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PINK FLOYD - THE WALL
Probably Pink Floyd's greatest-ever album, and, for sustained quality, it must be a close call as to being the greatest double album ever made. On first hearing it blew this listener away. The album contains more songs than you'd expect on a Floyd record, post-Syd Barrett, but the group had shown previously an ability to make a sea change musically. It was an obvious candidate for a film musical, though superb as Bob Geldof was in the movie, the music wasn't shown to its full effect. This album needs no visual enhancements, as it creates its own movie in the mind's eye. Even when you think this album begins to lull - as with a track like 'Don't Leave Me Now' - it switches into a gorgeous overdrive. A beautiful melancholia kicks in with the plaintive trilogy of 'Goodbye Cruel World (ending the first CD)', 'Is There Anybody Out There?' and 'Nobody Home'. The latter, I suspect, rightly or wrongly, may have been written with Syd in mind. The second CD is the stronger part of the album, and 'Comfortably Numb' is a lilting melodic narrative of Pink's brainwashing, containing some of Dave Gilmour's best guitar work. 'In The Flesh' is a meaty rock number, with some doo-wop to boot! Then it gets really menacing, as the fascist Pink starts slagging off and accusing anyone not fitting in with his regimented outlook. Some brave writing here, as things like bigotry and genocide are not ideal subjects for a hit record in the shallow world of rock and pop. 'The Trial' is like something out of 'Oliver!'! Very strange! The trial ends with the wall crumbling to dust, and 'Outside The Wall' is a moving conclusion, and one for all of us bleeding hearts and (wannabe!) artists. Nowadays, this album's pivotal voice, Roger Waters, does a gig for The Countryside Alliance, and Gilmour picks up a gong from the Queen. Oh, well, let's remember them when they were young, and shone like the sun... - Paul Rance/booksmusicfilmstv.com. |
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