Roger Waters shares the one album that changed his life, and he worked with the band years later

One album has been singled out by Roger Waters as the release that changed his life.

He would go on to work with the band behind the life-changing piece of work soon after leaving Pink Floyd, with the bassist putting on a star-studded adaptation of The Wall. His live album would feature the likes of Bryan Adams and Van Morrison, but it’s the inclusion of The Band which must feel bittersweet for Waters, who says their Music from Big Pink changed how he and other musicians felt about working in the studio. Waters says the influence of the album helped change how he recorded music, and would heap praise onto drummer and vocalist Levon Helms. The Beatles were also credited as an influence on Waters, but it was The Band’s Music from Big Pink that Waters would specifically note.

Speaking to Rocky Mountain News, Waters said: “I always say to people the thing that changed everything for me was the Beatles and (The Band’s) Music From Big Pink. Music From Big Pink changed the whole way that musicians felt about recording. You can so hear how large a contribution (Helm) made.

“Obviously everyone in the band was great. Robbie (Robertson) wrote great songs. But Levon was for me the heart and soul of the thing. They were all great, Rick (Danko), Garth (Husdon) and Richard (Manuel), they were all fantastic.”

Waters would go on to work with The Band on a performance of Comfortably Numb which also featured Van Morrison. The live version has been praised by listeners as the definitive version of the song from The Wall.

Comments left on a YouTube upload of the track praised not just Morrison and Waters’ work but The Band too, who were part of a “mind-blowing” version of the song. One person wrote: “Mind-blowing version of a great song.

“Every element works to perfection. Van, The Band, Snowy and Rick on guitars, the orchestration, and of course the genius of Roger Waters. Bravo (to the power of a million)!” Another added: “Already a beautiful song. Made a masterpiece by Van Morrison.”

A third heaped praise not just onto Morrison but onto The Band’s Levon Helms. They wrote: “Van Morrison and Levon Helm’s singing is unbelievable. To make one of the greatest rock songs better without David Gilmour. I never would have known if I did not watch The Departed this evening. Very moving, a masterpiece.  I wish I would have been there to see it with my own ears.”

It’s praise Waters would also afford the songwriter, calling his Dirt Farmer album the best release he had heard in a decade. Waters said: “I do know one thing, though: everybody should immediately download (Levon Helm’s) Dirt Farmer. Best thing I’ve heard in 10 years. It is absolutely succulent. It’s so cool.”