ROGER WATERS Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Just in time for the latest leg of Roger Waters' contested and controversial world tour, the grumpy former Pink Floyd front man has released a CD edition of The Lockdown Sessions, a mini-album of performances recorded at home (with the aid of many members of his live backing band) during the COVID-19 pandemic. It features Waters and company delivering gravel-voiced interpretations of The Wall favourites 'Mother' and 'Vera' (the latter segueing into 'Bring The Boys Back Home'), two tracks from Floyd's 1983 set The Final Cut, and Waters solo favourite 'The Bravery of Being Out of Range'. Most significantly, it also includes his re-imagining of 'Comfortably Numb', which Waters has re-framed as a slow, droning, trippy and ultra-atmospheric treat. As you'd expect, there are no Dave Gilmour style guitar solos in sight!

Review: Pink Floyd's Roger Waters recorded The Lockdown Sessions at home during the COVID lockdowns between 2020 and 2021. Of course, intrigue was bound to spark up as to what Waters would be doing in this time, so we're not surprised supply has matched demand. What ensues is a mixture of exclusive live originals (mastered for this EP of course), and a handful of new versions of old Floyd classics. The 2022 version of 'Comfortably Numb' falls into the latter category, appearing on the B-side. Meanwhile, brand new cuts like 'Mother' and 'Two Suns In The Sunset' appear on the A, acting as Waters' new reflections on a world driven mad; the songs were first streamed live to fans during the incipient, isolated phase of Zoom-calling and make-do music performances from inside musicians' homes.

Review: This CD, vinyl and download version of the Us & Them tour risks doing Pink Floyd legend Waters a disservice. Recorded on the 2017-2018 tour of the same name, the shows were dedicated to peace and love, but were also purposefully designed to stoke some particularly heated political fires, much of which is lost on this audio-only version.

No Black Lives Matters or Palestine-Israel imagery here, then. Nor flying pig props. But while this might disappoint some it means the album adds a new dimension to the Us & Them legacy. The tour is distilled into nothing but music and audible atmosphere. So we focus entirely on spoken messages, air raid effects, and a set list packed with Floyd classics ('Another Brick In The Wall', 'Wish You Were Here', 'Welcome To The Machine'), sometimes adapted, sometimes perfectly preserved by one of the UK's finest 20th Century artists.