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NewsFlash June 1992 (Amused To Death release?, Jeff Beck, Walden Benefit)
NewsFlash October 1992
NewsFlash April 1993
NewsFlash November 1993 (Rog speaks to REG)
NewsFlash June 1994
NewsFlash September 1994
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Amused Again
According to reliable sources, Sony/ Columbia Records has finally set a release date (again?) for the new
and long awaited album by Roger Waters titled Amused To Death. It had been set to hit the record store
shelves TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1992. The album featuring Jeff Beck on guitar, is said to be Roger's best work
since The Wall, and so impressed CBS records that rumors (that Sony / Columbia would further delay
release of the album pending further publicity expenditures, including completion of one or more music
video's, or a major motion picture, [ala The Wall ], based on the concept of Amused To Death.) are now
confirmed. Sources at Sony/Columbia Records have acknowleged this and have confided to me that the new
release date will be on September 8, 1992, and also that promo singles are to be released about two weeks
before the scheduled album release, either in Europe or the U.S.
Hopefully singles will be released of; What God Wants and Monkey Television, which Roger performed at the Seville Spain Expo festival.
So once again for the umteenth time we await still the release of Amused To Death. Personally I'll only believe it when I see it.
Los Angeles
Among the many speakers, and musicians performing at the benifit concert to save (Henry David Thureaus')
Walden Pond nature refuge, was our own Roger Waters, who appeared free of charge to show his support
for the worthy cause and who played for about an hour. Most of the songs performed were from The Wall.
Sorry, nothing new was performed.
The concert, entitled Benefit for Walden Woods was held on April 1st, 1992 at the Universal Amphitheater, Universal City, California. Featured were; Don Henley (of The Eagles fame), Niel Young, John Fogerty, as well as Roger Waters and the Bleeding Hearts Band. The short one hour Waters song set consisted of songs from The Wall, among which were; In the Flesh, Another Brick in the Wall (Pt. 2), Mother, and (Roger's) Comfortably Numb, in that order.
It seemed that many of the concert goers had never heard of, or didn't know who Roger Waters was, and were somewhat unenthusiastic when Roger Waters and the Bleeding Hearts Band was introduced. But as In the Flesh began with it's distictive Waters vocals, a roar rose up from all sides of the crowd which never ceased thoughout the set. If they didn't know before, they know now who Roger Waters is. Some may even have left the show thinking they had seen Pink Floyd.
Don Henley sang Dave's part in a duet with Roger on Comfortably Numb which the rest of the Bleeding Hearts Band gave a robust and energetic rendition. MTV filmed the concert, of which a short ten second clip (of Rog and Don singing together) is making the rounds among collectors.
His most overtly political album to date, Amused To Death tells a story, both fictional and not, of the extreme power that TV has become in all our lives, and how it is being used to keep us entertained, opiated, and docile. It is undeniably his best album yet.
Chart Listings are as follows:
UK Top 10 Albums (Sept. 14, 1992)
#8. "Amused to Death" Roger Waters
UK Top 40 Singles (Sept. 12, 1992)
#35. "What God Wants Pt.1" Roger Waters
New Waters Releases? NOT!!
Columbia Records scraps the release of "The Bravery of Being Out of Range" single, the U.S. release of the
"Three Wishes" single and the release of the "Three Wishes" video.
Now that's what I call real artist promotion and label support! Not!!
Another Load of Bricks In the Wall
By Peter Bond
Pink Floyd star Roger Waters demanded more than just another brick in his new 60 foot garden wall - he
wanted a whole load to shift it 12 inches to the right.
The rocker stunned builders by insisting it was in the wrong place. Roger, whose band hit the charts with Another Brick in the Wall (Part II), told them to pull it down and start again.
A team of four brickies had half-finished the structure around the super-star's huge Kimbridge Manor estate at Romsey, Hants.
But Roger accepted he was to blame and said he didn't care how much it cost. One worker said: "The brickies looked totally sick when he told them - but they are getting paid, so what the hell." The (Bass [ed.]) guitarist, who made a fortune from Floyds' hit album The Wall, is renovating his Georgian mansion at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds. the man in charge of interior design is Derek Walls.
The gardens stretch both sides of the beautiful River Test - world-famous for its trout fishing.
The house is just upstream from Lord and Lady Romsey. Another close neighbour in the nearby village of Michelmarsh is Sir David Frost. A workman said: "He's turning his back yard into the Garden of Eden. "He's having a 35 foot long ornate bridge built across the Test and he was so impressed by the work done so far that he ordered a second one. It's incredible. these things cost tens of thousands each."
A spokesman for Chris Skinner Landscape Gardeners, who are building the garden wall, said: "I've no comment to make about this."
