THE WALL - LIVE IN BERLIN

I may be nuts, and I probably am since I think The Wall is the best album ever recorded, but I think it's great! In my opinion, you can't judge this like you would a normal live album. You have to consider the historical significance of the moment, and the fact that the music world was lending a hand to Roger's celebration of the demise of the Berlin Wall. In the reviews for the studio album The Wall, there is much criticism over the fact that it wasn't a true team effort. It was Roger's baby from start to finish. If that is indeed what the consensus is, then Roger should not be criticized for playing it live after the band's breakup. Besides, if he hadn't played this concert I never would have been able to see a rendition of the greatest concert theme ever...The Wall. When I started this review this DVD's rating on here was 1.88. That's just ridiculous. To me this is a celebrataion of the high point of progressive rock,, shared in by the representatives of the highest mainstream success, combined with other members more obscure, to bring back the greatest concert ever seen (though it was rarely seen), to celebrate the most vivid real world example of the concepts presented on The Wall. It also marks an end to the most noticable physical landmark of World War 2, a war that cost Roger Waters his father and has plagued his heart and mind for his entire life. Of course some of these artists are cheesy compared with the Floyd, but to be honest, this wasn't about Pink Floyd or Roger Waters....it was about the Berlin Wall. And I love the fact that history honored this wonderful album for a moment. And the performances...well, I wouldn't go see Cyndi Lauper in concert, and when I first saw her on the artist list I gasped, but I thought the music lent the performances credibility. It seemed to make The Wall a "universal given", rather than a standout in a particular genre. And this wasn't a concert just for Pink Floyd fans. Those fans would be content to watch the band members stand like statues while the other stuff goes on. But a wider audience needed something a little more visceral to sink their teeth into. The most disappoiting part for me is the fact that Roger performed The Tide Is Turning at the end of the concert, with much conviction, as if the destruction of The Wall would issue in a beginning to a new era of international and interpersonal brotherhood. It has done nothing of the sort. And it is this irony that makes his later solo effort Amused To Death so bitter.