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Pink Floyd - The Wall CD (album) cover

THE WALL

Pink Floyd

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

4.10 | 3309 ratings

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memowakeman
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Please, don't leave me now!

Maybe the band was starting to get tense between themselves and those words were actually thought by some of them, if not all. With "The Wall" we can appreciate the pinnacle of Roger Waters' as leader and main composer, of course we had already known his capacity with previous albums, but this time he really put an extra effort and exposed all their inner thoughts, abilities and feelings. We know this album has a personal and special meaning for him.

I had the luck of attending to a last year show that Waters offered in my country, due to The Wall Tour and it really left me speechless, what a night, what a show, I was completely astonished by the visual effects, the music, the feelings and all that was around us that night, a unforgettable one without a doubt. But well, I just wanted to express something of the background here.

Returning to the album itself, released in 1979, it represented a highlight in Pink Floyd's career, and also was truly recognized all around the globe due to the story and the movie with the same title that visually represents what it suggests. Its political context, the lyrics and the satire etc. are things easy to remember which can provoke good chats between people from the whole world. It was actually a controversial album, and I dare say it still produces uncomfortable things to some people.

Musically speaking, it was cleverly composed and divided in two parts. So this is a two-CD album divided in thirteen songs each one that together gives 80 minutes of excellent music. The most representative track is of course "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2", a song that reached first places in charts and a song that opened the gates of the commercial success of this album. With memorable lyrics and guitar riffs, this song has become an icon.

In the first CD we will find a wonderful mixture of moods, rhythms and sounds, with shorter and longer compositions that go together with the concept that is being told. There are no stops, all the album flows and it powerfully produces images and feelings in the listener, at least it works with me. Songs such as "Mother", "Young Lust" or "Empty Spaces" are difficult to forget, as difficult as the whole album actually. However, there are moments where one may lose track and get distracted and lose a little bit of interest, things that don't really happen with some other Floyd's albums prior to The Wall.

The second CD has also memorable and representative tracks, songs that the bands followers love and songs that even people who are not true fans or don't have a deep knowledge of the band surely know. I am referring specially to "Hey You", "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell", though I would like to remark some cool moments such as the instrumental short beauty "Is There Anybody Out There" or "The Trial", songs that show the band's compositional skills and creative process.

Despite all the above mentioned, and despite I really love this album, I would not really consider it a masterpiece, nor Pink Floyd's best effort, not at all, and I believe people may agree with me, anyway all is a matter of tastes and subjectivity, that is why I will give it four stars, and not the five someday I thought it deserved.

Enjoy it!

memowakeman | 4/5 |

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