ROGER WATERS

Surprised to see this is actually the first review in this site of this release, knowing there is a vast amount of Roger Waters fans (and haters) who like talking about him and his music. Maybe it is because not so many of them were aware of it, or because they were not convinced about the result, who knows, but to me, this is nice and if you ask me, quite enjoyable.

As you can imagine by its name, 'The Lockdown Sessions' is the result of some recordings made during pandemics, when COVID times surrounded us. Or better said, re-recordings of some of the tracks Waters played as encore during his Us + Them Tour (that took place from 2017 to 2018) and a couple of tracks more of his most personal repertoire. The musicians involved in this recording are the same who played in that tour, including Lucius, the two girls who provided backing vocals in such a wonderful way.

There are six tracks here and a total time of 40 minutes, and though we could say this release does not add anything new or outstanding, I think if you are in a calm or even melancholic mood, you could sit, take a cup of coffee, relax, and enjoy it. From Pink Floyd years you will hear 3 tracks taken off 'The Wall' and 2 off 'The Final Cut', and from his solo years you'll hear one song taken off 'Amused to Death', nothing more.

These versions are nice but not memorable, though the recordings are clean and well done as usual, it is a release you will probably hear just a few times and then lock it down (hehe). But, as I mentioned above, it can provide an enjoyable time if you are in the mood. My favorite is 'The Bravery of Being out of Range', which sounds alike the version on stage from his most recent tour: Us + Them. And talking about that tour, these release closes with what would be the opener of Us + Them, 'Confortably Numb', and that strange slowed-down version that does not have the memorable guitar solo and lacks of that energy and explosive sound.

Give it a try, don't expect anything out of the pocket, just try to chill and enjoy it.

My personal rate according to PA's description would be 3 stars, but I believe it is mostly for collectors/fans, so 2 stars is it.

Sometimes classics don't need to be remade. There will be no second masterpiece. There are exceptions, for example Rick Wakeman's new versions The Six Wives of Henry VIII and King Arthur - he didn't play better, he played differently. But I can't say the same about this album. While listening, I asked myself - why? Why did Waters record this? Only for the anniversary? Most of the time he doesn't sing, only speaks. And this completely spoils the entire impression of the music, which is still interesting in some places. The soft meditative interpretation of Money, Brain Damage and Eclipse attracted attention. On The Run and Time are completely unrecognizable on the beginning; it's good to turn them on and ask you to guess the melody. All songs are slowed down by half or three times. This is probably what this album would have sounded like if Waters had recorded it under his full control.

It's hard for me to rate this album. It doesn't bring anything new. Maybe only Roger Waters needed it. But I liked the interpretations of some songs. Therefore, two stars.

OK, I didn't resist. I have grabbed a copy and listened to it few times. Probably more than needed. The lyrics of Free Four speeched during Speak To Me and the beginning of Breathe are, I think, the only relevant addition. Not that I like it, really. Free Four was a sort of a joke on Obscured By Clouds: very dark and depressing lyrics about Death on a funny and quite solar base. The same lyrics on Speak To Me have a very different flavor.

But It's quite important as that song was likely the seed of the idea from which the whole DSOTM has come from. Said so, it seems that Roger has done his best to replace Dave's guitar with everything possible as he has done previously with the rework of Comfortably Numb.

Anyway, as always, The Dark Side Of The Moon is so stuck into the minds of the aged listeners like I am, that every cover or rework is never too bad. I like the Easy-Star All Stars reggae version and I have loved the Green Side of The Moon by Greenwall, so if we treat this Redux as just another cover, it's fine.

This is the reason why I think that Free Four on the opening is the only relevant thing: it has a historical value and with this inclusion, Waters seems to admit it. For the rest, well, you can like it or not. Surely it's not an essential album. Just a must-have for hard fans (like me).

I generally do my best to be positive on this site. I cover music I like (mostly), and I aim to give acts the benefit of the doubt when possible. I've heard it said that critics should be curators, not gatekeepers, and that is an ethos I strive for. But every now and then, you run across a flaming pile of [&*!#] so spectacularly bad, you have to stop and gawk. It's a trainwreck with bodies strewn everywhere, and the mere sight of it makes you sick, but you can't look away. And to top it all off, the person driving the train is a notoriously unpleasant curmudgeon. When a situation like this arises, it's hard not to react to the spectacle.

