Roger Waters
The Pros And Cons Of Hitch - Hiking

The Floyd were on the verge of separation and, unenthusiastic and unmotivated, Roger Waters and David Gilmour (the cornerstones of the group) were working hard to make a name for themselves no longer as "Pink Floyd" but as themselves. Gilmour with "About Face" and Waters with "The Pros And Cons Of Hitch - Hiking" were attempting to launch solo careers, extinguishing once and for all the group that had invented psychedelia in the past.

"Pros and cons" wasn't invented on the spot, the creation of the demos dates back to 1978. At the time, Waters, with just one acoustic guitar, wrote two tracks to conceive two albums, "The Wall" and this one. While the former dealt with the condition of the individual and the inexorable wall that a person tends to build around themselves, the latter was more "light-hearted."

"The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking," as the Italian translation goes, revolves around the dreams of a man who, picking up a sensual hitchhiker, embarks on numerous adventures, encountering bizarre characters, from Arabs with sabers to the Japanese Yoko Ono, from Dick Tracy to a naturist from Wyoming. "More or less," Roger Waters said at the time, "in the context of these dreams, the subconscious weighs the pros and cons of living with a single woman in a family context... versus the call of the wild, if you like the term." With these small hints, I must point out that the album wasn't very successful and was, unsurprisingly, killed by critics who gave it the lowest rating on Melody Maker, a single star with a vicious comment: "Listening to this fetishists' rubbish, one is tempted to reconsider for a long time Gilmour's latest solo album ("About Face" didn't surpass three stars, editor's note)." In fact, dear Uncle Rog in this album doesn't display, at least in appearance, much creativity, neither musically nor textually. After a few dozen minutes, in fact, the excessive verbosity of the album becomes tiring, if only because it leaves musicians with just the bare minimum to perform an instrumental part. However, it must also be said that while most of the album has clear reminiscences of "The Wall" and "The Final Cut," some tracks can be considered true masterpieces, such as the surreal and transgressive "Sexual Revolution" and "My Running Shoes," the vibrant and quirky Title Track, and the subsequent melancholic "Every Stranger's Eyes," where Waters manages to showcase his undeniable songwriting talent: "I recognise... Myself in every stranger's eyes And now, from where I stand Upon this hill / I plundered from the pool I look around / I search the skies I shade my eyes / So nearly blind And I see signs of half-remembered days I hear bells that chime in strange familiar ways I recognise... The hope you kindle in your eyes." After this last burst of notes and choruses, our dreamer wakes up in his bed, next to his wife, and whispers "I could not afford another moment alone." Thus, the family wins, living with the wife within the warm domestic walls.

The album, upon its release, had a feature that perhaps more than any other attracted fans like moths to a flame, the presence of Eric Clapton on the solo guitar, with a style that is an understatement to call "Gilmourish." According to insiders, "Slowhand" agreed, despite the protests of managers, to work on Waters' solo project after a night of drinking. The two had known each other for some time thanks to their shared passion for fox hunting and thanks to their wives, Crolyne Waters and Patty Clapton, who were old friends. In many parts of the album, one can hear Clapton's excellent bluesy solos, as in the lively Title track or the carefree "Sexual Revolution." These virtuoso pieces, however, are said to have been largely eliminated during the "cruel" mixing by Waters, who preferred to add more verses to the work. The former leader of the Clapton-Bruce-Baker triumvirate, whom Waters idolized during the Cream era, also played in the long tour, whose numerous dates were decimated by the little or almost no influx of spectators (in the end, even Waters' subsequent tours, until the mighty "In The Flesh" tour in 2002, had low attendance).

Even the most die-hard Floyd fans, in fact, were doubtful about this work, and were greatly uneasy about the excessive sexism that permeates even the cover with the scantily-clad hitchhiker, which, among other things, was censored by many feminist groups, with accusations of "inciting sexual violence." It was now suspected that dear old Waters no longer knew how to distinguish art from the convoluted hysteria of strange noises and depressed screams: this is greatly highlighted by the voice, rougher and harsher compared to "The Final Cut."

If I were really forced, reluctantly, to give a succinct comment on the Watersian concept, I would call it "underrated": if it's true that the excessive verbosity becomes tiring to the ears, some tracks with excellent instrumental parts manage to rebalance the level of the album, which in my review gets a nice 4. So take that, critics.