Roger Waters' Amused to Death - CD Review

News Type: Event — Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:05 PM EDT

entertainment, music, reviews, cd, pink-floyd, roger-waters, amused-to-death

How did I miss this CD by former Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters? The ideas in this concept album are as important today as when the CD was first released in 1992. Oh, and the music is pretty good too.

While I am a bit of a fan of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters I somehow missed the release of this album. I doubt that I heard this CD and then and forgot about it because it's so powerful. Anyway a few weeks ago Adam Curry mentioned it in his podcast The Daily Source Code so I added it to my wanted list at Swap A CD and shortly thereafter it was being mailed to me. Technology is great when it works, isn't it?

The basic idea of this concept album is that a small group of powerful people are using the mass media and religion to placate and distract people while they line their pockets and fill their bank accounts at the expense of society and the planet. Reality, what a concept!

A few songs really drive this idea home. In What God Wants (Parts 1, 2 & 3) God wants a whole host of unholy things from various currencies, gold and silver to television, war and crack. And from It's A Miracle:

Miraculous you call it babe
You ain't seen nothing yet
They've got Pepsi in the Andes
McDonalds in Tibet

However a few bits of harsh reality do get through the opiate of mass media. From Watching TV :

We were watching TV
In Tiananmen Square
Lost my baby there
My yellow rose
In her bloodstained clothes

But ultimately in the final track, Amused to Death, the future doesn't look good.

We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told
We bought and sold
It was the greatest show on earth
But then it was over
. . . This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death

Musically if you like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall then you will probably like this CD as well. The catchiest song is What God Wants. The refrain (sung by a few female back-up singers) "What God wants, God gets, God help us all" has been stuck in my head for days now. Also guitarist Jeff Beck contributes some very nice melodic solos throughout the album. Who needs David Gilmour, right Roger?

Sadly I don't think things are any different today, the internet has not changed a thing. Today people can be more informed than ever before but seem to choose mindless escapism above all else almost exclusively. People know more about Brad and Angelina's twins than what their governments and businesses are doing in their name in the far reaches of the world. I'm afraid we are still amusing ourselves to death.

- - - - -

Roger Waters Amused to Death at Amazon.

Note: cross posted to my personal blog.

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8.7

3.1

{"commentId":2506192,"authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

Michael Sautter

So what other great CDs have I missed in the last 16 years or so? lol

{"commentId":2506192,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

2 votes

#1 - Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:06 PM EDT

{"commentId":2506402,"authorDomain":"deatienza"}

Eric Atienza

Nice review, thanks!

{"commentId":2506402,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"deatienza"}

2 votes

#2 - Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:21 PM EDT

{"commentId":2515489,"authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

Michael Sautter

You're welcome Eric.

{"commentId":2515489,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

1 vote

#2.1 - Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:09 AM EDT

{"commentId":2508301,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

i loved that CD. i listened to it about a billion times when it came out.

i have to believe that some of it was inspired by Neil Postman's book Amusing Ourselves to Death, which is a little pop culture gem.

From the author of Teaching as a Subversive Activity comes a sustained, withering and thought-provoking attack on television and what it is doing to us. Postman's theme is the decline of the printed word and the ascendancy of the "tube" with its tendency to present everythingmurder, mayhem, politics, weatheras entertainment. The ultimate effect, as Postman sees it, is the shrivelling of public discourse as TV degrades our conception of what constitutes news, political debate, art, even religious thought.

{"commentId":2508301,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"tom"}

2 votes

#3 - Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:01 PM EDT

{"commentId":2508426,"authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

Michael Sautter

You're correct Tom, according to Wikipedia:

"The album title came from a short book by Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, which is about the history of the media, particularly as it relates to political communication—i.e., how things have changed since such works as Lincoln's speeches were made available for the general public to read." — Roger Waters, speaking about the album to the LA Times, September, 1992

(Wikipedia link)

{"commentId":2508426,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

2 votes

#3.1 - Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:14 PM EDT

{"commentId":2508875,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

money.

it should be noted that the guitar player on a bunch of tracks on Amused.. is Jeff Beck - which was a great choice.

BTW: i liked Radio KAOS too.

if you look at the last CD Pink Floyd wrote with Roger Waters (The Final Cut, written by Waters), and then what happens after the band split up (PF released The Division Bell, RW released The Pros and Cons of Hitchiking, Radio KAOS, and Amusing Ourselves to Death), it should become clear who the songwriter in that band was.

this [The Final Cut] being the only Pink Floyd album on which the composers' credit on every track is given to Waters alone, with no songwriting credits given to any other member of the band.

what's amazing to me is that Roger eventually stopped touring because he claimed that nobody would come out to see his shows ... particularly in the US.

{"commentId":2508875,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"tom"}

2 votes

#3.2 - Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:01 PM EDT

{"commentId":2515504,"authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

Michael Sautter

Hey, I mentioned Jeff Beck in my article, didn't you read it?

{"commentId":2515504,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

1 vote

#3.3 - Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:10 AM EDT

{"commentId":2585343,"authorDomain":"spacegoat"}

Spacegoat

if you look at the last CD Pink Floyd wrote with Roger Waters (The Final Cut, written by Waters), and then what happens after the band split up (PF released The Division Bell, RW released The Pros and Cons of Hitchiking, Radio KAOS, and Amusing Ourselves to Death), it should become clear who the songwriter in that band was.

Wow, that is an interesting opinion considering that The Final Cut is considered by many to be their worst album, and it was a relative commercial failure, being their worst selling album since Meddle.

{"commentId":2585343,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"spacegoat"}

1 vote

#3.4 - Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:15 PM EDT

{"commentId":2585439,"authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

Michael Sautter

I like The Final Cut, not as much as other Floyd albums but I like it.

{"commentId":2585439,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"michaelsautter"}

1 vote

#3.5 - Mon Aug 25, 2008 11:26 PM EDT

{"commentId":2589011,"authorDomain":"spacegoat"}

Spacegoat

Well sure, it is still a Pink Floyd album.

{"commentId":2589011,"threadId":"335056","contentId":"1763284","authorDomain":"spacegoat"}

1 vote

#3.6 - Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:03 AM EDT

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MICHAEL SAUTTER

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Roger Waters' Amused to Death - CD Review

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