Amused to Death

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Roger Waters, once the lead singer of Pink Floyd, was sufficiently inspired by a book of mine to produce a CD called Amused to Death. This fact so elevated my prestige among undergraduates that I am hardly in a position to repudiate him or his kind of music. Nor do I have the inclination for any other reason. Nonetheless, the level of sensibility required to appreciate the music of Roger Waters is both different and lower than what is required to appreciate, let us say, a Chopin étude.

Packaging

The album's original artwork features a chimpanzee watching television in reference to Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey . [20] The image on the TV is a gigantic eyeball staring at the viewer. [20] According to Waters, the ape was "a symbol for anyone who's been sitting with his mouth open in front of the network and cable news for the last 10 years." [1]

Reception

Amused to Death
Roger Waters Amused to Death.jpg
Studio album by
Released7 September 1992
Recorded1987–1992
StudioThe Billiard Room (London)
Olympic Studios (London)
CTS Studios (London)
Angel Recording Studios (London)
Abbey Road Studios (London)
Compass Point Studios (Nassau)
Ameraycan Studios (Los Angeles)
Johnny Yuma Recording (Burbank)
Devonshire Sound Studios (Los Angeles)
Genre Progressive rock
Length72:36
Label Columbia
Producer
Roger Waters chronology
The Wall – Live in Berlin
(1990)
Amused to Death
(1992)
In the Flesh – Live
(2000)
Roger Waters studio chronology
Radio K.A.O.S.
(1987)
Amused to Death
(1992)
Ça Ira
(2005)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [21]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [22]
Drowned in Sound 8/10 [23]
Entertainment Weekly A– [24]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [25]
Paste 8.0/10 [26]
PopMatters 8/10 [27]
Record Collector Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [28]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [29]
Spectrum CultureStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [30]

AllMusic described the album as "a masterpiece in the sense that it brings together all of his obsessions in one grand, but not unwieldy, package". [21] Record Collector wrote that the album shows Waters "at his most bleakly inspired since the cautionary parable of The Wall". [28] However, the Los Angeles Times was less favorable, writing "The result is blurred structure (partly improved by the moving old-soldier's tale Waters uses as a framing device), too much repetition and a certain distance and overintellectualization. [...] overall there's a dearth of the good old pop-rock appeal that always lifted the better Pink Floyd records." [25] A negative review came from Chicago Tribune , writing "self-importance doesn't equal profundity, and the world's most mind-blowing engineering couldn't cover up the deterioration of Waters' singing and melodic sense since his days with Floyd." [22] Ultimate Classic Rock included Amused to Death on their list "Top 100 90's Rock Albums". [31]

Legacy

Waters told Classic Rock : "My view is that I've been involved in two absolutely classic albums – The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall [...] And if you haven't got Amused to Death, you haven't got the full set. So this album – the live one, which pulls together songs from all three albums – hopefully redresses the balance."[ citation needed ] On 19 September 2013, Waters told BBC HardTalk that Amused to Death has been completely underrated. [32] [33]

On 15 April 2015, Waters announced that the album would be remastered and reissued on 24 July 2015 featuring a new 5.1 multichannel audio mix, as well as a new stereo mix. It was made available in a number of formats, including CD, SACD, Blu-ray and high-resolution downloads. [34] In a review of the 2015 remastering of the album, journalist J.C. Maçek III of Spectrum Culture wrote that "Not every album can be a masterpiece, but Waters has stated that Amused to Death is an underrated effort that serves as a third part to Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall. But it's nowhere near those other albums. The 2015 remastering makes it a good sounding album, but it's just not the kind of infinitely listenable album that Waters is capable of creating." [30] In its review of the 2015 reissue, PopMatters wrote: "not only has Amused to Death aged well musically, it has unfortunately aged well thematically too. [...] Amused to Death was and still is a powerful statement from one of rock music's most literate misanthropes. As time goes on, it gets harder and harder to believe that it slipped under everyone's radar so thoroughly." [27] Drowned in Sound wrote: "Amused to Death stands up on its own as one of the better, more intriguing post-Floyd records". [23]

In 2016 Amused to Death won the Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. The winners were listed as follows: "James Guthrie, surround mix engineer; James Guthrie & Joel Plante, surround mastering engineers; James Guthrie, surround producer (Roger Waters) Label: Columbia/Legacy"

Commercial performance

Amused to Death reached No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart, Waters' first Top 10 as a solo artist in his homeland, and a career high of No. 21 on the Billboard 200, aided by "What God Wants, Part I", which hit No. 4 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1992. It was also certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of over 60,000 in the UK. [35]

Track listing

All songs written by Roger Waters.

No.TitleLength
1."The Ballad of Bill Hubbard"4:20
2."What God Wants, Part I"6:00
3."Perfect Sense, Part I"4:14
4."Perfect Sense, Part II"2:51
5."The Bravery of Being Out of Range"4:44
6."Late Home Tonight, Part I"4:01
7."Late Home Tonight, Part II"2:12
8."Too Much Rope"5:47
9."What God Wants, Part II"3:39
10."What God Wants, Part III"4:08
11."Watching TV"6:06
12."Three Wishes"6:52
13."It's a Miracle"8:30
14."Amused to Death"9:06
Total length:72:36

Personnel

Production

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [55] Gold35,000^
Canada (Music Canada) [56] Gold50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [57] Silver60,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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Sources

Further reading