15 Brain-Twisting Concept Albums That Are Endlessly Rewarding
2. Amused To Death Roger Waters
Its only fitting that, like a good concept album, this list should come full circle. Roger Waterss standout moment as a solo artist, Amused to Death is a culmination of the philosophy he spent twenty years building both with and without Pink Floyd. Its lyrics are perhaps the best that Waters ever wrote, tackling war, culture, greed and poverty with everything from cutting satire to plaintive humanity. Amused to Death is apocalyptic and real-world, with the perfect marriage of those two concepts happening during Marv Alberts guest spot, calling a military action as if it were a basketball game. What God Wants is a laundry list of all the ignoble goals humanitys been set upon, set to a powerful, metallic march, not unlike some of the tracks on The Wall. And on the final, title track, aliens visit the planet and discover a species dead in front of their television sets their reasonable conclusion: This species has amused itself to death. It can be a challenging listen, as Waters drops the bottom out on melody after melody, but Jeff Becks guitar keeps everything in good order and in a way, Waterss quivery voice lends authenticity to the weary worldview he espouses. Hes not exactly angry, nor sad; he sounds disappointed, but not in a preachy way he seems to say, We really ought to have known better. Amused to Death is a dark record that searches for optimism and comes up empty, yet suggests the search is worthwhile all the same.
Kyle Schmidlin is a writer and musician living in Austin, TX. He manages the news blog at thirdrailnews.wordpress.com. Follow him at facebook.com/kyleschmidlin or twitter.com/kyleschmidlin1.
