The Cavern
Rock & Words
THE WALL (Pink Floyd, 1979)
Artist: Pink Floyd (B+)
Recording Dates: Jan – Nov ‘79
Release Date: November 30th, 1979. UK
Record Label: EMI / Columbia
Producer: Bob Ezrin, James Guthrie, David Gilmour y Roger Waters
Rating: 8.5 (ICONIC ALBUM)
Era: Progresaive (1968-???)
Subgenre: Progresaive
Best Song: Comfortably Numb
Tracklist: DISC 1: 1) In The Flesh; 2) The Thin Ice; 3) Another Brick In The Wall (part 1); 4) The Happiest Days Of Our Lives; 5) Another Brick In The Wall (part 2); 6) Mother; 7) Goodbye Blue Sky; 8) Empty Spaces; 9) Young Lust; 10) One Of My Turns; 11) Don't Leave Me Now; 12) Another Brick In The Wall (part 3); 13) Goodbye Cruel World.
DISC 2: 14) Hey You; 15) Is There Anybody Out There; 16) Nobody Home; 17) Vera; 18) Bring The Boys Back Home; 19) Comfortably Numb; 20) The Show Must Go On; 21) In The Flesh; 22) Run Like Hell; 23) Waiting For The Worms; 24) Stop; 25) The Trial; 26) Outside The Wall.
This album is incredibly difficult to review, to listen to, to understand, and to rate. I think Pink Floyd is the only band I've ever reviewed out of chronological order; the first was Dark Side of the Moon, dedicated to Rick Wright, who had just died. The second is The Wall, due to the massive world tour Roger Waters is undertaking to celebrate the album's 30th anniversary: The Wall Live. The tour began on September 15, 2010, in Canada, is currently in the USA, will reach Mexico by the end of December, and will then tour Europe in 2011, including Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, England, Germany, and so on, for a total of approximately 115 concerts over nine months—possibly Waters' last tour. And possibly on June 29, 2011, in Manchester, during the last night, David Gilmour will pay his debt by going on stage with Roger and performing "Comfortably Numb" as a duet, like in the old days, like old comrades, and as another symbolic farewell to this gigantic duo of musicians who revolutionized rock.
But let's get back to the album. Most people adore it. I think they do so without understanding a thing or without having listened to any of the band's other albums. After Dark Side of the Moon, it's their most famous and commercially successful album. And perhaps "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" is Floyd's most well-known song. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's their best. Those who don't adore it detest it, accusing it of being an incredibly pretentious album, with few melodies and a stupid story.
I think we need to be very cautious with this album. I can't even begin to say it's Floyd's best album, but I can certainly accept that it contains one of my three favorite songs by the band. The album is also difficult to listen to, it's true; many people overrate it for the exact same reasons they overrate The Dark Side: the overproduction. But it's not something to get worked up about and say it's unbearable, unlistenable, or anything like that. It's difficult because it has so many songs, and on a double album, it's very rare for all the tracks to maintain the same level of quality. Furthermore, being a concept album, many of the lesser-known songs are built around this concept and are more driven by the idea than by aesthetics. Therefore, not all the tracks maintain a standard level or even lack melody altogether, but there are certainly some enormous songs that have undoubtedly earned their place in history: “In The Flesh,” “Another Brick In The Wall Part 2,” “Mother,” “Goodbye Blue Sky,” “Hey You,” “Comfortably Numb,” “Vera,” “Run Like Hell”... Well, all the ones in red plus any other you'd like to add, which would have given us a tremendous single-single album, perhaps Floyd's best. But the other tracks weaken it in relation to the story (and we should be grateful that they managed to dissuade Roger from a triple album, since some songs were left out and only appear in the film). All in all, The Wall is perhaps the last great “Art Rock” album in history.
