Is This the Life We Really Want?

Is This the Life We Really Want? was recorded in Los Angeles and London. Though Waters had not heard Godrich's work with Radiohead, they got on well and discussed working together. Godrich wanted to create a pared-back album to showcase Waters "the poet". Godrich used tape loops and found sounds extensively to create segues between tracks. He is also credited for arrangement, sound collages, keyboards, guitar, and mixing. ==Themes==

Waters initially planned to record a concept album; he conceived a radio play about a man and his granddaughter investigating why children are being killed in other parts of the world. Matilda Berke of Atwood Magazine noted that, "Upon closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that Waters has larger targets than a single orange-haired demagogue. [...] Apathy, it seems, is Roger Waters' primary foe." ==Release==

Is This the Life We Really Want? was released on 2 June 2017 by Columbia Records. It was Waters' first solo album since Amused to Death (1992). The album peaked at number 3 in the United Kingdom and number 11 in the United States before falling off the US charts in four weeks. It produced four singles: "Smell the Roses" released on 20 April, "Déjà Vu" released on 8 May, "The Last Refugee" released on 19 May and "Wait for Her" released on 19 July in 2017. The album was blocked from release in Italy after the artist Emilio Isgrò alleged that the cover art plagiarised his work. ==Critical reception==

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 72, based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rolling Stone said: "The music is quintessential post-Dark Side Of The Moon Floyd, but channeled by offspring: producer Nigel Godrich brings prog-rock grandeur, multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson microdose psychedelia, Lucius alt-R&B backing vocals." Drowned in Sound said the album is "a long, sprawling epic that stretches out for its slightly-padded running time, but one so full of ideas and intricacies that it's an easy album to get sucked into." Consequence of Sound said the album "is easily the most accessible of Waters' solo work—a distillation in many regards of the anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, anti-greed messages he's been broadcasting since Pink Floyd". Pitchfork said the "myriad sonic references to his work with Pink Floyd suggest that Waters is comfortable with his past. The more you accept how much his past reflects in his present, the more receptive you'll be to this album's charms." ==Track listing==

• Roger Waters – vocals, acoustic guitar, bass • Gus Seyffert – guitar, keyboards, bass • Nigel Godrich – guitar, keyboards, sound collages, arrangements • Jonathan Wilson – guitar, keyboards • Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – keyboards • Lee Pardini – keyboards • Joey Waronker – drums • Jessica Wolfe – vocals • Holly Laessig – vocals • David Campbell – string arrangements ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts == Certifications ==