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In the years immediately following his estrangement from his Pink Floyd<\/a><\/strong> band mates, Roger Waters<\/a><\/strong>‘ musical career took a strange turn. While asserting (in a song lyric) \u201cThis is my band,\u201d he began to release albums that \u2013 while they admittedly featured some fine musicianship \u2013 were short on hooks, melody, and memorable tunes. His first two proper solo albums \u2013 1984’s The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking<\/i> and Radio K.A.O.S.<\/i> from 1987 \u2013 did reasonably well in the marketplace, but that success was arguably based more on Waters’ status as a former member of Pink Floyd than on the appeal of the music.<\/p>\n By 1992, Waters had sharpened his musical efforts, creating and releasing Amused to Death<\/i>, the best of his post-Floyd studio albums. Like his previous records (and, one could argue, all Pink Floyd albums as far back as 1972’s landmark The Dark Side of the Moon<\/a><\/i>), Amused to Death<\/i> is a song cycle built around a concept. The idea here is the pervasive and corrosive effect mass media has upon its consumers.<\/p>\n With a sound that recalls The Final Cut<\/i>, Waters’ last record with Pink Floyd, Amused to Death<\/i> is flawlessly recorded and produced. Waters’ voice \u2013 a decidedly limited instrument \u2013 is presented in its best context, among copious three-dimensional-sounding sound effects and expansive instrumentation.<\/p>\n Released as a (non-charting) single, \u201cThe Bravery of Being Out of Range\u201d features Waters’ croaking sing\/speak vocal approach. Though it takes more than a minute to get going, \u201cWhat God Wants, Part I\u201d is among the album’s most effective pieces, distilling Waters’ lyrical concerns into a song with a martial beat that recalls the darkest moments of The Wall<\/i>. But at the same time, the tune reveals a rarely-seen side of Waters: humor, though of a sardonic variety.<\/p>\n Waters’ sense of humor (if that’s what’s at work here) crops up again on the intro to \u201cWhat God Wants, Part III,\u201d with sounds and textures that quote explicitly from two classic Pink Floyd tunes, \u201cShine On You Crazy Diamond\u201d (from 1975’s Wish You Were Here<\/a><\/i>) and Meddle<\/i>‘s side-long epic, \u201cEchoes\u201d from 1971.<\/p>\n Waters’ nearly spoken narrative technique and the extensive use of ambient soundscapes are a two-edged sword: taken together, they help move the story (such as it is) along, but taken strictly as music, the approach is less effective. Still, there’s no denying the beauty of the sweeping strings and vocal choruses on \u201cLate Home Tonight, Part I,\u201d easily some of the prettiest music ever to come from Roger Waters. More musically varied than whole sections of The Wall<\/i>, and even better produced than The Final Cut<\/i>, Amused to Death<\/i> stands as the high point of Roger Waters’ solo career. And in its newly remastered version, the disc presents even better sonic clarity and definition.<\/p>\n