Roger Waters "The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking" 1984***

It was about 40 years ago that Roger Waters went to a Pink Floyd band meeting to discuss ideas for the band's next album. He had two ideas for a concept album already partly worked out in his mind, which he presented to the band complete with demos of some of the songs. The first one was about alienation and revolved around a rock star with childhood traumas, while the second was somewhat more abstract, having to do with the mid-life crisis and fantasies of an everyday bloke. The band discussed the merits of both, and predictably chose the one with the more well-defined narrative, which turned out to be their biggest hit ever, spawning a mammoth live show and successful film adaptation - I'm talking, of course, about The Wall.  The second idea was destined to become Waters' first solo album proper "The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking", released when the band was technically in hiatus but had essentially practically already broken up. Even more than other Waters-penned concept works "Pros..." only makes sense as a whole - and even then hardly makes sense at all. Which doesn't mean that the writing is bad, quite the contrary. The album recounts the protagonist's dream, and evolves in real time. Every piece has a time-stamp denoting the time the dream takes place, while the story progresses with leaps as it usually happens in dreams - the subconscious throws unexpected pictures into the mix which the dreamer incorporates in the narrative. In the beginning he dreams he is on a holiday in Germany with his wife, when they pick up a couple of hitch-hikers. He feels lust for the female hitch hiker and has passionate sex with her. It is the only time sex holds a central position in a Floyd/Waters album, which brings me to the subject of the controversial cover art: racy covers were not rare in the late 70's - early 80's, but mostly by metal or funk bands, not something you'd expect by a former Floyd. So the picture of a shapely naked backside on the cover attracted criticism by many sides: Old Floyd fans found it crassly commercial, prudes too provocative (they managed to get the girl's bum covered with a black sticker in the U.S.) and feminists accused it as sexist and inducing to rape(?) - which was missing the point completely. The hitch-hiker represents the protagonists' repressed sexual desires, so he equipped her with a killer body, fetish red heels, and (something no-one else seems to have noticed) no face. 

My own gatefold. I had this on CD already, but I re-bought it on vinyl have a thing for collecting these with original uncensored covers.

By the way, the model is quasi-famous in her own right: Linzie Drew is a former groupie, glamour model and pornstar, as well as writer of a spicy autobiography. Musically the album sounds like the continuation of The Wall and The Final Cut. Eric Clapton on guitar makes for a great substitute for Gilmour, his bluesy style fits well with the music and provides some of the record's highlights, as in the uncharacteristically blues-rock "4.41 Am (Sexual Revolution)". I would have liked to hear more of him in the record, but he mostly provides tasteful fills rather than solos. Another great instrumentalist in this album is saxophonist David Sanborn whose solo literally lifts off "4.50 Am (Go Fishing)". Renowned composer Michael Kamen played piano and arranged the orchestral score. There's a lot always going back in the background, including special effects and dialogues by actors like Jack Palance and scenester Cherry Vanilla, which will be of interest for those who want to follow the story but are otherwise just distracting. The female backing singers add a bit of sugar to the mix, while strangely the weakest link is Waters himself on lead vocal: Always theatrical, he whispers and shouts but hardly sings. I'll admit he did exactly the same in The Wall without bothering me, but that was probably because I got caught up in the story. Furthermore The Wall left more space for the instruments while "Pros..." focuses more on the words. Here you'll also find the same quite/loud dynamic with sudden bursts as in The Wall e.g. in the start of "Running Shoes" which is similar to "In The Flesh". "4.39 Am (For the First Time Today, Part. 2)" reminds me of "Mother" and 4:47 AM (The Remains Of Our Love)" of "Don't Leave Me Now" from the same album. Meanwhile, the first 5 songs dealing with the protagonist's infidelity end with him waking up "...in a fever/The bedclothes were all soaked in sweat/She said `You've been having a nightmare/And it's not over yet'". The couple moves to the country and tries to start anew, but this fails and leads to the central character becoming a drifter/hitch hiker. He tastes the freedom of that life ["5.01 Am (The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking part 10)", the album's lead single and only straight-ahead rocker] as well as the loneliness ["5.06 Am (Every Strangers Eyes)", a poignant ballad]. In the end, he wakes up realising that his life isn't all that bad and finding solace in the arms of his wife ["5.11 Am (The Moment of Clarity)"] - which sounds about as appeasing as a hastily concocted happy end in a Hollywood movie. Listening to the whole album again, I find it's better than it's usually given credit for. Understandably, its similarity to The Wall leads to unfavourable comparisons, lacking as it does a really great standalone song like "Comfortably Numb" or "Another Brick In The Wall". Taken as a whole, though, it is a complex and at times rewarding listening experience. Pink Floyd (or just Prog Rock) fans should give it their full attention. They may end up loving it.

**** for 4.39 Am (For the First Time Today, Part. 2), 4.41 Am (Sexual Revolution),  4.50 Am (Go Fishing), 5.01 Am (The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking part 10), 5.06 Am (Every Strangers Eyes)

*** for 4.30 Am (Apparently They Were Travelling abroad), 4.33 Am (Running Shoes), 4.37 Am (Arabs With Knives and West German Skies) (2:21), 4.47 Am (The Remains of Our Love), 4.56 Am (For the First Time Today, Part. 1), 4.58 Am (Dunroamin, Duncarin, Dunlivin), 5.11 Am (The Moment of Clarity)