FLICKERING FLAME - THE SOLO YEARS 1

The legend in highlighted red typing at the top of the front cover reads as followed: "A collectors limited edition including two rare demo recordings". Why do we people distrust such warnings? To make reviews like this. That's why. If there ever was going to be a Roger WATERS prominent career compilation album, sure, I would've inserted the same songs from previous releases in that specific order as well, but... what's the deal with the mysterious "two rare demos recordings"? Of course they're rare... in an oddly, inexplicable way, but rare. Sure, Roger included all the hits, all the punchy themes and the live recordings as well, but was it really necessary to surprise the fans with the "rare demos"? I think not. I know I'm acting paranoid, but I just can't jump off my amazement the same day I eagerly purchased this album, just because it had "the two rare recordings", expecting nothing but a fine, polished work. Well, that ain't happening today.

There's pretty much nothing to say about the rest of the songs because we are all familiar with them, "Flickering Flame" and "Lost Boys Calling". well, those two need a concise explanation. The song named after the album or all the way around, however you wanna put it, was religiously Xeroxed from the pure style of "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking", very sloppy and with way too much country music dashed in it (so was "Towers of Faith", but with cool female backing vocals and the characteristic religious message from Roger). "Lost Boys Calling", well, I assume it was intended to be a ballad, but it turned out to be a slumbering, mellow song. A severe contrast of Roger WATERS, buy it only if it's imperative for you to snap out of your dream of high hopes set upon this album and to complete the collection... like I did. Do not expect your curiosity to be rewarded, because that ain't gonna happen either. By the way, that legend I was telling you about at the beginning of the review also reads "The Solo Years Volume I". call me naive, but, does that mean there's gonna be a Volume II? Right.

"Flickering Flame" is ROGER WATERS' now out-of-print(?) misplaced attempt at a 'Greatest Hits/Compilation' and misses the mark entirely. (Think of PINK FLOYD's "Works" and you get the idea: so much potential, so little satisfaction.) How or why he chose the songs that he did for this album is beyond me. WATERS has plenty of hard, edgy solo material that would have and could have fit well on this release, but instead a number of pop-hits ('Radio Waves', 'Who Needs Information') and slow, introspective and moody ballads ('The Tide is Turning', 'Each Small Candle') are offered up. If I had to choose what songs NOT to include in a ROGER WATERS compilation, many of these would have been on that list.

For the most part, the 'rare' or 'demo' songs are at best...hard-to-find. 'Towers of Faith' (from the OST "When The Wind Blows") is quite good however and contains some nice acoustic work, reminiscent of FLOYD's "WYWH". 'Flickering Flame' (the song) and 'Lost Boys Calling' (another soundtrack song) are merely average attempts at the continued ROGER WATERS patronistic formula. In a tribute to one of his idols, BOB DYLAN, ROGER has also decided to provide us with a poor rendition of 'Knockin On Heaven's Door'. WATERS is a premiere progressive music songWRITER, but we all know just how poor a singer he is, and it definitely shows on this cover tune. :(

On the CD version that I have, the liner/notes was printed/inserted upside-down.

For collectors only! I never actually listen to this record, but purchased it nonetheless (like all the other completists) so that I could own some of the rarities it includes. 2/5 stars, barely.

This is not a worthy album for you to spend your money on. What we have in "special" here are two demo recordings, "Flickering Flame" (which sounds awfully boring) and "Lost Boys Calling". Another new recording here is a bad cover of BOB DYLAN's song "Knocking On Heaven's Door". I won't go as far to say that i prefer the GUNS N' ROSES' version of it, but it certainly was a not successful effort by Roger. The other songs can be found on his solo albums, on their proper context, and you should pay attention to those instead of getting this compilation, which is almost as useless as PINK FLOYD's "Works".

Now, if you are a die-hard Waters' fan get this, but i advise that your money would be better spent on something else.

Roger Waters's solo material after his time in Pink Floyd... well, not a big deal for two decades. His best effort is no doubt Amused To Death (1992), preceded by only two studio albums, both conceptual and more or less like poorer cousins of Final Cut (1982) - which indeed should have appeared as a Roger Waters album, not Pink Floyd. So, how good a compilation one COULD get in the first place? Surely better than this anyway. Almost everything that can be wrong in a compilation is wrong here.

The tracks taken from concept albums put in a haphazard order lose most of their potential. Here they should make an impression in music, which they don't. To be listened as individual tracks they appear as even more syrupy ('Every Stranger's Eyes'), boring ('Who Needs Information') or banal wannabe-hits ('Radio Waves') than on the original surroundings. Also selections from Amused To Death fail to deliver the strengths of the complete album.

But perhaps the biggest failure is the opening track, totally useless Dylan cover 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' with the very banal female background singing (which appears too often in Waters' output). The closing track 'Lost Boys Calling' appeared in the end credits of the pretty film "The Legend of 1900" about a pianist who never stepped outside the ship where he was born. In that context the wailing ballad is great, but here you already have heard too much of that same sentimental stuff. I can't give more than two stars... make it 1,5.

Why do you want to purchase a compilation album if you have already got all individual album of the musician / band being featured? For me is simple: I want to see what people think about "the best" for the artist which most of the time are different with what I consider the best with approximately 20% - 40% differences. But that's OK because everyone has different musical taste so that at the end they come up with something different. Fortunately with this the best of Roger Waters I think I can only find roughly 20% differences especially on the inclusion 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' as this is not his creation and he did little on rearrangement of the song. Yes, it's a classic song like "The House of The Rising Sun" but people want more on arrangement, I think. I think, the one done by Guns and Roses is much better than this. However, I have to admit that I also enjoy this song because of Roger Waters' vocal quality that I consider top notch!

Now, if we think that the person who purchases this compilation is very new to Roger Waters, I am pretty damn sure that he or she will love the compilation especially the vocal quality of Roger Waters. Sometimes I imagine I would it be if Waters collaborate with Steve Hackett and make an album called something like "Gabriel Revisited" where all tracks are basically taken from Gabriel era of Genesis. Wow! I can not imagine how beautiful it would be 'Can Utility and The Coastliners' performed its vocal by Waters. Oh man .... So lovely ...!!! Hope that Hackett reads this review - as well as Waters .....LOL.

For newbie of Roger Waters solo, I would expect them love songs like 'The Tide Is Turning' and 'Perfect Sense Part I & II' also others like 'Three Wishes', 'Every Stranger's Eyes'....and of course The Flickering Flame. I hope, having listened to this compilation they would explore to all individual album as well as Pink Floyd's ....

It's a very good compilation, I think. Keep on proggin' ...!!!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW