Pink Floyd - The Wall
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Free Music Notes for The Wall
Free Music Review: The Floyd classic that will leave you comfortably numb!
Hit: 5 Stars
The Wall (1979.), Pink Floyd's eleventh studio album
During the 1970's, Pink Floyd had a phenominal run of classic albums. It all started with 1971's 'Meddle', which was the first album which exhibited the 'classic' Floyd sound. The following albums, the immortalising 'Dark Side Of The Moon', 'Wish You Were' and 'Animals' proved the band were on the top of their game. With every album the band pushed musical boundaries and explored new sounds, whilst at the same time defying current trends, such as punk, which were out to render the band obsolete to the current music scene. However, in the midst of these newly scaled heights, the band's stability and cohesiveness was far from great. From 'Wish You Were Here' onwards, bassist Roger Waters began to take over the songwriting more and more, forcing the other band members contributions to be minimal. As a good a writer as Waters was, this was not good for the band's chemistry. Still however, when 'The Wall' hit the stores in 1979, it was a massive hit and has gone on to be one of the band's biggest selling albums. The question is, just how well does the band's multiplatinum selling concept album work?
Although this for me, is not Pink Floyd's best album, 'The Wall' is a literally awesome album. However, it is also a work which takes a number of listens to fully appreciate. This is not surprising, as aside from the well known staples from the album such as 'Another Brick In The Wall, Part II' and 'Comfortably Numb', many of the songs are snippets of a larger concept which hangs loosely together. 'The Wall' is a concept album based around the life of a rock star and the troubles and loss of direction he suffers. The concept doesn't hang together amazingly well, and may not even be spotted by the unsuspecting listener. However, there is no denying the amazing ambition that Pink Floyd exhibit in this album, which is enough to glue the work into the classic it is recognised as. Indeed, as other reviewers have stated, the album as a whole is greater than the sum of parts. 'The Wall' pushes so many boundaries it seems to good to be true. This is all the more remarkable given that it is mostly the work of one man, Roger Waters. Musically, the album has plenty of solid, classic bass lines and some great guitar moments from David Gilmour, such as in 'Comfortably Numb' and 'In The Flesh'. Although the efforts from Rick Wright and Nick Mason at times seem muted, in no part due to being shoved out of songwriting, the simple drum beats and keyboard interludes add greatly to the overall ambience of the record. The album succeeds in sustaining the listener's interest right over it's 80+ minute run time and shapes up to be a great epic. This is truly, Pink Floyd's last classic work.
Both sides of the album feature a large number of songs, some long and some short, snippet styled songs, which form the album's concept. Disc 1 for the album kicks off with 'In The Flesh', which has a quiet start before a rip roaring guitar entry from Dave Gilmour. The song shapes up to be a hard hitting rock staple which sets up the album nicely. 'The Thin Ice' is an acoustic, lyrically cynical follow up and 'Another Brick In The Wall, Part I' has muted guitar, and pent up energy bubbling beneath the surface. 'The Happiest Days Of Our Lives' has some snarling vocals from Roger Waters. Musically, the song sets the scene perfectly for 'Another Brick In The Wall, Part II', the famous hit song. This song is definitely not overatted; the children's chorus chant is classic and innovative and Gilmour's guitar exit is phenominal. The stripped down, acoustics 'Mother' is next up. This 5 minute song is very underrated, has some clever climatic moments and some great lyrics.
The second half of CD 1 kicks off with 'Good Bye Blue Sky', a slow introspective song with a classic Floyd pacing to it. 'Empty Spaces' follows, incorporating forboding mechanical sounds at the start and a short Waters lyrical interlude. Next up though is one of the best tracks on the album in 'Young Lust'. Great guitar riffs and a catchy 'Dirty Woman...' chorus are great. Gilmour's guitar work screams through the tapestry of the song. 'One Of My Turns' is next; the song starts with a short interlude, depicting the rock star in the concept drifting out of consciousness, the song builds into a song with a typical Floyd groove, with dispairing lyrics. 'Don't Leave Me Now' is a downcast interlude and 'Another Brick In The Wall, Part III' is a reprise of the earlier song in a different style. 'Goodbye Cruel World' is a short narrative song to close the first half of the album.
