Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Should we leave the insane nonsense behind when we speak of a Roger Waters release, or should we confront it head on and put the record straight?

It is impossible to think that there are those who will seek out the name and attach thought, though it be free, which quite absurdly suggests the very opposite of what Mr. Water’s music, his lyrics and the stage shows he has performed within since his days as part of a fledgling underground phenomenon known as Pink Floyd, has espoused, and countered and yet not see the irony in it.

This is not a man of hate, but a man who wants peace, this is an artist who can see the past reoccurring with frightening speed, and who by chance has taken the opportunity to readdress his own participation in some of his music with a clearer eye as the world still deals with having dealt, still dealing, with all that has happened in the last few years…the disconnect felt by Pink, the eponymous anti-hero rock star of The Wall, is very much still ruining our lives.

Few artists of late have been judged for anything but their art, and to that, no matter your point of view on other areas, must be the concern when gifted the opportunity to reappraise along with the artist a selection of songs given a treatment of redesign, a set of songs that capture the tempers and angers of late with precision.

The Lockdown Sessions sees Roger Waters and his honest troop re-engage with tracks such as Mother, Two Suns In The Sunset, Vera, The Gunner’s Dream, The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range, and Comfortably Numb with such earnestness that the theme and subject of each song is not stuck in the beige, but comes out blinking of the dark as the mushroom cloud appears on the horizon. These songs are just as confrontational as they were when they were recorded 40 years ago, melancholy driven perhaps, nostalgic memories abound for sure, but they are an imploring to all to search for a peaceful end to all wars, that the desires of madmen must not only be curbed, but one and for all destroyed.

Let’s face it, those mad men, those whose riches have driven them insane, are the enemy of the 99 percent, they are the ones who have waged war on the planet, on the majority, and they need to be reminded daily that they are part of the reason the world is such drastic shape.

A stunning collection of songs given new impetus, the meaning hasn’t changed, but the presentation is one of true beauty and regret that we might not see another dawn.

Ian D. Hall