THE PROS AND CONS OF HITCH HIKING

This album does not get the due it deserves. It is very progressive, a direct descendant of Floyd's concept albums, running together as one single piece, with Eric Clapton on lead guitar. It is highly intellectual, saying something new and interesting about the human condition. The only drawback is the single that was released from it, the title track, which is definitely on the cheesy side (as is the cover!). But the rest of the album is highly musical, and parts border on brilliant. The album depicts an hour in the life of the main character ("Reg") starting at 4:30am, part-sleep and part-awake as he dreams/nightmares, and reflects on his life with his current partner and what could have been (and what might have transpired) with previous partners. The main character has dreams that begin great but often turn into nightmares, at which point he awakens, reflects, and then falls back asleep. This pattern of dreaming and reflecting, as well as the more real-life-pattern of changing partners over time (that Waters and other members of Floyd found themselves in at the time), Waters metaphorically likens to 'hitch-hiking', and in one of the dreams the main character finds himself hitch-hiking a couple of times. The album deals with the fear of losing loved ones, of being spurned, of not being true to one-self and one's dreams, of following a dream that turns into a nightmare, and of finding that one's dreams and motivations are fundamentally opposed to those of others. But it is also an album of redemption, and about realizing one's blessings, about 'waking up' to find that while humanity is scarred and unpredictable, it is a humanity that is open to everyone warts and all, and that we need each other. There are some great songs on this album. The opener and the track that follows ("Running Shoes") are wonderful, with blistering sax solo. "Sexual Revolution" is one of the highlights, with a fantastic guitar solo from Clapton. "Go Fishing" is beautiful and emotive, while "Every Stranger's Eyes" is one of Waters' best songs. It all ties together perfectly, except for the title track, which while I can listen to it is the only song I have an inclination to skip. Unfortunately, that is often the only song people heard from this otherwise excellent album. I give it 8.8 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which translates to high 4 PA stars.

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