CD 2 kicks off with the slow and stately, but mightily effective 'Hey You'. An atmospheric song, with a classic Floyd bass line and great introspective lyrics. Following this a linking track in 'Is There Anybody Out There?', with plenty of noise effects, which is then followed by 'Nobody Home', which is a slow lyrical yearn, with the rock star in the album concept searching to find his place in the world. 'Vera' is a short, theatrical sounding follow up track and 'Bring The Boys Back Home' is a dramaticised track. Both these songs, filler songs really are the backdrop though to the greatest song on the album. Yep, you guessed it, 'Comfortably Numb', 6 minutes of pure genius. The song is slow and stately but captivating and empowering. The orchestral backing gives the song a great edge and the lyrics are great. Gilmour excels yet again in his guitar solo.
The second half of CD 2 starts with 'The Show Must Go On', which is a nice semi-harmonised song. A welcome reprise of 'In The Flesh' follows and then a great storming track in 'Run Like Hell', with bursting guitars and stomping bass lines. 'Waiting For The Worms' and 'Stop' keep the album's concept going, with more pleading lyrics. 'The Trial' is an interesting and rather amusing song. This song is the trial going on inside the rock stars head as he tries to get other his troubles. Some of the voice overs are quite funny. The song ends with chants of 'Tear Down The Wall', before it fades into a low key closing track in 'Outside The Wall', which wraps up the album's concept.
So, as you might gather from my run down of the album's songs, some of the tunes are a bit odd and need to be appreciated in context. However, this album still has some amazing songs which are some of the band's best and the sheer ambition that the album holds keeps the whole thing together. 'The Wall' is an immensely popular effort from the band and I personally would rate it up there with the band's other classic efforts. If your new to the Floyd, get 'Dark Side Of The Moon' and 'Wish You Were Here' first. If you like those, and I'm confident that you will, then get 'The Wall' as you'll be sure to enjoy it. Highly recommended!
MY RATING: 9/10
Free Music Review: More than music
Hit: 5 Stars
After Pink Floyd lost its lead singer, Syd Barrett, the band was unsure how to proceed. Barrett had been the heart of the band, writing most of the songs and serving as lead guitarist. But after much abuse of mind-altering drugs, Barrett became insane and was forced to leave the band. Floyd began to write experimental music, some of which consisted of random drumbeats and discordant melodies. Their next two albums were reviewed by critics very negatively. Although revolutionary in its irregular style, all but the greatest fans viewed the music as complete trash. The band's popularity plummeted, and it appeared that they would soon break apart.Then the band acquired a new member, David Gilmour. Gilmour was an aspiring guitarist who had attended high school with Barrett and Roger Waters, the new lead member of Pink Floyd. Gilmour and Waters quickly salvaged the band. In March 1973, they released Dark Side of the Moon, their most popular album and arguably the greatest album of all time. They soon followed with Wish You Were Here (1975) and Animals (1977), both of which were overwhelmingly popular.
In 1979, they released what was perhaps Floyd's most cryptic album, The Wall. Written by Waters and Gilmour, The Wall was written to tell the story of Barrett's life from birth to lunacy, and to search for a reason behind his madness. Floyd brilliantly synthesizes the lyrics with the music to captivate the listener and make him feel as though he is experiencing Pink's struggle with reality.
The album reflects upon the life of a rock star named Pink Floyd (Syd Barrett). Pink is raised by his overprotective mother; his father was killed in World War II when Pink was an infant. He grows up relying heavily on his mother and society, both of which are terribly misguiding him. This is illustrated in the song Mother when Pink's mother responds to his plea for advice by saying "Momma's gonna make all of your nightmares come true. Momma's gonna put all of her fears into you."-- Her over-protectiveness is simply a means by which to insure that her worries and insecurities are shared by someone close to her. Additionally, in The Happiest Days of our Lives, the schoolteachers take every opportunity to expose "every weakness however carefully hidden by the kid". The song then shows the irony of this as when the teachers go home, their "fat and psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives". The teachers, like the mother, are imposing their own troubles upon the students.
As Pink grows older, these fears become a part of him. He begins to build a "wall", a psychological barrier between him and the outside world. Every bad memory and experience forms another brick in Pink's wall, until Pink, in a dramatic climax, goes completely crazy and destroys his apartment, nearly killing a "groupie".
From this point on, Pink acts in a different manner. His "wall" has taken him over. At a concert, he orders the arrest of "queers, Jews, and coons". His fans have turned from regular people into a cult reminiscent of the Nazis.
Pink continues in his new "fascist" manner, holding hate marches and terrorizing his victims. But soon he realizes that he has been living in complete falsehood. In Stop, Pink pleads with his conscience to take him "home". He ends the song with "Have I been guilty all this time?" The next song takes place in Pink's mind. Pink puts himself on Trial. His mother, teacher, and wife testify against him, accusing him of estranging himself from them and blaming him for building the wall. The same people who lead him astray are the ones who then testify against him. At the end of the song the judge gives the verdict. Pink must "tear down the wall". He finally overcomes his fears and a huge rumbling signifies that he has made a transition back to his normal self.