On the other hand, it already shows the imminent fracture of Pink Floyd. By this point, Roger completely dominated the group, leaving them little room for opinion. He had even kicked Rick Wright out of the band during the recording sessions (supposedly for being lazy and apathetic), and they hired him as a session musician for the massive 1980 tour. The irony is that the tour was so expensive that Pink Floyd lost thousands of dollars, with Rick being the only one who made anything because he was under contract. Hahahaha! The point is that it already demonstrates Waters' tyranny, which would become even more pronounced on The Final Cut, their last album as a quartet, after which Roger was expelled from the band.
Let's look a bit at the concept behind The Wall. When Pink Floyd started, they were an underground band, playing for small audiences, and people actually listened. After The Dark Side of the Moon, Floyd achieved rock god status, like Queen, the Rolling Stones, or The Who, and the concert format changed from small venues to huge stadiums packed with hysterical people screaming the whole time. Dave was a little annoyed that people didn't even bother to listen, but it affected Roger the most. He considered it insulting that people went to shows just to scream; he hated that they came "to watch, not to listen." Something similar happened to the Beatles in 1966. During the Animals Tour in '77, Roger got fed up and started asking people to stop screaming. On the last date, in Canada, he simply stopped the concert to plead with the audience: "Oh for fuck's sake, stop the lighting of fireworks and shouting and screaming, I'm trying to sing a song!" I mean, I don't care... If you don't want to hear it, you know, FUCK YOU! I'm sure there are a lot of people here who DO want to hear it... So why don't you just be quiet? I am trying to sing a song that SOME people want to listen to... I WANT to listen to it." During another song, a fan tried to get on stage, Roger stopped him and spat in his face. It is said that that same night Roger swore that the next concert would be an extravaganza, and that the band would play behind a wall. And he literally did just that.
So, Roger spent a year conceiving and writing the album, and then, with the band, practically another year recording it. The Wall is a rock opera, which, based on the alienation Roger felt on stage, gave life to the protagonist, Pink. The songs follow Pink's life, from the death of his father when Pink was still a child (an autobiographical detail for Waters, whose father died in World War II), through a tormented mother, the bullying at his school, even worse teachers, then Pink gets married and his wife proves unbearable, he becomes a rock star, but his marriage collapses, and each of these traumas symbolizes a brick building a wall between Pink and the world, until he is completely alienated. Once Pink has built his wall, he goes mad and believes he is a Nazi-like dictator, and organizes imaginary concerts in the style of a fascist military regime. Finally, he condemns himself to a trial, where he forces himself to tear down the wall and open himself up to the world again. At least that's my understanding of both the album and the film. The last song on disc 2, where he knocks down the wall, ends with the words "Isn't this where…?" while the first song on disc 1 begins with the same barrel organ and the almost imperceptible words "...we came in?", suggesting a cyclical continuity. The idea of rock opera is certainly complex, but somehow it feels a bit contrived and, I think, less successful than The Who's "Tommy," which also deals with alienation in a much simpler way. The initial story of Pink's childhood is very good, but then he goes mad, and those dramatic twists of Nazi omnipresence follow ("Bring The Boys Back Home" or "Waiting For The Worms"), and the trial, which is a Broadway-Dantean mix, makes me wonder, however crazy Pink may have been, if Roger wasn't the crazy one. Was all that paraphernalia really necessary? To show that he was lunatic? Didn't they already do this quite successfully and more simply in the song "Brain Damage" from DSOTM? On the other hand, the Kinks had already dealt with the theme of childhood bullying on the album Schoolboys In Disgrace, and also with anti-war themes in Arthur, while The Who had already dealt with the theme of alienation in Tommy and that of existential angst in Quadrophenia.
So, it's not entirely original, but it's more complex and attempts to be deeper than any previous conceptual masterpiece. It achieves all this on the first disc, which can be considered a solid 10 despite a few average tracks, but on the second disc, both Pink and Waters go completely mad, and in that madness, the musical quality suffers. The atmospheres are more bizarre, the melodies fewer, the effects and post-production more jarring and erratic, and the original concept of the first disc is almost entirely lost. Except for about three very good tracks, the rest is very, very weak. Fortunately, Gilmour and his guitar on "Comfortably Numb" manage to salvage the second half considerably, earning it a 7.
