Roger Waters
The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking (1984)

review by: Mike Webb
Date: 6/5/02

Alright Pink Floyd fans - The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking was Roger's first post-Floyd solo album. It's supposed to be a concept album, but the first few listens won't give you a clue as to what it's about. Rog steadily went off the deep end, and made Floyd a MOR, mini-rock-operatic band that was spitting out more insanity than anyone could swallow.

The message here is very hazy. It involves a man who is dreaming about his relationship with his wife, then careens into "Arabs With Knives And West German Skies", Yoko Ono, children moving to Wyoming, and the "Sexual Revolution." It wasn't until I saw him live and bought a concert program that "explained" the whole concept that the songs started to make sense.

But they did, and I started to see this as an opus of a man who was growing up and questioning what love meant to him. Yeah it's pretentious, over done, overwrought, and over kill - but I dig it. Rog is basically making a plea for love to conquer all, and what non-hippy hating person couldn't relate to that?

But this album is not for everybody. In fact, I don't know who it's for. But I know the Pink Floyd fan in me that had a liking for Roger's lunacy and there's a ton of it on The Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking.