly recommend it. I will let Roger Waters have the last words:
"We cannot turn back the clock
cannot go back in time
but we can say
Fuck You, we will not listen to
Your bullshit and lies
Your bullshit and lies."
R. Waters