It's so disappointing when someone whose art has been so personally important absolutely loses their mind. Roger Waters has always been outspoken but to refer to Putin as 'a gangster' before deciding that saying so was too harsh, deliberately saying 'The' Ukraine to undermine the country that he referred to as 'not real', and skirting pretty close to anti-semitism (though I don't believe criticism of Israel is necessarily anti-semitic) is just too much.
I'm never going to stop listening to Pink Floyd. I have put the ticket I have to see him (or rather, his band) in May on resale. The show is extremely visual and I don't want to see any covert propaganda forced into music that I love and have a feeling and understanding of that I want to keep.
The news today that he has re-recorded Dark Side of the Moon is baffling. In announcing the project he gave less-than-zero credit to the other members of Pink Floyd for the creation of the album, referring to Rick Wright in the present tense despite his death from cancer in 2008. He wants to strip the music away and turn it into a philosophical lecture that he can solely own.
He released a new version of Comfortably Numb at the end of last year, and has been opening his shows with it. I actually really like it, and it's what led me to buy a ticket in the first place. It doesn't diminish the original (or the definitive version from 1994), so while I don't have high hopes I'll reserve judgement.
What's true: Roger Waters was the creative driving force in Pink Floyd. His lyricism and concepts are unmatched and writing contributions from other members were usually of a lower quality. What's also true: Roger Waters is not a great musician and what made Pink Floyd's 70s output so exceptional was the combination of concept and musicianship. His ego simply won't allow him to accept that it's Gilour and Wright that defined their sound, and most people don't know or care who wrote what.