Having a nice, long hate on an album can be a fun, cathartic exercise on occasion. I haven't really done that on this site before now, but it's something I did a number of times when I was writing reviews on my personal Facebook page. The Astonishing, Dream Theater's overblown, under-thought rock opera, was a particularly fun record to bash. I'm looking forward to expanding on that in my eventual Dream Theater Deep Dive. (I did bash Leprous's last two albums pretty hard, but even my Aphelion review found some limited good.)

I touched on this briefly in my Pink Floyd Deep Dive, but Roger Waters is pretty easy and fun to dislike. He often comes off as a self-important douche who is deeply unpleasant to spend time around. Normal, likable people don't get married five times or have irreparable rifts with coworkers. Sure, his politics are not too terribly different from my own on most fronts, but his sanctimony goes a long way in making me second-guess those overlapping views. 

He only seems to have gotten more unpleasant in his old age, too. His spats with David Gilmour, which seemed to have quieted down a bit in the mid-2000s, have only flared back up as nasty as ever in recent years. And the dude is even on Russia's side in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Add into that mix some additional ridiculous, egotistical statements?like his bitter, petulant outburst that he is "far, far, far more important" than The Weeknd when the Canadian press didn't give his tour enough attention?and it's easy to see why it's hard to look away from his nonsense.

Now, to Roger's credit, he's not intending for this to be a replacement for The Dark Side of the Moon. This work is presented as a different take on things. The album is a reflection on life and death, and re-recording it with another fifty years of life experience sounds like a concept that could work? theoretically. The problem is, Roger's best work was always strongly reliant on David Gilmour and Rick Wright providing significant musical input. This manifestation of Dark Side simply lacks that ineffable spark that made the original one of the greatest rock albums of all time. In many ways, this release feels like him attempting to diminish the importance of the other members of Pink Floyd and cast himself as the act's true creative force.

I get what Roger was going for here. He's an old man now, and I'm sure his lyrics feel all the more true to him. And yes, there is something to be said about the gravity of many of these passages. "Speak to Me" has been replaced with a somber recitation of some of the grimmer lyrics from "Free Four", off Obscured by Clouds, and it's actually a rather promising opening (especially based off the [&*!#]show that is the first single, "Money", but that comes later). 

"Breathe", instrumentally, is a decently interesting reinterpretation, with a stripped-back feel. Strings and acoustic guitar help add a sense of weight. However, Roger Waters was never the strongest singer, and age hasn't been particularly kind to his voice. He's doing better than Ian Anderson, but that's a low bar.

"On the Run" has its focus shifted from tense, claustrophobic synth loops to Roger's poetry. I don't particularly like poetry, and this stuff is no exception. Between this and "Speak to Me", it feels like Roger Waters is doing his best to take the instrumentals on this album and refocus them to be about him personally. He wrote the lyrics for the other six songs, after all, so why shouldn't these bear his mark too?

"Time" eschews its iconic opening cacophony of clocks, instead having Roger recite more tedious poetry. I know he wants this to be his own spin on Dark Side, but all the changes he's made so far simply strip away all of the original release's charm and character. He's turned it into a sleepy, spacy mush.

The verse is minimalistic and supported mostly by acoustic guitar. Roger's voice is also a poor substitute for the beauty of David Gilmour and Rick Wright's harmonizations. The overall mushiness of this album is only made worse by the decision to excise all guitar solos. Like, I get that Roger Waters and David Gilmour [%*!#]ing hate each other, so I can understand Roger's spiteful instinct to minimize any guitar flashiness. But at the same time, the call to have the music just lazily drift along does not help anything or anyone.

"The Great Gig in the Sky" replaces Clare Torry's iconic vocal riffing with a story about one of Roger's friends passing away. Thematically, I can understand the decision, but it just doesn't make for good or interesting music. And at the end of the day, shouldn't that really be the point of recording an album? You can put a particular angle or spin on your music without making it drowsy, uninteresting monotony.

It's almost impressive how badly Roger Waters ruined his best-known composition, "Money". His voice is especially poor here, and he's sucked all the fun out of the iconically infectious ⅞ groove. I'm pretty sure he's trying to come off as (even more) cynical and jaded, but he just sounds bored. The strings don't add anything interesting, and his decision to replace another guitar solo with more poetry is simply not good. This song is an absolute slog. It feels like a punishment. Why am I doing this to myself?

