Sony Music today released Roger Waters‘s “The Lockdown Sessions” on all digital music platforms.
The collection of six songs were recorded remotely by Waters and his band during Covid lockdown; with the final track coming from a live show during his North American “This Is Not a Drill” tour:
- “Mother” (from The Wall)
- “Two Suns in the Sunset” (from The Final Cut)
- “Vera” (from The Wall)
- “The Gunner’s Dream” (from The Final Cut)
- “The Bravery of Being Out of Range” (from Amused to Death)
- “Comfortably Numb” (from The Wall)
The tracks were produced by Waters and Gus Seyffert. Appearing on the recordings are Waters – Vocals, Guitar and Piano; Seyffert – Bass, Cellos and Vocals; Joey Waronker – Drums and Percussion; Dave Kilminster – Guitar and Rhythm Guitar; Jonathan Wilson – Guitar and Vocals; Jon Carin – Keyboards and Vocals; Lucius (Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig) – Vocals; Bo Koster – Hammond (on all tracks except “Mother”); and Ian Ritchie – Saxophone (“Two Suns in the Sunset”).
Videos of the first five were originally posted by Waters on social media during ’20 and ’21. The videos were produced and directed by Sean Evans. “Comfortably Numb” was released last month.
“Our ‘Us and Them Tour’ lasted three years. At every gig we did an encore after the main show closed with ‘Comfortably Numb.’ The encore was always ‘Mother.’ I can’t remember why I decided to start doing other songs,” Waters says.
“At some point after the end of the tour, I started thinking, ‘It could make an interesting album, all those encores.’ ‘The Encores.’ Yeah, has a nice ring to it!
“Then I’m in England doing the Ginger Baker tribute gig one Tuesday night at the Hammersmith Odeon with Eric Clapton and the following Saturday marching from The Australian Embassy to Parliament Square to make a speech in support of Julian Assange, when bugger me, Covid. Schlummmm! For me it was Friday, March 13th, 2020. Lockdown! So much for the ‘Encores’ project. Unless,” he adds.
“We’ve tacked ‘Comfortably Numb’ on the end of the collection, as an appropriate exclamation point in closing this circle of love.”
Waters first announced his intention of releasing the collection under the title “The Lockdown Sessions” during a podcast appearance last month. “I’ve given all these things away,” he said. “They’re all out there. Anybody can find them on the internet.”
Very nice compilation of Pink Floyd music.
Enjoying it very much