Roger Waters/NJ,USA 2017

“Is This The Life We Really Want?” – Is this really the way we wanted to live? – With such a question mark, including a warning, our Roger Waters has finally taken action. This week is the Japanese release week of his solo album “Is This The Life We Really Want?”, his first in about 25 years since his masterpiece “AMUSED TO DEATH”. In advance of the “US+THEM” tour accompanying the latest album, the dress rehearsal on May 21, which was held for those involved and fans who won on a radio show, will be released in an uncut, complete recording with special sound quality! As most people probably already know, the first thing that attracted attention about this rehearsal was the video. On the official website, the video of the day was released in fragments, and on the Internet, videos were uploaded immediately after the show, and last week, our DVD “ROGER WATERS – US + THEM TOUR: DRESS REHEARSALS 2017” was released in an emergency and was well received. In Roger’s case, the stage set is also attracting attention, so it is inevitable that the video will precede the performance, but now a high-quality full-scale recording of this special rehearsal has finally been released online. This latest work is based on that, but the attention is that the sound quality is overwhelmingly more brilliant than the released sound! As mentioned above, this rehearsal was a special one that only those involved could enter, so there were not many updates, and the quality was a mixture of good and bad. Among them, the only one that had a sharp shine as a raw material was the original recording of this work, and it was a famous overseas Floyd sound source researcher who has a strong synergy with this label who focused on this and polished the sound. He is also skilled in acoustic engineering, and worked with his staff to record this raw stone, cutting the bass that was slightly boosted and difficult to listen to, and making repeated attempts to equalize and adjust the sound pressure to suppress the hall sound without affecting the original sound, and it was revived with a rare special grade sound. It’s almost at the official level, and even those who have already listened to this public sound source on the Internet will be astonished by the finished product! This may be a good example of how engineers can improve the contours and sharpness of the sound by carefully examining the sound with the latest equipment and software in the future. The improved sound quality and sound image means that the quality and brilliance of the sound have increased. This is an essential factor when listening to Floyd-related sound sources. For example, a tremendous spectacular sound unfolds from the beginning of “Speak to Me”, and everyone should notice that the dynamic range and transparency of the sound already exceed the public sound source on the Internet. In “The Great Gig in the Sky”, the high-pitched progression of the two female choruses stretches in all directions more vividly than in the original recording, and the contours and harmonies of each voice part can be heard even more clearly. “Welcome to the Machine” is where you can feel the thickness of the midrange and the extension of the highs even more. You can feel the acoustic changes of each instrument as if you were holding it in your hands, and the sound is close to you, so you can once again grasp what Roger wants to convey and appeal to you through this song in 2017, a year of excessive digitalization. In the new song “When We Were Young,” the acoustic sound and Roger’s singing voice are full of transparency, and you can see the dynamic release of the sound waves that the performance essentially has. In “Picture That,” you will be engulfed in excitement as the axis of the song becomes visible through the kinetic performance, and the high quality of this work can be clearly felt in the fact that the sound does not distort even in songs with varying speeds and the sound image does not blur at all. In “Wish You Were Here,” you can see the details of the acoustic guitar tapestry, and you will feel the rare sound depiction performance in the strength and weakness of the tone that varies depending on the player. In “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” and “Another Brick…Part 2 / 3”, Roger’s sarcastic singing style and the children’s chorus come out with a sound full of diffusion, so pay attention. In particular, the ensemble’s dynamism that resonates in the mid-to-low range is full of density, and it is amazing that the vividness of the sound of each tone is not crushed or distorted at all and the sound image is realized. In “Dogs”, the guitar at the beginning jumps out with an extraordinary resolution, but the sharpness and sharpness of this sound, which was restored by remastering the slightly cloudy public original sound, and the diffusion of the sound are a little extraordinary. In addition, the impressive twin guitar sound, which can be said to be the key to this song, is revived with a precise sound, and its precision is so high that you can even tell the difference in picking nuances. And the tough and colorful sound of “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” will leave you speechless. Please enjoy the musical madness and power that lurks in the mid-tempo with this high-precision massive sound. And in “Us and Them,” which is also the title of this tour, the organ and piano sounds pop out with beautiful, fragrant sounds from the beginning, and you will surely be amazed by the thickness of the dense and highly resolving sound. The female chorus adds color to the song with its powerful voice, and the effective drumming with many moves shows an increasingly realistic sound brush, and you will be able to enjoy a high-level sound image that is no longer comparable to the public recording. In the new song “Smell the Roses,” the dirty tune pops out again, and I think you will be intoxicated again by the high power and depth of the mid-to-low range of this recording. In “Brain Damage”, the female chorus part at the beginning spreads to the full range, and Roger joins in to create a high-resolution sound that gives you goosebumps. In “Bring the Boys Back Home”, the song progression with the female chorus, which seems to be a test of the song’s expression, is impressive, but this also highlights the vividness unique to dress rehearsals due to the improved sound quality, and in “Comfortably Numb”, you can feel the joy of receiving the energy of such high-quality, high-resolution sound that hits you straight at the ball. How can I express the ecstatic feeling that remains after listening to everything, as if your senses are melting away? It may be a little late to say this, but a dress rehearsal is a rehearsal in which the set is set up exactly as it is for the actual performance and the costumes for the performance are worn. It was a “run-through that doubles as a final check,” so to speak, and in that sense, the dress rehearsal could be said to be a record of the final lesson that gives us a glimpse into the future of US+THEM, which has already begun. That is why, by first approaching this lesson for the future purely through the music depicted in it, we should be able to read the important message that underlies the show without being influenced by what we see. It could be Pink Floyd’s response to the simple question, “Is this the life we ​​really want?” Please enjoy this treasure of sounds and resonances that can only be experienced at a special dress rehearsal!! Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, NJ. USA 21st May 2017 TRULY PERFECT SOUND Disc 1 (60:31) 1. Speak to Me 2. Breathe 3. One of These Days 4. Time 5. Breathe (Reprise) 6. The Great Gig in the Sky 7. Welcome to the Machine 8. When We Were Young 9. Déjà vu 10. The Last Refugee 11. Picture That 12. Wish You Were Here 13. The Happiest Days of Our Lives 14. Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 15. Another Brick in the Wall Part 3 Disc 2 (73:48) 1. Battersea Rises SFX 2. Dogs 3. Pigs (Three Different Ones) 4. Money 5. Us and Them 6. Smell the Roses 7. Brain Damage 8. Eclipse 9. Band Introductions 10. Vera 11. Bring the Boys Back Home 12. Comfortably Numb