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ROGER WATERS - Flickering Flame (The Solo Years
Volume 1)
The bitter Pink Floyd split is well known to most. Without Waters'
voice, the band just isn't 100% Floyd. After a serious disillusionment
with the band's tangling with fame, fortune, excess and the dehumanization
it can have as effect, an altercation with a crazed fan shocked Waters
immensely and it led to the creation of their masterpiece, The Wall.
His enlightenment and consciousness flow through into his solo work as
he comments on the human condition and its self-destructive nature, so
clearly illustrated in Too Much Rope. A promoter of peace, Waters
inevitably created songs like The Tide Is Turning and Each Small
Candle. Then there are Three Wishes (with a noticeably South
African woman's voice-over), 5.06am (Every Strangers Eyes), Who
Needs Information and Perfect Sense part I & II (with its 2001:
A Space Odyssey sample of HAL being disconnected). Then there are other
favourites like (the more modernized pop feeling of) Radio Waves,
as well as a cover version of Dylan's Knockin' On Heaven's Door.
A new demo, Flickering Flame is included while the original demo
version of Lost Boys Calling close up the album. As you may have
noticed, this is Volume 1 - thus songs like The Pros & Cons
Of Hitchhiking are not included, yet. Waters has a unique style: not
quite rock, nor pop. His songs are scenes to be experienced and seen with
your ears, further enhanced by spoken sound bytes elaborating on your
imagination; a strong gospel feeling is also present in many of his songs
(especially due to his back-up vocalists) as well as blues moods and ambient
atmospheres. Roger Waters' music is not only great to hear, but also has
substance to it, relevant to our world as well as individuals. Intelligent
lyrics and great music - what more could you ask for?
6 / A
- PB
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