Roger Waters fans have been waiting for anything new from our favorite artist for a very long and lonely time. We have been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. Waiting for a new Roger Waters album. And now it seems that, well some of us just can't wait anymore.
A few months ago I walked out to my mail box, to find a large envelope with no name or return address, stuffed in it. Inside this envelope I found a boot CD which was totally unsolicited, and which I had not previously known existed.
It seems in the absence of any new work by Roger Waters for the past 5 years, some of his fans, who have been clamoring for him to put out a new album and tour, have taken matters into their own hands! They have gotten together and produced their own "Bootleg" CD of Roger Waters' recordings, versions of songs never released on any albums. These Roger Waters fans did this, as if to say, our patience has worn out, if you won't release a new album, we will! And so they did! The album is entitled "Roger Waters Ñ Rarities Volume 1". And the name portends that there will be a Volume 2 to follow.
"Rarities Volume 1," is a pretty eclectic combination of compositions and performances not normally heard in the retail channel. Extended versions, uncut versions, b-side singles, and live versions.
The track listing is ambitious, but it contains most of the songs that more devout Waters fanatics have already been able to acquire by hook or by crook. But still, this CD bundles them all together and it is nice to find them all in one place.
The song listing is as follows:
The music and song line up is impressive, and the sound quality is mostly above average to great. And you certainly get your moneys worth, play time is 74 minutes!
However, if I had done the track listing, I would definitely have recorded the songs in a different order. Also, I could have done well without the track "The Thin Ice" from the Berlin show entirely. In my opinion, that wasn't even a song and is mostly crowd chanting through half of it. A waste of space if you ask me.
And the live version of "The Gunner's Dream" they used was not one that shows Roger at his best. On this version, while Roger is trying to play this soft acoustic piece, people are whistling and lighting firecrackers. Understandably, Roger gets very angry about it on stage. There were many other live shows at which this great song was played, that have equally good sound quality which could have been recorded here. A different version should have been used, in which the listener can enjoy this wonderful song played live without rowdy audience distractions.
One track I wish was on this CD is the song "Seabirds", a song written and sung by Roger when he was with the Floyd and recorded for the More film soundtrack. "Seabirds", however, never made it on the soundtrack album released by Pink Floyd. To date it is an extremely rare track, and I can't think of a single boot it has ever been on. Also, there is this supposed demo track of Roger doing "Money" supposedly recorded in his kitchen, which Dave Gilmour played during an interview. If this is true it would have been a nice inclusion as well. But alas, these miscreant titles may appear on Volume 2!
The CD itself looks quite nice. The front cover has a great picture of Roger from one of his live KAOS shows, and it folds out into a larger photo of Rog in Paris. It's obvious however that it was printed on an ink jet printer. But I don't expect print publishing quality on any bootleg. The inside cover shot of this fold-out has a picture of Rog, circa 1971, along with the song listing.
However the print of the song list is so very small you need a magnifying glass to read much it. On the CD itself is printed a great close-up photo of Rog. The back cover has a nice shot of Rog on stage, and at the bottom, in fine print it says: "1997 - The Digital Floyd Project. This compilation of rare works is the result of the cooperation of Roger Waters' fans worldwide. The DFP is a not-for-profit service."
Well, it must be a not for profit, cause I got it sent to me for free. ;-) But I'm sure normally you have to pay for it. All in all however, "Roger Waters, Rarities Volume 1" is quite good. A nice addition to my collection and very worthwhile for devout collector and casual fan alike.
Neither REG nor I support bootlegging. But there are boots, and then, there are boots. More importantly with this bootleg is that it was created not to make money, but out of love, admiration, and respect by Roger Waters fans, on their own, and of their own initiative. Considering how very long we all have been waiting for any new work or project by Roger Waters to come to fruition, this valiant effort is extremely commendable.
To whomever sent me this CD... Thanks!