CD Odyssey Disc 337: Roger Waters

I spent yesterday afternoon lazing around the house, and part of that time was used in working on a diorama Sheila and I are building together. That qualifies as "painting" in the rules sidebar, and so I was through a second album in as many days.

However, when I went to review it I didn't feel inspired, so I downed tools for a day. I've just spent another day lazing around the house (although this time I watched football). My life is truly a thrill a minute.

Disc 337 is...The Pros and Cons of Hitch-Hiking

Artist: Roger Waters

Year of Release: 1984

What’s Up With The Cover?: A woman decides to try a new approach in attracting a ride while hitch-hiking. In this case, she is apparently relying on her bright red backpack and shoes to catch drivers' attention.

This cover reminds me of a road sign on the highway near Vancouver that always enrages me. It reads:

NO
HITCH-HIKING
PICK UP
IS ILLEGAL

This sentence advises drivers that there is no hitch-hiking pick up which is illegal. Does logic therefore dictate that all hitch-hiking pickups would be legal - even people wearing nothing but a backpack and red pumps? I don't think that is what is intended, but nor do I think the paint required to punctuate this sentence with a colon would break the budget.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Craig is a big Roger Waters fan, and he got me into "Amused To Death" (reviewed back at Disc 115). Based on my enjoyment of that album, I decided to get one of his earlier efforts.

How It Stacks Up: I only have two Roger Waters solo albums, and "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking" is the weaker of the two.

Rating: 2 stars

Sometimes timing is everything. It has only been two albums since I reviewed Pink Floyd's 1979 masterpiece, "The Wall." Consequently, much of my reaction to "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking" was coloured by demons of comparisons that were not kind.

"Pros and Cons" has a sound very similar to "The Wall", and it often feels like Waters is just rehashing musical themes that were already fully explored during his time with Pink Floyd. Efforts at an atmospheric sound, themes of alienation in the lyrics, even production decisions like putting in the sound of children's voices - it's all there, but in each case, delivered in a much more average way. Some of the melodies sound directly lifted from "The Wall" in fact.

Eric Clapton plays lead guitar on the album, and while Clapton is one of rock's greatest guitar players, he is a poor fit compared to David Gilmour for a work like this. I enjoyed the guitar, but it didn't really add another dimension as happens on "The Wall."

Lyrically, the album is apparently a concept album of some kind. I read the lyrics in the liner notes cover to cover, and I'm still not 100% certain what is going on. My best guess is that Roger Waters is having a series of dreams and nightmares, some of which feature the theme of hitch-hiking.

The songs are all named after a time on the clock, starting at 4:30 AM and progressing through twelve tracks to 5:11 AM (I believe matching the length of each song in the process). The songs also have subtitles that follow the time of the morning with a long, bloated title obsessed with its own importance. For example, track 3 is called "4:37 AM (Arabs With Knives And West German Skies)." Like the song titles, the whole album seems obsessed with its own cleverness, minus the cleverness.

I generally like concept albums, and I don't expect them to be replete with radio hits. That said, "Pros and Cons" didn't have much for me to hang my hat on. It goes along competently enough, but there are not enough swells or dips thematically to keep my ear interested. Also, for a concept album, the various dream sequences (if that is what they are) are not strongly linked to each other in any way beyond the thinnest of connections.

I am a big admirer of Roger Waters, mostly for his work giving Pink Floyd some much needed thematic direction. He is a smart man that is not afraid to try something different, and he usually succeeds. I quite like the other album of his that I own, "Amused To Death", but "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking" didn't do it for me. It isn't a failure, but it isn't for me either, and I don't see myself putting it on often if ever after this point. Given this, I am going to reluctantly part company with it, and sell it for credit a a local CD store.

Best tracks: 4:41 AM (Sexual Revolution), 5:01 AM (The Pros And Cons of Hitch-Hiking Part 10)