[OT] Roger Waters "In The Flesh" (was: HW: family tree tracklist)

[Nick Medford]

In message <5.0.2.1.0.20010131004327.0336d0b0 at kommsrv.rz.unibw-
muenchen.de>, Denis Regenbrecht <denis.regenbrecht at UNIBW-
MUENCHEN.DE> writes
>Hi,
>
>I wish good ol' Roger would tour in Europe a little bit (it's the only way
>to see some Floyd live as the Gilmour-troupe is doing anything but making
>music).

I know passions run high on this issue, but I'm one of those who feel the
band should have ended after Roger's departure. I think the subsequent
history of "Pink Floyd" has done a great disservice to the band and their
legend (though probably not to their bank balances).  And what I've heard
of their post-Final Cut output has been mediocre at best.

That said, I did actually see them live in the late 80s, before I had really
made my mind up about this, and because I wanted to see a Floyd show at
least once in my life. But actually, despite all the pyrotechnics and
inflatables etc., it wasn't as good as either of the Waters shows I've seen (I
saw the Pros and Cons tour in '84 too), because at Roger's shows the films
and special effects and so on are very thoughtfully put together, whereas his
former colleagues just put on a big but artless show.

>
>>Anyway I hought the show was excellent, exceeded my expectations, but
>>whether it
>>would work without the visuals (i.e. as a live album) I don't know. What say
>>you?
>
>I haven't seen the live-shows so I can't comment on how good the CD
>reflects the concerts, but it's rather good on its own IMO. The selection
>of songs is very well-balanced: a lot from the "classic" Floyd-albums
>(DsoTM, WYWH, Animals, Wall, tFC  and even "Set the Control for the Heart
>of the Sun"

Aha! I was hoping 'Set The Controls' would be on it. That was the
highlight for me.

>) as well as songs from Roger's solo-albums (especially from
>"Amused to Death"). There's also a new song ("Each Small Candle") on it.
>The sound quality is very good, but the mix isn't the best IMO: the vocals
>are too much in the front, whereas the instruments (especially synths/keys
>and bass) are too much in the back.
>The performance of the band is very good, as you've already said. Roger
>mustered an interesting little band around him. Some of the classic PF
>songs (such as "Shine On..." or "Wish You Were Here") work very well
>without Gilmour much to my surprise.

Yeah, I was impressed by the way the guitarists played the songs in an
authentic way without ever trying to just copy Gilmour's style. Especially as
I thought Eric Clapton was trying too hard to sound like DG on 'Pros and
Cons'.

> I rate this album higher than anything
>put out by the the "real" Pink Floyd in the last decade,

Well, that's not saying too much by my reckoning, Still, you make it sound
good. Thanks for the response.

--
Nick Medford