Album Review

Is This the Life We Really Want? (stylised as is this the life we really want?) is the fifth studio album by English rock musician and former Pink Floyd bassist and vocalist Roger Waters, released on 2 June 2017 by Columbia Records. It is his first solo album in nearly 25 years since Amused to Death (1992), as well as his first studio album in 12 years since Ca Ira (2005). On 20 April, the single ''Smell the Roses'' was released.

The album was recorded at various times between 2010 and 2017. The song ''Deja Vu'' was debuted live in 2014 under the title ''Lay Down Jerusalem (If I Had Been God)''. The song ''Broken Bones'' was debuted live in 2015 under the title ''Safe and Sound''.

The cover was banned in Italy (not the work itself) because it was considered plagiarism of the work of Emilio Isgro whose signature work involves ''erasing''.

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 73, based on 15 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 album's ''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.'' [wikipedia.org]