From: schroede@bnlux1.bnl.gov (gary l. schroeder)
Subject: Re: Amused to Death
Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 19:31:01 GMT

In article <15250@umd5.umd.edu> jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka) writes:
>
>My, what silly record company executives.  I opened my brand spanking new
>longbox to find a shrinkwrapped CD.  Was _Amused to Death_ originally supposed
>to be released in just a jewel case (like _Shaking the Tree_ or _Achtung, Baby_
>amongst others?)  Color me confused...
 
 You were confounded by this as well, eh?  Didn't make any sense to me
either.


 >The jury's still out on this one.  Waters is still writing great music but
>his lyrics are getting a bit tired and repetitive.  It's not a question of
>agreeing or disagreeing with his politics; I just feel it's material he
>covered superbly in _The Final Cut_ and adequately in _Radio K.A.O.S._  One

Preeeecisely.  While I liked certain parts of the album, I thought:
haven't I heard this album before and before and before?  The cynical
wit that permeates the album is a lot of fun if you take the time to
read along with the lyrics in the liner notes (thank god for those liner
notes, too!).  I snickered at the parts that attacked Andrew Lloyd
Weber, and the sections that lampooned televised sports.  Marv Alperts
comments about the salary of a nuclear sub commander were wickedly
satirical.  But,....most of this ground has been covered by Waters on
other albums in exactly the same fashion.  The guy's stuck in a material
loop.  If I hear one more Floyd/Waters album with TVs incessantly on in
the background, I'm gonna recreate that axe scene from The Wall.

Aside: what happened to his _voice_?  He was never a stellar vocalist,
but "Amused" really is a new low for a bad voice.  It sounds raspy and
weak like an old, old man's.  His choice of accentuation on certain
words in the lyrics perplexes me as well.  Even though most of the
lyrics in no way rhyme, they could at least be made more lyrical by
singing them with accents in the proper places.  Waters has chosen to
ignore these patterns and ends up sounding distinctly _a_rythmic.  Has
he gone tone deaf?  I also tire of words merely mumbled over top of
music.  In places, it's more like a non-rhyming poet reading his latest
composition with a stereo on in the background.

In sum, the lyrics are clever and acerbic, good fun to listen to for the
most part.  But, switch Jeff Beck for David Gilmour, and you might as
well be listening to "The Final Cut, Mk. III".  He even uses the same
explosion motif we last heard in "Get You Filthy Hands Off My Desert".




Roger Waters: the man doomed to remake the same record again and again.


>might argue that as long as their are incidents like those that inspire many
>of his lyrics, they're 'necessary' but I wish he would move on.  At least
>KAOS had a nifty (if a bit ridiculous) storyline.  
>
>The recording itself is superb.  
>
>Anybody know any history of Bill Hubbard?
>
>Jeff
>
>-- 
>|Jeffrey C. Burka                | "Show what you are / Be strong, be true  |
>|                                |  Time for you to / Be who you are."      |
>|jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu            |                         --Happy Rhodes   |


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