| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. In The Flesh? | | | | | |
| 2. The Thin Ice | | | | | |
| 3. Another Brick In The Wall (Part One) | | | | | |
| 4. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives | | | | | |
| 5. Another Brick In The Wall (Part Two) | | | | | |
| 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 Three) | | | | | |
| 13. Goodbye Cruel World | | | | ||
| 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 | | | | | |
All tracks written by Roger Waters except "Young Lust", "Comfortably Numb", and "Run Like Hell" by David Gilmour and Roger Waters, and "The Trial" by Bob Ezrin and Roger Waters.
If there is any progressive album which does not require further elucidation to progressive fans, it is Pink Floyd's The Wall.
In the 18 years that have elapsed since the release of this album, a fairly accurate consensus of its musical nature and historical role have been developed. The narrative (concerning a manic depressive rock star named Pink lamenting over his cruel mother, his unfulfilling relationships, his vicious schoolmaster, and his brain-dead fans) has been hashed out millions of times, with various pre-twenties individuals finding (often with good reason) that the saga relates to their lives personally. It is, presumably by intention, one of the most overbown releases ever to have emerged from the progressive scene; as the All-Music Guide has noted, many of the songs would be essentially meaningless out of context.
Moreover, the question of "who precisely Roger is singing about" has been answered in a reasonably satisfactory way: alternately, he refers to himself, Syd Barrett, Richard Wright, and Everyman Rockstar/Student/Son. Most of these roles (with the exception of Wright), are easily identifiable, and do not require much elucidation.
The role of Pink Floyd as a group during the making of this album, too, is common knowledge. Roger Waters controlled almost every aspect of the album; David Gilmour had to be content with getting most of the memorable lead vocals (and doubtless lamented the fact that his own songwriting ideas were being shunted for Roger's grand visions); Nick Mason did what he was told; and Richard Wright found himself out of a job when his drug-related problems held up the creation of the album (some have suggested that a session player named Peter Wood took his place on most of the recording).
Most of this is common knowledge to those involved in the Floyd-world. If a review of this sort is to serve any real purpose, then, it must be to scale back on the legends surrounding the work and consider the album as a body of recorded music, rather than as a cultural reference point. Hopefully, this review will manage some of that.
Irrespective of its legacy, The Wall is a good album which, if approached on a song-by-song level, often falls rather short of being a great album. Even if one accepts the theme surrounding the work, many of the tracks are not up to the standards of what Waters was capable of creating. Most of the tracks are still fairly good, however, and it is this fact which will hopefully stand to oppose any backlash against the album itself from those tired with its socio-historical position.
"In The Flesh?" essentially summarizes the nature of the entire album, as Waters adopts a role removed from the perspective of the audience. The parody of the overly visual Pink Floyd shows is transparent in the lyrics; here, as in few other places on the album, he manages to be extremely concise as regards his intentions. The music, meanwhile, is of a fairly high level as well, with the guitar lead (and bass backup) being of a consistently good level. As a prelude to what follows, it works extremely well.
"The Thin Ice" begins the overwraught nature of the album, featuring a sampled child's tears as the first sound of the track. In spite of this, the music over David Gilmour's section of the track is actually fairly good (particularly the bass line). The band performance at the end is fairly good as well, although perhaps entertaining too much in the way of empty riffage.
It is almost impossible to detach the next part of the album from its influence, but ...
"Another Brick In The Wall (Part One)" is probably the best of the three-part series, briefly chronicling Roger's loss of his father in the Second World War. Limiting himself to only six lines (or seven, if you count the repetition), Waters manages to create a fairly poignant moment. The famous bass line which commences the piece is good as well, even in spite of its overexposure.
"The Happiest Days Of Our Lives" is well-produced, and features good musical performances from all concerned (especially as regards the military-esque section at the end), but it's also the moment in which Waters's lamentations of his past come close to curmudgeonish whining. Presumably there must have been a more ironic manner of criticizing his teachers, but Waters didn't seem to be concerned with finding it.
And that brings us to "Another Brick In The Wall (Part Two)", one of the more unlikely US #1 singles of its day. At the time, the idea of having a class of children sing the second verse may have seemed like a good idea; today, though, the track just seems a bit foolish and (again) overwraught in its intentions. It merits its high rating not for its lyrics, but for the fact that the music is fairly good, particularly as regards Gilmour's eerie vocal intonations at the beginning of the track and the guitar solo towards the end. In any event, any track banned by the South African government in 1980 couldn't be entirely bad ...
"Mother" is a terribly, terribly overwraught number. Roger Waters's comments regarding his mother's wish to control every aspect of his life comes very close to mere whining; not until Gilmour's lines begin does the song have any "bite" whatsoever (perhaps this was the idea, but it doesn't make for an exceptional listening experience). The most annoying section of the track is undoubtedly the line about Mother checking all of Pink's girlfriends. (Actually, of course, Roger's mother had advised him to indulge in romantic affairs when he was young. He married at an early age instead.) The music is extremely underdeveloped until the guitar solo. The good eventually outweighs the bad, but it's an even fight at times.
"Goodbye Blue Sky" is, from a musical standpoint, a considerable improvement. Gilmour's vocal harmonies are tremendous, and Waters once again manages to capture a poignant lyrical moment without overdoing everything. The acoustic guitar is quite chilling, and the stutter effect gives the ominous tone that it was presumably attempting to reach.
