Almost total artistic but failed commercially successful

Let's get to the point right away: for at least the time of the album Animal (1977), Pink Floyd, Roger Water it had become, in any case very nearly.
When the shouting match has reached the point of no return, shortly after the end of the tour The Wall, when Rick Wright was ejected from the group, Roger Water has thrown off the mask: the latest album from Pink Floyd ("The Final Cut "1982) was subtitled" A requiem for the post-war dream by Roger Waters. " Gilmour and Mason were only attendants. And yet, for Mason, he does not even played all over the disk. This album ("The Final Cut") can be considered the first solo album Water.
Although misunderstood its release (except Rock & Folk, who incensed) is a very good album, not bad still remember The Wall (especially the first half) and announces the next disc Waters: "The Pros & Cons of Hitch hiking "(1984), very good album too. In 1987 Waters (still relatively prolific) released "Radio Kaos" massacred by critics and shunned by fans - both those of Pink Floyd than Waters himself, probably disappointed by the omnipresence of synths and the dance music rhythms of some tracks. Yet the album was not so bad, especially in its second part. After this, Waters enters a quiet period - I speak of creativity as it furnished the years by tours and the famous concert The Wall in Berlin. It was not until five years he offers us a new album, "Amused to death", the one in question here. During those five years, the three other members of Pink Floyd have reformed the group without Waters, who stuck their trial. They committed two bad albums "A momentary lapse of reason" and "The Divison Bell": these discs are certainly listenable in view of competition at the time, but unworthy of the Pink Floyd name, become a mere "label" that they were content to use in their rickety truffant compositions of sound effects, choirs and other synth pads evoking the heyday but without offering a single song the likes of The Wall or Wish you were here, except perhaps be "On the Turning Away".
So in the game Waters / Pink Floyd, artistically score was final in favor of the former, whereas in accounting terms Waters wiped failure on failure: poor album sales, concerts in front of half-empty halls, critics mixed (but those of FP albums were not best) and finally the loss of the trial between the other three.
Maybe he should see the reason that prompted Roger Waters to adopt the same revenue as its three former acolytes become his top three foes. In any case, "Amused to Death" contains exactly the same defects as the two albums of Pink Floyd 87-94 years: loss of breath, gimmicks overabundance intended to recall former albums, and total lack of originality music.
I bought "Amused to death" the day of its release. You can imagine a Pink Floyd fanatic like me, after five years of waiting '! Since that time, I had to listen 6 or 7 times (that's once every three years roughly) each with the hope that the trigger would take place and that I was (re) discovered wonders that had escaped me until then. It is true that with "The Final Cut" and "The pros and cons of HH", it took me two or three listens to really hang. But this was due to the complexity of the compositions and the richness of atmospheres.
Upon first listen of "Amused to death", I groaned: already, the share allotted to simple sequences of sounds seemed disproportionate. It's never a good sign. Overall, if we remove all these passages, it must properly represent 15 to 20% of the total duration. Anyway, as regards the duration, no complaints, Waters has spoiled us over 72 minutes. That said, as several songs are duplicated ("What God Wants" part I, II and III, for example) the filling impression is confirmed. Or perhaps is it an allusion to "Another Brick in the Wall" and "In the Flesh" on the album The Wall, which already existed, also in several variants?
Arrived at the end of the first listen, I realize that nothing is stuck in my head, except the chorus a bit much of the tube ("What God Wants"). I put the disc to a more attentive listening. No progress.
Since then, I regularly read rave reviews of this album. I know he has very good sales. So every time, I redo an attempt. Always nothing. This disc is completely hollow.
Take the pieces one by one:
- The first is a kind of instrumental worthy of elevator music (acoustic guitar with reverb 'which simply a recitation of ranges) on which is plated a rather unpleasant voice. I know by critics that the texts of the album are great. I always had great respect for Waters of ideas and I believe sincere. Anyway, I bought the first album for the music. If the texts are good, even better, but it's my choice criterion. Otherwise, besides, who would buy the first Beatles albums?

- Second title: the famous hit "What God Wants." Well, this is not strictly speaking catastrophic, but it's frankly repetitive. Fortunately the solos of Jeff Beck masquerade indigestion. We must take advantage because the rest of the record, we did hear much, the guitar hero. And then there are those choruses to the "Dark side of the moon", but appear here serve to mask the fact that Waters has no voice and can no longer sing. The symptoms were already somewhat audible on "Radio Kaos". Here, it is tragic. It is all talk where, when he tries to sing, he always ends up derailing, causing the eruption of a solo or chorus to hide the carnage.

- Third title ("Perfect Sense"): a rather insipid ballad. There are three on the disc, slow titles of the same ilk. The piece is divided into two parts, we do not know why.

- "The Bravery of Being Out of Range." The intro is pumped out "In the flesh". The rest is unfortunately the same level as the model, but it's part of listenable songs, though once heard, immediately forgotten.

- "Late Home Tonight, Part I" Same style as title 3.

- "Late Home Tonight, Part II" Strangely, despite a similar title, the song is completely different and I must say it is one of the few songs where we find the true Waters. It's a bit like "Outside the wall", the song that closed the Wall. Unfortunately, it only lasts barely 1 minute 30.

- "Too Much Rope": the only song where Waters really sing - and quite well, except when he pulls on the treble or bass. The piece could have been not bad, but it is marred by arch dated synths (and which already were in 1992).

"What God Wants, Part II"; I share a rehash of little interest.

"What God Wants, Part III": again, same title but different song. Somewhat the same defect as the titles 3 and 6: a genus quiet ballad, the piano this time, but we're a thousand miles below "Nobody Home", the beautiful lament of The Wall, or "The Gunner's Dream" , on the album "The Final Cut".

"Watching TV": Waters thinks he's Bob Dylan, that said, the piece is not the worst of the disc. Listenable.

"Three Wishes": a rather successful intro, then nothing. Disappointing. Typical of the album; the idea that embryos Waters can not give consistency, all bathed in a soup of sound effects to give the binder.

"It's a Miracle": The song is a misnomer. Completely colorless and odorless. And in addition to a length to sink the most cooperative listener. The end of the song suggests a bass line that eerily "Set the controls for the heart of the sun", piece of 1968 by Waters resurrected from his solo tour of 1984.

"Amused to Death": a decal of "The tide is turning," the beautiful song that closed the album "Radio Kaos". Unfortunately, this time the magic does not operate. The recipe is worn, and that's the impression given any album.
Waters, lacking inspiration, was content to use the old recipes. After all, it worked well for Gilmour and the other two? In any case, it must be right, because the album market, particularly in the United States, where Waters lives today.