Is This the Life We Really Want?

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Is This the Life We Really Want?
Roger Waters - Is This the Life We Really Want? (Artwork).jpg
Studio album by
Roger Waters
ReleasedJune 2, 2017 (2017-06-02)
Recorded2010–2017
StudioElectric Lady Studios, Fivestar Studio (Los Angeles, California), United Recording Studios, Wack Formula Studio
GenreRock,[1] progressive Rock[2]
Length54:06
LabelColumbia
ProducerNigel Godrich
Roger Waters chronology
Roger Waters: The Wall
(2015) 		Is This the Life We Really Want?
(2017) 		Igor Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale
(2018)
Roger Waters studio chronology
Ça Ira
(2005) 		Is This the Life We Really Want?
(2017) 		Igor Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale
(2018)
Singles from Is This the Life We Really Want?
  1. "Smell the Roses"
    Released: 20 April 2017
  2. "Déjà Vu"
    Released: 8 May 2017
  3. "The Last Refugee"
    Released: 19 May 2017

Is This the Life We Really Want? is the fourth solo album by the English rock musician Roger Waters, released on 2 June 2017 by Columbia Records. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, who urged Waters to make a more concise, less theatrical album. It was Waters' first solo album since Amused to Death (1992), and his first studio work since the opera Ça Ira (2005).

The album peaked at number 3 in the United Kingdom and number 11 in the United States. It produced four singles: "Smell the Roses", "Déjà Vu", "The Last Refugee", and "Wait for Her".

Recording[]

Is This the Life We Really Want? was recorded in Los Angeles and London.[3] It was produced by Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, who met Waters when he produced the 2015 live album Roger Waters: The Wall.[3] Though Waters had not heard Godrich's work with Radiohead, they got on well and discussed working together.[3] Godrich, a fan of Waters' work with Pink Floyd, was frank with Waters, telling him he found some of his solo work "unlistenable". However, he was reassured that Waters "really still had it" after hearing his demo of "Déjà Vu".[4]

Godrich wanted to create a pared-back album to showcase Waters "the poet".[4] He felt Waters' creativity had been invigorated by the Wall Live tour, and that his role as producer was "to push him a little bit".[4] He encouraged Waters to make a concise record, reminding him that Pink Floyd's 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon is only 43 minutes long.[3] Unlike most of Waters' work, Waters did not co-produce the record; he said: "[Godrich] did a brilliant job ... I sat on my hands with lips zipped. You've rented this dog, let it work."[5] Godrich used tape loops and found sounds extensively to make the album's segues. He is also credited for arrangement, sound collages, keyboards, guitar, and mixing.[6]

Themes[]

Is This the Life We Really Want, a concept album,[7] was conceived as a radio play about a man and his granddaughter investigating why children are being killed in other parts of the world.[7] Waters described the play as "part magic carpet ride, part political rant, part anguish", and featured about a dozen songs.[3] Godrich persuaded Waters to abandon the theatrical elements and create a "far less linear" work.[7] Waters said he planned to produce the original idea in the future.[7]

Waters said of the album's themes:[7]

The concerns I have with that central question – "Why are we killing the children?" – are still there. I'm still deeply concerned that we're killing children all over the world with hardly a second thought because we've become so insensitive to the idea of every time the curtain falls on some forgotten life, it is because we stood by silent and indifferent – it's normal. I'm quoting from the record now. And unfortunately, it has become normal; we have normalized the death of the innocent.

Waters also said the album had been influenced by having fallen in love:[3]

The record is really about love – which is what all of my records have been about, in fact ... It's also the question of how do we take these moments of love – if we are granted any in our lives – and allow that love to shine on the rest of existence, on others.

Release[]

Is This the Life We Really Want? was released on 2 June 2017 by Columbia Records.[8] It was Waters' first solo album since Amused to Death (1992).[9] The album peaked at number 3 in the United Kingdom and number 11 in the United States before falling off the US charts in four weeks. It produced four singles: "Smell the Roses" released on 20 April, "Déjà Vu" released on 8 May, "The Last Refugee" released on 19 May and "Wait for Her" released on 19 July in 2017. The album was blocked from release in Italy after the artist Emilio Isgrò alleged that the cover art plagiarised his work.[10]

Critical reception[]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
Consequence of SoundB[13]
Drowned in Sound8/10[14]
Exclaim!7/10[15]
The Independent[16]
The Observer[17]
Pitchfork6.9/10[18]
Rolling Stone[19]
Sputnikmusic4.1/5[20]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 72, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11] Rolling Stone said: "The music is quintessential post-Dark Side Of The Moon Floyd, but channeled by offspring: producer Nigel Godrich brings prog-rock grandeur, multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson microdose psychedelia, Lucius alt-R&B backing vocals."[19] Drowned in Sound said the album is "a long, sprawling epic that stretches out for its slightly-padded running time, but one so full of ideas and intricacies that it's an easy album to get sucked into."[14] Consequence of Sound said the album "is easily the most accessible of Waters' solo work—a distillation in many regards of the anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, anti-greed messages he's been broadcasting since Pink Floyd."[13] Pitchfork said the "myriad sonic references to his work with Pink Floyd suggest that Waters is comfortable with his past. The more you accept how much his past reflects in his present, the more receptive you'll be to this album's charms."[18]

Track listing[]

All tracks are written by Roger Waters, except "Wait for Her", written by Waters & Mahmoud Darwish.

No.TitleLength
1."When We Were Young"1:39
2."Déjà Vu"4:27
3."The Last Refugee"4:12
4."Picture That"6:47
5."Broken Bones"4:57
6."Is This the Life We Really Want?"5:55
7."Bird in a Gale"5:31
8."The Most Beautiful Girl"6:09
9."Smell the Roses"5:15
10."Wait for Her"4:56
11."Oceans Apart"1:07
12."Part of Me Died"3:14
Total length:54:06

Personnel[]

Charts[]

Certifications[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[56] Gold 25,000*
Poland (ZPAV)[57] Gold 10,000double-dagger
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[58] Gold 10,000double-dagger

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
double-dagger Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[]

  1. ^ "Is This the Life We Really Want?". metacritic.com. Metacritic. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Review: Roger Waters Flays Modern Dystopia on First Rock LP in 24 Years". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Roger Waters Talks New Album, Moving Past 'Spectacle' for Tour". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  4. ^ a b c "How Pink Floyd's Roger Waters refound his fire at 72 - The Nation". The Nation. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  5. ^ Kot, Greg. "Roger Waters is, for a change, happy to be on tour". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  6. ^ "Roger Waters Details New Album Is This the Life We Really Want?, Produced by Nigel Godrich". Spin. 20 April 2017. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e "How Roger Waters Will Fight Trump With Upcoming Tour, Concept Album". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
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External links[]


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