Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)

(originally posted to Facebook)


So initially I had no real plan for how I was going to listen to the albums on my Big List. I started with In The Wee Small Hours because 1) I was curious if there was something deeper to Frank Sinatra that I hadn't heard before (and still haven't heard yet) and 2) it was the oldest album on the list, so it made sense to start at the "beginning". Obviously that plan wouldn't hold up since some older albums might be harder to acquire and I'll probably get tired of listening to stuff from the same period pretty quick. In any case, if an album is really great it should stand the test of time and still sound great no matter what era I'm in while I'm listening.

I decided to generate a random order for the list. First on that list was Buffalo Springfield Again, which had some good stuff but plenty of junk. Next up was Pink Floyd's The Wall. This was an album that I always knew as someone who advocates for album-oriented music that I knew I should have listened to long ago. Pink Floyd has a huge reputation as being among the most "theatrical" music groups, and The Wall is their most acclaimed album. It's also a rock opera, which appeals to me since I love The Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia albums. The thing is it's hard to get a hold of an entire double-album for easy listening. I can't just buy every album I want to hear, and I don't have enough friends from whom to borrow. Thankfully The Internet Will Provide and now has provided, and I've taken the time to listen to The Wall.

And I gotta say... I feel let down. I admire the artistic achievement, and The Wall certainly does get its point across. As an album studying depression, isolation, and a psychotic breakdown I completely accept The Wall. And there's some very good music on this album. But the really good songs are separated by a lot of obtuse crud and overbearing sound effects. Some of the "songs" don't really have any melody, just Roger Waters whining over cycling synth notes. The finale has an interesting orchestration, but it's completely ruined with the worst prog-rock cliche of a narration. A nearly 90-minute epic comes to such a sputtering conclusion.

Now I am on record (with at least one person, maybe two) as saying if a band can put out an album and have four or five good songs on there then it's a good album and worth a listen, even if the rest is derivative crap. Off the top of my head, I loved "Mother", "Young Lust", "Nobody Home", "Comfortably Numb", and "Run Like Hell". It's not my favorite but I have to give props to "Hey You" as well. If "Stop" were longer than 30 seconds it would make a lovely tune. I guess I also can't ignore "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2", even though it's really incomplete without the song that immediately proceeds it, "The Happiest Days of Our Lives". So to get one good song you have to cram two half-songs together, which is kinda lame.

So I named 7 songs that I felt were worth hearing (and I've heard them all before on the radio anyway). Even though The Wall has 26 total songs by my rules I have to classify it as a good album. And I do think that anyone who is serious about album-oriented music should hear The Wall before they die. Ugh... after all that complaining what I'm essentially saying is I agree with placing The Wall on the list that got me to listen to it in the first place. But so far I've heard 3 new albums off that list and am still waiting to be moved. Not a good start. 3 stars (by default)