Log in

Review: Roger Waters comes out angry, focused on 'Life'

Posted 6/3/17

This cover image provided by Columbia Records shows, "Is This The Life We Really Want," a new release by Roger Waters. (Columbia Records via AP)

By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press

Roger Waters, …

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor

Review: Roger Waters comes out angry, focused on 'Life'

Posted
This cover image provided by Columbia Records shows, "Is This The Life We Really Want," a new release by Roger Waters. (Columbia Records via AP)


By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press
Roger Waters, "Is This the Life We Really Want?" (Columbia)

Two things are clear after listening to "Is This the Life We Really Want?" — the first rock album in 25 years from Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters.
The 73-year-old Waters has not mellowed with age and he's none-too-pleased with the current state of world affairs. In fact, he's downright angry. There's a reason why "Is This the Life We Really Want?" comes with an explicit lyrics warning.
The record is both a loud protest of current events and a continuation of the themes Waters last explored 25 years ago on "Amused to Death" and throughout his career, even dating back to "Animals" and "The Wall," Pink Floyd's seminal albums from the 1970s.
Anyone hoping for a bold new direction — or some level of subtlety from Waters — isn't going to find it here.
Waters rails against greed, injustice, lying politicians, brainless leaders and "nincompoop" presidents over 12 tracks. The specter of President Donald Trump, and at one point even his voice, permeates the record. Let's just say Waters isn't a fan.
While it's firmly rooted in the present, ticking clocks, ghostly (and sometimes angry) disembodied voices, barking dogs and a passing reference to the guitar riff of "Wish You Were Here" all serve as echoes of Pink Floyd's past without being a nostalgic trip down memory lane.