The album ends with a short, but essential song, Outside the Wall. Pink attempts to reunite with those who loved him, but as hard as he tries, "Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall". Pink is trying to rebuild his life, but his illness has left permanent scars.
Musically, the album is amazing. Every one of its 26 songs is well written, and many feature memorable solos. The music is also eclectic; it ranges from the sardonic ballad Mother to the popular Another Brick in the Wall (part II). No two songs are alike, and many, like The Trial, use original synthesizer effects that create surreal effects and complement the lyrics.
The Wall is one of the most unique albums of all time. Besides reflecting upon the life of Syd Barrett, it explores human psychology in a manner to which all can relate. Everyone has experienced influences, which ultimately prove detrimental-The Wall shows how harmful these influences may be, and how they can come from even the most close and trusted people. But it also sends a more general message. Society is too often repressing its youth in attempt to mold them into what it wants. This repression, referred to by Pink as "thought control" is the root of corruption. Even people such as myself, who disagree with the notion of blaming society for an individual's faults, will be able to find meaning in the stirring lyrics and emotional melodies of The Wall.
Free Music Review: Perhaps the very best Rock concept album ever created.
Hit: 5 Stars
Perhaps the very best Rock concept album ever created in the history of mankind. This is the story of a boy who grows up to be a Rock Star who eventually goes crazy because of isolation. Roger Waters, the main composer and lyricist was inspired by the isolation he though he felt when he performed live, the distant space, the difference between the audience and the band (Pink Floyd) performing. Almost the whole story is flashbacks and memories of his past life. He remembers that his dad was killed in WWII. Then he remembers that when he was in school his teacher was very mean to him, he ridiculized him, so he wanted to rebel against him and the whole system of the school, here comes the well-known song Another brick in the Wall pt. II (this whole rebellion never took place in fact, it was just young Pink's will). We are also told that when the teachers got home at night they were beaten and scolded by their wives (this tells us that they took revenge against the students). Then comes a description of Pinks mother. She was way over-protective, she didnt let Pink develop by himself, as it should have been. She helped to build this Wall. A psychological wall that kept him from the others, isolated him, and kept him from having a normal life. Her mom ironically turns out to be a brick in the wall, so does the school and the teacher. The song Good-bye blue sky can be interpreted as a change in Pinks life, hes moving on (could be from his childhood to his life as a teen). Pink knows that the wall harms him, isnt good for him, nevertheless, he feels safe behind the wall (normal behavior, it is easier for us to turn away from our fears than to face them). Then Pink tries to call his wife (in the present, his wife lives in England, he is in the US) and finds out that shed cheated on him, was with someone else. In the song young lust he is looking for a groupie to pick up. He gets himself a nice groupie/slut and takes her to his hotel which is somewhere in LA. In the next song he is talking to the groupie and society: he says he doesnt wanna be left and he needs them. In the next songs he realizes, or thinks that everyone and everything in his life so far has been just bricks in the wall, meaning that it all has harmed him psychologically.
The death of his father influenced his life a lot and caused an inrreversible psychological harm. In the song comfortably numb the tour manager (Pink is on the road) walks into his room and sees that his is as stoned as hell, then a doctort comes and shoots an injection into his arm to make him feel normal again. He then tells the sensation of being numb and the feelings reeled in him. He is brought back to normality and goes to perform at the concert, the song is the same as the first one (the one he performed in the other concert, at the beginning) but he starts insulting and discriminating the audience, however, they dont seem to care. The next song is part of the concert, the song waiting for the worms: the worms symbolize the decadence of Pink, his dacat, what the wall has done unto him. In the song stop he says that hes had enough (hes still in the concert) and wants to go back to his home, take off his uniform and leave the show, but he was waiting in that prison cell (the way Pink sees the concrt or even his life) beacause he wanted to know if hed been guilty all the time. Then come the song the trial which is a psychological trial (there really is no trial, its all going on inside Pinks head) in which he judges himself, the main characters of the opera whove helped to build the wall (his mom, the teacher, his wife) are questioned and at the end the judge decides that he is guilty and sentences him to be exposed before his peers and to tear down the wall. This part is interesting, because Pinks punishment is to be taken out of the wall (the wall torn down) but this IS GOOD FOR HIM. He realizes hes been guilty for letting the wall be built. In the next and last song outside the wall (whose lyrics go all alone or in twos the ones who really love you, walk up and down outside the wall. Some hand in hand, some gathered together in bands, the bleeding hearts and artists make their stand. And when theyve given you their all, some stagger and fall, after all its not easy banging your heart against some mad buggers wall.) we are told that the ones who love and care about Pink are outside the wall, which is natural, so is heSo we see that the story has turned full circle, Pink is back behind the wall again, and it is always gonna be this way, if he eventually manages to get out of the wall again, he will be back behind it. To endorse this Pink Floyd (the Band) decided to play a little bit of the music that closes the opus (it is a harmonica, I think, playing quietly in the background, right after Outside the Walls lyrics are all sung) in the very Beginning of track 1 of DISC I (In the Flesh?) and there is even a hidden message (the first part in disc II, the second part in Disc I) which says this is where we came in.
