Roger Waters - Dark Side of the Moon Redux 2023

Hi,

He did that re-addressing with The Wall ... in the tour here he had a sort of war memorial for VietNam ... the original The Wall was about WW2. The "updating was fine, although for me the story changed and all of a sudden the story of Pink was no longer important, and I felt that his taking on the War Memorial for the VietNam fallen folks was blowing bubbles some, and it felt kinda fake, certainly not in the sense that it lacked meaning, but I thought the context was kinda shaken up a bit.

On "BOFR" update.

The video of "Bravery Out of Range" is another story, in my book. "Amused to Death" was a magnificent album, which even included Jeff Beck beautifully done, and while I enjoyed it quite a bit, I did feel that some of the lyrics were topical and trying to show that he was "relevant" when it came to opinions, and of course, he got panned left and right for opening his mouth ... just shut up and play rock music! Which RW refuses to do, right?

The new version is actually nicer than the original, although I think he's in a time warp, and his using of Ronald Reagan in the video show how out of time he is, even though the music in it itself and the arrangement stands out really nice. The presentation itself, is a bit weird for me ... the 2 cute little girls doing the background vocals, are a distraction for what would be a serious song, so there is a sort of dichotomy here that seems more related to rock music and its presentation (sexy first!), than it does to the value of the wording and total meaning ... so it's sexy to be brave and out of range?

I don't think that RW realizes that the Internet has made things very confusing and that no one knows what is right or wrong, and neither does Roger for that matter, and that we're all caught in this media driven confusion, to the point that "lyrics" are junk, and meaningless. No one is even discussing the latest Ian's lyrics! The "words" have lost their touch! I think RW thought the song deserved a bit more attention than before, but using Reagan, he only dates himself, and shows that he is stuck in a time warp. No one remembers Reagan, or gives a damn! And all of a sudden his song becomes quite ... empty. I don't think he realizes that, obviously, or he would have done something else.

Either way we look at it, it's a sad shape of affairs. None of us listens, and on top of it I don't think many of us give a damn, other than posting a comment that is not anywhere near that idea, or the concept of what the song is about.

TBH, I've always thought of DSOTM as a "political" album, given the amount of critics on our western society contained in the lyrics (Time, Money, U&T and Brain Damage).

It may not be a Communist Manifesto, but it certainly yells at "evil capitalism" in a few places .

Just like Animals & The Wall and TFC are "political albums" as well.

.

Bloody hell! "Us and Them" is an even worse botch job than "Money." It's damn embarrassing. This is the point where it's evident that Waters' ego overran any common sense, and he's tumbling arse over teat down a hill in a desparate attempt to pretend Gilmour and Wright never existed. 

The original DSOTM (in my own opinion) was about the trials of life, death and mental illness. The only nods to politics being their cynical paean to consumerism, i.e. 'Money', and musings on the futility of conflict, i.e. 'Us and Them'.

[I could write a PhD thesis on the concepts and meaning of DSOTM, but haven't got the time just now!]