Pink Floyds [sic] Aging Poorly
Nov. 28th, 2011 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsSo, I listend to Roger Waters' Amused to Death last night and Pink Floyd's The Division Bell, both released around 1993, and I have to say that neither album is aging particularly well. "Division Bell" is just sad, with few real high notes and the ever-meandering presence of Roger Waters in the background, with occasionally ragging lyrics as if, somehow, Pink Floyd was succeeding while Water's own solo career floundered.
"Amused" is a much better album, musically-- more diverse, more experimental, more musically rich and interesting. Unlike Gilmour, Waters is still angry and still has things to say, and "Amused" said a lot. Not always very well, and sometimes with sadly blunt allegory, but at least Waters is still raging. But it's excessive references to 20th Century technology and the First War in Iraq place it firmly into a time and place, and those references will not make much sense to anyone not familiar with the setting.
Despite their definitive topics, Meddle, Animals, Wish You Were Here, and even The Wall continue to address timeless issues with obvious musical innovation and skill. Neither of these two final albums, each from a fragment of Pink Floyd estranged from the other, succeed in the same way.
It's ironic that Dave Gilmour got the name "Pink Floyd" for his fragment. It's Roger Waters who continues to tour, doing both The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon with new bandmates, and who continues to keep the flame of Pink Floyd flickering in the dark.
"Amused" is a much better album, musically-- more diverse, more experimental, more musically rich and interesting. Unlike Gilmour, Waters is still angry and still has things to say, and "Amused" said a lot. Not always very well, and sometimes with sadly blunt allegory, but at least Waters is still raging. But it's excessive references to 20th Century technology and the First War in Iraq place it firmly into a time and place, and those references will not make much sense to anyone not familiar with the setting.
Despite their definitive topics, Meddle, Animals, Wish You Were Here, and even The Wall continue to address timeless issues with obvious musical innovation and skill. Neither of these two final albums, each from a fragment of Pink Floyd estranged from the other, succeed in the same way.
It's ironic that Dave Gilmour got the name "Pink Floyd" for his fragment. It's Roger Waters who continues to tour, doing both The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon with new bandmates, and who continues to keep the flame of Pink Floyd flickering in the dark.
