THE PROS AND CONS OF HITCHHIKING

	The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking
	Produced by Roger Waters and Michael Kamen
	Released on May 1984
	UK CHART POSITION #13 . . . US CHART POSITION #31
	Find it at GEMM
FC 39290 (censored) cover [high resolution photo]

R oger Waters’ first post-Floyd album is stylistically similar to The Final Cut: the swaying between outrage and amusement, the whispered confessionals, the dropping of the other shoe. What The Pros And Cons of Hitchhiking lacks are actual songs, instead hovering in the same musical holding pattern like one long coda. The album is intriguing in construct, based on a reverie in which Waters imagines an encounter with a female hitchhiker. Despite the similarities to Floyd’s last album, Pros and Cons is a work that only Waters could make, in part because he’d have a hard time explaining this concept to his bandmates (who probably would have rejected the idea out of hand). There are fleeting moments when Hitchhiking clicks, but generally this is an elusive effort. The supporting cast is a mix of readers/singers (Cherry Vanilla, Jack Palance) and musicians (Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton), not unlike Pete Townshend’s Psychoderelict. Clapton gets off a few nice leads (though, in retrospect, he was probably sorry he came along for the ride), David Sanborn explodes on occasion, and Michael Kamen’s piano plays an important part in the final product, but musical showmanship is not what Hitchhiking is about. That said, I’m not really sure what this album is about: a musical mid-life crisis, a long scratch of the playwright’s itch, a purging of more inner demons? It could be seen as the last in a trilogy begun with The Wall, since the three works sound so similar, and yet that comparison diminishes Hitchhiking. The Wall was monumental, The Final Cut parochial, and Hitchhiking inconsequential. It ends where it began, back in the warm arms of an immeasurable ennui, smug despite having delivered on none of its promise. You can tag along if you want to, but I can think of more cons than pros.


FC 39290 back cover	FC 39290 lyric sleeve

TRACK LISTING

4.30 AM (APPARENTLY THEY WERE TRAVELLING ABROAD)
4.33 AM (RUNNING SHOES)
4.37 AM (ARABS WITH KNIVES AND WEST GERMAN SKIES)
4.39 AM (FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY-PART 2)
4.41 AM (SEXUAL REVOLUTION)
4.47 AM (THE REMAINS OF OUR LOVE)
4.50 AM (GO FISHING)
4.56 AM (FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY-PART 1)
4.58 AM (DUNROAMIN, DUNCARIN, DUNLIVIN)
5.01 AM (THE PROS AND CONS OF HITCHHIKING)
5.06 AM (EVERY STRANGERS EYES)
5.11 AM (THE MOMENT OF CLARITY)

All tracks composed by Roger Waters

CREDITS

ROGER WATERS -- rhythm guitar, bass guitar, vocals, Man, sleeve design
MADELINE BELL -- backing vocals, Hell's Angels Girlfriend
ED BISHOP -- Truck Driver
ANDY BROWN -- Hammond organ & 12-string guitar
DOREEN CHANTER -- backing vocals
ERIC CLAPTON -- lead guitar
RAY COOPER -- percussion
KEVIN FLANAGAN -- horns
MICHAEL KAMEN -- piano
KATE KISSOON -- backing vocals
ANDY NEWMARK -- drums
JACK PALANCE -- Hells Angel
BETH PORTER -- Wife
ANDY QUIGLEY -- Welshman in Operating Theatre
RAPHAEL RAVENSCROFT -- horns
MANNING REDWOOD -- Truck Driver
DAVID SANBORN -- saxophone
VIC SULLIVAN -- horns
CHERRY VANILLA -- Hitch Hiker & Waitress
Andy Jackson -- engineer
Michael King -- SFX Boffin
Gerald Scarfe -- sleeve design, illustrations & lettering
Alex Henderson -- photography

REGION	RELEASE DATE	LABEL	MEDIA	ID NUMBER	FEATURES
UK	May 1984	Harvest	LP/CD/CS	SHVL 2401 051	gatefold cover
US	May 1984	Columbia	LP/CD/CS	FC 39290	lyric sleeve, picture label
AUS'L	1984	CBS	CD	462551

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