RADIO WAVES

Radio Waves was a single released off of Roger Waters' Radio K.A.O.S. in 1987. This version is a 12" single featuring an extended remix of Radio Waves, the song Going to Live in L.A. which was not included on Radio K.A.O.S., and the 7" single version of Radio Waves.

Radio K.A.O.S. was not one of Roger's best works, and Radio Waves was not one of Roger's best songs, nor one of the better ones off of Radio K.A.O.S. Nevertheless, it was probably the most danceable thing Roger had released since Another Brick in the Wall. So why not make a more danceable version of Radio Waves? Apparently most of the brain cells back in 1987 were on a picnic. Ultimately, the extended version has the bass and drums brought more forward in the mix, thus not really improving the song in any imaginable way.

Going to Live in L.A. didn't make it onto the final release of Radio K.A.O.S. If you remember the storyline of the album, this song is about Benny going to live at his great Uncle David's in Los Angeles. It basically sounds just like the music from Radio K.A.O.S. which means it really isn't as exciting as, for example, jellybeans.

I suspect that, like other 12" singles of the time, this release is probably rare nowadays. However, it really isn't worth the effort to search for unless you are a completionist or collector of rare singles of prog and prog related musicians.

The single, hard to find now on vinyl, but available on many bootleg compilations, such as Treefull Of Secrets, is an interesting time capsule. Driven by a propulsive, but hardly unique, beat and phase shifting guitar, Radio Waves features Waters at his most (only??) blatant attempt to reach a commercial audience. The drawback is that Waters' voice is hardly the stuff of top 40 radio, and his croaking delivery of the chorus only served to alienate him from any new audience. The 12" version features only an extended intro and a doubled solo, as well as dialog from the "so-called" radio station.

The real highlight is the 'Going To Live In LA' which features an abandoned part of the album's story. Some of the ideas on this track are recycled on the existing songs of the album, but it does have Waters' sense of linear story and a nice up-tempo rock ending more worthy of his abilities.

If you're into collecting hard-to-find 12-inch singles from prog rock stars that fell into that bottomless pit of mediocrity in the 1980s, then this is for you. Roger Waters' Radio Waves EP featured an extended remix version of Radio Waves (the single off of Radio K.A.O.S.), the "7-inch" version of the same song (i.e., what was played on the radio), and a song that is part of the Radio K.A.O.S. storyline but didn't make it onto the studio album called Going to Live in L.A.

Radio Waves itself was an okay pop song at the time, though Waters' voice really didn't fit it well, sounding rough and almost like he couldn't keep up with the song's momentum. The version off of Radio K.A.O.S. was better than both the remix and 7-inch versions, even though Radio Waves wasn't even the best song off that studio album. The extended remix version, as you might have guessed, was more danceable and may have been marketed to dance clubs (imagine that!). At least that's what most of those 1980s 12-inch singles were intended for.

The only song of any interest here is the one that didn't make it onto Radio K.A.O.S., that being Going to Live in L.A. I'm not going to go into the storyline of this because like many of Waters' projects, it wanders around and deals with too much. We'll all just get lost and wonder what on earth we've been talking about. Musically, it's more interesting than most of the material on Radio K.A.O.S. carrying a mostly driving beat, but I'd have a hard time fitting it into a good position on the album. I guess anywhere would work and make just about as much sense as the rest of the album (if Roger is reading this, I hope he has a sense of humor).

Obviously this is for collectors only. For those of you enamored with the Radio K.A.O.S. album, this is probably a must-have. Waters completionists might also be interested. Hardly worth anyone else's interest. Two stars.

A couple of songs from RADIO KAOS, although "Going to Live in LA" actually didn't make the record cut, it is still a part of the overall story. I prefer the album version to this EP version of "Radio Waves". Roger Waters "pop" I guess. It is not even what I consider the best track off of the album. "Going to Live in LA" is an understated piece of music with a real THE FINAL CUT feel to it. (Is that good or bad?) It is not a bad song, but it is noting wonderful and leaves little lasting impression, although I do like the way it builds up. Unfortunately the ending doesn't materialize in any meaningful way. The album RADIO KAOS, was not what I considered the best work by Roger Waters, (maybe AMUSED TO DEATH?). As an EP this really only merits attention form collectors and ravid Floyd or Waters fans. 2 stars.