IN THE FLESH - LIVE

I saw this in a bargain bin and felt it calling me. I was not disappointed. Roger Waters "In The Flesh" is actually a very accomplished rendition of the best of Roger Waters with brilliant bursts of Pink Floyd. It is a very different sound with David Gilmour and took me some getting used to but it is great to hear a new Floyd sound with Waters at the helm. I like what he states in the liner notes, "Dark Side of the Moon has been performed almost ad infinitum by another band.... It seemed pointless to replicate this material, instead I chose representative songs from ('Dark Side of the Moon' and 'The Wall') ... and placed them alongside more obscure pieces from my back catalogue..." the "other band" he refers to is of course Gilmour's Floyd that performed DSOTM on "Pulse" to much acclaim.

Are these renditions as good? They are different, I cannot really compare, though I miss Gilmour's soaring guitar solos. Waters does a fine job of translating the classic tracks without the aid of his fellow band members. He is great on 'In The Flesh', 'Mother', 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun' and 'Pigs On The Wing'; I mean they are his songs and they sound more like the studio versions with his estranged vocal style. He was never the greatest singer but the atmosphere is bleak and appropriate with his caterwauling.

'Shine On' (14 whopping minutes!!!), the 5 tracks from DSOTM and 'Comfortably Numb' are all masterfully performed by all involved. The concert falls down for me when he plays stuff from his solo career. I had avoided his solo albums as a strategic move. If these tracks are anything to go by I think that was a good decision. Occasionally the solo stuff reaches some resonance as a good song, but it's all so poppy, although I am a bit of a fan of 'The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking Part II' which was in reality rather a bland album, apart from the eye candy saucy cover.

I had heard recently David Gilmour's solo performance "Live in Gdansk" and it's streets ahead of this, however the Roger Waters concert is not a disaster at all, I actually enjoyed this new experience of Pink Floyd immensely. Good, but not essential indeed!