Well thats it, if youre still reading, thank you for reading cos it took me a long while to type all this babbling!
Free Music Review: Pink Floyd at the peak of their extraordinary career
Hit: 5 Stars
As a lot of them Pink Floyd "fans" (please do note the quotation marks) have pointed out, this album is not DSOTM indeed. Thing is... who said it intended to be like DSOTM in the first place? In my opinion, this is the Floyd's masterpiece, in terms of both songwriting and production. Just LISTEN to it... you'll learn not only to appreciate Pink Floyd, but also good music as a whole. This album is also a lot more accesible than Dark Side Of The Moon or Wish You Were Here (which DOES NOT mean "better"... IMHO, it's just as good as any of the previously mentioned albums, but more accesible nonetheless). It's a great musical experience really.The Wall is mainly Roger's solo project, granted, but Dave does have a primary role in the project as well. His guitar solos and the couple of songs he got credited for, are wonderful pieces of music. What really makes this record a geniune and ever-lasting gem is the fact that when a genius is given enough time, food for thought, and an out of this planet guitarist/musician, the result is usually a masterpiece. The reason why The Wall is such a wonderful work of rock theatre, is because Waters wrote it almost in its entirety. Give a good listen to both The Division Bell and Amused to Death and you'll understand what I mean. Gilmour is quite talented, an awesome guitarist, and he might be the better musician, but without Roger he is [crud] when it's down to recording music, period. On the other hand, Roger is a wonderful lyricist, songwriter, and quite a decent musician: A legitimate artist indeed. He knows how to write good, deep, quality, lasting music. In other words, the man's an artist and KNOWS how to produce his art. But whereas Roger can do pretty well on his own, if you put Gilmour in the mixture... it's pure magic! And that's what The Wall is all about. (Note that I'm stating all of these things based on studio recordings. Gigs are a different story). Without Roger, this project obviously would've never existed at all... but without David, it would've never been the same either. They are both at their very peak on this album and it shows throughout. They provided what they needed to.. and the result couldn't be any better. It doesn't get any better than this, the record is absolutely brilliant.
As for the album itself, it's extremely well connected, coherent, and wonderfully written all in all. To all the people [...] who have claimed that this album is not coherent enough, they've one of the following two issues: Either you suffer from hearing problems, or you cannot read between lines. The Wall's concept is crystal-clear. The problem here is that Pink Floyd's music has always been for smart people who do think and know about GOOD, artistic music. People who can actually listen to the lyrics, understand them, and realize what the concept not only of The Wall, but of The Floyd as a whole is all about. As we all know, not everyone is especially smart. You need to know how to LISTEN... which is music's main point in the first place. Most people forget that these days (Limp Biskit, Marilyn Manson, Christina Aguilera fans... include yourselves here, will you?) Music (real, authentic music that is) is written with the primary purpose for people to really listen to it and understand what it means. And Roger screams precisely that at the top of his lungs on this album. As we all know, it was indeed that very lack of listening from the fans which prompted Roger to write The Wall.
So, if you consider yourself someone who likes good music, actually LISTENS to both the lyrics and the music, and are smart enough to understand what "Mother should I build a wall?... Hey you, don't tell me there's not hope at all... I've got a strong urge to fly, but I got nowhere to fly to... Where's the feeling gone, will I remember the songs?... Since, my friend, you have revealed your deepest fears, I sentence you to be exposed before your peers" mean altogether, then do yourself a favour and go buy this record. It's amazing, greatly crafted, and you simply won't be able to stop listening for as, with previous Floyd albums as well, you'll discover new things with ever new listen. It's a whole new experience, just as DSOTM is in a class of its own as well. They're two completely different records, but equally meaningful, perfectly produced, and enjoyable. It obviously has the trademark Pink Floyd quality sound and production values. Just LISTEN to it... you'll love this record. And as I pointed out before, you'll also learn to appreciate good music as a whole, not just Pink Floyd. And The Wall is a great starting point, no doubt about that.
