THE WALL

My memory seems to suggest that The Wall was my introduction to Pink Floyd. I'm not even sure whether I happened to see the Alan Parker's 1982 feature film before listening to the actual album. Either way, there's no denying that this concept album had somewhat of an impact on me and I did play it quite a lot during my teen-years.

The style of this album is quite different compared to anything the band had done previously and it can be explained by the fact that The Wall wasn't much of a band effort. By this time, Roger Waters was in complete control of the band's direction which not only limited David Gilmour's and Nick Mason's contributions to a minimum, but also pushed Richard Wright completely out of the picture. This means no lengthy Space Rock passages like the ones on Echoes or Shine On You Crazy Diamond nor the instrumental perfection of Dark Side Of The Moon or Animals. One can attribute some of this change of style to the passing of a decade, considering the '80s were right around the corner, but the rest has definitely to do with Waters' steady grip on the direction.

Either way, The Wall is one excellent album experience that I can definitely recommend independent of whether you're actually a fan of progressive rock music or not. Does that mean that The Wall isn't really prog? I would be lying if I said that it had even the minimum Space Rock requirements to be a part of the movement. Fortunately, what it lacks in the arrangement it makes more than enough for in the concept department. After all, it's difficult to fuse great individual moments without loosing track of the full narrative and even classics like Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway or Marillion's Misplaced Childhood had to sacrifice a few instrumental passages to create a fluid narrative in those story arcs.

There's just no denying that The Wall is a great concept piece of work that can be embraced just as much by the mainstream crowd as the most hard-core prog rock fans. It was probably not really the Pink Floyd album fans expected at the time of its release but hopefully even time had proved them wrong. As for me, this record will always have a place on my shelf. I might not play it as much as I used to, but that doesn't mean I love it any less.

Mr. Waters, I'll be seeing you at the performance!

***** star songs: In The Flesh? (3:17) The Thin Ice (2:28) Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 1 (3:41) The Happiest Days Of Our Lives (1:20) Hey You (4:39) Is There Anybody Out There? (2:40) Nobody Home (3:25) Comfortably Numb (6:49) Outside The Wall (1:42)

**** star songs: Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2 (3:56) Mother (5:32) Goodbye Blue Sky (2:48) Empty Spaces (5:36) Young Lust (2:03) One Of My Turns (1:33) Don't Leave Me Now (4:22) Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 3 (1:17) Goodbye Cruel World (1:05) Vera (1:38) Bring The Boys Back Home (0:50) The Show Must Go On (1:36) In The Flesh (4:16) Run Like Hell (4:22) Waiting For The Worms (3:56) Stop (0:34) The Trial (5:16)