Amused To Death - 2015 US Analogue Productions label 14-track 2LP Set Reissue

An unblinking look at an entertainment-obsessed society, Amused to Death addresses issues that have only grown in complexity and urgency over the past two decades. With Amused to Death, Roger Waters sounded the alarm in 1992 about a society increasingly – and unthinkingly – in thrall to its television screens. Twenty-three years later, Amused to Death speaks to our present moment in ways that could scarcely have been anticipated two decades ago. In 2015, television is just one option in an endless array of distractions available to us anytime, anywhere, courtesy of our laptops, tablets and smartphones. With eyes glued to our screens, the dilemmas and injustices of the real world can easily recede from view.

Amused to Death features the singles What God Wants, Part I, The Bravery of Being Out of Range and Three Wishes.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album a masterpiece in his Allmusic review continuing in the sense that it brings together all of his obsessions in one grand, but not unwieldy, package.

"In some ways, this is even better than The Wall. Waters got a lot of top performers to play on the album, usually behind his singing and speaking of the lyrics .... Guitarist Jeff Beck is heard frequently in the album, with his special virtuosity on eight of the tracks. ... (Waters is) certainly at his cynical best here - and without him Pink Floyd — never mind the general doom and gloom — wouldn't have been the top rock group it is and was." — Audiophile Audition, Jan. 12, 2016.

"Despite the bombast and conceit, this long-time audiophile favorite sounds outstanding in this 200-gram vinyl edition. Back in the day you needed some pretty heady drugs to make DSOTM sound this good, and the stellar line-up of musicians, with Jeff Beck on eight tracks, makes for a pharmaceutical-free audiophile amusement ride. The LP surfaces are dead quiet too, allowing you to hear every nuance of cricket chirp and dog bark." Recording = 9.5/10; Music = 8.5/10 - Dennis D. Davis, Hi-Fi +, Issue 128

"I have the original double vinyl issue of this, that until recently went for upwards of $600, and this reissue beats that one in every possible way ... The QSound^TM "surround sound" is more intensely drawn, dynamics are staggering, deep bass is monumental and the depth and width of the cinematic soundstage is beyond that of every other record I can think of in my collection. The 200g QRP pressing I got (sealed) was perfectly quiet and flat and after sitting through all four sides I felt as if I'd experienced a 3D IMAX movie, only with greater sonic intensity and dimensionality." — Music = 9/11; Sound = 11/11 — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the whole review here.

"Even if you have one of the original issue vinyl LPs, the new version of Amused to Death on the Analogue Productions label is an essential upgrade to your listening experience. Like The Division Bell and The Endless River vinyl LPs before it, Analogue Productions has kept their commitment for quality meticulously high with Amused to Death. The record pressing is uniformly excellent..." Paul Powell Jr., Brain Damage U.K. Pink Floyd News, August 2015.

An unblinking look at an entertainment-obsessed society, Amused to Death addresses issues that have only grown in complexity and urgency over the past two decades. With Amused to Death, Roger Waters sounded the alarm about a society increasingly — and unthinkingly — in thrall to its television screens. Twenty-three years later, Amused to Death speaks to our present moment in ways that could scarcely have been anticipated two decades ago. In 2015, television is just one option in an endless array of distractions available to us anytime, anywhere, courtesy of our laptops, tablets and smartphones. With eyes glued to our screens, the dilemmas and injustices of the real world can easily recede from view.

The 2015 2 LP 200-gram vinyl edition of Amused to Death features remastered audio completed by longtime Roger Waters / Pink Floyd collaborator and co-producer, James Guthrie, and has been pressed at Quality Record Pressings. The cover and gatefold art has been updated for 2015 by Sean Evans, the creative director of Waters' 2010-2013 "The Wall Live" tour and movie.

Tracklisting:

Side 1.
1. The Ballad Of Bill Hubbard   4:19
2. What God Wants, Part I   6:00
3. Perfect Sense, Part I   4:16
4. Perfect Sense, Part II   2:50

Side 2.
5. The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range   4:43
6. Late Home Tonight, Part I   4:00
7. Late Home Tonight, Part II   2:13
8. Too Much Rope   5:47
9. What God Wants, Part II   3:41

Side 3.
10. What God Wants, Part III   4:08
11. Watching TV   6:07
12. Three Wishes   6:50

Side 4.
13. It's A Miracle   8:30
14. Amused To Death   9:06

All songs written and composed by Roger Waters.

