The Wall

by

Pink Floyd

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Possibly the most controversial Floyd album save 'The Final Cut', this one. I'd argue it's also their best. It's a hefty album, but the music is fantastic, and it doesn't lose any value on repeat listening.

Unless you've been living on Mars for the last twenty-five years, you'll be familiar with 'Another Brick in the Wall Part 2' (famous as the least Christmassy Christmas no.1 ever) and 'Comfortably Numb' (recently covered in a totally different style by Scissor Sisters). Resist the temptation to skip straight to these tracks! Good as they are, they are much better once taken in context. They are, however, useful as an indication of what to expect from the rest of the album, in terms of both style and quality.

Personal highlights- 'The Thin Ice' is one of the few songs that can bring tears to my eyes. Partly because, in terms of the story, I know what happens next. But also because there are a couple of twists in the music that send shivers right down your spine. 'Waiting for the Worms' will have you reaching for the repeat button in horrified fascination once you realise what the guy with the megaphone in the background is actually saying. And for my money, the series of songs from 'Empty Spaces' through to 'Goodbye Cruel World' is as near to perfection as I've heard in popular music. Were I to have a choice of two CDs to have with me on a desert island, this would be one of them. In fact, if it came down to it, this would be both of them.

I'd also recommend this album as an introduction to Floyd for those who are interested but unsure where to start (as I always am with new artists). The music is more accessible than that of 'Dark Side', requires less patience than does 'Animals', and is a better indication of Floyd's total repetoire than 'The Final Cut'. Buy it- you won't regret it.

The kind of person that buys this will almost certainly already own "The Wall" and "Is there anybody out there" - 4 of the 6 CDs. The 2 CDs of demos are interesting, in a deluxe edition sort of way - but certainly not worth an extra £50 or so over the experience edition (that includes 1 of the demo disks). Indeed the value added content in this box includes a few marbles (!!!!), some pictures and a couple of booklets (very limited compared with the wonderful Gerald Scarfe book - the Making of Pink Floyd The Wall), and, of course, the DVD. This is quite possibly the worst add on I have ever seen in a super deluxe box set: for your money you get 1. The happiest days of our lives from Earl's Court (wonderful - but where is the rest of the concert? - it was filmed - you can get the murky looking bootleg - could they not find more than 1 decent track to show us? - and even then it is a lea- in track. 2. The music video of Another Brick in the Wall (wow! ). 3. A really lame documentary about the Wall. 4. A 30 year old interview with Gerald Scarfe. That is it! What about all of the animations and back drops from the live shows? New interviews? How about a movie about the current staging of "the Wall".

During the Gerald Scarfe interview he states that the Wall was conceived by Roger Waters as an Album, a Stage Show and as a Movie. A super-deluxe box set should include all three of these items. It disappoints. I think the majority of fans would have paid £100 for the video of the show at Earl's Court - murkiness included (- who cares about the quality -but it looks pretty good on the one track featured) just to see what it was like (and compare it with the current staging that many of us have seen). Instead we get 1 lousy song that feels like a teaser for a forthcoming release. If the video does officially emerge, I won't know whether or not to be furious or delighted.

What is obviously missing is a high resolution DVD-A or Blu-Ray disc in 5.1 surround, or, at the very least, a blu-ray version of the movie (with 24bit/192kz LPCM audio). It is truly galling that the best EMI can do with a 30 year old album is reproduce it in 30 year old digital technology (16 bit CD). We previously coughed up a ton for the high resolution version of WYWH on blu-ray to discover that the disc was very poorly mastered. To add insult to injury, an SACD version became available subsequently, retailing for nearly £50 (and not available in retail stores). If there was to be no high resolution disc included in this box, they should have included the next best thing - 180g vinyl. No, that's another £25 (about 4 times what I paid for it originally).

I have always thought of Pink Floyd as a generous band - think of all those stickers and posters that came with the original LP of DSOTM. I have lost a lot of respect for them with these reissues. I am sure that there are lots of suckers out there like me that cannot resist the super deluxe box. I have lots of them. Compared with the Stone Roses, Derek and the Dominoes, Achtung Baby, Screamadelica - and, in particular, Neil Young's archives, this is a complete rip off. Avoid. Buy the experience edition if you don't already have the album.