Studio Albums | Live Albums | Compilations | Boxsets | DVDs & Bluray | Roger Waters | David Gilmour | Richard Wright | Syd Barrett | Nick Mason
Is This the Life We Really Want? is the fourth solo album by the English rock musician Roger Waters, released on 2 June 2017 by Columbia Records.
It was produced by Nigel Godrich, who urged Waters to make a more concise, less theatrical album. It was Waters’ first solo album since Amused to Death (1992), and his first studio work since the opera Ça Ira (2005).
The album peaked at number 3 in the United Kingdom and number 11 in the United States. It produced four singles: “Smell the Roses”, “Déjà Vu”, “The Last Refugee”, and “Wait for Her”.
Is This the Life We Really Want? was recorded in Los Angeles and London.
It was produced by Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, who met Waters when he produced the 2015 live album Roger Waters: The Wall.
Though Waters had not heard Godrich’s work with Radiohead, they got on well and discussed working together.
Godrich, a fan of Waters’ work with Pink Floyd, was frank with Waters, telling him he found some of his solo work “unlistenable”. However, he was reassured that Waters “really still had it” after hearing his demo of “Déjà Vu”.
Godrich wanted to create a pared-back album to showcase Waters “the poet”. He felt Waters’ creativity had been invigorated by the Wall Live tour, and that his role as producer was “to push him a little bit”.
He encouraged Waters to make a concise record, reminding him that Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon is only 43 minutes long.
Unlike most of Waters’ work, Waters did not co-produce the record; he said: “[Godrich] did a brilliant job … I sat on my hands with lips zipped. You’ve rented this dog, let it work.”
Godrich used tape loops and found sounds extensively to make the album’s segues. He is also credited for arrangement, sound collages, keyboards, guitar, and mixing.