The album kicks off tremendously with "In The Flesh". Well, not quite. For the first 15 seconds, you hear a placid French organ or accordion, I don't know, very 1940s, and it's barely audible. You have to turn the volume up quite high to hear that "...we came in?" with which it begins. Everything is very calm, very relaxed, very rustic... and then suddenly, BOOM! No matter how many times you've listened to the album, that colossal intro with the bass drum, the metallic guitar, and the sharp synthesizers will always make you jump. That, that's a huge psychological effect, and it's precisely what Waters wanted to achieve in the listeners. The song doesn't have much of a melody, and Roger recites more than sings, but the almost martial way he delivers that "So ya' Thought ya' Might like to Go to the Show" that he used to open the previous "Dark Side of the Moon" tour is almost legendary. On the album, it also serves as a prelude to Pink's life, alluding to his father in the war with those jet engines whirring down, the bursts of gunfire, the shooting, the explosions… and the cry of little Pink, born far away. It's tremendous. I insist, it doesn't matter that it has no melody; the emotional impact is overwhelming, and it completely captures the listener's attention from the first snare drum hit, whether on the album or live. I also love Gilmour's guitar playing, like a powerful waltz.
In “The Thin Ice”, the baby’s cry fades into a delicate ballad with a cute piano and strange synthesizers that already evoke the bizarre sounds of the 80s. The guitar also begins to take on an archaic form reminiscent of The Wall riff. In short, it’s not particularly impressive, but it serves as a kind of warning to the young Pink, just beginning to experience life. It represents the first two years of life, a time of pure innocence before people begin to understand how the world works. David sings the opening verses.
Then comes “Another Brick in the Wall Part I”, with an utterly desolate feel. Although it's inferior to Part II, I love the atmosphere it creates. The guitars are heavy with echoes and intricate arrangements, another guitar plucking and creating a chilling effect, reminiscent of a helicopter taking Pink's father away, back to the war from which he won't return this time. The lyrics give us a clue about the album's theme by mentioning the meaning of the bricks: “Daddy what d'ya leave behind for me, All in all it was just a brick in the wall,” and towards the end, the bass line takes shape until it becomes the classic “The Wall” motif.
The echo-laden guitar riff segues into "The Happiest Days of Our Lives", where the guitar effectively transforms into a helicopter rotor that fades away to give way to the teacher's hysterical scream. From there, the band begins to create exquisite tension, again based on the riffs and the superb, aggressive bass line mirrored by Mason's cymbals. A dark, chilling atmosphere unfolds, recounting how teachers seize every opportunity to humiliate their students. At 1:30, the song explodes with a theatrical flourish, an impressive drum roll, female backing vocals, and that tension that always precedes "The Wall II." Many tracks are, in fact, linked together; I can't imagine one without the other. When we played it with Moby Dick, they were practically inseparable, although we rarely achieved the same effect.
“Another Brick in the Wall Part II” opens with Pink screaming, tortured by his teachers and abusive classmates. Part II is the album's most famous song, and perhaps the most famous song by Pink, with its immortal funky bass riff, a quasi-disco beat, and the haunting children's choir singing “We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control…”. The song is certainly impressionistic and heavily influenced by history, but that doesn't mean it isn't good. Waters remembers how to create a hypnotic melody and blends this kind of mantra (you could spend months humming “We don't need no education,” it's infectious!) with the catchy bass and drums. The children's choir also has a very effective, almost menacing, psychological effect. And the guitar solo at 2:10 is magnificent, very cold and precise, but it's one of the best on the album after the one in “Comfortably Numb.” At 3:20 the song begins to fade with sounds of recess, children running and a hysterical teacher yelling: “If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding” in a way that is both funny and grotesque.
