Roger Waters  - Is This the Life We Really Want?
Columbia
https://www.amazon.com/This-Life-We-Really-Want/dp/B06Y4BX6FS

Rating: B

Donald Trump is the leader of the Free World.  Roger Waters does not like that…not one bit.  Nope.  He’s pissed.  He can’t believe what has happened.  He is also aging.  He is reflective.  He is an artist.

His new album, Is This the Life We Really Want? is exactly the album one would imagine a 70-something year old Waters would create in reaction to the political landscape of today.

Musically the album is morose, sad and often lonely.  It is the sound of an aching heart, a racing mind and a deeply artistic integrity.  The opening words out of Roger’s mouth in the song “Déjà Vu” concern him wondering what he would have done if he had been God.  The reflective lyrics show a man who is looking back, forward and all around perceiving the world in a way he never could have imagined 20…30….even 40 years ago.

Spoiler Alert: He believes he would have done a better job!

Next up Waters’ shows his compassion and political assessment of the refugee crisis with the tune “The Last Refugee.”  It appears the talented songwriter spends a lot of time watching MSNBC, CNN and even Fox News!  He has opinions on all, but nothing raises his ire like the callous right wing attitude—and he doesn’t mind letting one know!

“Picture That” is as angry a song as Waters’ has ever written!  This song also sounds the most like a classic 1970s era Pink Floyd song as he has done on a solo effort.

The entire album could easily have ‘Pink Floyd’ on the label.  There are voices in the background.  His lyrics are filled with disgust, anger and  disillusionment.  There is also a strange underlying hope that peeks out from time to time, yet it seems too unsure of itself to fully emerge.

This is the first set of new rock material from Waters in something like a quarter of a century.  As much as he has a great distain for Donald Trump, we owe The Don a big favor.  Not only is he ‘bringing back jobs’ he is inspiring Roger Waters to write rock music again.

Dare I say it?  He is “Making America Pink Again!”

Track Listing
When We Were Young
Déjà Vu
The Last Refugee
Picture That
Broken Bones
Is This the Life We Really Want?
Bird In A Gale
The Most Beautiful Girl
Smell the Roses
Wait for Her
Oceans Apart
Part of Me Died

By Jeb “See You On The Dark Side” Wright