Roger Waters Unveils ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ Album

Roger Waters has officially unveiled The Lockdown Sessions, his album of material recorded during the pandemic.

Beginning in May of 2020 and running through 2022, Waters recorded new versions of various Pink Floyd classics as well as his own solo material. The rocker shared his various renditions with fans via YouTube and social media, but now The Lockdown Sessions compiles all of the recordings together in one place.

The six-track album is currently available on all major streaming services. No plans for a physical release of The Lockdown Sessions have been announced.

“Our Us and Them Tour lasted three years…At every gig we did an encore after the main show closed with ‘Comfortably Numb’…the encore was always ‘Mother’…I can’t remember why I decided to start doing other songs?…Anyway, at some point after the end of the tour…I started thinking, ‘It could make an interesting album, all those encores,'” Waters explained of the album’s origins in a press release. “Then…I’m in England doing the Ginger Baker tribute gig one Tuesday night at the Hammersmith Odeon with Eric Clapton and…the following Saturday marching from The Australian Embassy to Parliament Square to make a speech in support of Julian Assange, when bugger me, Covid…Schlummmm! For me it was Friday March 13th 2020. Lockdown! So much for the “Encores” project. Unless…”

Three of The Lockdown Session‘s six songs – “Mother,” “Vera” and “Comfortably Numb 2022” – were originally released on Pink Floyd’s 1979 masterpiece, The Wall. The latter song was reworked by Waters and used as an opener on his This Is Not a Drill tour.

“I pitched it a whole step down, in A Minor, to make it darker and arranged it with no solos – except over the outro chord sequence, where there is a heartrendingly beautiful female vocal solo from Shanay Johnson, one of our new singers,” the rocker previously explained.

An additional two tracks on The Lockdown Sessions – “Two Suns in the Sunset” and “The Gunners Dream” – were released in 1983 on Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut, while “The Bravery of Being Out of Range” came from Waters’ 1992 solo album Amused to Death.

Waters has also confirmed he’s working on a new studio album, built around his piano ballad “The Bar,” which also originated during the pandemic lockdown. The tune has become a recent centerpiece of the rock legend’s concerts, performed throughout his 2022 tour.

Watch Roger Waters Perform ‘Mother’

Roger Waters The Lockdown Sessions Track List
1. “Mother”
2. “Two Suns in the Sunset”
3. “Vera”
4. “The Gunner’s Dream”
5. “The Bravery of Being Out of Range”
6. “Comfortably Numb 2022”

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Author: showrunner