Next up is “Mother”, a poignant ballad. It opens with a sigh. Then Pink begins to bombard his mother with a barrage of poignant questions that reflect his fears and insecurities. One of my favorite question-verses is “Mother, do you think they'll try to break my balls?” while “Mother, do you think they'll like this song?” hints at Pink's burgeoning rockstar career. Finally, the question “Mother, should I build the wall?” suggests he's starting to alienate himself and contemplate withdrawing from the world. Incidentally, Roger embodies Pink, while David represents the mother, responding in the bridges with “Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry. Mamma's gonna make all of your nightmares come true, Mamma's gonna put all of her fears into you,” which represent the damage unconsciously inflicted by totalitarian or overprotective mothers. Musically, it's brilliant. It begins with a tentative acoustic guitar riff and slowly builds throughout its 5:40 duration. Flute-like keyboards gradually join in, and at 2:50, drums, bass, a beautiful piano, and a fine electric guitar solo enter. At the end, they return to the acoustic foundation for a final question: "Mother, did it need to be so high?" referring to the wall he's building. For a long time, I interpreted the line as "Mother, did you need to be so high?" and thought he was speaking to his deceased mother, which also had an emotional impact on me, but apparently, that wasn't the intention, haha. An excellent ballad with incredibly powerful lyrics, much more so than they initially appear.
We continue in an acoustic and intimate tone with “Goodbye Blue Sky”, another dark ballad, shorter but equally chilling. It begins with the cheerful trills of birds and the sound of airplanes, while a child exclaims, “Look, Mummy, there’s an airplane up in the sky.” The lyrics reveal that the little plane the child happily sees is actually a bomber ready to release its cargo, unleash a tide of fire, and erase the blue sky forever. A moving anti-war message, laden with stark imagery. The vocal melodies are exquisite, with David Gilmour taking the lead vocals, doubling his voice to weave complex and rich harmonies. Although primarily acoustic, Gilmour’s arpeggio is intricate, requiring him to change the pitch of the strings to achieve the same effect.
“Empty Spaces” opens with an airport announcement, signifying that Pink is embarking on a North American tour. The song builds tension with a mechanical background sound, and in this long, suspenseful intro, a veiled voice is heard saying, “Congratulations, you have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink…” Waters then begins the lyrics in full form until the 1:30 mark, implying that Pink is married, has already built his enormous wall, and is wondering how to fill in the empty spaces to complete it. The last word, “Wall,” is cut off and continues into the following song, “Young Lust.”
“Young Lust” is a more rhythmic, funkier rocker, with Gilmour’s rather aggressive vocals reminiscent of “The Nile Song.” The song is fun, with a very versatile bass line and outstanding guitar work. In the story, it simply represents Pink traveling on tour and feeling like an outsider everywhere, finding solace in “dirty women” and further building his wall. At the end, a phone conversation is heard, in which he’s connected to his wife, but the call is interrupted, and he realizes she’s cheating on him, which accelerates his downfall and descent into madness.
“One Of My Turns” is divided into three sections. The first is a dialogue between Pink and a groupie. Then comes a quiet, desolate vocal section, with a very expressive and almost devastated Waters singing: “Day after day, love turns grey, like the skin of a dying man,” seemingly speaking to his wife. The lyrics are devastating, and as he realizes his marriage is over, he begins to lose his mind. At the two-minute mark, the song explodes, representing Pink's madness, as he grabs an axe and threatens her: “Would you like to call the cops? Do you think it's time I stopped? Why are you running away?”
Then there's "Don't Leave Me Now". I understand its intention and the almost black bitterness it exudes with those anguished synthesizers and Roger's crazed vocals. The lyrics are an ode to abandonment and the wretched state one is left in after a truly stormy relationship. This song is not suitable for anyone who has just been dumped by a girlfriend; it could induce suicide. Seriously. But it's a dialogue, and its only value lies in the emotional weight of the lyrics. Musically, it's very weak, lacking melody, instrumentation, and anything truly memorable other than Waters' wailing. The best part of the song is when the guitar starts crying inconsolably alongside Pink at 3:10. But even so, I find it a suffocating and very weak track. I know that's the intention, but I don't like it.
