Customer Reviews

To Kill the Child / Leaving Beirut

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

How many do you think understood Animals and Wish you were here back in the time when it was released some 3 decades ago?
It is natural to Waters works that it may not be apreciated at the time of release, so don't be disappointed by immatured comments in some reviews above.
You should have seen how the audience reacted to Leaving Beirut while he and his band played it live at Nissan Pavilion Sept. 23rd 2006. I just hope I had spent some more to be in the front row. White and Fareweatherlow are becoming better matches everyday and it's all because of their both smooth touches to the strings which is all from the confidence coming from experience combined with joy and Waters Briliant inventive imagination and amazing power of creation.

One of the many reasons I anticipated the invasion of Iraq so restlessly in 2003 was that I knew it would irritate Roger Waters enough to compel him to generate some new songs. By now, Waters fans are accustomed to his only being comfortable releasing new material one or two songs at a time, so here they are. The pros and cons of this approach are the same. We get to hear music that ordinarily might never find a home in an album. Some of Waters' most compelling songs are in this category--"Molly's Song," "Get Back to Radio," "Lost Boys Calling," and now, "Leaving Beirut." Then there's the chaff, which includes the overdone "Each Small Candle" from 2000's live album and the "A-side" of this single, "To Kill the Child." But at least we are spared the agony of anticipating another magnum opus that will never come. (I assume Waters' much-hyped opera Ca Ira sits on the same shelf as Guns n' Roses' Chinese Democracy.) Some gratitude is therefore due for this release, though it's ironic that while the lyrics address America in the second person, Americans seeking these tracks on CD must sacrifice twenty bucks for the Japanese import. Fortunately, the B-side is a twenty-dollar song.

"Leaving Beirut" is twelve minutes of mostly spoken-word narrative over a stark, plodding instrumental backdrop reminiscent of both "It's a Miracle" and the psychedelic bridge in "Dogs." It forms a compelling soundscape, and several refrains of sung verses keep it from becoming tiring over twelve minutes. The moment these parts kick in, it is apparent that there is a great song lurking somewhere here. Think back to the first time you heard the chorus of "Comfortably Numb," "Us and Them," "Brain Damage," or "Three Wishes," and you have an idea of how instantly captivating and utterly Floydian the melody of these verses is.

Unfortunately, the song is handicapped by the nauseatingly idiotarian lyrics. The song's thesis is that the allied campaign in Iraq is objectionable because a young, hitchhiking Waters once enjoyed the hospitality of a pitiful Lebanese couple. Follow that? And it's disappointing because in so many ways this is a regression for Waters. When he premiered "Each Small Candle" on the last night of his 1999 tour, he told the audience, "I had trouble making any sense out of the whole thing in Kosovo. I found myself not quite knowing what I thought about it all, which was a problem for me, because normally I do know what I think about things." The result of this reflection was a decent song (until Waters contaminated it with an incongruous power-ballad arrangement for the 2000 shows) that eschewed kneejerk antiwar histrionics to limn a moment of decency in which a Serbian soldier attended to an Albanian woman and child wounded in the crossfire. In 1999, Waters reflected on the episode, "In that image, I found some sense." "Leaving Beirut" instead offers Howard Dean-like tirades ("Oh George! That Texas education must have f___ed you up when you were very small"), sickening moral equivalence ("Terror is still terror, whosoever gets to frame the rules. . . . Now we are Genghis Khan, Lucretia Borghia, Son of Sam"), and the exalted peer pressure practiced by impotent European elites ("America, please hear us when we call. . . . Don't let the might, the Christian right, f___ it all up for you and the rest of the world").

All this soapbox bloviating makes it hard to give the song as many listenings as it deserves. Even if one agrees with the politics, how many times can one withstand the same stump speech? Hopefully the song contains enough substance to transcend it, the way one's opinion of the Falklands War is immaterial to appreciating The Final Cut. But I suspect the trite vitriol of some of the lyrics will always be an asterisk next to a song that could otherwise have been a masterpiece.

"To Kill the Child" has no such aspirations, nor could it. It starts harmlessly enough, then segues to the kind of throwaway, jaunty '80s-style pop that Waters hasn't stooped to since "Radio Waves." The second and third verses consist of a laundry-list recitation of stray images and phrases reminiscent of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." The song ends more interestingly and mildly rewards additional listenings, but if it wasn't a Roger Waters song, it never would have occurred to me to play it again. The message of the lyrics is no more imaginative than "Leaving Beirut"'s (war is bad because kids die, war is bad because it's all about oil), but in the context of the uninspiring, unmemorable music, that defect is rather less tragic here.

"Oh George, oh George, that Texas education must have f****d you up when you were very small..."

Wow! If song lyrics could be taken into consideration for the Nobel prize (literature or peace), "Leaving Beirut" would at least be nominated, with good chance of winning. And if you consider that Mr. Waters now lives in New York city, you can't dismiss his music as left-wing, against-USA bias. I think he loves America, and can't stand such a great country being spoiled by the silliest and most OIL-minded politician in the world.

"Leaving Beirut" is more than a song, is quite a small-scale theatrical piece, which tells the story of a seventeen years old Waters being helped by an Arab family in Lebanon. Waters' broken voice is dramatic and moving. Great bluesy guitar, too.

"To kill the child", however, is far below all expectation. The song is marred by such flat and silly lyrics as "prosciutto, risotto, falafel and ham", or recycled ones: "safe in the glow of his Donald Duck light", a line taken from "The tide is turning" (Radio Kaos, 1987).