The original "Us and Them" had a pretty sedate pace, so this interpretation is less galling. It sticks with the stripped-back acoustic motif, like the rest of Redux, but that just makes it feel like bland elevator music. Roger's voice also feels quite thin and unimpactful. On the plus side, the instrumental section of this song is actually instrumental, rather than another poetry reading. This song is the closest to its original, so it's probably the best on the album. Being the best track on this album isn't much of an honor.

"Any Colour You Like" is almost unrecognizable, in contrast. The swirling, kaleidoscopic instrumental is now an acoustic, vaguely-bluesy backing over which Roger Waters is allowed to hoarsely mumble.

The overall sleepiness of this album continues on "Brain Damage". This interpretation is more lazy than offensive. It's not like "Brain Damage" was the most energetic song to start with, so slowing it down even more practically grinds it to a halt.

And the album reaches a fittingly disappointing non-climax with "Eclipse". The original is one of the most explosive, satisfying conclusions to an album in all of popular music history. The version presented here, though, leaves the listener with musical blueballs, as it offers no proper resolution to anything preceding it. This song vaguely hints at the original's dramatic, cascading organ part, but it's nothing more than a weak gesture. This cut just sluggishly somnambulates out of the preceding one and sort of lingers around for two minutes. Roger Waters sounds like he's gargling gravel, with absolutely no sense of purpose.

I know I referenced the original The Dark Side of the Moon a lot, but that was absolutely unavoidable. This album is an artist going back and remaking his best-known piece of work with a different perspective, so my feelings and opinions on the original are going to be inextricable from my views on this redux. 

This is a dull, dull album. It doesn't accomplish anything of note, and this will serve more as an embarrassing footnote at the end of Roger Waters's career than as anything of substance. The production is good, sure, but this music doesn't deserve it. Redux is a mess, but it's not the particular type of musical abortion I was imagining. Don't bother with this, unless you're looking for a sleep aid narrated by someone doing a Tom Waits impression.

It's still better than The Final Cut, though. Fuck that album.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2023/10/23/album-review-roger-waters-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-redux/

I put my prejudices and expectations aside and gave a first audition to "The Dark Side Of The Moon Redux. An even darker side of the moon was revealed to me. Melancholy, frustrated, cold, resigned and deeply philosophical, a gloss or maybe even a testament. I learned that the dark side is the other world, inaccessible now that we breathe the air of life. It is perhaps both a maeutics and an ontology, like a forge of human existence. A remarkable burst of artistic concept by Waters! It has already settled in my soul .It is no longer psychedelic, nor progressive, and even less rock, and no, it is NOT a pastiche, a reinterpretation of "DSOTM", because it has the strength not to stand in the shadow of anything else and just settle down natural in the artistic evolution of its creator. Physically, more propitiously, I will place it in the section of the "oratorical" genre, like the Greek tragedies, at "Spoke Word" (spoken poetry). Waters' narrative, with an excellent sense of proportion and semantic nuances , makes the meaning of the poem predominant and, the passages I already know so well, make me realize how superficially I could grasp meanings and meanings in the classical version. From an aesthetic point of view, an analogy with "An American Prayer" by Manzarek, Densmore & Krieger, the works of the American composer Robert Ashley or the radio productions of Joe Frank does not seem out of place to me, and also, as already mentioned, with " You Want It Darker" by Leonard Cohen.

A Waters who wants to change a cult album, what does that mean???

1. Speak to Me cools the heart, more ambient, serenity... bam a voice that breaks... the atmosphere, I haven't gotten used to it for a few days 2. Breathe (In the Air) for the bird's voice, meowing in the distance... but that's all, yes taken up and lacking in creativity, the height of it, me who hoped to be able to decry those who... criticized 3. On the Run again Roger with his voiceover, a regret... this cuts the original, but perhaps this is precisely his choice... the sound behind it hurts to be thus in the background, this voice Ok for 'The final cut', but hey it's over we have to evolve! In short, at the moment when you imagined the guy running and panting, there you have nothing left to imagine, castration, the other side of the musical effect 4. Time... ah I just found a positive effect, the sequences are easier in this repeat, this redux! Well otherwise what is the point seriously? The distant air of TDSOTM without the reference musical score; an ersatz that's the right word, an ersatz poorly re-duplicated and poorly reproduced, a lament for a profuse Alzheimer's demented perhaps, I'm looking for what went through his head...I listened to repetitions of it , covers, re-chewings of TDSOTM, raped, housed, synthesized, electronified, heavyfied... we could understand a little the commercial or other goal, but there, ah yes the Cello which hums but it's little... well something good about the chirping bird, yes I'm hanging on to the branch! 5. The Great Gig in the Sky go for those who will love that dull schizoid voice behind you, that's too much; the title is just butchered, it takes me back to a YouTuber discussing the titles live... erm in phrasing for the only solution!