For “Another Brick in the Wall Part III”, the band successfully recreates the anguish and madness that have engulfed the protagonist. They create a paranoid, anxious, schizophrenic atmosphere, and Roger sings in that deranged tone that sends shivers down your spine. In the song, Pink symbolically breaks down (the opening sounds) and decides to finish the wall and completely isolate himself from the world, without drugs to calm him, without anything at all, and warns that all the people who have had contact with him are now nothing more than bricks in his wall. This time, the suffocating atmosphere is very well achieved with a tremolo guitar and another with a mix of delay and fuzz.
“Goodbye Cruel World” is more subdued, with an almost funereal bass line in which Pink bids farewell to the world, as if he were about to die. Musically, it doesn't add much, but in the story, it marks the moment when Pink loses touch with reality. The final “Goodbye” is sped up and seems cut short because the B-side of the record was overloaded and there wasn't room for another second.
So far, so good. Disc 1 is excellent, even with a few minor tracks that serve to flesh out the story. Left as is, it would have been a fantastic Floyd album, and the story of Floyd's alienation would still have been complete, without the psychotic flourishes of the second disc. If they had cut a couple of non-essential tracks like "One of My Turns" or "Don't Leave Me Now" and added "Comfortably Numb" and "Hey You," we might be talking about Floyd's best album. The problem arises with disc 2, which is unnecessary to the overall narrative and, apart from two or three tracks, musically irrelevant.
The second part opens with "Hey You", a standout track. It's another desperate ballad, but far more accomplished. The song features a dark, acid-tinged arpeggio, quite peculiar due to the octave shifts in the strings. The bass is exquisite, played on a fretless bass that creates a springy effect. The drumming is excellent, with the drumsticks dragging to give a martial feel. The solo at the two-minute mark is also chilling, though simple and based on the main riff from The Wall. Up to that point, Dave had been singing, but after the solo, Roger takes over vocals, beginning with the image of worms in the mind of the deranged Pink, who is already starting to hallucinate. Then comes another very dark section where Roger plays another fretless bass passage (some say it's Gilmour who plays it). Overall, the song is well-rounded, dark, tense, and perfectly reflects the intended sense of emptiness and loneliness.
“Is There Any Body Out There” is a semi-instrumental track, consisting mainly of the song title repeated over and over. Tense, dark, and schizophrenic. In the first half, Pink continues to cry out for help, self-isolating himself from the rest of the world, with what sound like sirens wailing in the background (an effect created by Gilmour using a water pedal). Then comes a passage with a lovely, inoffensive acoustic arpeggio, which, along with a violin, lends the song a deeper sense of sadness. It's not bad, but it doesn't really contribute to the story and isn't musically remarkable, making it rather forgettable. One of the album's forgettable tracks, more of a filler piece than anything else.
Next comes “Nobody Home”, where Waters turns rock opera into a Broadway spectacle. “Nobody Home” attempts to be a ballad about loneliness (yet another one). The problem is that the piano accompaniment gives it a cheap vaudeville feel. Perhaps it would fit better on The Final Cut, but here it feels out of place, contributes little to nothing to the story, has no melody, and we can just picture the curtain rising and Waters singing with a cane, topknot, and hat. The only worthwhile things, perhaps, are the references to the crazy '67 tour: “Wild, staring eyes” (referring to Syd), “Hendrix perm,” and “Gohills Boots.” Nah, not even that!
Next up is “Vera”. I forced myself to like this song because of a high school friend with the same name, whom I still care about a lot. However, the song is nothing spectacular, very forgettable and bland. It's supposed to be a reference to Vera Lynn, a singer from the World War II era, in a convoluted and vague allusion to Pink's father and the loss of hope (and lucidity; Pink is speaking in a voice from a record). It's filler. The only good thing about it is that it's very short.
