Rcrerar, there are some inaccuracies on your post. While it is true that Roger Waters contacted Bob Ezrin about co-producing his upcoming work, there was no agreement between them. Waters didn't want to go to California to work and Ezrin's wife refused to uproot their children and move them to the UK. You are correct that the rift remains between Roger and Bob to this day though.
Bob Ezrin has never had anything to do with 'the Pink Floyd sound.' I think that has a lot more to do with the guys that Roger referred to as the muffins than anything Ezrin ever brought to the table. Rick Wright is way underrated when it comes to the source of the Pink Floyd sound.
The Pink Floyd sound is due to the band not Roger Waters lyrics. He is incontestably the better lyricist in, or out of the group, but I would disagree that Pink Floyd without Roger Waters is not Pink Floyd. The best recordings they made were group efforts. The worst recordings were things that Roger jammed down the throats of the rest of the band.
In regard to cohesiveness, I think The Division Bell sounds more like Pink Floyd than anything Waters has done on his own. FWIW I was listening to Amused To Death (on vinyl of course) while I posed this question. It was really the first time I thought about how recycled most of it sounded. His themes don't tend to wander too far from home. Most of the sound effects were done before, and the theme is a rehash of The Wall, and The Wall II (or The Final Cut). I think the imaging and effects on Amused to Death are one of the biggest reasons for its popularity among audiophiles.
I love to see the thoughts that people have, and there can't be a wrong answer when it comes to likes and dislikes...
