Roger Waters To Create New Album

pal writes "Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd fame) is recording an album in February, according to his web site. The interesting part is that the web site is being used as what looks to be an interactive forum! Under "Questions?" there is a bit about the Declaration of Independence, and The Spirituality of the Internet, all with WWWboards there for feedback. Does he intend to allow the internet-going public to influence his lyrics? The last question is: "What do you think?" " This sort of work - remote collabrative work is kind of what Everything2 is trying to do. It's a very interesting point: How do you work over-the-wire?

Comments

Re:Stuff that matters?

[tweder]

I tend to agree - Slashdot has slowly, but surely, been turning to shit since the Andover buyout.

He needs it

[Rainy]

The guy makes great music. Listen to 'amused to death' on a good hifi system and I guarantee you'll be amazed. However, his lyrics are a step down from old PF standards, imho. It seems to me he's after making an impression at cost of deep meaning. Compare shine on with almost any song from radio kaos or even 'amused'. I can't really prove this point but I can't help but feel that Water's lyrics on his solo albums are a surrogate while old PF lyrics were very meaningful for them - perpaps more important than music itself. Let's hope this whole online forum thingy will help him somehow, although I'm pessimistic. Lyrics for songs are just not the kind of thing that are made through forums. Try to write a poem based on linux kernel traffic (mental note - should try it, if just for fun) and you'll see what I mean.

A bit unrelated, but I think Waters could try something as interesting - offer his songs online as mp3s for free and see where that leads his album sales. After all, the guy doesn't seem to be
obsessed with greed and he's got alot of money to start with.. he could try it.

ca ira and waters' works

[r]

part one - information.

re each small candle - looks like he'll have a song in something like an amnesty international compilation. pretty cool, though he's done that before.

on the other hand, as admitted before (on the web site and in the new york times), he's been working on an opera (!!!) called ca ira for quite a while. it's about the french revolution, and planned to be released somewhere around fall 2000.

not to mention of course the recent tour of the u.s. (anyone else seen the chicago show?), and the planned 2000 tour...


part two - critique.

re waters' lyrics - i think they've grown quite a bit. if that means the loss of quasi-intellectual vagueness, so be it. it's for the better.

just look at the final cut - musically it's a poor brother of the wall, but the lyrics carry so much more significance! it's no longer a bitter semi-autobiographical satire of the society, but an powerful political commentary. the lyrics have been given greater prominence than in previous albums, and while some people may bitch about it, i consider it a big plus.

(then of course there's radio k.a.o.s. yeah, i know. it sucked. the story was okay, but the delivery - just the fact that he had to write out the synopsis before the lyrics started should've been a warning sign. oh well. there's one in every phonography. :)

pros and cons of hitchhiking, on the other hand, is sheer brilliance. the leitmotif of the whole album - hitchhiking as a metaphore for relationships, and travel as a way of exploring the world and exploring yourself - works incredibly well with the lyrics. the examination of painful ways in which people treat each other is especially compelling. btw, this might be the most verbose album in the history of rock. but it works very well.

and finally, amused to death. it's definitely not a pop album. it stands against consummerism, against war, against militarism, and against unexamined patriotism (which can be a medicine especially difficult to swallow here in the u.s.). the problem is, it exposes the audience (and the society at large) as a mindless mob, following the path of convenience and thoughtlessness, unaware that it only leads towards self-destruction. but it's not a message that anyone would like. nobody wants to be told they're not as hot as they think they are. [1]

but i'll admit readily, these last two are not easy albums. almost anyone can pick up dark side and connect with the music - because the lyrics were designed to speak of simple facts of life using simple words. [2] but the same is not true of amused, pros and cons, or even the final cut. those require not just listening, but reading the lyrics, and working to understand them. less like space rock, more like literature.

---

[1] btw, in regard to this, the album goes very much in the spirit of the original neil postman book, but unlike the book, it's quite coherent. :)
[2] see schaffer's a saucerful of secrets - the pink floyd odyssey for a great account of the creation of dark side (not to mention the remainder of the history of the band).