Roger Waters
Radio Kaos

THE REVIEW

Album composed during the legal battle with Gilmour and Mason for the use of the band's name (we're talking about Pink Floyd, for those who might not know), Radio Kaos represents a musical turning point, yet isolated,in Waters' career.

This album indeed presents a more structured, simple, and fast sound compared to his other compositions, while still maintaining the characteristics typical of Waters' visionary and "cinematic" approach (use of spoken dialogues and ambient noises). As has too often happened in his solo career, the music primarily serves as support for the story told by this concept album, managing to reach the artistic "heights" typical of the Pink Floyd era in only a couple of instances; the rest of the album oscillates between decent and interesting outcomes.

The tracks on the album tell the story of Billy, a disabled boy who, in short, manages to make the entire world believe that a nuclear war is breaking out through the use of a computer: the purpose of the act is to urge people to reflect on the absurdity of an atomic war and to encourage them to seek dialogue more vigorously. Originally, the album was supposed to be a double album, but due to pressure from EMI, Waters discarded some of the material to fit it into the length of an LP (of these "discarded" tracks, we can listen to 3 songs today that were released as b-sides of the singles back then).
The album opens with a pop song, “Radio Waves,” with non-trivial content, extremely catchy and lively but very far from the style developed by the author in his career. It's followed by “Who needs information,” an interesting track with funk accents and a good melody. Next are “Me or Him” and “The powers that be.” The first is a song with a sweet rhythm, but spoiled by a cold and rigid arrangement (especially the drums). The second is a song that recalls some disco music of the period: definitely a style Waters handles poorly. A similar atmosphere is found in “Sunset Strip.” The sixth track is “Home,” one of the best episodes of the album: a vibrant track with a nice central crescendo, but ruined in the final part by excessive flatness and verbosity. However, this path leads to the masterpiece of the album: “Four Minutes,” a song of great atmosphere and pathos, dominated by the splendid voice of Clare Torry (“The great gig in the sky” ring any bells?). The album closes with the sweet “The tide is turning,” one of the most famous songs by Waters as a solo artist (also present in his “The Wall: live in Berlin”).

To conclude: an album with great potential, but penalized by inadequate arrangements and often overly flat melodies.