Roger Waters - In The Flesh - Live (2000)

"In The Flesh - Live" is a two-disc live album that captures performances from Roger Waters' three-year In the Flesh tour.

Roger Waters' tours of the U.S. during the summers of 1999 and 2000 were a pleasant surprise, since the reclusive rocker had not toured since 1987. In his liner notes to this two-CD set drawn from those performances, Waters does not shy away from discussing his antipathy to big concert venues. But he makes a distinction between stadiums and arenas, and he also notes that he found himself becoming more comfortable in the role of a frontman. This more personable Roger Waters isn't what comes across on the album, but the closer relationship he perceives to his audience is nevertheless palpable. As the man who wrote Pink Floyd's lyrics, he is far more concerned with their meaning than his old bandmates, and his singing is emphasized without robbing the music of its magisterial power. In fact, with a band boasting several guitarists to make up for the lack of David Gilmour, Waters effectively re-creates the sound of his Pink Floyd work, which dominates the set list. The album contains only five selections out of 24 from Waters' solo albums: one track from "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking" and four from "Amused to Death", with "Radio K.A.O.S." left out completely. He does not choose the most obvious solo material, but he makes his selections work, especially "Perfect Sense (Pts. I & 2)" and "It's a Miracle," from "Amused to Death". A new song, "Each Small Candle," finds him still obsessed with world problems, but seemingly more optimistic. Waters had seemed to allow his anger about Pink Floyd's continuance without him to keep him from claiming his own part of their legacy. His 1999-2000 touring changed that, and "In the Flesh - Live" makes the point for those who couldn't get to the shows.

 

Disc one

01.  "In the Flesh"  - 4:41

02.  "The Happiest Days of Our Lives"  - 1:34

03.  "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II"  - 5:53

04.  "Mother" (feat. Katie Kissoon)  - 5:37

05.  "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert"  - 0:56

06.  "Southampton Dock"  - 2:15

07.  "Pigs on the Wing, Part 1"  - 1:18

08.  "Dogs" (Waters, Gilmour)  - 16:26

09.  "Welcome to the Machine"  - 6:57

10.  "Wish You Were Here" (Gilmour, Waters)  - 4:54

11.  "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pts. I–VIII" (Gilmour, Waters, Wright)  - 14:42

12.  "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun"  - 7:15

Disc two

01.  "Breathe (In the Air)" (Gilmour, Waters, Wright)  - 3:22

02.  "Time" (Gilmour, Mason, Waters, Wright)  - 6:24

03.  "Money"  - 6:11

04.  "Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Part 11", Aka "Every Strangers' Eyes"  - 5:19

05.  "Perfect Sense (Parts 1 and 2)"  - 7:26

06.  "The Bravery of Being Out of Range"  - 5:05

07.  "It's a Miracle"  - 8:12

08.  "Amused to Death"  - 9:24

09.  "Brain Damage"  - 4:07

10.  "Eclipse"  - 2:18

11.  "Comfortably Numb" (Gilmour, Waters)  - 8:10

12.  "Each Small Candle"  - 9:18

Released:  5 December 2000

Genre:  Progressive rock

Length:  147:35

Label:  Columbia

Producer:  James Guthrie

All songs written, composed and sung by:  Roger Waters

Personnel

Roger Waters - Bass guitar, acoustic & electric guitar, lead vocals

Doyle Bramhall II - Guitars, vocals

Andy Fairweather Low - Guitars, bass guitar, vocals

Snowy White - Guitars

Andy Wallace - Keyboards, Hammond organ

Jon Carin - Keyboards, lap steel, programming, acoustic guitar, vocals

Katie Kissoon - Vocals

Susannah Melvoin - Vocals

P. P. Arnold - Vocals

Graham Broad - Drums, percussion

Norbert Stachel - Saxophones