(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sat 20 September 2025 14:30, UK
For Roger Waters, his artistic journey is never going to be truly finished.
He is always going to be willing to put his neck out on the line and make a tune that would either cause a stir or say exactly what was on his mind. Most fans would expect nothing less from someone who followed in the footsteps of people like Bob Dylan and John Lennon, but Waters knew that even his proudest moments deserved to get looked over a few more times.
Then again, Waters’s greatest albums feel more like art pieces from their time, whether that be with Pink Floyd or in his solo career. The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking might not have been the most thoughtful concept that he ever put together, but coming off the massive creative cycle that had produced albums like The Wall, there was always going to be a bit of a switch when he didn’t have the rest of his bandmates alongside him.
But that was the conclusion that Waters was going to anyway. He had already fired Richard Wright for not being around and contributing during The Wall sessions, and even when The Final Cut produced a few half-decent tunes, every single member of the band felt that they were being dictated by Waters half the time rather than having a legitimate collaborative relationship with him.
That kind of studio dynamic was bound to be harsh, but Waters was only serving the muse he heard in his head. That’s not to say that his musical intuition couldn’t be challenged, and even during his solo years, he felt that there were always going to be ways for him to reinvent his music in ways that people had never expected.
Although most people don’t need to see the spit in the face of Dark Side of the Moon’s legacy like he did in the 2020s, seeing him revamp the tour for The Wall was a sight to behold in the 2010s. The reinvention of the show in the early 1990s was a fun detour, but with a massive stadium of people to entertain, a lot of the pieces of the rock opera come together a lot better, even if the second version of ‘In The Flesh’ is enough to make anyone extremely uncomfortable.
The Wall is practically begging to be reinvented every once in a while, but Waters felt that it would be a missed opportunity if he stopped at only one album, saying, “I have no doubt there are other works. The ones that spring to mind immediately are The Final Cut and Amused to Death. I’m sure they would bear a similar treatment. But I’m happy to say that I’ve also got a bunch of new ideas.”
And it’s not like the topics of both albums have grown any less relevant in recent years. The Falklands War that The Final Cut dealt with could easily be a parallel with the global crises happening around the world, but Amused to Death is due for some brilliant reimagining, with Waters equating the original record’s obsession with television to the fascination people have with technologies like AI.
While Waters can be a bit hit and miss when it comes to reimagining his own work, there’s no reason to fault him for trying to reinterpret his masterpieces for the new generation. The best albums of all time may be perfect for their time, but the best way to reach those massive audiences again is to meet them at their level instead of insisting they start at their older records.
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