Ugliest covers of otherwise great albums

siLLy puPPy wrote: Moyan wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: It's always funny when someone comes along and trashes a legitimate masterpiece. It's fine to say "it's not for me", but to call it "mediocre" is simply revealing a lack of experience and/or objectivity, with a little bit of hubris on top. As Wikipedia puts it: "The Wall is one of the best-known concept albums. With over 30 million copies sold, it is the second best-selling album in the band's catalogue (behind 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon), the best selling double-album of all time, and one of the best-selling albums of all time overall." Aside from the disco-music-based song that was (is) the biggest hit from the album, "The Wall" has too many theatrical moments for Pink Floyd, IMO. It's a rock opera. It's supposed to be theatrical.

I am well aware that it is a concept album. Though, as a fan of Pink Floyd, I don't think that dramatic rock opera is the kind of material that matches the band well. There are just too many theatrical songs, such as "Vera," "Nobody Home," "Bring the Boys Back Home," and so on. Pink Floyd is not The Who, and Roger Waters is not the rock opera master Pete Townshend, who wrote "Tommy" (actually twice; the original 1969 album, and five years later he rewrote the complete opera for the Tommy Soundtrack) and "Quadrophenia," which, both on their own, could have been called the perfect 2-LP rock operas. Unlike "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia," whose duration goes by in a flash, "The Wall" is too elephantine and really mediocre, and the mediocre sleeve design only reinforces the impression of the album's mediocrity. Waters is far too dominant on the album, which is basically his offspring; the entire thing is told in a whiny, life-story-telling style by Waters, which only makes the album mundane and dull. 

Edited by Moyan - April 11 2024 at 18:11

Moyan wrote: It's clear that the live CD "Is There Anybody Out There?" is the better choice because it effectively conveys the spirit of Pink Floyd more than the studio version.

Moyan wrote: I am well aware that it is a concept album. Though, as a fan of Pink Floyd, I don't think that dramatic rock opera is the kind of material that matches the band well. There are just too many theatrical songs, such as "Vera," "Nobody Home," "Bring the Boys Back Home," and so on. Pink Floyd is not The Who, and Roger Waters is not the rock opera master Pete Townshend, who wrote "Tommy" (actually twice; the original 1969 album, and five years later he rewrote the complete opera for the Tommy Soundtrack) and "Quadrophenia," which, both on their own, could have been called the perfect 2-LP rock operas. Unlike "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia," whose duration goes by in a flash, "The Wall" is too elephantine and really mediocre, and the mediocre sleeve design only reinforces the impression of the album's mediocrity. Waters is far too dominant on the album, which is basically his offspring; the entire thing is told in a whiny, life-story-telling style by Waters, which only makes the album mundane and dull.  Isn't it bitter that "Comfortably Numb," composed by David Gilmour, is the far-best song on "The Wall"? It's the fact that Gilmour hasn’t written many songs at all for Pink Floyd since 1972. The album is indeed boring and uninteresting, mostly due to Waters' overpowering presence, and "The Wall" could have been far better as a single LP. Probably then "The Wall" could have been in the rank of "Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!"—the nice concept album by Jethro Tull that was released three years before "The Wall." The fact that Roger Waters has something "big" to say is another aspect of the issue. Because of this, he occasionally pushes the music to the back burner in favour of using it to air his complaints and express his rather pathetic beliefs. "The Wall," Waters' "child," amounted to nothing more than a two-faced justification for exaggerated self-pity.  There are a few infrequent, lighter moments, like the unexpected smash single "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2." Except for that disco-music-based song and David Gilmour's "Comfortably Numb," there isn't any real excitement on the record that was once supposed to be a great rock opera by Pink Floyd. It has way too many words, a single tempo, and very few instrumental sections. The narrative tends to veer off course and is too cryptic to make any kind of sense. Not to mention that "The Wall" is deemed to be quite badly constructed when compared to the band's best moments.

Moyan wrote:

Didn't know this one but I laughed my a** off. Especially given the fact that Steve Howe is a great guitarist.