If you don't qualify as a Pink Floyd listener and need catchy tunes and words that start with an "F" over and over again, then you know what to buy. Britney Spears sounds a good choice for y'all, doesn't it? Afterall, to you, she's a better songwriter than Roger, Dave, and Paul McCartney together, isn't she?
I might write a review in the near future about the overall concept of The Wall, a song analysis, and my very humble opinion on the record's content.
Thank You
Free Music Review: Is There Anybody Out There? Glitchy, Flawed, and Masterful
Hit: 5 Stars
"Album oriented music" refers to the idea that an album should not be evaluated on the basis of any single selection, but on the basis of the collection as a whole. It was a notion that went hand-in-glove with the idea of "concept album," in which every single selection was in some way related to every other selection in the collection. "Rock opera," which involved piecing together selections to create a narrative, was not too terribly far behind--and a double album release was considered a test of creativity, prestige, and the ultimate marketing coup. All four of these were signature ideas of 1970s popular music, and all four reached a final critical mass Pink Floyd's 1979 THE WALL, which put a punctuation mark to decade before the on-rush of the excessive synthesizers and flashy music videos that characterized much of the 1980s.
Most bands go through cycles in which the musical ideas of one particular bandmate overrides those of the others--and in the late 1970s Pink Floyd fell under the near-absolute domination of Roger Waters. Originally given to psychedelia and progressive styles, and often tinged with a certain meloncholia, Pink Floyd became darker still, with the 1979 THE WALL the ultimate result. So ultimate, in fact, that Waters left the band shortly thereafter, declaring that Pink Floyd had run its course. As it happened, he was greatly mistaken: although he was no longer a part of it, the band continued on with significant success.
Although it received broad critical approval and sold extremely well, THE WALL was not immune to criticism even in 1979. Then as now, it was a work that you either really liked or disliked--and a good many of those who disliked it were Pink Floyd fans who had been so enthusiastic about the band up to that point. It was, they complained, musically bloated and the story it told was trival. I myself, eighteen when THE WALL was first released, was not particularly enthusiastic about it, and for exactly those reason. Over time, however, my opinion has shifted.
It is indeed musically bloated. I suspect this actually arises from the techology of the day. In 1979 record buyers expected each side of an vinyl album to run at least twenty, twenty-five minutes, and the entire album forty-five minutes to an hour. Anything less and the buyer felt shorted. Even at this run time most albums contained significant filler, songs that weren't necessarily bad but which didn't measure up to the best of the cuts. It logically followed that a double album would have double the music--and there indeed are a number of points in THE WALL where one feels the music has been spread a bit thin with repetitions designed to meet the quota of minutes the format required.
The story is indeed trivial--but only if you regard it in the way you have been told to do so. When THE WALL was first released, a great many critics focused on the narrative element and rushed to tell us all about it. THE WALL is about a rock star named Pink Floyd. His father was killed in the war. His mother was suffocating. His school years were hell. His wife left him. The pain cuts him off from the world and now he uses drugs and alcohol that drive him into a personal chaos which he himself ultimately condemns. Yep: that's THE WALL. Okay, sure.
But THE WALL is not a narrative in the sense that it starts at point A and continues on to point Z, and if that is what you expect you are bound to be disappointed. It presents its events with a certain randomness, touching upon one, detailing another, returning to the first, flashing back and forth between traumas in what seems to be a drug-laced and nightmarish confusion. The album famously opens with what can only be described as a classic stadium-rock sound--only to collapse suddenly into a plaintive, often industrial sounding series of vignettes that speak of man and the machine. Selections float to the surface of this wash: "Mother," "Goodbye Blue Sky," "Young Lust," "Hey You," "Nobody Home," "Comfortably Numb," "Run Like Hell," all of them bitter, angry, despairing, with snips of sound and phrases and melody that reference each other in much the way a tangled mind might.
The great failing of THE WALL, at least in my opinion, is in the last few minutes of the recording, when the rock star suddenly jolts into a fit of self-evaluation and self-condemnation in a serio-comic sort of way. I've always found this bit a little forced, and I think the overall concept would have been better served with a more direct build toward the same anthem-like statement that opened the album. But I have to say that, all things considered, this is a trivial complaint; while THE WALL may be flawed, and while its easy to second guess the band that created it, it hangs together remarkably, exceptionally, extraordinarily well.
Bleak? You bet. Glitchy? And how. Flawed? Absolutely. Does any of this undercut its singular value? Not hardly. Worth the cost? And then some.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer