It’s remarkable that such a dark personal album was the number one album in the country for nearly four months. I think it will always speak to alienated people, it helped get me through some hard times in life, and I’m glad it will always be with us.
Billy Corgan actually thought a lot of Cure stuff sounded happy to him, but they indeed spoke to a lot of people struggling with their emotions, like good music often does and should
Also, late seventies. Most of Lynyrd Skynrd died in a plane crash. Keith Moon died in 1978. Disco was king and it was hard for rock acts to sell albums. Rock was in a dark place.
I was 15 when The Wall was released, living in a boys’ home with other rejects. We were huge fans of DSOTM, WYWH and Animals. None of those albums prepared is for The Wall. We were spellbound. Each and every one of us felt the record in a very personal way. We had each built our walls and we understood all of it on an emotional level. At the same time, it was so liberating. A battle cry. One of my favorite memories is of the night a friend and I got caught driving in a snow storm and had to go really slow. We turned the radio off and sang The Wall from start to finish, improvising the instrumental parts by making weird noises. We knew every guitar solo. The thing is in my DNA. I think it has aged well.
driving at a snail's pace singing the wall from front to back from memory...that's a magical experience. your comments are a wealth of them, thank you always
I has 2 years released from a group home "Greystone house" living on my own for the first time at age 17. Remember the first Day they played it on the radio.
It helped to be a latch-key kid (Gen-X), and especially single digits, on the cusp of double digits, when The Wall came out, to truly live in a headspace where you get it in an instant. In other words, where you don't need to be "in the mood" to appreciate The Wall but where hearing anything from The Wall immediately puts you in that headspace. That (my) generation were all kids of broken homes. For a lot of us there was no dad around, and life could be pretty brutal. I think that resonated with us, especially, and still resonates with kids in that position. I also don't think Roger "accidentally" wrote a commentary on patriarchy and how a man might come to treat women badly; he very intentionally wrote a commentary on how a society treating children with alternating coldness and brutality can cause them to be terrible adults to everybody around them (that's the whole point of the wall being built). It just happens to be that the society in this case was largely patriarchal and Pink's targets were mostly (not all) women. Note that Pink's mother is a problem, as well. So some matriarchal elements are also responsible for how awful he is. It is a much larger societal problem, and a very British (and also, American) problem. In the end, Pink is aware of what has shaped him, and he is critical of that society and he is remorseful. It's a profoundly human album, that coached a lot of us into being better people. I think (and I am not alone) that the studio version of the Comfortably Numb outro solo is the greatest guitar solo ever recorded. I love David, but he never came close again to it, live. Nobody has ever again matched that pure fury of tone and intensely forward-leaning playing.
Kind of hard to notice when it's a synthesizer. Never thought of it that way. What about his playing on nobody home? Kind of reminds me of Saties gnosiegnnes
I saw a show for this album's tour. When that plane flew overhead, I knew I was done: No concert would ever surpass what I was experiencing. I've been to many shows since then, and that prediction remains correct.
Hey Abby, thank you so very much for shouting out the channel and the video! It came out absolutely fantastic and made us all wish for "Fragile" to be featured on a Vinyl Monday episode ;))
thank you so much naomi! yes will work their way into the series eventually, but i think i have a lot to answer for regarding my opinions on animals first haha
The film is a masterpiece. I used to see glimpses of it on TV and eventually watched it on VHS enough times that I never need to go back there. It's etched into my brain. Of all the twisted films I saw in my youth that I never need to see again, The Wall is the most beautifully twisted.
Wot I want to know is it still available on any platform or medium? It seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth Or am I looking in the wrong places?
yep I have heard that, Rodger was Floyd in his own mind by this point it seems. Sad I guess but history has shown one part is less then the whole even when that part writes the words. Its music not a book.@@konowd
@@smaug1234 Ezrin was a producer and did what producers do: produce. The Wall was written almost entirely by Waters, so it's not hard to imagine that he wrote them with his voice in mind. Plus, I don't believe 99% of what people say in comment sections and forums about Waters. Their stories and claims are products of the "telephone game". There might be a small grain of truth somewhere in there, but by the time it gets to me it's total BS. At the very least extremely exaggerated.
To me it's the greatest album ever made...a cornerstone of dark art that it not likely to ever be topped. Fun fact, I did a report in middle school on the album and my teacher let me play Goodbye Blue Skies from the VHS of the movie for the class. They weren't ready for it.
Great reaction, and i like your take on having Bowie's Thin White Duke as a reference to Pink. There was definitely some overt fascism in that iteration of Bowie's alter-egos.
Living off cocaine, hot peppers & milk will do that to a person. It's been said that was his diet during the Station To Station sessions, which, once they were over, he never remembered.
