THE PROS AND CONS OF HITCH HIKING

When listening to the solo albums that Gilmour and Waters released in 1984, two conclusions can be made. The first is that while both are blues-rock at heart, they couldn't possibly be more different, the second being that none of both licked the heels of anything Floyd.

Waters continues the extreme quiet-loud, whisper-shout dynamics of The Final Cut and reveals that he has lost any remaining song writing skills he once had. Also his voice has lost all dynamics, tone and melodious qualities. It has become a grating listen, as can be witnessed on the finale of the odious kitsch of Go Fishing.

The music remains interesting for about 5 minutes, the first two tracks still promise a daring album of the level of the Final Cut, but the 40 minutes that follow don't bring anything new to this mix of mid-paced blues clichés, recitative drivel and tasteless gospel/soul background vocals. The well known single The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking is the only sequence with a bit of melody and probably the ultimate bottom point of anything baring Waters' name.

This album has never gotten more then 5 spins over the 25 years since it was released. When listening to it for this review I've been desperately searching for a reason to give it more then 1 stars but I haven't found any. Even with a mediocre album like Aboutface, Gilmour wins the first round against Waters with ease.