Amused to Death by Roger Waters
For what turned out to be his final solo studio album (to date, 20 years and counting), Roger Waters composed a complex (and often confused) concept album called Amused to Death. The title came from a book by author Neil Postman, which explored the history of the media and the concept (although cloudy) is of aliens arriving after the extinction of humans and finding all our skeletons sitting around television sets and trying to work out why it was that our end came before its time. They come to the conclusion that we “amused ourselves to death”. While the album follows the same calm, storytelling, musically rich template of Waters’ two previous solo efforts, this album seems to be the most directly influenced by that material of Waters’ former band, Pink Floyd. In fact, there appears to be some direct sampling from Pink Floyd songs “Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk”, “Echoes” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”.
Lyrically, the album is brimming with hate on a variety of subjects from capitalism to America to religion to war to television to Stanley Kubrick to Andrew Lloyd Weber. Waters makes a few good points on these varied subjects, with the better use of sarcasm in these instances. However, the logic of the vast rants on Amused to Death is convoluted, such as when Waters somehow ties Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalists (deposed in 1949) to the slaughter at Tienanmen Square 40 years later by the very Communists that deposed them. He also applies moral relativism to the “Germans killing the Jews” and the “Jews killing the Arabs”. But the greatest offense may just be the mere fact that so much of the lyrical material seems dated and irrelevant, unlike past efforts which seem timeless and relevant to any era. Just take the example of Waters harping on television habits from his perspective at the dawn of the Internet age. A futurist, Mr. Waters is not.
Conversely, the album is superb musically. Waters’ enlisted legendary guitarist Jeff Beck to play lead guitar and a whole host of talent to provide additional music and vocal support. Amused to Death is mixed in QSound, a virtual surround sound, which enhances the spatial feel of the audio along with the various sound effects sprinkled throughout the album. The quality of production by Waters, Nick Griffiths, and Patrick Leonard is simply superb and makes this album worthwhile for any audiophile even if you like nothing else.
 Amused to Death by Roger Waters |
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| Released: September 7, 1992 (Columbia) Produced by: Roger Waters, Nick Griffiths, & Patrick Leonard Recorded: Various Locations, 1988-1992 |
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| Track Listing | Primary Musicians |
| The Ballad of Bill Hubbard What God Wants, Part I Perfect Sense, Part I Perfect Sense, Part II The Bravery of Being Out of Range Late Home Tonight, Part I Late Home Tonight, Part II Too Much Rope What God Wants, Part II What God Wants, Part III Watching TV Three Wishes It’s a Miracle Amused to Death |
Roger Waters – Lead Vocals, Bass, Synthesizer, Guitars Jeff Beck – Guitars Andy Fairweather Low – Guitars Patrick Leonard – Piano, Keyboards Graham Broad– Drums, Percussion  |
“The Ballad of Bill Hubbard” starts the album off with a spoken word story of the desperation of trying to save a comrade in the battle lines during World War I, recited in the first person by Alf Razell after some introductory David Gilmour-like guitar motifs by Jeff Beck, who continues to add licks even after the recital commences. The song abruptly “changes channels” into the upbeat and funky “What God Wants, Part I”, the first single from the album, banned by the BBC due to controversial lyrics. Driven by the bass of future American Idol judge Randy Jackson, we hear Waters voice for the first time on this track and it is quite clear that his voice is very rough and shot.
“Perfect Sense, Part I” contains a beautiful moody piano and dual lead vocals by Waters and female soul singer PP Arnold, while “Perfect Sense, Part II” contains a sequence where sports commentator Marv Albert darkly simulates a nuclear missile attack as a sporting event. “The Bravery of Being Out of Range” is musically the best song on the album, with a strong rock arrangement and interesting chord progressions, but it again comes off preachy lyrically.
The album settles down again with “Late Home Tonight” with some interesting strings and acoustic guitars accompanying Waters speaking before the calmness is shattered by the sound of a huge explosion. “Too Much Rope” features guitarist Andy Fairweather Low, who performed on Waters’ previous studio album Radio K.A.O.S. as well as many live tours. “Watching TV” is arranged like a happy-go-lucky acoustic country folk song with the very dark lyrical subject of the Tienanmen Square massacre, as Waters sings of his “yellow rose and her blood stained clothes”. Don Henley later shares lead vocals on the song.
The album concludes with three extended pieces, which many consider the climax of the album. “It’s a Miracle” is very sarcastic in content, with a tight composition and catchy melody. It highlights Waters very sharp satire with lyrics such as;
“We’ve got a warehouse of butter, we’ve got oceans of wine / We’ve got famine when we need it, got a designer crime / We’ve got Mercedes, we’ve got Porsche, Ferrari and Rolls Royce, we’ve got a choice…”
“Three Wishes” is a more personal song, a quality evident in the earlier works by Waters, with quality music and sad lyrics. The closing title song, “Amused to Death”, is a nine minute package of cynicism and sarcasm, with a tinge of hope at the end. The theme comes full circle as Bill Hubbard is laid to rest and memorialized.