"Empty Spaces" is a fairly decent track as well, beginning with the infamous backmasked reference to Syd Barrett, and showing good musical development through percussion, keyboards and guitars unto the conclusion of this brief number. Roger's vocals sound very pained, which seems appropriate in context.
What can be said about "Young Lust"? This reviewer supposes that the "cock rock" elements of the track were at least presented in a semi-ironic manner, and that some credit must be given as such. If taken at face value, though, the lyrics are terrible -- and we should not doubt that at least some individuals did take them at face value, nor should we doubt that Waters and Gilmour did not suppose that they would. The catchiness of the music (some of which was recycled from David Gilmour) is another point in its favour, but the negative aspects of the track are fairly strong on occasion.
"One Of My Turns" features prominent sampling, uses melodic tones, and sees Roger Waters playing his role as an irresponsible manic depressive lamenting his own flaws rather well. The piano and guitar parts are fairly good as well. This then leads to the unbelievably dark "Don't Leave Me Now", a tragic tale of domestic violence which sees Roger is top vocal form (under the circumstances). The music at first is little more than atmosphere; eventually, a decent band section emerges at the end.
The first half of the album ends with the brief "Another Brick In The Wall (Part Three)" (which needs little explanation, except to note that the singer's backlash against stardom is handled fairly well) and the equally brief, somewhat unnecessary "Goodbye Cruel World" (a write-off musically, and perhaps even slightly out of place as regards the narrative, however terrifying it might have seemed to the impressionable listener).
The second half commences with "Hey You", the second best track on the album. Showing some traces of the Pink Floyd chemistry from previous years, the tracks features Gilmour and Waters tackling different vocal roles, and musical development which stands on its own merit. The acoustic guitar/fretless bass/keyboards introduction is extremely good, with the subsequent instrument developments being of an equally high level. If some of the lyrics are occasionally a bit sub-standard, they aren't enough to derail the track entirely.
"Is There Anybody Out There?" is an underrated high point of the album, not so much for the vocal section (which isn't bad in and of itself, of course), but for the seemingly out-of-place acoustic guitar + keyboard section which follows it.
It has been speculated that "Nobody Home" was actually written about Richard Wright in his ongoing battle with cocaine abuse, but it works fairly well as a "soldier's ballad" in any event, with good (faux?) symphonic sections and piano roles (no pun intended). "Vera", which follows, contains more samples, a stately bass reference, good acoustic guitar, and truly depressing lyrics (without being too overblown). This then leads to the brief "Bring The Boys Back Home", summarizing some of themes already explored on the side
The last two tracks, however, turn out to be little more than an introduction for "Comfortably Numb", the best song on the album and perhaps the only track here that works out of the album context (which would account for its ongoing popularity, perhaps). Gilmour and Waters exchange lyrics in an extremely cryptic manner (curiously, their perspectives do not seem to remain entirely consistent through the track; perhaps that was part of the mystery), and the music accompanies them perfectly (the guitar solo is deservedly a classic). Without this song, the album would be considerably less substantial.
"The Show Must Go On" begins the fourth quarter of the album, with at least one Beach Boy in a curiously prominent role as regards backup vocals. Although not terribly much more than a prelude to the next few tracks, this is actually a fairly good number, featuring Gilmour in a good vocal role and the other instruments in a decent context as well. The drumming (whether it's Mason or not) is surprising good, in particular.
Then comes "In The Flesh", the ultimate arena-rock satire number which unfortunately borrows to much of this fateful genre itself. Still, the lead riff is pretty good, and the overblown nature of the music is obviously deliberate (as part of the Nuremburg references, no doubt). The "singer-as-tyrant" context is finally brought to its conclusion here in an extremely effective manner.
"Run Like Hell", which follows, is both an excellent instrumental number and an occasional faulty vocal line (the "back seat" reference is particularly obnoxious). This is probably the most "prog-pop"-ish song here, and, whatever would later become of genre, it states its claim to respectability fairly well.
"Waiting For The Worms" continues the singer/tyrant line, complete with references to the emerging National Front movement in Britain (sung in the most harmonious tones imaginable by Gilmour, as part of the chilling effect no doubt). The "megaphone" section of the track is one of the better snide moments on the album, moreover; even if this album were to be parried of its unnecessary elements, this track would probably remain relatively unscathed.
"Stop" is an extremely brief Waters + piano piece, and isn't at all bad for what it is. Following this is, of course, "The Trial", an absurdly overdone section of the album which at least seems to have been deliberately arranged as such. The "showing feelings" line comes off rather poorly, but the rest of the track works both as a summation of the entire album, and as a parody thereof. The popular music sample from the pre-WW2 era is classic, and the piano performance (probably by a session player) is appropriate in context. It isn't a complete success, of course, but given that at least some of its failures seem to be part of the "act", I'm willing to give them a bit of leeway in my rating. The album then ends with "Outside The Wall", which returns Waters to the detached state from which he began.
It would be almost pointless (not to mention banal) to end this review with a simple pro or con recommendation. The Wall must be judged by virtually every fan of progressive music; even if it isn't the best album imaginable, it is fairly close to being essential for a proper understanding of the movement in its late-1970s stages.
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 21 September 1997)