From Roger Waters in Wikipedia His first solo album, 1984's The Pros and Co… Read Full Bio ↴From Roger Waters in Wikipedia
His first solo album, 1984's The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, was a project about a man's dreams across one night. The list of musicians helping Waters during recording included guitarist Eric Clapton and jazz saxophonist David Sanborn. Conceived around the same time as The Wall, the concept was shown and demos played to the Pink Floyd members, but they chose to proceed with The Wall over The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, rejecting the latter as "too personal". Gilmour was later to claim that this was not as obvious a task as might first seem, as, in his opinion, both demos were "unlistenable" and "sounded exactly alike." Longtime Pink Floyd engineer Nick Griffiths, however, says otherwise: "They were seriously rough, but the songs were there." The album, accompanied by Gerald Scarfe artwork that some claimed was sexist, received mixed reviews, with Kurt Loder describing Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking in Rolling Stone as a "strangely static, faintly hideous record." On the other end of the spectrum, Mike DeGagne of Allmusic praised the album for its "ingenious symbolism and his brilliant use of stream of consciousness within a subconscious realm", rating it four out of five stars.

He began touring the new album, aided by guitarist Eric Clapton, and featuring a set design by Mark Fisher of Fisher Park and lighting design by Mark Brickman. With a new band, new material, and a selection of Pink Floyd favourites, Waters débuted his tour in Stockholm on 16 June 1984. The lure of a somewhat anonymous rock star however was no match for that of Pink Floyd. Some venues were cancelled, and Waters was irritated by the audiences, who would often react more positively to Clapton than he wished. The Clapton collaboration cost Waters an estimated $400,000, but despite the lukewarm reception to his new album Waters went to the US in 1985 with the Pros and Cons Plus Some Old Pink Floyd Stuff — North America Tour 1985.