Next up is “Bring the Boys Back Home”, which continues with a low-budget Broadway feel, this time with a more militaristic and patriotic tone—supposedly anti-war. According to Waters, it's the central theme, as it incorporates sounds from other songs, such as the teacher from “The Wall Pt. II,” the operator from “Young Lust,” the groupies from “One Of My Turns,” a maniacal laugh toward the end, and the closing vocals from “Is There Anybody Out There?” which are supposedly memories (or fragments) converging in Floyd's deranged mind. That's according to Roger Waters; according to Corvan, it's still just filler.
After that series of filler tracks (some say it's the best filler ever, but it's still filler) comes the hidden gem. “Comfortably Numb” is a magnificent song. One of Pink Floyd's best. Perhaps one of the best ever. It's a majestic ballad that knocks you off your feet from the very first notes, with that colossal intro and the almost immediate jet engine effect Dave creates with his slide guitar and the distortion cranked up. Impressive from the first second. The credit belongs almost entirely to Gilmour (who also wrote almost all of it), who delivers one of the performances of his life, and we hear his most inspired, most human, most moving guitar playing. It's not that he ceases to be calculating and mathematical, but this time his arrangements feel absolutely emotional and capable of moving you. The song weaves a captivating atmosphere, more hopeful than the rest of the album, with a heavenly feel that would have been perfect to conclude Pink's "death" on disc 1. It doesn't actually have much to do with the rest of the album, as David originally began writing it for his debut solo album. The lyrics are inspired by a 1977 concert when Roger had a stomach ache and was given very strong painkillers. The medication not only made Roger dizzy but also numbed his hand. He would later say it was "the longest two-hour concert of my life," as he could barely stand and couldn't feel his hand at all. The song ended up being one of the album's bone of contention, as both Dave and Roger wanted lead vocals. After countless arguments, they reached an agreement that satisfied no one, in which Waters sings the verses and Gilmour provides backing vocals. The lyrics, despite being based on a humorous scene, can be interpreted as the complacency one falls into as they grow up and how childhood dreams are lost, but as I said, it doesn't actually relate to the conceptual idea of The Wall. Wright's keyboards in the choruses are beautiful, creating perfect shifts. The vocal melodies, both in the chorus and verses, are catchy and complex, and seem perfect for every type of voice. Finally, there are Gilmour's two guitar solos, which are simply heavenly. As I said, Dave makes his solos more inspired and brilliant, more moving, more bluesy, and more capable of giving you goosebumps. It's one of my three favorite Floyd songs, and I must confess that when I played it with my last band, Plastic Soldiers (we had a couple of tremendous guitarists, shout out to Charles and Pato), when we played this song in the dark, by candlelight alone, it was impossible to avoid getting a lump in my throat. And few songs achieve that. This is proof that Pink Floyd can lift you to great heights without needing to take anything. The first solo, at the 2-minute mark, lasts barely 30 seconds, but it's already masterfully crafted. The second begins at 4:30 and spans the entire coda, up to the 6-minute mark. I can say little about this final solo; simply that it's one of my favorite moments in the history of rock. Perhaps my last favorite moment in the history of rock.
Unfortunately, we then return to complacent and bland songs. “The Show Must Go On” is further proof that The Wall shouldn't have been a double album. It sounds like a bad Supertramp moment mixed with Queen and the Beach Boys. It's such a Beach Boys rip-off that they even brought in Bruce Johnston for backing vocals. Fortunately, it's only 1:30. Interestingly, Queen would release a song of the same name in 1991 (with considerably more quality and drama), which begins with the line “Empty Spaces,” a song from this album.
Then comes a reprise of "In The Flesh", darker and more aggressive than the first, but I find it somewhat unnecessary. It lasts a minute longer than the first and lacks the war effects and the baby at the end. It's implied that Pink now sees himself as a fascist dictator with an army of "hammers." It's still unnecessary.
