Review Summary: An Album of Hits and Forgettable Tracks
So after 25 years without a solo album and multiple successful tours Roger Waters is back with a new album. After so much time you think he'd would have progressed to have a different sound, but nope it's the same as usual.most of this album is just like his past solo albums as well as Roger’s “precious baby” The Wall. I feel the main reason this was released was for Roger to be able to voice his political view in something more likely to have an impact instead of an interview. In a world full of people voicing their political views; I must say Roger does at least have something to add to the conversation; his views are unique to himself or at least his writing creates that illusion. It should be obvious if you can't put politics aside, and you're a huge Trump supporter; you aren't going to like this album. Even if you put politics aside does it hold up musically. As I said he's not breaking new ground whatsoever it's similar to what we've heard from him, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The album starts with When We Were Young it's really just quiet repeated dialogue that maybe symbolic symbolic in some way, but I can't really tell if it means much. It's really nothing special and if you aren't really paying attention you might not even realize it started. The next track is actually my favorite song on the album which is very reminiscent of Roger’s previous work which is most likely why it has the title Deja Vu. A problem I can see people having with this track as well as this album is Roger’s ego. At one point Roger said if he was given the job of being a God he could've done much better than whatever we have now; which yeah I get that complaint. Musically I think it's great with the slow build up and added in sound effects to create atmosphere; something Roger is great at as shown with Pink Floyd. The Last Refuge was another single from the album; I don't consider to be a high note, but it certainly isn't bad. I consider it musically a discount, “5 Years” by David Bowie Which is nothing to complain about. The next song “Picture That” has some of the best lyrical content on the album; as long as you don't focus on the politics. My favorite line from the whole album is from this song it is, “Wish You Were Here in Guantanamo Bay.” Musically I consider this song to be a high note on the album the instrumentation slowly building up until Roger delivers the line, “Picture a Leader With No ***ing Brains.”
Broken Bones is a slow simple guitar song with some background instrumentation that builds up itself up at a few points. It's a nice somber song nothing special, but nothing worth complaining about. The next song, Is This the Life We Really Want?The title track I think is the last highlight which is a shame because it's half through the album. I just think this song has great rhythm with Roger’s delivery going with the music perfectly. After that Bird in the Gale picks up the pace of the album, but doesn't provide anything special. Honestly the echo of his voice can get annoying. Next The Most Beautiful Girl in The World which is my least favorite song on the album. The instrumentation is alright, but Roger’s vocals just butcher the song for me. It's pretty boring and luck laster. The final single from the album is Smell the Roses which is just a rehashed Pink Floyd song. That's not a bad thing, but apart from some of the lyrics there is absolutely nothing here you haven't heard before. This is the only song on the album I can see people genuinely being offended by because of how Pink Floyd and unoriginal it is; not awful not great. The rest of the album is really nothing important. Wait For Her is an acoustic bore that maybe on its own could be okay, but at this point in the album I can't see this being interesting or special. Oceans Apart and Part of Me Died go together and aside from lyrics don't add much new. I do think it's a nice way to close the album although the song just kind of stops, and then the albums over you're done.
In the end I don't think there's much of a reason to be frustrated with an album like this; unless you disagree with its message. It's a somber album that is really harmless to his reputation. I don't think it adds or takes away from what we already know about Roger as a musician.
Pros:
Interesting lyrics
Some pleasant hidden gems
Fairly consistent
Cons:
Nothing New Musically
Boring at Some Points
Egotistical sometimes
3.5/5