All in all, I give this single four stars because "Leaving Beirut" is simply outstanding and carries a very strong message of peace.

Considering all of the exceptional music Roger Waters has given to us, from his days with Pink Floyd to his solo records, "To Kill the Child/Leaving Beirut" is sadly one of his poorest efforts to date. That isn't to say I don't like it or that it doesn't have its merits, but rather it simply isn't of the same caliber as some of his earlier work.

Consider for example his 1992 release "Amused to Death." There is an album whose message was fully realized and thought through. It tells stories which are poignant, concerns themes and ideas were are significant, and the moments of raw, heartfelt emotion may even bring tears to your eyes. "Amused to Death" is a masterpiece, one of the finest albums I've ever listened to and something Roger has the right to be proud of.

Now, 14 years later "To Kill the Child/Leaving Beirut" is placed before us to digest. While it deals with themes and ideas very similar to that of "Amused to Death" it isn't so easily swallowed. I guess you might say it lacks a certain level of professionalism. Certainly Roger has every right to stand on his soap box and say whats on his mind. But in this case I imagine he let emotion (To Kill the Child) and nostalgia (Leaving Beirut) get the best of him. They clouded his judgement and silenced his personal censor. More then anything "To Kill the Child/Leaving Beirut" disappoints me because I expected more.

Typical solo Waters. Superb moments interspersed with crappy ones. Can he not tell the difference? He needs the supervision of his old bandmates! Also, get it for $2.50 on iTunes....don't buy it here. Sorry, Amazon.

Roger Waters does not diisappoint. (there were 2 Pink Floyds when he & Gilmour split, BOTH superb)

Roger waters has and will always be one of the best inspiring musicians in the world. Every single track he's had any connection to is simply a piece of art!
Listen and enjoy my dear friends..

Roger Waters has finally released some new material, but is it worth the wait? You bet. It's been quite some time since Amused to Death, so it looked like we might not have ever seen anything by Waters, but this puts that fear to rest. Hopefully a new album will follow.

While Waters isn't in his prime anymore this is still good and it's better than pretty much anything else that was released recently. When it comes to the music, it's a little different from what you might expect, but I think most of Roger's fans will enjoy them.

The first song, To Kill the Child, is about all of the violence going on in the Middle East, but it also takes a shot at religion in the second verse. Waters vocals are mostly only half sung, but it doesn't take anything away from them. Overall the song is pretty catchy.

Leaving Beirut is a 12 and a 1/2 minute epic which is also protesting the fighting in Iraq. This is made obvious by lines like "Are these the people that we should bomb?" and "Is this a mountain that we really want to climb?". Most of the lyrics are spoken, so it seems more like he's reciting poetry, but that's not at all a bad thing. It gets a little bit too repetive after a while.

I give this single 4 stars. It's not his best work and there isn't much of it, but it's exciting to get anything new at all. If you're skeptical about buying it, you should check the streaming audio clips on Roger's website. You can listen to the entire songs(in several well-known formats) and view the lyrics. There's also an interview with Roger about these songs, which I haven't watched yet. The single probably isn't worth buying if you're not a huge Waters fan, but I think any fan of Floyd and good music in general should visit the website.

Everyone expecting Roger Waters to write something like he did while in the Floyd will not find what they are looking for with these two songs. That is not to say that they are bad songs, in fact they are both great songs. Very gritty, very truthful, very thought provoking just like the rest of his solo work. This is Roger Waters not the Floyd so yes the songs will not sound like Pink Floyd. I hate seeing bad reviews just because something isn't done they way they want it to be. If you like the Waters in Floyd then you'll like these songs.

Really you can't blame Roger Waters for this. The thoughts on the war that he portrays -- while ignorant -- are what is currently circulating. Whether or not Bush did start the war for these reasons -- which he may or may not have. I am not going to bash poor Bush -- is irrelevant. What is important is that people -- good and bad -- in the Middle East are suffering under a tyrant. Both Osama bin-Laden and Saddam Hussein bombed their own people with mustard gas/nerve gas. Does anyone reading know how deadly and painful that is? Google it! Get some images! Good lord, America! You know who we should hate? Obama! The ball-less cur wants to end the war!!!!! I am not for war nor against it but when innocent lives are at stake we should fight to the last breath!

Furthermore, we all go off complaining about BUSH and yet look at Iraq. You don't see them complaining publically! Why? Because if they did they'd be tortured or murdered! How would the Iraqi government find out? They have a "law" where a neighbor must report any slander or conspiracy against the leader of Iraq to the authorities. From there they arrest the "offender" and take them away and torture them, sometimes killing them. You live in the greatest, most free country on Earth where freedom of speech is not only perfectly legal, but commonly practiced. But now the whole country hates Bush but now did you know that Obama's popularity as of early November has dropped to 45%?! I personally cannot stand anti-war finatics. War will always be a part of life!!!!!! DEAL WITH IT!!!!!!! But for now you live in the best country on Earth. So shut the hell up and be happy!!!!!!!!

As for the album I could have gone without so much background vocals. I do not agree with Roger on this but I would like to reach out to him and maybe get him to try to see things my way, even though that will likely never, ever happen. Regardless, I am a huge fan of Roger Waters. His lyrics are legendary and unrivalled by any other band or solo artist. The Wall is my favorite album of all time. GO ROGER WATERS!!!!!!!!!