THE WALL

If You don't eat you meat you won't get any pudding, that maybe so but this double album released by Pink Floyd in late 1979 is really the bands swan song and the majority of the meat on this album was done by Roger Waters with the assistance of co-producer Bob Ezrin. David Gilmour's contributions are with Roger Waters the main one being Comfortably Numb and even then compromise had to be meet by both musicians over the final take, also Another Brick in The Wall,Young Lust and Run Like Hell had Gilmour input. Richard Wright the bands Keyboard player left in mid production and was he sacked or did he quit but after that he was only ever on salary with them. Not a happy production but it was a distinct change of sound for the band and this album was the 2nd biggest selling album after Darkside of The Moon and it rocketed to number 1 in the charts.

The album is concept based on a burnt out, psychotic rock singer Pink ( based on Roger was the rumour) and the first single taken off the album was Another Brick In The Wall Pt,2 which sold in huge quantities and the song today is still the preffered song amongst todays teenagers and children with relevances to school etc and the use of the choir and that superb quick Gilmour solo at the end of the track is a real grabber. The song that is by far the best song on the album was the last track on side 3 of the original double record Comfortably Numb and David Gilmour's guitar solo at the end of the track is one of the finest moments on this album. Snippets of TVs, phones and sounds from the war are used throughout the album. Other songs worth a mention are Thin Ice, Mother, Hey You and there are a few others but The Trial,Waiting For the Worms could be considered at the other end of the spectrum.

I have to admit that the production is over blown and the last of the album side 4 is bordering on absurdity, it still is a Classic and in 1979 any Pink Floyd was better than no Pink Floyd. The three prevoius albums that the band released to the Wall are the more highly regarded and rightly so but eight times platinum which means one in thirty seven people owns the album here in Australia. It was big down here and the only thing one can say. Is There Anybody Out There.