As I read in last week's Guardian, "Police in Germany have launched a criminal investigation into the Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters over a Nazi-style uniform he wore at a recent concert in Berlin. According to a police spokesman “An investigation has been opened over the costume displayed at the concerts on 17 and 18 May... The context of the clothing worn is deemed capable of approving, glorifying or justifying the violent and arbitrary rule of the Nazi regime in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims and thereby disrupts public peace”. Berlin police will continue to gather evidence and then hand over their findings to the state prosecutor, who will assess whether Waters’s act can be considered as incitement to hatred". Now doesn't that sound like a bad joke? Waters' work is deeply humanist, pacifist and anti-fascist in nature; could the German police really believe that Waters was actually "glorifying" the Nazis (who, incidentally, his father died fighting against)? Are they really unaware of Pink Floyd's The Wall album and movie? After all, the same work was presented with lots of fanfare and high profile guests in what was formerly no man's land between East and West Germany, only a few months after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In every performance, during the song "In The Flesh", he impersonates onstage (as actor Bob Geldof did in the film) a demented and hateful character, don't they know that? Of course they do! It's just that Waters has always been very vocal in his support for the Palestinian cause, openly condemning the state of Israel for human rights violations and for the occupation of Palestinian lands. So they apply political pressure on other governments to try and shut him up! How very not fascist of them!
Coincidentally, this is the same week I bought a vinyl copy of Waters' 1987 Radio K.A.O.S. LP. It's not a work that's aged well, I must say. Like most of his work, solo or with Pink Floyd, it's a concept album. I'm now going to to do something lazy and paraphrase wikipedia to give you a synopsis of the story: Our hero Billy is a paraplegic youngster with severe motoric and speech disabilities, but his brain is somehow able to receive and manipulate radio waves. His twin brother Benny is a miner who lost his job due to the "market forces". One night, drunken Benny inadvertently kills a passerby by dropping a concrete block from a bridge. He is taken to prison, while Billy is sent to live with his uncle David in California. Using a cordless phone and his radio wave manipulation abilities, Billy learns to access computers and speech synthesisers, and starts having conversations with a DJ on L.A.'s Radio K.A.O.S. Exasperated by the political and social world situation, he eventually hacks into a military satellite, simulating a worldwide nuclear attack while deactivating the military's power to retaliate. The album concludes with a song about how, faced with imminent death, people realize that the struggle for more money and power has led the world astray, and start to give attention to the things that really matter, like their friends, family, and solidarity to fellow humans. The story nowadays is supposedly rather outdated - and I say supposedly, because neither the poverty caused by neoliberal politics nor the nuclear threat is as distant as we would like it to be - certainly not with the NATO vs. Russia hostilities materializing into an actual war in Ukraine. Specific references, such as jabs at Reagan and Thatcher, are nevertheless too grounded in the 80's, and the story is needlessly convoluted. Musical production is likeways very old-fashioned, and clean to the point of sterility in a way that only 80's productions can be. Overproduced too, but that I don't mind, because which Floyd album isn't? The songs are full of female backing vocals, synthesizers, and saxophone solos (by Mel Collins, formerly of King Crimson/Camel). I'm often reminded of Robert Palmer, sans the soul vocals. There's also some very good guitar by Andy Fairweather-Low, albeit discreetly low in the mix. Most of the songs are 4 or 5 minutes long, with the whole thing sounding more like contemporary (for the 80's) pop rock than like Floyd's prog rock heyday. The unity of the project is achieved by the interspersed effects (such as Morse-code) and radio snippets, mostly by Radio K.A.O.S.'s fictional DJ. Upbeat opener "Radio Waves" is the lead single, commercial AOR with a nice guitar solo. Mid-tempo follower "Who Needs Information" is better, sounding somewhat like mid 80's David Bowie. "Me Or Him" is slower and quieter, the use of flute instead of the more bombastic synths giving it an understated feel. "The Powers That Be" reminds me of Floyd's "Dogs"; there's a sense of menace in the guitar riff and urgency and "you better run" chorus, but that's disarmed by the pleasant synths and upbeat horns. Likewise, side 2 opener "Sunset Strip" is as bright as befits a song about L.A.; never mind that the protagonist feels out of place and nostalgic for his UK home. "Home" and "Four Minutes" propel the story forward. As compositions, they are rather generic 80's pop rock whose saving grace is guest vocalist Clare Torry. Sure you know who she is; even if the name may not sound familiar there's no way you don't remember the wordless wailing in "Great Gig In The Sky" on Dark Side Of The Moon. Well, that was Clare! The album closes with a hopeful note on "The Tide Is Turning". It's a melodic ballad with the surprising addition of a male choir. Nice of Waters to add a bit of light to his usually bleak world vision. Now, I'm old enough to remember when this album got out in '87 and how everyone pitted it against his former bandmates' A Momentary Lapse Of Reason to decide who is the true heir to the Pink Floyd legacy. In most aspects, Radio K.A.O.S. seems to take up where Floyd left off with The Final Cut, which in turn was a (weaker) retread of The Wall. Which means there's a direct line linking it to one of Floyd's greatest artistic achievements. But, while Waters' hired band are impeccable professionals, there's something missing: Gilmour's distinctive guitar and vocal, Wright's keyboard magic, and whatever Mason does on drums - sorry Nick, I can't tell the difference between you and any other drummer, but the fault is all mine. On the other hand, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (to be presented some other time) may lack a unifying theme, but sounds more like classic Floyd by virtue of the musicians involved. The production, incidentally, lets both albums down, being very sterile and rooted in the 80's. I personally think that they're equally good (or bad, as some would have it), and that each represents different aspects of Pink Floyd. The audience voted for Gilmour's version; possibly because it had more radio/MTV exposure, or because of the impressive spectacle of the gigantic stadium tours, or simply because he won the court case and got to keep the band name. Listening to Radio K.A.O.S. now, and production notwithstanding, it obviously doesn't deserve the bad rap it gets by critics and fans. P.S. It just dawned on me that many of you may not realize what the album cover is depicting: it is supposed to be an 80's computer screen; don't you go on thinking of a flat screen either, these were heavy cubic monitors usually displaying a black background with monochromatic green letters/characters. In this case, the green dots and dashes are nothing more than the album's tracklist rendered in Morse code - or so I'm told; next thing you know they might accuse Waters of adorning his record covers with coded anti-semitic propaganda, and no-one but a few ancient sailors/radio operators could tell the difference!
**** for Who Needs Information,The Tide Is Turning [After Live Aid]
*** for Radio Waves, Me Or Him, The Powers That Be, Sunset Strip, Home, Four Minutes
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