Roger Waters' 'The Lockdown Sessions' Gets CD and Vinyl Release

Roger Waters will release The Lockdown Sessions, an album of material recorded during the pandemic, on CD and vinyl on June 2.

He began updating various Pink Floyd classics as well as his solo material in May 2020 and continued through 2022. He shared these renditions with fans via YouTube and social media, but The Lockdown Sessions compiles all of them together in one place.

The six-track LP is available to preorder now. You can see the full track listing below.

“Our Us and Them Tour lasted three years," Waters said in a news release. "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.'

"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. ... For me, it was Friday, March 13, 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 double album The Wall. “I pitched ["Comfortably Numb'] a whole step down, in A Minor, to make it darker and arranged it with no solos," Waters previously explained, "except over the outro chord sequence, where there is a heartrendingly beautiful female vocal solo from Shanay Johnson, one of our new singers.”

Watch Roger Waters Perform 'Mother'

An additional two tracks on The Lockdown Sessions – “Two Suns in the Sunset” and “The Gunners Dream” – was 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 also confirmed work on a new original project built around “The Bar," a piano ballad that likewise originated during the pandemic lockdown and then become a recent centerpiece of his concerts. The Pink Floyd legend's most recent studio effort is 2017's Is This the Life We Really Want?

The veteran rocker recently announced a live broadcast and cinema event of his May 25 concert at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. Tickets go on sale on April 25. You can see the whole list of participating cinemas on the film's website.

Roger Waters, 'The Lockdown Sessions' Track Listing
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"