Pink Floyd - The Wall
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Free Music Notes for The Wall
Free Music Review: A Misunderstood Masterpiece
Hit: 5 Stars
The Wall is neither Pink Floyd's greatest nor their most popular album, but it is without a doubt one of the most misunderstood and brilliant albums of all time. Representing a number of paradoxes that the average music listener never takes into account before listening, The Wall has been transformed from a mainstream billboard topping release into a most cherished underground album.In order to fully comprehend the album it is a necessity to take into account a number of factors not on the album. Of chief importance were the socio-political issues of the 1970s, and the vast transformation mainstream music was taking from the more serious rock `n roll into the mindless disco beats. Conceptually The Wall is about conformity, and yet at the same time it's about not conforming. Proposing the first of many paradoxes contained within the album.
Upon release it was immediately hailed as a classic by society at large, to paraphrase another reviewer, it was the album to have. The well-received greeting the album had can almost entirely be attributed to the songs Another Brick in the Wall (part2), and Comfortably Numb. In fact to this day they probably comprise ninety percent of the total airplay The Wall receives. And over the course of the following decades the majority of the remaining twenty-four songs faded into near complete obscurity with few exceptions. This can be mostly attributed to two reasons: The morass of the album as a whole, and the depressing tone of the rest of the album.
Another reviewer said it best, "It's very difficult to sit through a complete listening, not only because the album is so long, but also because it's so miserable in tone." Yet his statement brings about another paradox, while the album is long, and decidedly miserable its also very difficult not to sit through a complete listening because its almost impossible to fragment the album, listen to the fragments and take from them any kind of understanding.
While the tone The Wall takes is miserable it's also necessary. Not a single aspect of the plot is something light, casual, or cheerful. Although its overwhelming depression, The Wall still manages to momentarily coalesce into something joyous even if the subject matter is revolting. Most notably the songs One of My Turns, Bring the Boys Back Home, Waiting For the Worms, and The Trial.
The plot of the album can be viewed two ways. Some prefer to think it's a good look into the psychology of the human mind, especially when confronted with being excluded. While others prefer to think of the album as a very imaginative and creative story. Regardless of which stance you take, the plot is a startlingly vivid and disturbing look at the dangers of conformity, and mass media propaganda.
In the end the most important thing to remember before listening to The Wall is that while yes it is depressing, and that yes it's subject matter is shocking, its designed to be. Nothing about the albums contents are to be taken lightly, this is not an album that can provide background music at a party. It is however an extremely creative and thought provoking album, unique in more ways then one. Highly recommended for anyone who looks to get more out of music then just simple thrills.
Free Music Review: One of the greatest albums of all time; flawed brilliance
Hit: 5 Stars
Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is a classic, the band's most ambitious masterwork. Later used as the soundtrack from the hit 1983 film, "The Wall" is a mix of songs that is among P.F.'s very best. This time around, instead of going for psychedelic rock (as in "Dark Side of the Moon"), P.F. goes more for odd, eerie, wacky pieces - and yet, these songs tell a story like no others.The album's grand opening piece is "In the Flesh?", which compares the album to a wall that the following songs alone can break. The second song begins the story of a man's life, "The Thin Ice", about the simplicity of young childhood. Then we seep into the first part of one of Pink Floyd's most popular songs, "Another Brick in the Wall", which eventually became one of the most played radio hits of the 80's. "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" moves us on to the man's childhood, where he was placed in a school full of abusive teachers - which then seeps into the best part of "Another Brick in the Wall" (Part 2). "Mother" tells us about the young man's worries, which he speaks to his mother; "Goodbye Blue Sky" is something of an obituary for childhood; "Empty Spaces" finds the man trying to conceal his horrible memories, but he can't; and therefor we find ourselves hearing about his "Young Lust". Then we learn about Pink's temper towards his wife in "One of My Turns", which leads to his wife leaving in "Don't Leave me Now". "Another Brick in the Wall" then finishes with "Part 3"; and the first disc closes with "Goodbye Cruel World".
The second disc is considerably different from the first; it focuses on life behind the Berlin Wall. It opens with "Hey You", then moves on to "Is There Anybody Out There?" and "Nobody Home" (in which a man tries to hide from the authorities in charge of the Wall). "Vera" talks about Pink's seperation from his lover on the opposite side of the Wall; "Bring the Boys Back Home" is about Pink's desire to have his old friends back; and then comes "Comfortably Numb", one of Pink Floyd's greatest pieces. Pink has become numb to anything going outside the Wall (contrary to popular belief, the song is not a druggie song). Then there's "The Show Must Go On", and two live pieces - "In the Flesh" and a good version of "Run Like Hell". The ending of the second disc sounds as though it was inspired by Queen, not at all like P.F.'s traditional compositions. Finally, the album closes softly with "Outside the Wall".