There was no tour in support of Amused to Death and selections from the album were performed sparingly on future tours by Waters. As this may be the final studio output by the musical genius, it is worth a careful listen or two, even if it falls short of Roger Waters’ lyrical capabilities.
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Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1992 albums.
November 3, 2014 @ 12:22 pm
This was his best solo album. I disagree with the lack of vision statement. The Internet is just another screen we entertain ourselves with. In fact even more so given social media and the ever growing flow of superficial information.
I think after this album there was nothing left for him to say, as he’s said it all.
Waters has always been dark and cynical. Why would that come as a surprise now?
Anyway, nice review
Nick
August 7, 2015 @ 5:35 pm
Nick, this is as near to a floyd album as we will ever get, doubt gilmours will be this close
January 15, 2022 @ 8:25 am
Exactly. Waters’ points continue to be relevant and prescient in the Internet age.
September 4, 2015 @ 7:15 pm
It’s amazing how this reviewer can so completely miss the point of Waters’ lyrics, and also, so long after the album’s 1992 release, miss how relevant they still are in 2015. The misunderstanding is so great, that I suspect Albano’s politics differs from Waters’ and that’s what prevents him from grasping the meaning.
Just as one example – in the title track, a species extinct through its own pointless amusement, juxtaposed with Alf Razell relating how he had been haunted all his life by his experiences as a young man in the First World War. This is described by Albano as ‘a tinge of hope at the end’. No.
What it is, is Waters’ final comment on our culture of reducing everything (death, wars, revolutions) to light entertainment; that all that suffering happened so that we could sit and watch TV.
Remember that bit at the start, “I don’t mind about the war. That’s one of the things I like to watch; if it’s a war going on. Then I know if our side’s winning… if our side’s losing.”? Or the man in the bar in ‘Bravery’ – ‘Sir, turn up the TV sound, the war has started on the ground.’? Or the Yellow Rose who in dying on TV became ‘half superstar, half victim… she’s a victimstar; conceptually new.’ Or the TV program about the US soldier returning to Vietnam and meeting an ex-North Vietnamese soldier… ‘What does it mean, this tear-jerking scene beamed into my home?’
Far from Albano’s ‘it is worth a careful listen or two’, I think this album is worth settling down and getting to know thoroughly and intimately. It’s quite possibly the strongest album Waters’ will ever make. Which is saying something.
July 2, 2020 @ 10:46 pm
Touched……think you hit the nail on the head. The review is flawed and typical of the bias due to lack of understanding or trying to.
Some of these idiots who review classical qorks such as thia should be flogged lol
November 4, 2015 @ 7:13 am
Well said Mark G – I couldn’t agree more!
August 3, 2017 @ 9:43 am
IS THAT PETER BOYLE AS THE GENIE IN THREE WISHES.??
September 7, 2018 @ 9:28 pm
This is an excellent album by Roger. “The pros and cons” was an excellent album as well, but “Radio KAOS” did not do so well. “KAOS” had so much potential with its concept, but with the damn music industry, the radio industry, etc., got in the damn way with his musical expression since they needed the album to SELL, SELL, and SELL. Thus leaving “KAOS” with only 8 tracks with an unfortunate vague concept; great songs though! Dont get me wrong, but you cant get a solid story just from listening to the album, you’ll need to conduct a fairly extensive study session on the album to fully grasp the idea.
With “Pros and cons”, you just need to sit your ass down alone in a closed-off room with a turn-table and just FEEL IT. The concept of “pros” is much simpler compared to “Amused to death”, but it doesnt mean that it wont be as good. Referring back to the old saying “Simpler, the better”, this can be very true in the music world, sadly. “Pros” was a simple story with a complex musical composition about an ordinary man who was going through a mid-life crisis and was experiencing a rather “bad dream” that was musically/visually expressive about his thoughts and emotions on monogamy. The music is absolutely beautiful, in so many different ways, and it had a very simple concept to grasp (fyi, it is a Roger Waters concept, so you will need time to comprehend his lyrical style, but it is still an easy listen for a Roger Waters composition).
With “Amused”, the concept IS sophisticated, it IS musically enjoyable, and it IS comprehensible. That what makes this album heavily favored by Pink Floyd and Roger Waters fans. It is definitely one of Roger’s best as a solo album. But having it’s complex concept, it is not widely appreciated in the music world. Again, “simpler, the better” That is why there are so many people who appreciate The Beatles, they are easy, fun, and happy to listen to. Most do not like to think when they listen to music, and that is so not right what-so-ever. “Is this the life we really want” is a whole different story.
Overall, yes, this album is good.
… and the wind cried mary, thank you…
June 21, 2023 @ 10:24 am
I have a lot of Jeff Becks recordings and I don’t think that comparisons with David Gilmour are fair at all, apart from them both being brilliant soloists on their instruments. Personally I think that Beck is by far the more technically superior musician and implying that he is in some way a pale imitation of Gilmore is entirely incorrect.