After wrapping up his tour in support of The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking in 1985, Roger Waters turned his attention to contributing ten of the fifteen tracks to the soundtrack for the adult animated war film, When The Wind Blows. For those of you who haven't heard it, I highly recommend it. It's a hidden 80's gem that not only features Waters, but also David Bowie, Genesis, Paul Hardcastle, Squeeze, and Hugh Cornwell.
Waters then turned his attention to his next studio album, 1987's Radio K.A.O.S. With it came another concept album, this time based on twenty-three-year-old Billy. He's mentally and physically disabled as a result of cerebral palsy, but his disability has actually made him not only a genius, but also superhuman, as he also has the ability to literally hear radio waves throughout all frequencies without aid.
The story unfolds with Billy living with his twin brother and his family, but an event involving drinking, stealing a cordless phone, and murder results in his brother being put in prison. Unable to cope, the wife sends Billy to live with someone else. It's during all of this that Billy realizes his powers, and starts experimenting with the phone, which he uses to tap into electronics that allow him to speak through. With this discovery, he calls the DJ at Radio K.A.O.S. and tells his story.
It gets deeper than that, and there's a mass hysteria ending, where Billy scares everyone with a faux nuclear threat, but that's about it in a nutshell.
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As expected, and not disappointing in any way, Waters provides another great listening experience full of storytelling backed by amazing instrumentation. Unlike his previous album, this one did have a standout track for me, that being the song, Home. With that said, it remains an album meant to be played from start to finish. So, I wouldn't recommend pulling out of the bunch and skipping the rest.
Beyond that, there's not much more to say. If you want to hear Roger Waters, and you like his story structure built over a concept album, then this is definitely one to check out. Do I wish it were a Pink Floyd album that also incorporated David Gilmour and Nick Mason? Of course. I think their inclusion would have made this epic, but I also said that about yesterday's listening session of The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking.
Sadly, that wraps up his 80's discography, so I need to look for something "new" to start on tomorrow.
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And now, 31 Days Of Halloween!
Creepshow, and Creepshow 2 are high priorities for my October. Mainly because while I own them, I've never actually seen them. That's what happens when you go on a mass buying spree of cheap DVD's and amass a huge collection over the course of thirty days. As such, I can't really say much about this series, with exception of the basics.
The first film is written by horror afficionados, George A. Romero, and Stephen King, the anthology formatted film provides multiple short stories. It also features an ensemble cast including Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E. G. Marshall, Viveca Lindfors, Ted Danson and Ed Harris.
As for the sequel, George A. Romero takes the reins from King, but the horror writer does get a cameo appearance. Unfortunately, the cast is not as notable as its predecessor. But then again, what would you expect when the sequel got half the budget as the first.
Either way, I'm looking forward to checking them both out.
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