"The Wall" can be taken in a few different directions; is it about drugs? Is it about the Berlin Wall? Or is about a troubled, drug-addict's horrid memories? The lyrics are excellent, making some terrific songs; unfortunately, the songs just don't flow as on P.F.'s earlier albums.
All in all, you may like "The Wall", or you may not. In my opinion, "The Wall" is one of the greatest albums of all time and among Pink Floyd's best. To sum it all up: "The Wall" is flawed brilliance.
Free Music Review: Probably the best way to end the seventies
Hit: 5 Stars
Ah, December 1979. Inflation is high, recession is coming, the hopes of Iranian liberty are being slowly but quite surely throttled by a nasty theocracy, Suharto and Botha can look to another decade of blood-drenched power, The Soviets are invading Afghanistan, the Americans are thereby giving yet another bloodthirsty Pakistani junta an undeserved lease on life, the Italian Christian Democratic Party has wiggled out of a well deserved nemesis, Thatcher has taken power, Reagan is rising, Archbishop Romero has only a few months to live, American cinema is on the brink of financial disaster, followed by artistic collapse, and most pop music sucks. (I mean really, "I Love the Nightlife"?) So it's time to get back to the basics, and here is "The Wall" to do it.
The obvious objection to "The Wall" is what has Roger Waters got to complain about. Pink Floyd has already produced (at least) three well-received albums that decade, one of them one of the most insanely successful in history. That Eastern Europeans should confuse the title of this with the Berlin wall certainly shows a lack of proportion, does it not? Why should we care about the self-pity and solipsism of a wealthy rock-star? Well, first, because it is not all his fault. Waters/Pink is an orphan. Dying at Anzio is no doubt better more productive than dying on the Somme, but it doesn't make being orphaned any happier. British education can be horribly life-denying and petty. There is good reason for Waters to be terrified at the prospect of nuclear war in "Goodbye Blue Skies." After all, the cold war was an enormous gamble, and as Iraq shows, not all "realist" or neoconservative gambles work. Secondly, it's not as if perfect maturity and mental health was or is the default setting of our modern world. If people's marriages fall apart, if their families are claustrophobic, if they are full of impotent and not so impotent rage and hatred, it's not as if we could simply pride ourselves on our superior morality and ignore them. Lovelessness and solipism are not simply Waters' fault.
Third, the music's great. Waters' and Gilmour's voices are perfect for the roles they play, the one self-pitying, guilty, spiteful, and angry, the other blandly horrible in an especially British way. There is a certain evil reality in such lyrics as "Cold as a razor blade, tight as a tournequet/dry as a funeral drum" as they describe despair better than anything else. There are the opening bars, with a certain false lightness, of "Nobody Home." There is a real insight in the desperation, and authentic misogyny, of "Don't Leave Me Now." "Bring the Boys Back Home" is brief, but heartbreaking. There is the heartbreaking "Comfortably Numb," as beautiful childhood experience is purged from the memory, and there is the threat of fascism in "Run Like Hell." There are the ominious (perfect!) undertones of "Another Brick in the Wall, Part One". But there are few seconds as powerful as the last bars of "The Happiest Days of Our Lives," where the crescendo of imperial glory crashes into the nightmare of Britian in 1979. There should have been another way, but since there wasn't "The Wall" is the best way to end the seventies.
Free Music Review: An acheivement worthy of the recognition it receives.
Hit: 5 Stars
Some music has filtered its way into our consciousness and has recceived so much exposure that we often forget just how good it is. Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is one of these-- after spending most of high school listening to it endlessly and hearing material from it on the radio through college, I found myself burnt out on it. Several years later, having pretty much abandoned commercial radio, I'm listening to "The Wall" today for the first time in at least a couple years.
What I'm amazed about is just how good it is. All the criticisms about it are largely true-- Roger Waters went off the deep end, took the reins of the band totally and restructured their sound, its self-indulgent, the vocals are whiny, you can go on. But one other thing is certainly true-- this is without a doubt the best work Waters did as a composer, and with the musical sensibilities of guitarist David Gilmour to keep him somewhat in check, its nothing short of brilliant.