Recorded 1987 - 1992  at: 
The Billiard Room, London
Olympic Studios, London
CTS Studios, London
Angel Recording Studios, London
Abbey Road Studios, London
Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas
Ameraycan Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA
Johnny Yuma Recording, Burbank, California, USA

Recorded  and Mixed at Devonshire Sound Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA
Mixed at Visual Studios
Mastered at The Mastering Lab, Ojai, California
Pressed by GZ Media, Loděnice, Czech Republic

Credits:

Roger Waters – vocals (tracks 2–14), bass guitar (2 intro, 13), EMU synthesiser (2, 4), acoustic guitar (11, 14), twelve-string guitar (5)
Patrick Leonard – keyboards (1–5, 8–14), percussion programming (1), choir arrangement (2, 9–11, 13), 2nd sportscaster voice (4), Hammond organ (5, not on 2015 reissue), synthesisers (5, 13), acoustic piano (11, 13)
Jeff Beck – guitar (1, 11, 13) solo guitar (2, 5 (2015 reissue only), 10, 12, 14)
Andy Fairweather Low – electric rhythm guitar (2, 9, 12) acoustic rhythm guitar (2, 9), guitars (6, 7), Rickenbacker 12-string guitar (8, 12), acoustic guitar (11)
Tim Pierce – guitar (2, 5, 9, 12)
Geoff Whitehorn – guitar (2, 8, 10, 14)
B.J. Cole – pedal steel guitar (3, 4)
Rick DiFonzo – guitar (3, 4)
Steve Lukather – guitar (3, 4, 8)
Bruce Gaitsch – acoustic guitar (3, 4)
David Paich – Hammond organ (5, 2015 reissue only)
John "Rabbit" Bundrick – Hammond organ (12)
Steve Sidwell – cornet (6, 7)
Randy Jackson – bass (2, 9)
Jimmy Johnson – bass (3–4, 6–8, 10, 12–14)
John Pierce – bass guitar (5)
John Patitucci – upright bass, electric bass (11)
Guo Yi & the Peking Brothers – dulcimer, lute, zhen, oboe, bass (11)
Graham Broad – drums (2–4, 6–10, 12, 14), percussion (6, 7)
Denny Fongheiser – drums (5)
Jeff Porcaro – drums (13)
Brian Macleod – snare (3, 4), hi-hat (3, 4)
Luis Conte – percussion (1, 3–4, 6–8, 10, 12)
John Dupree – strings arranger and conductor (3, 4)
National Philharmonic Orchestra Limited – orchestra (7, 8)
Michael Kamen – orchestral arranger and conductor (7, 8)
Alf Razzell – speech (1, 14)
London Welsh Chorale – choir (2, 10, 11, 13)
Kenneth Bowen – choir conductor (2, 10, 11, 13)
Katie Kissoon – backing vocals (2, 8, 9, 12, 14)
Doreen Chanter – backing vocals (2, 8, 9, 12, 14)
N'Dea Davenport – backing vocals (2)
Natalie Jackson – backing vocals (2, 5)
P.P. Arnold – vocals (3, 4)
Marv Albert – sportscaster voice (4)
Lynn Fiddmont-Linsey – backing vocals (5)
Jessica Leonard, Jordan Leonard – screaming kids (8)
Charles Fleischer – TV evangelist speech (9)
Don Henley – vocals (11)
Jon Joyce – backing vocals (13)
Stan Farber (credited as Stan Laurel) – backing vocals (13)
Jim Haas – backing vocals (13)
Rita Coolidge – vocals (14)

Technical Credits:
Roger Waters, Patrick Leonard – production
Nick Griffiths – co-producer, Recording Engineer
Hayden Bendall, Jerry Jordan, Stephen McLaughlin – engineering
James Guthrie – Mix, Remastering
Sean O'Dwyer - Assistant Mix Engineer
Andy Bradfield, Brian Burrows, Chris Brown, Dary Sulich, Jeremy Wheatley, John Lowson, Marc Moreau, Mike Bosley,Ross Donaldson, Roy Sweeting, Steve Heinke - Assistant Engineer
Doug Sax, Ron Lewter - Mastering

Artwork:
Sean Evans - Artwork