Next up is “Run Like Hell”, a very dynamic rocker with really cool drums and tremendous, dynamic guitar effects, full of echo and fury. I'm convinced this song had a huge influence on a then-young David Evans, better known today as The Edge. Rick plays his only keyboard solo on the album, which is good. Gilmour would go on to make it incredibly popular by playing it at every Pink Floyd concert. It's supposed to represent Pink's fascist madness, ordering his army to commit acts of violence. It's not the best track on the album, but I think it manages to stand out, regardless of how stupid its role in the story is.
“Waiting For The Worms” is one of the worst tracks on the album. A mix of 80s synth-pop with Roger's actual hallucinations. I think it takes the fascist theme of this second part of the album way too far. It's unnecessary. It makes no sense, it has no melody, and in the end, the impressive screaming crowd loses its impact. Filler. And ugly filler at that.
“Stop” is thankfully much shorter. The piano piece is interesting, and in barely half a minute it shows that Pink is tired of being a cheap Hitler copycat and fed up with his wall. I think it's more substantial in terms of story than anything else on the second album.
“The Trial” is another grotesque Broadway spectacle. The saddest part is that Waters himself went to great lengths to make it seem realistic. Pink puts himself on trial, pleads guilty, and imposes upon himself the punishment of tearing down his wall and returning to the real world. But the atmosphere is WAY too circus-like and artificial to work. It becomes grotesque, ridiculous, pretentious, and impressionistic. A massive blunder. If only it were short like the other filler tracks, but it clocks in at over 5 minutes. The only good thing about this track (because it can't really be called a song) is that at the end we hear the now-hateful wall collapse.
The double album closes with “Outside the Wall”, where we hear the wall still echoing after its collapse, giving way to a warm and pleasant accordion-like sound, leaving the impression that Pink was on top form from that point on. The volume is very low, and you have to turn it up quite a bit to hear the words “Isn’t this where…” at the end of the 1:40 mark, which segue into the first 15 seconds of the first disc, beginning with “…we came in?” creating the idea of a cyclical effect. That is, Pink had a son, then went to war, was killed, and his son went through the same traumas.
And that's it. The album is very overrated, I think because people haven't listened to it properly and everyone is easily impressed by the idea of a "concept album." But that doesn't mean it's a bad album. It has two of Pink Floyd's most famous songs: "Another Brick in the Wall" and "Comfortably Numb." One is indeed overrated (even Gilmour didn't like it), and the other has been played a lot, but its widespread exposure is justified by its high quality. It's perfect! On the other hand, the conceptual idea starts off very well, but it also collapses with the second album, in which the story becomes irrelevant amidst totalitarian hallucinations (was Waters projecting his attitude towards the band???). Musically, it has three great songs, and the rest is absolutely dispensable.
I imagine the tour will be truly impressive. The album itself is, or at least tries to be. But it's hardly Pink Floyd's best work. Even so, its influence was tremendous, and despite how challenging it can be to listen to (which it isn't really), it became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Much to my chagrin, Pink Floyd is one of the few bands with two iconic albums, and this is one of them.
Finally, let me explain the rating, which isn't that complicated. The first disc is very good, so the 10 is undeniable despite one or two weaker songs. But the second disc is quite weak, and I'm only giving it a 7 because of the three songs marked in red; the rest is unenjoyable and can't even be understood outside the context of the album.
So we have one half of 10 and one half of 7.
10 + 7 = 17
17/2 = 8.5
And that explains why Corvan gives an 8.5 rating to an album considered among the greatest in history. Even so, like any iconic album, you have to hear it or you haven't truly experienced it. Anyway, I hope it was worthwhile, and we dedicate this review to the massive The Wall Live tour that Roger Waters is currently undertaking around the world. I hope those who have the chance to go will share their impressions with us!
By Corvan
Nov/30/2010
