Thursday, March 10, 2016

448. The Wall

The Wall
Pink Floyd
1979














Tracks
1. In The Flesh?
2. Thin Ice 
3. Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 1
4. Happiest Days Of Our Lives 
5. Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2
6. Mother 
7. Goodbye Blue Sky 
8. Empty Spaces 
9. Young Lust 
10. One Of My Turns 
11. Don't Leave Me Now 
12. Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 3
13. Goodbye Cruel World
14. Hey You
15. Is There Anybody Out There 
16. Nobody Home
17. Vera
18. Bring The Boys Back Home 
19. Comfortably Numb 
20. Show Must Go On 
21. In The Flesh 
22. Run Like Hell 
23. Waiting For The Worms 
24. Stop 
25. The Trial 
26. Outside The Wall


Should an album really be an hour and twenty minutes long?  I know I gave Fleetwood Mac a pass yesterday (Tusk clocked in at around an hour and fifteen minutes), but those guys can get away with anything.  Also this one is longer by a whole five minutes.  So, you know...not a hypocrite.

I really don't like rock operas.  I didn't like it when the Who did it and I don't like it now.  I know I am supposed to worship all things Pink Floyd, but this album really seemed like a dip in quality from Wish You Were Here.  There were a few standout tracks (with "The Trial" being my favorite) but most of the songs sounded like filler.  I think that is why I hate rock operas so much.  Inevitably, there will be songs that are simply there to push the story along and don't really add that much artistic value.

Too long and too pretentious.  I know Pink Floyd can do better than this.

RATING: 2/5

5 comments:

  1. Today's comments will have surprised you .. A semi thumbs up for 'Dead Kennedys'.. and now a semi thumbs down for the almighty Pink Floyd.
    An Album that you'd think was pitched directly at people like me, but even for me .. I'd actually agree with your last sentence - including your use of your 'P' word.

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    1. Yeah Pink Floyd is a bit overhyped in my opinion.

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    2. Hey, whoa there .. I didn't say I'd go that far!

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  2. Yeah, I can understand you don't like Rock Operas and Pink Floyd. Art is subjective no matter what professional critics may say.

    Personally, the Wall is about me. It has been so since I first heard it when I was 10. I've spent my entire life building walls - to protect me from my parents, my teachers, my schoolmates or my friends. I've even built them inside me to prevent me from finding things about me I didn't want to know. Behind the walls, I felt safer but also incredibly lonely.

    So every time I heard the album was hugely personal. Sometimes it sounded as an accusation "Tear down the wall!", others it was like a desperate call for help "Is There Anybody Out There?" and yet others was plain despair "But it was only a fantasy/The wall was too high as you can see/No matter how you tried you can't break free".

    But should this mean that it must work the same way for everyone? No, way. Music - and art in general - is meant to be felt, not thought. So if you don't feel the same way as me upon hearing to Pink Floyd is perfectly right for you to say it's pretentious because that's how it is for you. It's wrong to try to match other's people likes and tastes just because there is an invisible authority who says what is good and what is not.

    If I like to read to you, Amanda, it's because you are honest with yourself and have no fear of expressing your true feelings even if they are not popular.

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    1. Thanks! I am glad you felt such a connection to it. I just reread my review and it seems pretty harsh. Maybe I'll give it another try? I think I was so impressed by Wish You Were Here that I felt let down.

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