THE WALL SINGLES

Review Nº 896

"The Wall Singles" is a compilation album of Pink Floyd that was released in 2011. It comprises a series of six songs of Pink Floyd that were taken from their original eleventh studio album "The Wall", which was released in 1979. The six songs were also released on three singles. The first single comprises "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" as the A side and "One Of My Turns" as the B side. The second single comprises "Run Like Hell" as the A side and "Don't Leave Me Now" as the B side. The third single comprises "Comfortably Numb" as the A side and "Hey You" as the B side.

So, "The Wall Singles" has six tracks. All the songs that appeared on this compilation album were written and composed by Roger Waters except "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell" which were written and composed by the duo Roger Waters and David Gilmour. The first track "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" makes part of the track "Another Brick In The Wall", which is the title of three songs on the album, set to variations of the same basic theme subtitled "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1)" with the working title "Reminiscing", "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" with the working title "Education" and "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 3)" with the working title "Drugs". "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" is a protest song against rigid schooling rules in general and boarding schools in the UK in particular. This is one of the band's most famous songs. It has the chorus of "Hey, teacher! Leave the kids alone!" and it also features schoolchildren singing on this song. The second track "One Of My Turns" is a song split into three distinct portions, a fragment dialogue, a quieter lyrical portion and a loud lyrical portion. In the song Pink, the main character of the story, invites a groupie into his room after learning of his wife's affair. It shows him in real trouble. With the music barely audible behind Waters' quiet vocals, the song laments his wife's infidelity and his inability to connect with a groupie he's brought back to his hotel room, before a sudden crescendo turns into him lashing out of the groupie with his singing, before the final plea of "why are you running away?" that shows his desperation. The third track "Comfortably Numb" is one of the band's most famous songs and is renowned especially for its guitar solos in the middle and in the end of the song. It provides one of the best examples of Gilmour's and Waters' vocal interplay and leads into the incredible "Is there anybody out there?", which has one line repeated four times, and shows that Pink now is finally behind the wall and he is now looking for help, or at least comfort, to reconnect with the real world again. Apart from the lyrics, this is possibly the most haunting song on "The Wall". The fourth track "Hey You" is the first song after Pink has completed his wall with him pleading for people to open their hearts to him, which is something that he couldn't do for the others. Combined with a great guitar solo, this is one of the best stand alone songs from that album, and it also includes "the worms", that eat away at Pink, driving him yet further into his insanity. Along with "Comfortably Numb", it provides one of the best examples of Gilmour's and Waters' interplays as a duo of composers. The fifth track "Run Like Hell" was written from the point of view of the anti-hero Pink, an alienated and bitter rock star, during a hallucination in which he becomes a fascist and dictator and turns a concert audience into an angry mob. The song was played live even after Waters left the group, and has the same sort of deep disco groove as "Another Brick In The Wall", and has Pink bellowing orders to his fans, demanding that they follow him in his new found fascist ways, while sound effects in the background include screaming, suggesting a genuine evil present in the rock star. The sixth track "Don't Leave Me Now" shows that Pink has discovered his wife's infidelity. He invites a groupie to his hotel room during his tour and destroys the hotel room driving her away forever. Pink falls into a depression and despite the dysfunctionality of his marriage, the song features him singing to his wife, urging her not to leave him, even as, almost in the same breath, he threatens to put her through a shredder. The whole song is sung in an emotional and fragile tone, over quiet guitar and piano chords, symbolising Pink's further breakdown. Like many of the other songs on "The Wall", Pink seems to think that the world has built the wall for him, ignoring his own actions and his role in doing this.

Conclusion: First of all, I must confess that "The Wall Singles" was my fifth review about "The Wall" to Progarchives. I've already reviewed "The Wall", "Is There Anybody Out There?" and "The Wall ? Live In Berlin" the live CD and the DVD. On the other hand, I also saw the "Pink Floyd ? The Wall" film. So, I'm perfectly comfortable writing about "The Wall". In relation to "The Wall Singles", I reaffirm my opinion about compilations of progressive groups. I always wrote that, in general, I'm against compilations about progressive bands, especially when they have to do with conceptual albums, which is the case of this compilation. A concept album must be heard as a whole, as I demonstrated with the approach in my review. So, what rating can we give to a compilation like this? Since "The Wall" is a conceptual album, it seems to me absurd to release a compilation with only some of their tracks. So, this is for collectors and fans only.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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