Rumors, Rumors, Rumors, 'Is Roger rejoining Pink Floyd?,' 'Is Roger writing material for the new Pink Floyd album?,' 'Is Roger touring with Pink Floyd in an upcoming reunion tour?' These and similar questions have arisen from many sources, from many people, and from many countries during the past 6 months.The first, second, and third times I had heard these rumors, I believed them to be pure bullshit and wishfull thinking. But as the rumors spread and persisted they made me pause and wonder, before I could dismiss them. However, my first intuition was correct. The rumors are just that rumors, and complete balderdash to boot.
I was contacted by Roger Waters' Manager Mark Fenwick, who had this to say on the subject:
"I want to make it quite categorically known that the answers to the questions and rumors about Roger and Pink Floyd are as follows:
Has Roger Waters Rejoined Pink Floyd? Absolutely Not!
Will Roger Waters Rejoin Pink Floyd? Absolutely Not!
Has Roger Waters Written anything for the forthcoming Pink Floyd album? No!
Will Roger Waters tour with Pink Floyd? Absolutely Not! "
"It's important that nobody think that Roger is having anything to do with Pink Floyd or their album or their
tour. It would not be right for people to pay to see a concert thinking Roger Waters was playing or to buy an
album thinking Roger was on it. Roger has no intention of playing music again with Pink Floyd."
"I don't know how all these rumors have propagated or where the rumors started but I suspect they may have begun with somebody within the Pink Floyd organization, or within the band itself."
"I want to make it very clear that it is not happening and that he has nothing to do with the band or their current ventures."
Mark Fenwick (Mark Fenwick Managment) Manager of Roger Waters.
Well, hopefully this, once and for all will put an end to all these rampant and self propagating rumors. The next person that tells you Roger and Floyd are reuniting, you can now reply that because you are a member of REG, you have official and legitimate information that all those rumors are pure crap.
Prine Nixes "Yellow Rose"
Roger Waters' album Amused To Death was released September 1, 1992. It featured a duet between Waters
and Don Henley on the track "Watching TV". John Prine had originally been announced for the duet, but pulled
out after he saw the lyrics, in which the narrator sings about losing his girlfriend, his "yellow rose," in
Tiananmen Square in the abortive Chinese revolution of 1989.
Extract from the Don Henley article in Goldmine Magazine March 1993
Another Wife in the Life
By Maria Speidel
Rocker Roger Waters, 48, author of Pink Floyds classic "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)," married
actress Pricilla Phillips, 30, on July 28 in England. It is his third marriage, her second.
Reprinted from People Magazine 8/16/93
Jeff on Rog
The following is an exerpt of an interview of
Jeff Beck by Matt Resnicoff in Musician Magazine's October 1993 issue.
Matt:
You do session work on occasion?Jeff:
I wouldn't say "session work." It's "someone else's project." I would never do sessions where you take money and nobody ever hears why. (laughs) I'm not doing it just because I'm bored. If there's any germ of exitement that can be had, great, the track is made, you don't got to worry about session fees and putting a drum program together. Widen the horizons. Within reason.
With Roger Waters the material was very impressive, and I'd been meaning to meet with him a long time going. It was a nice time of the year to do it as well. I drove his car around Richmond Park. He has an old Maserati, and an M1 BMW. I didn't get a chance to get out of first gear; it was a public holiday and there were kids with ice creams all across the road. (laughs) He's an amazing guy. Anyone who can stuff a five-pound note in the pocket of their coat and go on a hike around the world... I just felt like I've been insignificant against that, you know? I wouldn't go the the end of my road with a five-pound note! (laughs)
Below, are the questions which I had asked of Roger, and are followed by Roger's responses.
REG:
Would Roger consider touring in the near future or next few years, even if it meant a scaled down tour, and stage show? Even just to do it for his fans who would drive hundreds of miles just to see him perform, and could care less about a huge production. We just want to see Roger!Mark:
"The answer is YES!!!, on all counts"REG:
Is Roger working on finishing the music for the French ballet, that he began years ago, and if not does he have any plans to finish it? If so when will the music be available to fans?Mark:
"He is working on it now. It's called 'CAIRA', (Sa-Ira) and it's not a ballet, it's an opera, (about the French Revolution, ed.) and he's working on it now! And, 'When will it be available?', I don't know, but he's working on it."REG:
Roger spoke about publishing a book of prose, is he working on it? When will it be published, and how can his fans buy a copy?Mark:
"Well, his answer to that was, um, Yes, Maybe. In other words he may well publish a book of prose at some future date, but, you know, there is no date at this point."REG:
Because Roger is such a visual, as well as audio artist, does Roger plan, at some time in the future, to do a multi-media CD Rom, as did Peter Gabriel?Mark:
"No!"REG:
What does Roger think about the new Gilmour/Floyd tour and album?Mark:
"No Comment"REG:
(Laughter) He wrote The Wall, as a result of the Pink Floyd stadium shows of the 1977 tour. And having vowed that Pink Floyd would never do stadium shows again, does he have any comment on Gilmour's tour being totally all stadium shows?Mark:
"No Comment, (Laughter) those were his words."REG:
Could Roger at all be persuaded to grant me a phone interview sometime this Spring or early summer?Mark:
"Um, I mean the phone interview thing, um, 'No Comment' (Laughter)."REG:
(Laughter)Mark:
"He wishes you well!" So there you go REG members, straight from the Rogers mouth, so to speak. So if Rog is willing to tour in the near future, perhaps he needs a little encouragement from you, his fans. If you want Roger to tour, write him and let him know! His address, for REG members, is on the next page.
