[wushuliu]

Oh Roger. I can't quit you. Love the new album. All things considered it's far better than it has any right to be given it's been DECADES since his last proper solo album. Godrich does a stellar job as producer. This album, like Pink Floyd's The Endless River, is a swan song of familiar themes and motifs, both lyrical and musical. As much as I loved Gilmour/Mason/(Wright) production quality, Roger just f*cking GETS it when it comes to audiophile soundscapes. There's something so immersive about his work, despite his chalky rasping.

What needs to happen is some mixing genius needs to edit together this album with Endless River. They go hand in hand IMO. While listening to one you will pine for the other. Put them together just right and you'd have the Floyd curtain call the fans dreamed of.

[Wind Chaser]

I picked it up today but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

[rbbert]

Opinions on this album are very divided.  There is no doubt, though, that the sound on all digital versions is poor, very compressed.  The LP apparently used a different better mastering.

[Wind Chaser]

Opinions on this album are very divided.  There is no doubt, though, that the sound on all digital versions is poor, very compressed.

Really?

[bluemeanies]

I am a BIG Pink Floyd fan way back to 1969!  UMMAGUMMA was the first PF LP I purchased. A lot of Floyds music such as MORE, OBSCURED BY CLOUDS and RELICS are underrated by radio stations.
The Mrs and I have tickets to his concert in Philadelphia this August.
Rogers is a GENIUS producing the WALL which I have seen live a half dozen times.
However his Pros and Cons of hitching was a disappointment and the Endless River fell into that category even though it was PF final studio album.
What I have read so far about Roger Waters latest endeavor I am grateful for TIDAL!

[wushuliu]

Really?

I listened to it using google play and didn't notice much compression. I'm sure it's there but the production as is is very smooth and dare i say it analog sounding. I have feeling godrich did a lot of it analog. I bet the vinyl sounds incredible but even streaming google it was easy on the ears.

[rbbert]

Really?

Assuming that is a serious question, yes, people seem to either love it or not care for it at all.  My guess?  If The Wall is one of your favorite albums and you like Final Cut better than Momentary Lapse of Reason, you will like this album.  If not, probably not.

[rbbert]

I listened to it using google play and didn't notice much compression. I'm sure it's there but the production as is is very smooth and dare i say it analog sounding. I have feeling godrich did a lot of it analog. I bet the vinyl sounds incredible but even streaming google it was easy on the ears.

The DR numbers are among the worst in the database.  The louder songs have a DR of 4; only the fact that there are several quiet songs allows the album's rating to be 7 (still pretty awful)

[wushuliu]

The DR numbers are among the worst in the database.  The louder songs have a DR of 4; only the fact that there are several quiet songs allows the album's rating to be 7 (still pretty awful)

Makes the result all the more impressive.

[guf]

my 24bit version has a DR of 11 according to Roon. I'm really impressed with the album and quality.

And I don't like anything.

[Larkston Zinaspic]

I'm still deciding if this is the album I really want.

Roger is a brilliant writer, but the political rants, much like Lloyd-Webber's awful stuff, goes on for years and years and years and years....

If you want to change the status-quo that badly, then maybe you should run for office.

That is, after you've raked in another half-billion on your next world tour.

[rbbert]

my 24bit version has a DR of 11 according to Roon. I'm really impressed with the album and quality.

And I don't like anything.

Not unless you managed to get a different version than anyone else.  The one HDTracks, etc, sells has a DR of 7, although one of the  quieter tracks measures DR 11 (and several of the louder tracks DR 4)

I want to like Waters' studio albums; his live shows and albums are quite enjoyable, but I can't say the same for this or his other studio albums.

[WGH]

I'm still deciding if this is the album I really want.

Keep your money. Waters does his trademark anguished screaming, inserts F**K into many songs and is totally depressing.
And talking about dynamic range, there are just two levels - loud and more loud. Every instrument and vocal is competing for dominance until the whole album becomes just a bunch of random noise.

I remember when we wore out Pink Floyd albums, each song was better than the last. This album is one and done.

But once in a while Waters can be truly inspired, his version of Pigs (Three Different Ones), Live from Zócalo Square - Mexico City - October 1, 2016 for an audience of 200,000 enthusiastic fans is a classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWLBtMz5OuY

[guf]

Not unless you managed to get a different version than anyone else.  The one HDTracks, etc, sells has a DR of 7, although one of the  quieter tracks measures DR 11 (and several of the louder tracks DR 4)

I want to like Waters' studio albums; his live shows and albums are quite enjoyable, but I can't say the same for this or his other studio albums.

Yeah i'm just sharing what Roon is displaying.

[MaxCast]

... but the political rants, much like Lloyd-Webber's awful stuff, goes on for years and years and years and years....

.

That is what I didn't want to hear.
I love all things Floyd but when musicians open their mouth about religion and politics I lose interest.

[tme110]

Listened to it on Tidal this weekend.  It was nice to listen to and sound 'familiar' but, no matter what side you're on, I didn't appreciate having politics added to my music.

[guest61169]

After one listen I would say it's pretty much the same depressing stuff we've heard before from his solo work and later Floyd.  I think he needs to do a little something or two and lie in the grass and watch some clouds or a nice stream in the woods and get that negativity out of his head at least for the time it takes to compose a new album.  When I heard it, I thought "Syd or David, I wish you were here (helping him write some uplifting tunes)".   

[wushuliu]

Listened to it on Tidal this weekend.  It was nice to listen to and sound 'familiar' but, no matter what side you're on, I didn't appreciate having politics added to my music.

LOL. Then why listen. He's ALWAYS been political with his work.

[LesterSleepsIn]

LOL. Then why listen. He's ALWAYS been political with his work.

Quite true, the medium is the message for him. The Pigs video linked to above by WGH is something else.

[Photon46]

What turns me off me about religion and politics in music isn't the fact that artists address these issues. Rather, it's the way it's done. For instance, when Daumier drew this cartoon lampooning the king of France's appetite for bags of gold created by the people's labor, he did so in a way that still rings true today and maintains artistic relevance.



On the other hand, a run of the mill cartoon from the 1920's about the scandal of the moment doesn't transcend its time and is basically meaningless artistically.



The same sort of idea applies to rock music IMO. Hank William's "I Saw the Light" is about Christian conversion but we can also read the lyrics in a broader sense about outgrowing youthful folly and addiction to transient pleasures. Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind" and Patti Smith's "People have the Power" were written in a politically leftist state of mind, but they can be interpreted or understood from more than one viewpoint. Parochialism kills art.