ROGER WATERS & VARIOUS ARTISTS / When the Wind Blows (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [1986]

Based upon Raymond Briggs' graphic novel, director Jimmy Murakami (who also faithfully adapted Briggs' The Snowman) was lucky to hire ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Waters to score When the Wind Blows.
David Bowie's title track is another highlight of the soundtrack album.  However the four remaining songs leave much to be desired if you haven't already fallen asleep.  Waters' contributions sound like a prelude to his Radio K.A.O.S. 1987 solo album and that's all right because they're simply pleasant pieces in bits or as a whole track.  It's not a must-have album but certainly a quaint little record to revisit every once in a blue moon.

3 lullabies out of 5

Songs of Note: Tower of Faith; Folded Flags

ROGER WATERS / The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking [1984]

After receiving mixed reviews for Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, Roger Waters opted to record a solo album (and ditch Floyd a year later) which resulted in 1984's The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking.
The rest of Floyd chose The Wall over this album to record as their next opus in 1979 and it was probably a good idea career wise.  Critics and audiences weren't ready for Waters' bizarre sense of humor and only wanted him dark, melodramatic and cynical.  Still the story of a beaten down middle-aged man that dreams of fucking a hitchhiker he's picked up is still filled with plenty of anger, spit and melancholy as it dissects the human psyche.  Musically it isn't always up to par as it lacks any memorable hooks or melodies as it seems to jump all over the place as its searches for some common ground.  Maybe that's the point and it just requires the listener to dig deep to really find it's cold heart and soul.

3½ possible pasts out of 5

Songs of Note:  4:50 am (Go Fishing); 4:58 am (Dunroamin, Duncarin, Dunlivin)

RON GEESIN & ROGER WATERS / Music from The Body [1970]

For his bizarre 1970 documentary art-film, The Body, director Ron Battersby enlisted Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and Ron Geesin (co-writer of Floyd's epic Atom Heart Mother suite) as the composers.

The results of these two collaborating on something so weird is unsurprisingly strange itself.  A mixture of short bio-music tracks (made up mostly of burps, belly slapping, crazed laughter and the occasional fart) with a few soft-folk numbers sung and played by Waters makes for a bit of a challenging listen.  As a heavy admirer of Ummagumma (and other art-noise Floyd works) this is a fascinating listen but I can honestly say I wouldn't recommend it to anyone without a taste for the same chaotic styles.

3 disturbingly intimate heavy breaths out of 5

Songs of Note: Old Folks Ascension; Give Birth to a Smile

ROGER WATERS / Amused to Death (1992)

A concept album with a hugely ambitious scope that enables Waters to comment on the entirety of mankind's accomplishments and follies, as viewed from more than one unique perspective. Musically, it performs a similar function in relation to his illustrious career that fans of his input into Pink Floyd should appreciate on a deeper level. But it's not just Floyd 2.0, it's the poet and musician being intellectually engaging and musically diverse, reaching further afield than ever before into what it is that makes us human. I'm not ashamed to say that a part of it makes me tearful, and that's the highest praise I can conceivably give.

Songs of Note: What God Wants, Part I; Three Wishes

5 technical manuals out of 5