Roger Waters The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking released

The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking Roger Waters

Released: April 30, 1984 Peak: 31 US, -- RB, 13 UK, -- CN, 30 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.06 UK Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Click on a song titled for more details. 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 Hitch Hiking, Part 10) 5:06 AM (Every Stranger’s Eyes) 5:11 AM (The Moment of Clarity) Total Running Time: 42:14 The Players: Roger Waters (vocals, rhythm guitar, bass) Eric Clapton (guitar, backing vocals, synthesizer) David Sanborn (saxophone) Michael Kamen (piano, production, conductor: the National Philharmonic Orchestra) Andy Bown (Hammon organ, 12-string guitar) Raphael Ravenscoft, Kevin Flanagan, and Vic Sullivan (horns) Andy Newmark (drums, percussion) Ray Cooper (percussion) Madeline Bell, Katie Kissoon, Dorren Chanter (backing vocals)

Rating: 3.326 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)

About the Album After Pink Floyd released The Final Cut in 1983, bassist and singer Roger Waters departed for a solo career. For his first outing, he embarked on a concept album focused on a man suffering from a midlife crisis. He “takes a road trip through California, commits adultery with a hitchhiker he picks up along the way, attempts to reconcile with his wife by moving to the wilderness, and finally ends up alone but with greater insight into a common human compassion. Along the way he also faces other fears and paranoia.” WK “The entire story is framed in real time as a fitful dream taking place in the early morning hours of 4:30:18 am to 5:12:32 am on an unspecified day. At the end of the dream, the man wakes up lonely and contrite and turns to his real wife for comfort, presumably having processed his crisis.” WK The story idea dates back to 1977. Waters presented the concept to Pink Floyd in July 1978 alongside another project. The band went with the latter idea, which became their 1979 album The Wall. As Waters said, “I wrote both pieces at roughly the same time. And in fact, I made demo tapes of them both, and in fact presented both demo tapes to the rest of the Floyd, and said ‘Look, ‘'m going to do one of these as a solo project and we’ll do one as a band album, and you can choose.” WK The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

4:30 AM (Apparently They Were Travelling Abroad) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

4:33 AM (Running Shoes) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

4:37 AM (Arabs with Knives and West German Skies) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

4:39 AM (For the First Time Today, Part 2) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

4:41 AM (Sexual Revolution) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: 25 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.10 video, 6.12 streaming

4:47 AM (The Remains of Our Love) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

4:50 AM (Go Fishing) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

4:56 AM (For the First Time Today, Part 1) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

4:58 AM (Dunroamin, Duncarin, Dunlivin) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

5:01 AM (The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Part 10) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: single (4/9/1984), The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) B-side: “Apparently They Were Travelling Abroad” Peak: 17 AR, 76 UK, 74 AU, 17 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.10 video, 12.56 streaming

5:06 AM (Every Stranger’s Eyes) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: single (6/11/1984), The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984), In the Flesh (Roger Waters live, 12/5/2000) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.20 video, 3.36 streaming

5:11 AM (The Moment of Clarity) Roger Waters

Writer(s): Roger Waters Released: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (1984) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Pages: First posted 8/24/2025.

David Bowie Young Americans album released

Young Americans David Bowie

Released: March 7, 1975 Peak: 9 US, 2 UK, 17 CN, 9 AU Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.1 UK, 3.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Young Americans [5:11] (3/1/75, 28 US, 20 CB, 27 HR, 32 RR, 3 CL, 2 CO, 18 UK, 27 AU) Win [4:44] Fascination (Bowie/Vandross) [5:45] (16 CL, 36 CO) Right [4:15] Somebody Up There Likes Me [6:30] Across the Universe (Lennon/McCartney) [4:29] Can You Hear Me [5:03] Fame (Alomar/Bowie/Lennon) [4:16] (2/21/75, 1 US, 1 CB, 1 HR, 1 RR, 17 UK, 21 RB, 1 CL, 1 CO, sales: 1 million airplay: 1 million) Songs written by David Bowie unless indicated otherwise. Total Running Time: 40:13 The Players: David Bowie (vocals, guitar, keyboards) Carlos Alomar, Earl Slick (guitar) Mike Garson (piano) David Sanborn (saxophone) Willie Weeks, Emir Ksasan (bass) Andy Newmark, Dennis Davis (drums) Ava Cherry, Robin Clark, Jean Fineberg, Jean Millington, Luther Vandross (backing vocals) Ralph MacDonald, Pablo Rosario (percussion) John Lennon (vocals, guitar, and backing vocals on “Across the Universe” and “Fame”)

Rating: 3.677 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings) Quotable: -- Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: For Young Amerians, David Bowie’s ninth studio album, he abandoned the glam rock of previous releases in favor of R&B. Bowie biographers have considered the album one of his most influential, noting he was one of the first white musicians from the time to “overtly engage with black musical styles.” WK “Rock ‘n’ Roll with Me” and “1984” from previous album Diamond Dogs exhibited “elements of funk and soul” WK and the subsequent tour dropped hints as well, “but the full-blown blue-eyed soul of Young Americans came as a shock.” AMG He enlisted “first-rate sessionmen” AMG including then-unknown singer Luther Vandross as a backup singer and funk guitarist Carlos Alomar, who had played with James Brown, Chuck Berry, and Wilson Pickett. Alomar had never heard of Bowie, but they made an immediate connection and worked together for nearly fifteen years hence. WK Bowie also hired drummer Andy Newmark, who’d worked with Sly & the Family Stone, and bassist Willie Weeks from the Isley Brothers. WK The result was “a set of songs that approximate the sound of Philly soul and disco, yet remain detached from their inspirations; even at his most passionate, Bowie sounds like a commentator, as if the entire album was a genre exercise.” AMG Bowie himself labeled the new direction “plastic soul.” In January 1975, David Bowie and John Lennon met at Electric Lady Studios in New York to record a cover of the Beatles’ song Across the Universe and new song Fame. WK The latter, which “had a beat funky enough that James Brown ripped it off,” AMG hit #1 in the United States. Bowie was surprised by how successful it was, saying it “was really out of left-field for me.” WK The “plastic, robotic soul helped inform generations of synthetic British soul. What does hurt the record is a lack of strong songwriting. Young Americans is a masterpiece…[as is ‘Fame’] but only a handful of cuts (Win, Fascination, Somebody up There Likes Me) comes close to matching their quality. As a result, Young Americans is more enjoyable as a stylistic adventure than as a substantive record.” AMG Other critics echoed similar sentiments. Pitchfork’s Douglas Wolk said it “comes off as an artist trying very hard to demonstrate how unpredictable he is.” WK He called it “distinctly a transitional record,” WK an observation seconded by NME’s Ian MacDonald, who considered the record a result of Bowie “not knowing where to take his career next.” WK However, author David Buckley says the record “brought fans of both glam rock and soul together in the wake of the disco era.” WK Biographer Nicholas Pegg said “Bowie had undertaken the first significant excursion into Black Soul by a mainstream white artist,” paving the way for others to engage in similar styles. WK Notes: The 1990 Rykodisc reissue adds previously unreleased tracks “Who Can I Be Now?” and “It’s Gonna Be Me” as well as the 1974 A-side single of “John, I’m Only Dancing Again.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for David Bowie AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 2/20/2008; last updated 7/31/2021.