Product Format: 2LP
Price: £57.49 (exc)
£68.99 (inc)
Qty:
Audiophile Double 200gm Vinyl LP featuring a New Remaster completed by long-time Waters/PINK FLOYD collaborator and co-producer James Guthrie!
Firstly, after previously announcing the US based Analogue Productions re-issues in 2013, all of which were cancelled due to the team that Waters wanted to work with being unavailable to go ahead with the project.
That problem has since been solved, and now in 2015 it is actually happening, but for some reason Sony Legacy Recordings Europe is now collaborating with the United States company on this high-profile release.
There are 5 New Editions of ‘Amused To Death’ you can currently order via CDS Towers (with a 6th being a possibility for the hardcore Audiophiles among you), all of which are completed by long time Roger Waters / PINK FLOYD collaborator and co-producer, James Guthrie …
Analogue Productions USA are issuing two formats:
A Hybrid Multi-Channel Super Audio Disc set featuring the new a 5.1 Surround Remix.
This Audiophile 200gram Double Vinyl LP in a Gatefold Sleeve featuring the new 2015 Remastered Stereo Mix!
NOTE: Analogue Productions products are absolutely audiophile – we have encountered their releases in the past and it is “proper” stuff!
* * * See IMPORTANT info below relating to the Analogue Productions Double Vinyl * * *
Sony Europe are issuing four formats:
A Standard CD featuring the new 2015 Remastered Stereo Mix!
A CD+High-Definition BluRay Audio Disc set featuring the new Remastered Stereo Mix with a 5.1 Surround Remix of the album on the BluRay!
A 200gram Double Vinyl LP in a Gatefold Sleeve featuring the new 2015 Remastered Stereo Mix!
A LIMITED 200gram Double Vinyl Picture Disc LP featuring the new 2015 Remastered Stereo Mix!
* * * PLEASE NOTE: Both this Analogue Productions Double LP and the Sony Europe Double LP’s are (apparently) being manufactured at the same pressing plant, and so it is very possible they will be pressed from the same source material and master, but we won’t know this for certain until like-for-like tests have been done.
As such, the/this Analogue Productions US Double LP release is unavailable at a sensible price in Europe.
We should however be able to source and supply copies of this version if you should want one (on a Special Order basis only), though as you can see, you must be prepared to realise the price will be almost double that of the Sony equivalents… and they could well be identical pressings! * * *
About the players…
Produced by Roger Waters and Patrick Leonard, ‘Amused To Death’ is a musically ambitious work featuring a stellar line-up of musicians. Guitar legend Jeff Beck figures prominently on the album, bringing his signature virtuosity to eight songs. Guest vocalists include Don Henley (‘It's a Miracle’), Rita Coolidge (‘Amused To Death’) and soul singer P.P. Arnold (‘Perfect Sense’ - Parts I & II).
Also contributing were Waters’ longtime collaborators: Andy Fairweather Low (guitars) and Graham Broad (drums), Luis Conte (percussion) and Pat Leonard (keyboards).
The album reunited Waters with composer/arranger Michael Kamen, who supervised orchestral arrangements for ‘The Wall’, Waters’ semi-autographical concept album with PINK FLOYD.
Kamen arranged and conducted the National Philharmonic Orchestra Limited's contributions to the songs: ‘Too Much Rope’ and ‘What God Wants - Part III’.
About the album and its concept…
For his 3rd solo album in 1992, Roger Waters, former bassist/singer / songwriter and founding member of PINK FLOYD embarked on an unblinking look at an entertainment-obsessed society, taking his listeners on a journey through his mind as he examined how human society had been affected through mass media, and particularly (at that time) television. Now in 2015, ‘Amused To Death’ addresses an issue that has only grown in complexity and urgency over the past two decades since it’s original release. In 2015, television is just one option in an endless array of distractions available to us anytime, anywhere, courtesy of our laptops, tablets and smart-phones.
With eyes glued to our screens, the dilemmas and injustices of the real world can easily recede from view.
