Record Reviews

Roger Waters

Album: “Is This the Life We Really Want?”

Two things are clear after listening to “Is This the Life We Really Want?” — the first rock album in 25 years from Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters.

The 73-year-old Waters has not mellowed with age and he’s none-too-pleased with the current state of world affairs. In fact, he’s downright angry. There’s a reason why “Is This the Life We Really Want?” comes with an explicit lyrics warning.

The record is both a loud protest of current events and a continuation of the themes Waters last explored 25 years ago on “Amused to Death” and throughout his career, even dating back to “Animals” and “The Wall,” Pink Floyd’s seminal albums from the 1970s.

Anyone hoping for a bold new direction — or some level of subtlety from Waters — isn’t going to find it here.

Waters rails against greed, injustice, lying politicians, brainless leaders and “nincompoop” presidents over 12 tracks. The specter of President Donald Trump, and at one point even his voice, permeates the record. Let’s just say Waters isn’t a fan.

While it’s firmly rooted in the present, ticking clocks, ghostly (and sometimes angry) disembodied voices, barking dogs and a passing reference to the guitar riff of “Wish You Were Here” all serve as echoes of Pink Floyd’s past without being a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

Halsey

Album: “hopeless fountain kingdom”

To describe Halsey’s sophomore album as ambitious would be an understatement. It actually begins with her speaking the prologue of “Romeo and Juliet.” Shakespeare is kind of a tough act to follow.

It’s a complex, sober, riskier CD brimming with heartbreak from one of pop’s most exciting artists. Halsey considers it a concept album and how well it works is debatable. But there’s no denying the skill and desire involved.

Halsey is frustrated and broken on all 13 of the tracks, many of which are surprisingly spare. “Sorry” is mostly her and a piano, gorgeously done. “Lie,” featuring Quavo of Migos, and “Walls Could Talk” are more song fragments, wisely left alone. “Hopeless” is just a whisper of a song. The spoken-word driven “Good Mourning” clocks in at just 1:07.

She lets her rock voice out to great effect in “Bad at Love” and she melds nicely with Fifth Harmony’s Lauren Jauregui on the techno-flavored lovers’ duet “Strangers.” ‘’Alone” marries anguished lyrics to a peppy Donna Summer-like arrangement. The Weeknd gets a songwriting credit on the ghostly “Eyes Closed” and Sia gets one for the very Sia-like “Devil in Me.” Cellos, violins and choirs pop up all over the album, adding a kind of ghostly majesty.

Halsey, born Ashley Frangipane, rose to fame with “Closer,” her monster track with The Chainsmokers, and her excellent 2015 debut album, “Badlands.” This time, she’s turned to hit songwriter and producer Greg Kurstin. Halsey has a hand in every song and Kurstin knows not to overcomplicate.

The new album might not have huge anthems — the closest is the exquisitely sad “Now or Never” — but it’s just as satisfying, with Halsey’s breathy voice and confessional lyrics taking you to unexpected places. “Don’t you see what you’re finding/This is heaven in hiding,” she sings.