Pink Floyd - The Wall

I was basically raised on the movie for this album. To me, this music is basically food. The record tells a story of isolation, alienation and pretty much every other negative emotion a person can feel. It tells the story of a fictional rock star called Pink Floyd (a reference to the line “oh by the way, which one’s Pink?” from Have a Cigar on Wish You Were Here) who due to given factors early in his childhood such as the death of his father in World War II, the totalitarian post war education system and his overbearing mother. In the present day, the failure to deal with his immense fame, the years of drug abuse and his failing marriage are what throw him over the edge.

This is largely an autobiographical story. The In the Flesh Tour (the title for which is also the name of a couple of tracks on the record, one of which being the opener) was one of the most elaborate and stressful rock shows organised at the time. Roger Waters was especially frustrated by the difference in approach to the music presented by the North American audience. Where in Europe the audience for a progressive rock concert was more likely to treat is as more of a serious musical event, the Americans treated it as a straight Rock and Roll show. After a particularly rowdy fan was setting of fireworks and continued to do so after being asked not to Roger spit into his face and The Wall eventually grew from the feelings of alienation he felt from his fans. Other aspects of the record, like the death of his father in the war are also taken directly from his life.

The music is pretty tough for me to judge without bias, so I’m going to talk about CD versions instead. There are lots of them. The two I’m familiar with are the latest remaster and the original Harvest CD set. The Harvest has more prominent keyboards and feels more live. There is also more variance in volume. The planes in In the Flesh? Seem to drown out the song, as does the helicopter in The Happiest Days of our Lives. On the remaster these are just there and don’t seem to command quite as much attention. Although it’s been years since I’ve heard it on vinyl, I’d be confident in saying that the Harvest sounds closer to that than the remaster does. Also popular versions are the Japanese 50DP and 48DP, the Canadian C2K, all on Columbia, and the MFSL gold CD. But as far as easily available remasters go, the Doug Sax version is actually pretty good. In fact the only recent Pink Floyd CDs to avoid are the 30th Anniversary of Dark Side and any stereo mix of Piper at the Gates of Dawn because it sucks.

Empty Space/What Shall We Do Now? (not on the album exactly, but too good to miss): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFevDtxbBHM

One of my Turns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7mIEDCqRwY&feature=related

The Trial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jViTte8VAzU&NR=1

The full movie is also on YouTube.