This complex concept album took its title from a book by author: Neil Postman that explored and alerted us to the dangers of the ways the media shaped our lives. In the title track, aliens arrive on Earth after the extinction of humans - finding merely skeletons gathered around TV sets. The alien anthropologists run every imaginable test to try and determine the reason for this "sad demise." Their conclusion? "This species has amused itself to death."
Waters tackles subjects as varied as capitalism, war, religion, American fast food, television, film director Stanley Kubrick and Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd Weber. The 14 tracks flow into each other, meaning the album is best consumed whole - To shuffle tracks is to read random pages from a multi-page essay in no particular order.
Visually, the concept is depicted by a cover shot of a gorilla watching television — "just flipping channels, looking for something that interests him," Waters says. Like many of us today!
Q magazine described ‘Amused To Death’ as "sounding more like a PINK FLOYD album than any other Waters solo effort to date. It is the brother of ‘The Wall’, perhaps even the distant cousin of ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, which should delight fans of those albums."
About the audio…
‘Amused To Death’ was beautifully recorded, lavish in depth and rich in sound, so the new 2015 Remaster can only expand on that. The album was originally mixed in 1992 using Qsound technology, a virtual surround sound, enhancing the spatial feel of the music along with the various sound effects sprinkled throughout the album.
The Analogue Productions’ SACD and Sony Legacy BluRay Audio reissues will faithfully preserve this three-dimensional experience.
The quality of production by: Roger Waters, Nick Griffiths and Patrick Leonard is simply superb!
Working once again with James Guthrie to craft a vital reissue of a truly significant album is a great opportunity for Acoustic Sounds, says founder and CEO Chad Kassem.
"Whenever you get the chance to work with James Guthrie, it's exciting. Our goals are to produce the highest quality product possible," Kassem said. "I think we make a good team. He brings his expertise to the project, and I bring mine. When you get to work with the guy who worked on the album originally, and who you know is a perfectionist, it makes you excited and confident that the album will be the best it can be."
‘Amused To Death’ is cinema for the ears - Food for the brain - It's an album that Waters says, "literally unfolds with repeated play. The more you listen, the more you see."
About the packaging…
The Gatefold Cover Art has been updated for 2015 by Sean Evans, the creative director of Waters' 2010-2013 "The Wall Live" tour and movie.
So, that’s it… Just remember, there's only so many body-parts you can sell to fund these things, and if you are going to go the whole hog, it will be time to tune up your ears (if you still have ‘em) break out that Japanese Koetsu wooden cartridge you were saving for your pension… and get listening J
All formats of ‘Amused To Death’ should be available between 15th June and 24th July 2015.
‘Amused To Death’ is also available as a Standard CD – Stock # 1761378
‘Amused To Death’ is also available as a CD+HD BluRay Audio in 5.1 Surround – Stock # 1761374
‘Amused To Death’ is also available as a HQ Hybrid SACD – Stock # 1594495
‘Amused To Death’ is also available as a HQ Double 200gm Vinyl LP – Stock # 1769128
‘Amused To Death’ is also available as a HQ Double 200gm Picture Disc Vinyl LP – Stock # 1769127
‘Amused To Death’ is released between 15th June and 24th July 2015.
ROGER WATERS: AMUSED TO DEATH AP 2LP Track List:
LP 1 – Side A:
01. Ballad Of Bill Hubbard (4:19)
02. What God Wants - Part I (6:00)
03. Perfect Sense - Part I (4:16)
04. Perfect Sense - Part II (2:50)
LP 1 – Side B:
01. Bravery Of Being Out Of Range (4:43)
02. Late Home Tonight - Part I (4:00)
03. Late Home Tonight - Part II (2:13)
LP 2 – Side A:
01. Too Much Rope (5:47)
02. What God Wants - Part II (3:41)
03. What God Wants - Part III (4:08)
04. Watching TV [featuring Don Henley] (6:07)
LP 2 – Side B:
01. Three Wishes (6:50)
02. It's A Miracle (8:30)
03. Amused To Death [featuring Rita Coolidge] (9:06)
TPT – 72:30