REVIEW: Roger Waters, “Us And Them” (Live)

this is why streaming makes perfect sense.

i saw this album a couple days ago on Quboz in 24/48. my system does large scale progressive rock (Pink Floyd) superbly so i figured i would try it.

i own all the Pink Floyd albums in multiple media (all levels of digital, vinyl, and tape) and have for years, and all the live versions. yet with streaming, why worry? just listen and if it’s fun keep listening.

so this morning i did listen to 30 minutes of ’US and Them’ and enjoyed it.....love the sound and it was different than other versions in a good way. so i will go back and sample my way through it as the mood strikes me. no; i won’t buy it.....but i can enjoy it and not get my panties in a bunch that i’m getting ripped off. this is more like hearing classical music in different performances. in fact; this is exactly what it is.

not all contemporary pop music holds up to this degree of versions. but IMHO this music absolutely does. it's......Classic.

i have the music on my own terms.

Have you heard When The Wind Blows? It's a treat and SQ is superb.

Yeah, there seems to be a lot of this type marketing and it all started with the King himself, maybe before but surely then. I admire Waters' songwriting and of course everything he contributed to Pink Floyd as they are one of my top 3. I wish egos weren't such a fragile thing because the split leaves us wondering what might have been. 
Though he and Gilmour have both enjoyed solo success both indeed still do rely heavily on their Floyd souls and songs. I spend a lot more time in the early years when listening to Floyd but Division Bell tops the pile for me in completeness of an album and Gilmour's guitar is sublime. Wish Roger would see a shrink and get over his daddy issues.

I’ve been to several of their shows- awesome!  I really enjoy them as theater and societal reality checks, but at times the anti big money anti American  agenda can be a little much. The guys worth almost a half billion dollars.

stereo5
Thank You for your honest opinion and review.
Do you own The Early Years and Later Years mega-boxed sets?If so, what are your thoughts?

Happy Listening!

what’s fair is fair.

i did sample more of ’Us and Them’ on Quboz, and honestly did not care for it. won’t listen again. prefer the other live versions. this one is plodding and the singing is forced and distracting.

with streaming no harm done.

turn the page.

@noromance

not heard 'When the Wind Blows'. i did search Qudoz and Tidal but came up empty except for an EP from David Bowie which i listened to. on-line i do see the CD of this from 1986.

https://www.floydianslip.com/pink-floyd/albums/album.php?id=54

i will try to acquire it. thanks.

I'm listening to it right now on Qobuz and have to say that I think it sounds great and I am enjoying it immensely. 

I wouldn't listen to any of Roger Water's music for a long time after Pink Floyd broke up because I thought he was a pompous jerk and was sad about the demise of one of my favorite bands.  I know they carried on, but it was never close to the same.  The truth is, I don't know him and I don't know whether he is or not. 

I became a little more open to hearing his music after I was at my favorite hi-fi store and the owner did a demo with the Ballad of Bill Hubbard. 

I saw him live a couple of years ago and it was one of the best shows I've ever attended.  There was a huge amount of effort and professionalism evident both in the production of the show and the quality of the music.  That same quality is evident on this recording.

@mikelavigne 
Here you go. It's bleak but it's magnificent on vinyl. 
https://www.discogs.com/Various-When-The-Wind-Blows-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/release/18169...

@mikelavigne

It really wasn’t the money that bothered me, I bought the CD version @ only $14.95. I figured if I liked it, I would also buy the vinyl version. I’m glad I waited. My main irritation is the keyboards/synth seem to be further back on the mix. On "Welcone To The Machine", the keyboards/Synth should be up front and personal as that is really what MAKES the song.

I also did not care for the main vocalist, it seemed like he was trying too hard. The guitar solo on "Time" was quite lacking, and that is one of PF best guitar solo’s. The record "Roger Waters, The Wall" had much better keyboards, guitar riffs and vocals with Rogers band, what happened here?

Because I pre-ordered this, I got the concert DVD as well . All I will say is the song "Pigs" was quite amusing as the video in the background truly showed Roger Waters disdain for DT. The huge inflatable pig that was hovering above everyones head had DT’s face on it, Too funny and quite fitting. I enjoyed the DVD much more as the visuals added to the music and made the music more tolerable.

I will end this long windedness by saying, I have everything by Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. I have many multiple copies of each as I have all the remasters, box sets and everything they have put out since 1967. I also have a first and original mono pressing of "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn". After all, PF still is my absolute favorite group.

stereo5,
I'm curious...what were you expecting? They have rabid fans like the Grateful Dead, and those fans will buy whatever they or any of their former members put out, if only to own it.

@noromance

Here you go. It’s bleak but it’s magnificent on vinyl.

many thanks!!!

i did order that "When The Wind Blows" pressing from the link you provided and it arrived today.

side one was mostly forgettable; but the Roger Waters tunes on side 2 were awesome, really enjoyed it. it’s for Pink Floyd<->Roger Waters fans only, and bleak as you mentioned, but very well done and very happy to have added it to my library. ethereal low noise recording, and scaled and soared here and there. a few nice surprises.

Well, subjectivity being what it is, it's interesting how we approach an experience like this. I saw Roger Waters live on that Us+Them tour and it was easily one of my favorite live shows in the past 5 years.

So when I listen to it, I relive the show, and frankly it sounds really good to my ears.

But I definitely see the argument of "just another RW live". I might have reacted the same way if I hadn't seen it live. 

One of These Days is open nicely but goes down in quality after that 

the quality setting got accidentally changed from CD to mp3
there is no drop in quality on US+THEM 
all of it sound great