Flickering Flame: The Solo Years Volume 1 [IMPORT]

Roger Waters

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 30, 2002)
• Original Release Date: April 30, 2002
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Sony/Columbia
• ASIN: B000065DUF
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #160,669 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Few would disagree that ever since Roger Waters divorced himself from Pink Floyd in 1983 both of the estranged parties have been less effective for the lack of the others' involvement. Not that the years have been wasted, as Flickering Flame--a compilation of key tracks from Waters's solo albums as well as hitherto unheard material--amply demonstrates. Anyone who imagined that Waters's personal and understandably heartfelt ruminations on the loss of a father he never knew (killed at Anzio during World War II) on The Final Cut--the last Floyd album to feature Waters at the helm and practically his solo album in all but name--would prove to be an ultimately cathartic moment of self-exorcism has underestimated the extent to which Waters still experiences frustration at the world's inability to sort itself out. Like Aussie-Scot folk protester Eric Bogle and The The's Matt Johnson, Waters is happiest (unhappiest?) when addressing the futility of self-serving international aggression and socio-political inequality, the ubiquity of which in his material's subject matter can make any Roger Waters album an exacting experience for all but the diehard pacifist Pink Floyd fan. Even so, Waters is articulate, earnest, and portentous (if occasionally pompous), and moments like the cable TV-inspired satire of war as a narcissistic, armchair spectator sport on "Perfect Sense," the glimmers of hope in "Each Small Candle" (inspired by a small instance of Serbian kindness during the Kosovo conflict), and the lullaby of "The Tide Is Turning" all represent him at his most powerfully literate peak. Of the previously unreleased material, a straight cover of Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"--from the score of the Israeli film The Dybbuk of the Holy Apple Field--is the best, it being impossible to disassociate from the tragedy of Dunblane, an event which probably angered Waters no end. Less essential is "Flickering Flame"--which is sung in a silly hick-town hillbilly accent--and "Lost Boys Calling" (original demo) which is off-puttingly out of tune. --Kevin Maidment

Product Description
'Flickering Flame' is a definite 2002 retrospective covering Rogers solo career to date encompassing songs from his 3 solo albums and his live release. Features a unique, unreleased cover of Dylan's 'Knockin on Heavens Door', plus two new tracks performed live and a remix of 'Who Needs Information'. Tracks, 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door', 'Too Much Rope', 'The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)', 'Perfect Sense (Part I)', 'Perfect Sense (Part Ii)', 'Three Wishes', '5:06Am (Every Strangers Eyes)', 'Who Needs Information', 'Each Small Candle', 'Flickering Flame (New Demo)', 'Towers Of Faith', 'Radio Waves' & 'Lost Boys Calling (Original Demo)'. 12 tracks. Slipcase. No US release is currently scheduled.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Destructive copy protection, September 20, 2002

By	David Burkhart (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you must buy this CD, don't put it in your computer. The destructive copy protection will crash PCs and Macs. If you have a newer Mac without a manual eject on the CD drive (such as an iMac) it will take a costly trip to an authorized repair store... This is a seriously defective product, and is unsafe at any speed. Click on the cover picture to see the little warning in the lower right corner, but there is another sticker covering this on the jewel box. Your only other warning is that it doesn't have the "CD" logo since it doesn't meet standards.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Crashed my system, September 11, 2006

By	Kevin (Springfield, MO USA) - See all my reviews

Amen to the previous review, this cd crashed my computer. Do not buy this in hard disk form, look for it on itunes or something. Shame on the makers. The only warning I had was in german on the disk case. I don't read freakin german.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dont Judge the Man..Listen to The Music, May 7, 2003

By	"mobby_uk" (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

Roger Waters must be one of the most talented song writers ever,and certainly one of the most politically conscious.
Save from few songs (Run Like Hell, Comfortably Numb and The Trial), the man has single handedly written with Pink Floyd the best conceptual rock album ever, The Wall!! A semi autobiographical masterpiece of angst mixed with great melodies.
The man has written Money, the most famous Floyd song ever, and has been instrumental in marrying the creative with the technical and experimental, hence given Pink Floyd the success they enjoy to this day.
The break up of Pink Floyd is legendary, and after The Final Cut, (as one viewer rightly put it a solo project for Waters in all but name,) the future of both Waters on one side, and Gilmour, Mason and Wright on the other seemed uncertain.
Yet each had too much creativity in them to call it a day, and while Gilmour retained the band's name and produced couple of great progressive rock CDs, Waters went solo and took total control over his music and his political message.
This Cd is a compilation of Waters solo output over the years up up until his latest masterpiece Amused To Death.
The songs are typical Waters, and many are similar in style and content to Waters latest work for Floyd,(his anguish about his father's death and his anger about the state of the world and society today) but having said that, they all have the invariable mark of depth, of great song writing. To compensate the departure of Gilmour, Waters cleverly uses the services of the best guitarists in the business today, Eric Clapton and Snowy White among others.
If you dont own any of Waters CDs, then you should buy this one and if you do not agree with Waters politics , do not judge the man for them, instead listen to a music that is rarely written these days, and whether you are a pro Gilmour Floyd, or not,Roger Waters should be regarded as one of the last greats in rock music history.