By BennyD
Roger Waters and Pink Floyd fans alike were given a very special treat with the release of a Comfortably Numb remake by Waters himself. We were given both a new sonic and visual experience to bask in that will undoubtedly reignite the fire within all of us to dust off our coveted vinyl or hit play on our favorite Waters and Floyd tracks.
Waters’ sets the video in a dark post-apocalyptic cityscape drenched in foggy blue and green hues. The camera slowly glides downward towards street-level in purposeful and interesting ways to build an eerie and artful world for us. Waters begins the first verse amidst thousands of silhouetted people walking on the sidewalks that slowly take shape as the camera settles to a normal height. The people seemingly moving in ultra-slow motion going somewhere yet getting nowhere. The musical pace of the song has been slowed slightly but feels on point with a stripped down rhythm arrangement of drum, bass, organ and strings holding it together.
The backing vocals kick in for the first chorus providing a comfortable and warm pillow of harmonic goodness and the tension between light and dark, rich and poor, haves and have-nots take shape. Water’s sprinkles in new background noises of cop cars, a phone ringing, thunder and lightning and subtle touches of new talk-tracks from a one-sided phone conversation.
As the camera rises above the buildings we see a haunting full moon and the iconic flying pig moving to eclipse it while being injected with soulful love by a new backing vocal solo. The remake is beautifully eerie and a joy for fans to get amazing art and sound reimagined by its creator.