La Leggenda Del Pianista Sull'Oceano

After failing to tour his third solo album, the magnificent Amused To Death in 1992 because of lagging album sales, Roger Waters disappeared from the music scene almost entirely without a trace. For the past seven years, Roger Waters fans have been literally starved from the dearth of new Roger Waters music and activity. The extreme anxiety this caused can be attributed to actual withdrawal symptoms, as from a drug. This lack of new musical material also caused many wild speculations among his fans. Rumors proliferated constantly, mainly on the Internet. Almost every year, you heard something about his "now definitive" Amused To Death tour, the release of a new solo album, the release of the opera Ca Ira, the reworking of The Wall for a big Broadway stage performance, as well as alot of other strange bogus information, including the reunion with the actual Pink Floyd line-up for the next Floydian album and subsequent tour. But by reading our newsletter REG, Waters fans all over the world were able to get consistent credible and accurate information about Roger's activities or inactivity, and therefore were able to gauge the actual truth of these rumors and speculations.

Signs of Life

Sometime in late 1997, the rumors about new Waters material proved to be true. Roger recorded a cover version of Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" for Yossi Somer's 1997 Israeli film "The Dybbuk Of The Holy Apple Field". This film includes music from Rick Wentworth, who is known by Waters fans from his collaboration with Roger for his forthcoming new French Opera "Ca Ira". However, a promised release of a soundtrack album of the film for the Fall of 1998 turned out to be an elusive dream. Aside from this sign of life, there is yet other Roger Waters news to report. Roger's name appears twice in the credits of two new albums by Marianne Faithfull and Ismael Lo. Marianne's opus "Vagabond Ways" includes an unreleased Waters song called "Incarceration Of Flower Children". This is an older Waters penned song from the '70s which has never been recorded or heard before. Miss Faithful apparently has been wanting to record it for a long while. Marianne Faithfull also sings the English lyrics in a duet of a song titled "Without Blame (La Femme Sans Haine)" with Ismael Lo on his 1996 album "Jammu Africa." This song is co-written by Roger Waters, Etienne Roda Gil, (of Ca Ira fame) and Ismael Lo. Marianne. Faithfull also appeared with Roger during "The Trial" at the 1990 Berlin Show of The Wall. Some 6 years after the release of Amused To Death and the last live Waters performance (Walden Wood, LA, 04-01-92), a new Roger Waters song emerged in late 1998 in an Italian film. This new tune is called "Lost Boys Calling" and is featured in the film "La Leggenda Del Pianista Sull'Oceano". "La Leggenda" (The Legend Of The Pianist On The Ocean) is an Italian film from the Medusa Film studios and is directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Born 05-27-56 in Bagheria, Tornatore has directed many major films, including the well known Cinema Paradiso in 1989, which won an Oscar a year later. "La Leggenda" features actors Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Mˇlanie Thierry, Bill Nunn and Peter Vaughn among others.

The story of the film is based on the book "Novecento" (ISBN 3-492-04104-3) by Alessandro Baricco, which was written in 1994 and made it's debut as a piece for theater during the festival in Asti in July 1994. "Novecento" which means "1900," is the story of the foundling Danny Boodmann T.D. Lemon Novecento. He was born in the year 1900 on an ocean liner called the "Virginian," which traveled between Europe and America at the turn of the century. Because of the year of his birth, everyone called the boy Novecento. Never during his whole life did Novecento ever leave the ship for even a single moment. He learned to play the piano, becoming an accomplished pianist, and so would enchant the ships passengers with the magic of his talent. Novecento is the "legendary pianist of the ocean"!

The soundtrack CD "La Leggenda Del Pianista Sull'Oceano" (Sony Records SK 60790, EAN: 5099706079026) has only been released in Italy. An American release is due to be released on April 30th 1999.

CONTIENE
"LOST BOYS CALLING"
interpretato par
ROGER WATERS

The CD itself is a Picture-CD which repeats the front cover theme except for the additional copyright information. The blue back cover features a film scene on the main deck of the ship, with a complete track listing and copyright info.

"Lost Boys Calling" is a quiet, melancholic and very emotional ballad in true Watersesque tradition. The production by Patrick Leonard, (who worked with Waters on his album "Amused To Death," and co-wrote "Yet Another Movie" from Floyd's "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason") reminds me of "The Final Cut" era, with Waters singing with a smooth but very sharp and clear voice. The song starts and closes with "echoes"-like sound effects. It's interesting that the music of "Lost Boys Calling" is written by Ennio Morricone (who is famous for his countless film scores, including the legendary "Once Upon A Time In The West") and only the words are written by Roger. It is not yet clear if the song "Lost Boys Calling" even actually appears in the finished film. However, even though Roger did not write the music, it is obvious it is a Waters penned song, the lyrics clearly speak volumes.

So what is important to know about the other music of the album? You can find the theme of "Lost Boys Calling" in various other tracks on the CD. Tracks 1 and 23 (Playing Love) are instrumental and orchestral versions of it, while tracks 10 (Trailer) and 27 (Silent Goodbye) are short reprises. The title-track 02 (The Legend Of The Pianist On The Ocean) is by far the longest song on the CD (8:04 min.) and is an orchestral variation of the Lost Boys Calling/Playing Love-theme.

The other songs are mainly short instrumental and orchestral film scores with many great piano solos, which are between 1 and 3 minutes long (2 of them even less than 1 minute). There are only 2 songs with vocals: Lost Boys Calling, and Thanks Danny (track 11).