Roger Waters - In the Flesh: Live

Both are divided in an all Floyd half, and the other one is a half-floyd, half solo career and a new song.

Here are the pros and cons of In The Flesh DVD:

Pros:

- I actually found the DVD at a cheaper price than the cds.

- The Band (Snowy White, Doyle Braham II, Fairweather Low, The 3 singing chicks....) are awesome throughout.

- The sound on the DVD and on the tour is tremendous, and I was glad that acute attention was paid to every little sound effect from the albums.

- Once you 'get over' the fact that there's no dave (guitar and vocals), no Rick and no Nick, you can really appreciate what these talented group of musicians are doing.

- The concert starts off with a bang with 'In The Flesh'. A song which I always thought would be the best concert opener. Followed by a tight rendition of 'Happiest Days Of Our Lives' and 'Another Brick In The Wall Part 2'. This section along with 'Mother' almost made me cry. 'Happiest Days' is great and Waters adds even the slightest sound effects from the original songs (Hey you, stand still laddy). ABITW 2 is different, hearing the 3 women sing we don't need no education was a shock.
But once you get into Waters gimmick of having them as back-up vocals so as his voice wont sound as weak, you find they actually add to a lot to the songs.

- Next is a mellow and heartfelt perfomance of 'Mother'. Roger actually plays the guitar in this one. Dave's lyrics (mother) are done by the three singing chicks, this actually feels at home since mother is a female character. Roger sings with a lot of emotion IMO on this track, beautiful end to 'The Wall' Section. In my opinion, adding 'Mother; was a very good choice.

- Next off are 2 songs from 'The Final Cut': 'Get Your Filthy Hands off my desert' and 'Southhampton Dock'. Both are played and delivered beautifully but very short. 'Southhampton Dock' is particularly beauitiful. But all in all, a short section.

- This is followed by 2 songs from 'Animals': 'Pigs on the wing Part 1' and 'Dogs'. 'Pigs on the wing 1' is short and sweet, followed by 'Dogs', now THAT was a gutsy move by Roger. 'Dogs' is cut down to size and some of the notes are changed, and Dave's lyrics are sung by the keybordist/guitarist (a very talented guy with a good voice), I can't remeber his name as of now, and he does a good job, but still, one can't help miss Dave's voice. Roger ends with his section of the lyrics. All in all, this was a tight and stupendous number, I was really glad he added this one on his tour.

- This is followed by three songs from 'Wish You Were Here': 'Welcome To The Machine' was another very, very gutsy move on Roger's part. He sings it nicely, and they play it beautifully, again I was VERY happy he added this one along with Dogs, two songs I would have loved to see on PULSE.

- Wish You Were Here is sung by Waters. I'm actually glad he chose to sing it himself, it's different but it still feels heartfelt. Next is 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' which is all over the place, the sections are shifted but still, it IS a great song and feartures IMO Snowy White's best guitar work.

- To top the first section off we have 'Set the controls for the heart of the sun'. This old floyd classic gets a welcome R&B groove and a very bluesy sax solo (yes, sax solo) in the middle. I think this actually improves on the original, even though I still miss the original bass lines and taken as individuals, they both seem like 2 different songs. I still like the original though.

- The second section starts off with a bang: 3 songs from Dark Side. 'Breathe' is surprisingly waterless bocally, so is 'Money'. But it was very brave of him to sing the first part of 'Time', when I heard 'Ticking away, the moments...' delivered by Waters, it sent shivers up my spine. This section is actually pretty tight and well played, Breathe is ok, Time is very well played (or immitated if you wish), but Money gets into this very welcome jamming section that gets the audience more interested and Waters' bass is better than in the rest of the concert.

- This introduces us to 5 selections from Waters solo years. First off is 'Every Strangers Eyes' from 'Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking', it is sung very emotionally and the lyrics are so beautiful, it perfectly goes into 'Perfect Sense 1 & 2'.

- Next off are 4 selections from Waters amazing 'Amused to Death' solo album. First off is 'Perfect Sense 1&2' that song seemed perfect for a live gig, and man oh man does it work. It really gets the crowd going and it's a real energy-charged section because it is followed with 'The Bravery of being out of Range' a real heavy song that is played and sung with a lot of energy.

- This adrenaline infused section prepares the audience to withstand two mellow but beautiful songs. First off is 'It's a Miracle', if it didn't have such beautiful lyrics and Roger's emotion-driven voice, it would have ruined the tempo of the concert so far, but it doesn't. Next off is 'Amused to death' a gem from that album that is sung flawlessly by Waters and the female backup vocalists. Beautiful.

- This is closely followed by the orgasmic section of Dark Side: 'Brain Damage'/'Eclipse'. This really builds in energy and explodes. By this point you can see the band is really into it and so is the audience.

- This leads to 'Comfortably Numb'. David's part (Pink) is sung by Doyle Braham II. He does a good job but still... Waters' part (Doctor) is delivered perfectly and with amazing energy and precision. The solos of course don't compare and that's good because these guys don't seem to want to immitate Dave, but do their own stuff with the notes. Even though they needed two guitars to complete Dave's sound.
* Doesn't compare to the CN on PULSE, but again we 'SHOULDN'T' compare.

- To top it all off is a new song called 'Each Small Candle'. The first verse is a poem written by a torture victim. Really heartfelt lyrics delivered beautifully by Waters. Really is a ray of hope in contrast to Water's other gloomy lyrics. I'm glad he introduces us to this song on this tour.

- By the end you get the sense that Waters isn't such a [jerk] after all. By watching the concert and him closely as well as the 20+ min. documentary you really get the idea that if Dave, Rick and Nick would get off their [rears] and propose something theyre might be a remote chace (2 or maybe 3/10 of a chance) that they might do something together.

- Great image quality and the 20+ min. doc. is a welcome special feature, so are the stills and the band biographies. Did I mention the sound is awesome.

Cons:

- Why those two short songs in representation of 'The Final Cut'. Why not two of those 3+ min. masterpieces like 'Fletcher Memorial', 'The Final Cut', 'One of the Few', 'The Gunners Dream' or 'Not Now John' (now that would have been something!).

- Why in the hell not play 'Pigs on the wing' extended 8-track version. I mean he had Snowy White, he was right there!!!
The extended version is actually parts 1 & 2 united by a bridge solo played by snowy white, all in all a fuller song, that just aches to be played live.

- Why only 'Every Strangers Eyes' from 'Pros & Cons', that album had so many good songs on it. Would have preffered 'Pros & Cons of Hitchhinking', 'Go Fishing', 'Sexual Revolution' among others.

- No Radio KAOS??

- Roger doesn't sing as much as we want him to, we know that he's got a weak voice by now, but still...

- Guitar notes and bass lines are changed here and there, I don't really know if this is a con, but there's gonna be the usual guy that says "hey he missed some notes on 'Dogs'". Be open-minded, we don't want the same song, that's why we have the original album. Changes for live performances are 'almost always' welcome.

All in all...

Well worth owning. Is it as good as PULSE (the video, images withstanding)? Well no, not as, but pretty close.