The albums story is pretty well known, but for any new to it, I'll provide a brief summary. Waters grew disgusted during a performance with a fan in the front row, focused a performance filled with anger on that fan, and eventually spat on him. After the show, he declared the next time the band performed, it'd be behind a wall, and this story of isolation madness somehow came to him. A boy (named "Pink") is born to a woman whose husband is away at war. The father dies ("Another Brick in the Wall Part 1"), the boy ends up being raised by an overprotective mother ("Mother") and finds his creativity mocked and stifled in school ("The Happiest Days of Our Lives", "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2"). This early section is somewhat autobiographical of Waters' childhood. The boy becomes a rock star but finds no happiness and indulges in the rock star life ("Empty Spaces"), fueled primarily by copious amounts of drugs and women ("Young Lust"), and has a nervous breakdown (also biographical, this time of band founder Syd Barrett). After a bit of time meditating on his life ("Goodbye Cruel World"), loneliness ("Is There Anybody Out There?"), an old pop singer ("Vera") and war ("Bring the Boys Back Home"), he gets drugged back to consciousness ("Comfortably Numb"), decides to inspire a riot ("In the Flesh", "Run Like Hell") and completely loses his mind ("The Trial").
Ok, so its not exactly cheerly material, but its powerful-- from delicate beauty ("The Thin Ice", "Is There Anybody Out There?", "The Show Must Go On") to slabs of raw rage ("Another Brick in the Wall Part 3", "In the Flesh") to passionate ("Hey You"), delicate and sad ("Goodbye Cruel World", "Nobody Home") and totally indescribable ("The Trial"). My suggestion-- don't start at the beginning, start on the second disc-- the first six songs are absolutely magical.
Is this for everyone? Probably not, but its a stunningly universal album, given how bizarre its story is. We've all felt isolated at times, we've all felt numb to the world, we've all thought we were losing our minds at one point, and we all wanted to lash out. This expresses those feelings as perfectly as aything I've ever heard. Highly recommended.
Free Music Review: Roger Waters Swan Song
Hit: 5 Stars
Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is one of the greatest concept albums of all time, comparable to The Who's rock opera "Tommy". "The Wall" tells the story about a man called Pink who's a rock star with a mental breakdown, in reality Pink is a methaphor for Roger Waters. After losing his father in the war (The Wall Part 1) he also got very troubled youth, especially at school where they see him just as another brick in the wall and Pink starts to build a heavy wall around himself (Wall Part 2) but eventually succeeeds in life with becoming a rock star with a lot of groupies and a great wife, but things starts to turn sour when his wife sees another man and he realize that the music business is just a circus and he's just used, his wall is eventually complete (wall part 3). He get's a nervous breakdown, smashes his hotel room, spits at a man in the audience and gets hospitalized but he still hallucinanates and see himself as an evil dictator. Eventually he can't take it no more and must break down the "Wall" once for all (The Trial, Outside the Wall).
All of the songs on the "Wall" got a purpuse, that's why it is so majestic to listen to the whole album song by song. Several songs are brilliant aswell, The title track "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2" was the song that in 1980 was a smash hit and feautures a partly animated video and children singing in choirs. It also feautures a legendary David Gilmour guitar solo. " In The Flesh" sounds like a great opener gig from a concert and not surprisingly it is the opener here too. "Mother" is the song about the overprotecting mother and a truly beautiful song aswell and "Young Lust" about all thye groupies they had at their peak. "Hey You" starts really slow, but eventually sounds like an emotional breakdown when Gilmour plays the guitar in such a haunting way. "Comfortably Numb" is one of those songs that most people have heard, partly cause it's a fantastic Floyd song but also partly cause of the guitar solo that is top 5 of all time. "Run Like Hell" is also good a features some classic Floyd sound effects that makes it worthwile. There are ofcourse many other songs too, I didn't mention. There are 26 songs overall, but many of them are short and barely over one minute that sounds more like sound clips from films. Listen to all of the songs however, that's what the concept is about.
Conclusion, for me "The Wall" is one of the greatest rock albums of all time, and one of those occasions where a double album isn't too much. Although not all songs are that good, they are part of a concent, or the "wall" so to say and serves a great purpose to the album concept. It's also profoundly personal from Roger Water where he tells his life story song by song just like a book you never can stop reading. And to have a man like David Gilmour in the band that can play the guitar like few others is fundamental on a album like this. Great music combined with interesting lyrics and personal subjects is one of the reasons why this album is so great. "The Wall" is a must have for rock fans, it's one of the albums where you can capture Pink Floyd's greatness at best. 5 stars.