In two to three years old competition comprised of collections of songs named Ratthe That Lock and Endless River, Is This The Life We Really Want by Roger Waters is the best record by any of the Pink Floyd members. By its format and content, it's comparable to obscure, anti-systematic releases by the late Floyds alongside their hyper-ambitious and socio-politically conscious bassist. I am saying it is comparable, not necessarily better. Actually, not at all.
Waters asks many questions on Is This The Life We Really Want. It is certainly beating the shit out of present moment: migrants, Brexit, Trump; those are all themes he is covering on this record and it is not difficult to guess his position. Waters is not afraid to express his opinion, he's got things to say, and he even plays every here and then. The Last Refugee and the closing trio Wait For Her, Oceans Apart and Part Of Me Died are all fine suggestive songs that stand out from the bunch. The rest of the album lacks music. It is not enough to have good will, great producer, good musicians, superb studio. You need to have inspiration as well. And Roger Waters has a problem with inspiration here.
On the other hand, Waters sings good; he is in much better shape than many others from his generation. With the help of producer Nigel Godrich, he managed to revive the sound, but not to create the sound that would connect him with anything other than what Pink Floyd was doing. Most of the times he sounds like a good man with good intentions who just can not express himself in the best way possible. It is as If he took care of his material only partially. Godrich brought the sonic landscape to the perfection, but there has to be something more essential within that perfection.
Despite good intention, Rogers does not sound authentic, rather as a rich retired man who enjoys castigating what he sees on TV. However, I believe he would do better If he ran for the president than he is doing with album like this.