6. Money that I was waiting for, yes, I said to myself, come on, wait, you'll see, it's going to go down... well, mono from mono, not the group that plays on atmospheres, here it's flat from the wave at the level of the mouth of Mt St Michel; disappointment; your monotone and mono...lithic to make you wake up a witch near Stonehenge! 7. Us and Them follows, well I fear even more and here the exception, a title which comes closest to the original, we feel the emotion, the waiting, the latency, the organ is good highlighted; good for those who were waiting for female voices in heat (yes we could write it before!!) there it is rake, nada finally you see!!! 8. Any Color You Like for the return to the phrasing title which pollutes the origin, period! 9. Brain Damage follows, well since it was air modolo there it goes; the height of it would have been for Roger to release a punk tune on us to erase the original tune; most wind instruments 10. Eclipse now to go all the way; once again the serious narration breaks the original air, the prog blood which was flowing freezes, the slightly grandiloquent atmosphere frankly fades, this narration erases and pollutes more than it brings originality.. . I wait for the heart, much too far away, much too outdated! (1.5)

The album is 5 minutes longer than the original DSOTM. But not because of a new song or because of extended instrumental parts. Only because all songs are played at 35 bmp. Roger's vocals are incredibly weak and his endless logorrhea all along the album is appalling. 'Great Gig in the Sky', 'Any Colour You Like' the intro of 'Time' and 'Money' are completely trashed by this. When he is not speaking he tries to sing but obviously cannot anymore. Even on a very low key, he is not able to reach some notes correctly ('Us and Them' is one obvious example). The grand final that is 'Brain Damage/Eclipse' on the original album is also a total failure because of the low tempo and bad singing (although the chorus of Eclipse are good. Probably he should have let the girls sing without him).

Still, the initial product is sooooo good that you can still enjoy some parts of this redux version, but they are too few : Instrumental sections, when Roger finally decide to shut up for 30 seconds, are enjoyable at some times with some nice keyboards and double bass work ('Time' and 'Us & Them'). The acoustic mood all along the album was a good idea and I really believe that, on this basis, he "could have done a better job" (to paraphrase him).

'Time' is probably the best reinterpretation of the album and I guess is the best example of the good ideas and what is destroying them : intro instrumental seems great but is covered by useless words, then song starts and Roger vocals are not up to par. However the girls in the chorus are doing their best to save him. The Instrumental section that follow is very good. And we are back with the bad vocals. All of this performed at a very slow pace.

The general result is often boring and uncomfortable. It will be forgotten very soon whereas original DSOTM will remain as one of the greatest masterpieces of rock music.

Poor. Only for completionists.

The dark side of depression. Short review: No Roger. Bad Roger. A little bit longer: Roger has made an audiobook with music added. That was my first impression. Second impression when I forced myself to listen to it again (why oh why?) I thought, how is it even possible to take this great album and turn it into a melancholic lullaby? I couldn't even listen to all the songs in their entirety; I had to skip through some of them to avoid downing half a bottle of antidepressants washed down with whiskey. It's unbelievably boring. It's like Roger 'Hybris' Waters has squeezed every ounce of joy out of the songs and forced the other musicians to play all the songs in a minor key at half the tempo at gunpoint. Tonight, I'll have to watch twelve episodes of some comedy series to regain my zest for life and not want to bury myself in the ground. It's a shame he didn't write "The Bright side of the moon" instead, as a sequel. Then we could have sat and laughed at the inherent joke. Roger, let's sing this old Monty Python song: Always look on the bright side of the moon, ta dam, ta dam, ta dam ta dam ta dam. Avoid at all costs. Ignore it happened.

