THE WALL

But first, a short story. On one of the internet boards i used to frequent "back in the days" there was a thread where members were asked to make a soundtrack for their lives, i.e a tracklist of songs which best described their lives and who they were.Rather worryingly, many people had either of the three pieces of "another brick in the wall" by pink floyd on their list, and since i had barely heard of pink floyd before, other than my father talking about them with a friend of his, i thought it was the coolest thing ever that they had done a sing in not on, not two, but THREE parts! Wow, i have to check that out, i though. So i downloaded the three tracks (by themselves) and just assumed that they were supposed to be played consequtively. So i did that for a while, and then my father told me how it really was supposed to be, with the whole concept of the album and all, so i got interested and decided to listen to the whole album. At first, i wasn't very impressed, i litened to a few songs here and there, liked some, but i mosthy kept to the brick part 2 one. One day, however, the movie was on television, and i watched it and, well, liked it. But i also understood that i needed to listen to the whole album in it's entirety to really get what it was about. And then i made the biggest mistake of my life.

Pretty much in the same way as heroinists spend theit whole life trying to get that sensation of their very first shot, so is it with me and The Wall. There have been times when i have had that feeling of mistening to an album, and sometimes even surpassed it, but that first time i listened to the wall in it's entirety, i was completely blown away. It was late at night and i needed to go to school the next day, so i meant to only listen to the first few songs or something, but i ended up doing the whole double disc. I think it was about 4 years ago, i was 15. The whole concept of music as something more than background noise to drown out the bus engine or substitute for the horrible tunes of "Diablo 2" was revealed to me that day.

However, after spending the last few years listening to more music than i really have time for and frequenting progarchives more than is good for my economy, i can no longer say that "The Wall" is the best album in the whole wide world. Tastes change and memories fade, and something you used to be able to love and identify with in yout youth will inevitably become less and less important as you grow older, no matter how much you try to hang on to is.

"The Wall" is at it's stongest lyrically. It is really required that you listen closely to the story to really apreciate it, as musically, it can be rather lacking. Fortunately, Roger is not totally in the obscure about this story about Pink, the rock star who gets separated from the world he lives in by a huge metaphorical wall, you can listen and be moved (if you want to) freely, without having to decipher too much of what he wants to tell us. At the same time, it is theatrical and metaphorical enough that there is no fear of it ever getting too "in the face" and always staying interesting.

When i said that it lacks a little musically, i mean that if there were not the story backbone, there is far too little musical material to warrant two lps of it. Roger gets a huge amount of space to do his thing, and the music has certainly taken a few steps back in favour for the words. Still, it's not like there aren't any spots of musical brilliance at all, they just aren't as frequent as on the three previous albums.

Now, i would like to award 4.5 stars to this absolutely essential album, simply because of the unforgettable and emotional journey it could poteltially hold for everybody woth and open mind, a taste for dark and slow music and an attention for lyrics. There is also a high potential for dissapoitment, due to it being so hyped yet so different from the more Gilmour'driven albums, or maybe the story just doesn't appeal to everyone.

Highly recommended, but listen only when i the mood. More of a movie than an album.

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