The Band will begin a world (money making) tour on March 30, 1994 in Miami, Florida, USA. It will traverse the US through the Spring and early Summer and continue in England and Europe through the rest of the Summer and Fall. The tour consists only, and entirely of Stadium shows. Something that Roger, after the 1977 tour, vowed Pink Floyd would never do again, and what inspired him to write "The Wall" in the first place.
Pink isn't well, (he can't stand Gilmour) he stayed back at the hotel, so they sent them along as a SURROGATE BAND, we're going to find out where you "FAN's" really stand!
The following is Rogers screen name and member profile on the comptuter service, and following that his messages, two of which are addressed to the surrogate Pink, from the movie The Wall, Bob Geldof, who also happened to be on line at the time.
Screen Name: RogerH20s Member Name: Roger Waters Location: London, England Sex: Male Marital Status: Married (From the Roger Waters Message Board) Subj: Hello Everybody 94-05-03 02:36:35 EDT From: BobGeldof Hello America Online people. I hope you all have your TV's off and your brains on, you know? Subj: Hello Bob - it's been a long time 94-05-03 02:50:37 EDT From: RogerH20s Very accomodating, this service. Perhaps I'll have a go again sometime. Subj 94-05-03 03:20:12 EDT From: RogerH20s How does one begin to comprehend the power of this technology? It's great to see your opinons expressed so freely. Be good, people. (From the Pink Floyd Message Board) Subj: Hello America Online People 94-05-03 02:41:07 EDT From: BobGeldof Hello out there people! I trust you all have your TV sets off and your thinking caps on, you know? So many messages here! Good Lord! Subj: Hello Bob & Everyone Else 94-05-03 02:53:55 EDT From: RogerH20s It's nice to see you are all so up to speed with technology these days. Us older folk must get on with it! Subj: 94-05-21 05:53:47 EDT From: RogerH20s Glad to see you all here expressing your opinions! Free expression is more or less a catalyst towards greater understanding between us all. Moreover, people change, and usually it's for the better if we let that change to transpire. Change shows the sometimes extreme desire for growth, for better or worse. We've all learned (painstakenly or no) the growth process as we've matured. At least I know I have. And you? It's good for us all to communicate on a common ground... good process. Perhaps I'll be watching what you've expressed here! It's constantly a Brave New World today, and let's not remind ourselves otherwise. Peace be with you.
Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd vocalist, bassist and songwriter, learned the value of a name the hard way. Although he was the chief architect of Pink Floyd's best-known recordings, his last solo album, "Amused to Death" in 1992 sold well below his expectations, and his two previous solo tours were dissappointingly underattended. As a result, he has performed only once in the last four years. Meanwhile, his former bandmates have sold more than three million tickets for their North American tour (they will be at Yankee Stadiumon Friday and Saturday), and their most recent album, "The Division Bell" was No. 1 for four straight weeks.
Mr. Waters, however, has no intentions of sitting on his laurels (though a recent increase in back-catalog album sales probably hasn't hurt his bank account). In his first American interview this year, Mr. Waters explained that six months ago he began work on a stage adaptation of Pink Floyd's 1979 magnum opus, "The Wall."
"Writing 'The Wall' for Broadway or wherever is a very long process," he said this week from his home in Hampshire, England, "because it means digging very deep into the details of Pink's story." Pink is "The Wall's" traumatized protagonist. "Although I love the record, I was less in love with the movie," Mr. Waters continued. "I think it lacked humanity and humour, and I think they're both very important to introduce the piece."
Mr. Waters, who is now 49, left Pink Floyd in 1985, hoping that without him the band would disintegrate. When, in 1987, the remaining members - David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright - released an album and embarked on a tour, Mr. Waters unsuccessfully sued to keep them from using the name Pink Floyd. The present tour is Pink Floyd's first since then. This time, Mr. Waters will not speak about his erstwhile band members on the record.
When asked whether he still relishes his association with the name Pink Floyd, Mr. Waters replied: "If one was being truly grown up about it, I would say no. I would prefer at this point in my life not to be burdened with that kind of celebrity. However, the infant in me still wants to go: 'Look at me, look at me. I did it.' After all, we're only ordinary men."
Though Mr. Waters is not working on another album at present, he has no intention of forsaking his solo career. "Sometimes, I sit at home and play the guitar," he said, "and sometimes I think it would be nice to perform some of those songs again. There's a distinct possibility that I may go on the road again at some point in the future."
Snipits - in the News