Ponderous. Oh so ponderous! Roger Waters's new fangled version of the legendary and massively selling Dark Side of the Moon is intended to be a reflection on old age, dovetailing with those themes of time and mortality that were cornerstones of the lyrics. It's interesting that while he hasn't tried to claim that this is any sort of replacement for the original - a record he still professes to love - he has tried to claim that this makes the rerecording more "indicative" of the concepts behind it, which I'd say is a far more loaded statement. DSOTM has more to its theming than death and dying, of course. It more holistically represents the challenges of life, speaking on stress, anxiety, the rat race, greed, conflict, division, and madness. The LP came from a young band and road crew who were on the rise, ambitious, familiar with the drudgery of touring and recording, and haunted by the sort of spectre of the lost Syd Barrett. It was a collective effort within and beyond the group and is suffused with an at once youthful yet fairly wise perspective. Waters is not only flying solo in one of the truest senses but is laser focused on elements of the record that naturally speak more to him at his age and after the many losses he has since experienced, which are parts of a whole and while he brings some powerful perspectives to them he fails to add to anything else, for better or (more likely) for worse. The redux also feels tired and burdened, which proves to be a double edged sword, appropriate yet taxing.

There's nothing to say about the lyrics that haven't already been said since they are exactly the same. Can't blame Waters for doing so. What's important are how they are sung and his spoken word monologues that replace the original's interviews. His singing is mostly monotonous, which is mostly an issue, failing to bring the full weight of his age to the lyricism and leaving the redux well short of the power of the original. It's the heart of the chronic fatigue of the new recording, whose whispered tones are more concrete shoes than representations of the ravages of time. The spoken word portions, on the other hand, have some promise. Certainly the most arresting part of the rerecording is "The Great Gig In The Sky" wherein Waters describes the passing of a close friend. I also came to love the spoken version of "Free Four"'s lyrics on "Speak To Me", which have evolved from some of Waters's finest and most portentous early lyrics into elderly words of wisdom. The rest of the spoken sections, however, are about as dull as the singing. There aren't sageful pearls to be found elsewhere, just some of his more half-witted and (I have to say it) pretentious sides.

Most of the music also suffers from a deep lethargy. It's quite slow and heavily understated, mainly in ways that are boring and go beyond representations of age into meaningless muzak. While "The Great Gig In The Sky" can be more than forgiven for being so musically empty as it gives space to Waters's remembrance of his late mate, the same can't be said for the majority of the album. "Time" in particular suffers from this and by comparison not only to the original but especially to Stardeath and White Dwarfs's version from their DSOTM cover LP with The Flaming Lips. Stardeath's take is similarly slow and calm, but finds unique beauty and tranquility in it in intentional counterpoint to the harried lyrics, while Waters's solo version here is empty of all power, irony, reflection, and anything else. While Stardeath's cover arguably needed an appropriate replacement for David Gilmour's guitar solo - their take just didn't have a break - this version suffers far worse for having one. At least there are some rays of instrumental hope here, however, with "Speak To Me", "Breathe", "On The Run", and "Any Colour You Like" all benefitting from some fairly unique instrumentals that don't variate from the pace of the redux but do give you *something* to listen to. Those cuts are okay.

Listening to this rerecording front to back starts you off with some good music and hope for the project but ends up sputtering out into a void. I enjoyed parts of it but I can't in good conscience recommend it outside of those few aforementioned highlights. Waters clearly came into this with some good intentions but failed in fulfilling them in their entirety, showing that for all his talent and experience he is flawed and likely weighed down by his long running biases.

After the tortuous recording process of "The Final Cut", Roger Waters unilaterally decreed the end of Pink Floyd, claiming that they had no more to offer and that the music was part of the past, from which he wanted to move on. Not to mention his open contempt for his former bandmates.

But given the discreet results of his solo works (except for the very interesting "Amused to Death" and some sparks of "Is This the Life We Really Want?"), it seems that Waters came to his senses and retraced his steps, and for a little less than 20 years he has dedicated himself to orbiting endlessly over the same works that supposedly no longer stimulated him, to define it in some way.

I love Pink Floyd's music, especially in Waters' time, he is undoubtedly one of the great characters of the progressive genre and rock in general while he was part of the band, I have been lucky enough to attend and enjoy some of his commemorative shows in recent times.

But beyond that, the way he has found to keep himself relevant, almost desperately, has led him down a thorny path that, with this "Redux" of the legendary "The Dark Side of the Moon", closer to a common scratchy chill out recreation, does not honour the original album and I personally consider it blurs him.

Unnecessary.

1.5/2 stars