The Wall

Performer: Pink Floyd
Artist: Bruce Johnston; Toni Tennille
Engineer: James Guthrie; John McClure; Nick Griffiths; Patrice Queff; Rick Hart; Ben Rodgers; Brian Christian
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Pink Floyd: David Gilmour (vocals, guitar); Richard Wright (vocals, keyboards); Roger Waters (vocals, bass); Nick Mason (drums). Additional personnel: Bruce Johnston, Toni Tenille, Joe Chemay, John Joyce, Stan Farber, Jim Haas, Islington Green School (background vocals). Producers: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters. Recorded at Superbear Studios, Miravel, France; Producer's Workshop, Los Angeles, California; CBS Studios, New York, New York between April and November 1979. Digitally remastered by Doug Sax (The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, California). Personnel: David Gilmour, Roger Waters (vocals, guitar); Richard Wright (vocals, keyboards); Islington Green School (vocals, background vocals); Jeff Porcaro, Nick Mason (drums); Jon Joyce , John Joyce, Stan Farber, Toni Tennille, Joe Chemay, Bruce Johnston (background vocals). Audio Remasterer: James Guthrie. Recording information: CBS, NY (04/1979-11/1979); Hiperbear, France (04/1979-11/1979); Producers Workshop, Los Angeles, CA (04/1979-11/1979). Unknown Contributor Role: Richard Wright . Roger Waters constructed The Wall, a narcissistic, double-album rock opera about an emotionally crippled rock star who spits on an audience member daring to cheer during an acoustic song. Given its origins, it's little wonder that The Wall paints such an unsympathetic portrait of the rock star, cleverly named "Pink," who blames everyone -- particularly women -- for his neuroses. Such lyrical and thematic shortcomings may have been forgivable if the album had a killer batch of songs, but Waters took his operatic inclinations to heart, constructing the album as a series of fragments that are held together by larger numbers like "Comfortably Numb" and "Hey You." Generally, the fully developed songs are among the finest of Pink Floyd's later work, but The Wall is primarily a triumph of production: its seamless surface, blending melodic fragments and sound effects, makes the musical shortcomings and questionable lyrics easy to ignore. But if The Wall is examined in depth, it falls apart, since it doesn't offer enough great songs to support its ambition, and its self-serving message and shiny production seem like relics of the late-'70s Me Generation. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine This is Roger Waters's two-disc meditation on the travails of a rock star, whose unhappy life causes him to build a psychological barrier between himself and the rest of the world. Contains the number one hit "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" and the concert favorite "Comfortably Numb" (cowritten by David Gilmour). ~ William Ruhlmann THE WALL was Roger Waters' crowning accomplishment in Pink Floyd. It documented the rise and fall of a rock star (named Pink Floyd), based on Waters' own experiences and the tendencies he'd observed in people around him. By now, the bassist had firm control of the group's direction, working mostly alongside David Gilmour and bringing in producer Bob Ezrin as an outside collaborator. Drummer Nick Mason was barely involved, while keyboardist Rick Wright seemed to be completely out of the picture. Still, THE WALL was a mighty, sprawling affair, featuring 26 songs with vocals--nearly as many as all previous Floyd albums combined. The story revolves around the fictional Pink Floyd's isolation behind a psychological wall. The wall grows as various parts of his life spin out of control, and he grows incapable of dealing with his neuroses. The album opens by welcoming the unwitting listener to Floyd's show ("In the Flesh?"), then turns back to childhood memories of his father's death in World War II ("Another Brick in the Wall [Part 1]"), his mother's overprotectiveness ("Mother"), and his fascination with and fear of sex ("Young Lust"). By the time "Goodbye Cruel World" closes the first disc, the wall is built and Pink is trapped in the midst of a mental breakdown. On disc 2, the gentle acoustic phrasings of "Is There Anybody Out There?" and the lilting orchestrations of "Nobody Home" reinforce Floyd's feeling of isolation. When his record company uses drugs to coax him to perform ("Comfortably Numb"), his onstage persona is transformed into a homophobic, race-baiting fascist ("In the Flesh"). In "The Trial" he mentally prosecutes himself, and the wall comes tumbling down. This ambitious concept album was an across-the-board smash, topping the Billboard album chart for 15 weeks in 1980. The single "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" was the country's best seller for four weeks. THE WALL spawned an elaborate stage show (so elaborate, in fact, that the band was able to bring it to only a few cities) and a full-length film. It also marked the last time Waters and Gilmour would work together as equal partners.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.116) - Ranked #87 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...Hypnotic in its indulgence....Rock-star hubris has never been more electrifying..." Q (1/03, p.64) - Included in Q Magazine's "100 Greatest Albums Ever" CMJ (1/6/03, p.12) - Included in CMJ's list of "Top 25 College Radio Albums of All Time" CMJ (1/5/04, p.6) - Ranked #1 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1980".

From their first Syd Barrett-led psych-pop record to their concept albums and elaborately presented live shows of the 1970s, these space-rock pioneers reached unprecedented heights of commercial and aesthetic success. Their '73 opus, DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, remained on the album charts for an astounding 14 years, making it one of the best-selling records ever. Even after the departure of main conceptualist Roger Waters following 1983's THE FINAL CUT, Floyd continued to release albums well into the '90s, with David Gilmour leading the band.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25