THE WALL

As nearly all reviewers have remarked, this is less of a Pink Floyd than a Roger Waters solo album. That means it has all the strengths and weakneses typical of Waters efforts. It has a strong story line and strong lyrics - but is less rewarding musically than Pink Floyd's best moments.

Pink Floyd used to be a great band. All member contributed to each track and the net result was much more than the sum of its parts. That has ended here. The warm group feeling and the musical experiments are gone. Instead we have an hour and a half of Roger Waters pessimistic world-view.

However, The Wall contains much good music. Although some songs are weak it would be difficult to condense this to a single album.

With more tasteful production, like that on the other Pink Floyd Waters solo album The Final Cut, I would rate The Wall four stars. Now, the production stands in the way. It's bombastic and overblown, worthy of Alice Cooper. I really can't give it more than three.