Roger Waters- Ca Ira (Sony)
review by Jim Clark

Disc 1

1. The Gathering Storm
2. Overture
3. A Garden In Vienna 1765
4. 'Madame Antoine, Madame Antoine...'
5. Kings, Sticks And Birds
6. 'Honest Bird, Simple Bird...'
7. 'I Want To Be King...'
8. 'Let Us Break All The Shields...'
9. The Grievences Of People
10. France In Disarray
11. 'To Laugh Is To Know How To Live...'
12. 'Slavers, Landlords, Bigots At Your Door...'
13. The Fall Of The Bastille
14. 'To Freeze In The Dead Of Night...'
15. 'So To The Streets In The Pouring Rain...'
16. Dances And Marches
17. 'Now Hear Ye!...'
18. 'Flushed With Wine...'
19. The Letter
20. 'My Dear Cousin Bourbon Of Spain...'
21. 'The Ship Of State Is All At Sea...'
22. Silver, Sugar And Indigo
23. 'To The Windward Isles...'
24. The Papal Edict
25. 'In Paris There's A Rumble Under The Ground...'

Disc 2
 
1. The Fugitive King
2. 'But The Marquis Of Boulli Has A Trump Card Up His Sleeve...'
3. 'To Take Your Hat off...'
4. 'The Echoes Never Fade From That Fusillade...'
5. The Commune De Paris
6. 'Vive La Commune De Paris...'
7. 'The National Assembly Is Confused...'
8. The Execution Of Louis Capet
9. 'Adieu Louis For You It's Over...'
10. Marie Antoinette - The Last Night On Earth
11. 'Adieu My Good And Tender Sister...'
12. Liberty
13. 'And In The Bushes Where They Survive...'

 

 

I’ve written close to 100 reviews and for the first time, I can honestly say I have no idea if it’s good or not. Roger Waters latest CD, Ca Ira, is that disc. And the reason I have no clue if it’s any good is that it’s an opera and my knowledge of opera is about as good as MTV’s knowledge about music – which is saying it’s non-existent.

So why write a review, you might ask. Simple – consider this a public service announcement warning you of Ca Ira’s all-out opera-ness. I’m not talking rock opera like Quadrophenia, Tommy or Pink Floyd’s own The Wall, I’m talking opera as in orchestra, men with booming voices and fat ladies singing, or in this case, a thin lady singing like a fat one. Waters has been working on Ca Ira forever and it has finally seen the light of day. Even though I knew it was going to be an opera, it’s still a shock to the system when you actually hear it for the first time.

Ca Ira is Waters’ English translation of a French libretto about the French Revolution written by the late Etienne and Nadine Roda-Gil. Waters penned all of the music, which considering his background is in rock music, is quite an achievement in itself. The first few instrumental selections on the first disc are actually quite good and feature some of Waters’ trademark sound effects, but once the vocals start, the music to this disc will sound foreign to Waters or Pink Floyd fans.

So if you’re interested in buying Ca Ira because you’re a Pink Floyd completist, go for it. But if you’re expecting to hear another release like The Wall or The Final Cut, stay clear because you will be disappointed. And if there’s any opera fans out there who bough this, feel free to drop me an e-mail and let me know if it’s any good – I’m really curious to know.


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