THE WALL

This is the most expensive, self-indulgent, self-centered, cathartic, eighty minutes of psychotherapy on record. Not only did Roger Waters write almost the entire thing in psuedo-biographical form, he made sure he got credit for anything that he even remotely had something to do with. I count 8 credits to him on the CD cover. I remember on the double-LP version of this, when there was more room for liner notes, he had even more honorable mentions to his brilliance. The tour was a financial disaster, the movie was quickly relegated to midnight showings (I saw it at midnight in Copley Square in Boston in 1986). Having said all of that - it is a better than good album. Roger IS a great lyricist, albeit an incredibly cynical and self-absorbed one. The band sounds great! But therein lies the problem.. . . these world class musicians had become nothing more than the precursor to Roger's own "Bleeding Hearts Band". "Richard, you're fired", "David, play this", "Nick, don't put a fill in that spot". . . . . "The band is just fantastic that is really what I think, oh, by the way, which one's Pink?" THE WALL should answer that question once and for all, and least in the mind of Reg, or is it Rog? Still, This has got to be in the Top 10 listened to albums in my collection - thanks to my teenage years. I gave it a spin again this week for the first time in 3 years. Verdict, it went from 10 stars out of 5 to 4 stars out of 5. 4/5! Shine on You Crazy Diamond.