I was a freshman in college when the wall came out. It was played CONSTANTLY in the dorms for months. When I was walking back from classes it was playing from someone's window. Of course I played it a lot myself for many years. It is one of the greatest albums ever made.
not gonna lie i wish i heard the trial blaring out of someone's dorm window while in college instead i was the one blaring the trial out my dorm window
I've studied the lyrics on this album so much that it's driving me crazy. The similarities to my own life are undeniable, which is why I haven't listened to this record in ages. But I think it's time to listen to this masterpiece again.
So happy to hear a “Vera” shout-out at the end. That was always my favourite Pink Floyd song growing up - I used to think I would name a child after it one day.
This is an album that with every listen I discover something new from a haunting sound effect to a surprising solo that I didn't pay attention to the first time around for a band that was in huge turmoil at the time they delivered a sonic masterpiece that's both timeless and endlessly creative
Run Like Hell, Abby... then take your Slowdive and returning home in a Rush frame of mind sounds good to me! Your brilliant reviews always drive me towards my own stacks to revisit some old friends! Thank you for all your hard work.
Fascinating analysis. Love seeing young folks like yourself appreciating classic prog rock. I'm 68 so this is the music I've lived by/with for a long time.
Found this channel a couple weeks back. Love it. 🎉🎉🎉
3 месяца назад
I appreciate you getting so much into the analysis of the Floyd muse. I've never had the opportunity with someone live to dig so deeply into my favourite muse. I appreciate the channel ;)
Great analysis as always, Abby! Waters was very crafty by holding back TWO solo albums worth of material while Gilmour and Wright released their solo albums, thus giving Waters leverage when new material was needed quickly to produce an album to pay off their tax debt. Clever bastard. Regarding the film - the first time I saw it was a midnight showing. The stranger next to me was on . . . something, and spent the entire film rocking side to side and pretending to shoot himself in the head. Couldn’t have asked for a better viewing companion for that film.
What an excellent job. I never really knew the whole story or even bothered to look into it but i love the Wall and have heard it 100's of times. This was great.
This masterpiece of an album was first heard in the 2000s by me, i love it; my father whose is dead now recommended me Pink Floyd, with all the mourning for his funeral, you came to happy me a little, thank you
Roger Dean a huge influence on my early artist years … I’m heading over ! Btw the Wall … got so sick of Another Brick at number one in the charts back in the day ..😫
Hear hear on both counts, that kid's exhaustive Roger Dean thing is pretty great (still a handful I do need to own heh heh). I can't get into the freakin Wall guys gees, lotta going way too easy on em
Great review Abigail! You nailed it on this one. Love the wisdom, wit and humor you put into this. Definitely agree with the sentiments here. The last great hurrah of Pink Floyd. Thank you for all you do cause this made my day! 😀
A very important album for me, I didn’t hear the entire thing until I was 15 and it really spoke to me. It’s cliche to say it, but some albums you listen to, others you feel. It was a hand on my shoulder that told me I wasn’t alone in feeling alienated and alone. The idea of me being on a giant side of a wall and everyone else on the other side made sense to me.
The Wall and Pink Floyd meant the world to me when I was an edgy teen in the late 2000s. Strangely, it helped me get through the bulk of my adolescence.
I definitely had a Wall period in 2005, when I was 21. I still think it's my favorite Pink Floyd album, though DSOTM and Wish You Were Here are also fantastic.
Wow you did a fantastic job of braking down the album and the fantastic information about the album that I didn't know. When my son graduated from high school I got him the double album at the same age of 18 I hope he will enjoy it as much as I did.
I think you've served this album well today the presentation was enthralling. Also, I think you did do more than scratch the surface. It was like a close read of a text and it convinces me to look/listen to this rich text again. Will I ever love the album which has big moments but can be so difficult a listen? Mm. Hope the Slowdive gig is/was a life-changing experience. Neil will/ does/did notice you for sure!
slowdive was wonderful, you'll see how close i got to the stage in the next vid probably! neil doesn't look up from the pedalboard much but another viewer recognized me in the merch line! THAT was a trip lol
Favourite track? “Waiting For The Worms”, not only is it a healthy warning against falling into a downward descent into fascism but is in a most contrary way one of the most beautiful pieces of music on the album. There are though parallels to be found between “Tommy” and “The Wall”. In no way am I saying that the latter plagiarises the former but ”The Wall” does owe at least a nod to “Tommy”; father doesn’t (seemingly in “Tommy”) return from WWII, an abusive mother (albeit in the form of an over abundance of love in “The Wall”), a dramatic slide into a debilitating mental or physical condition out of which rises a hero (or anti-hero in “The Wall”), I could go on, so I will just a little. That they both reach such extraordinary heights in terms of climax is somewhat inevitable, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” is anthemic while the Waters/Ezrin composed “The Trial” is an absolute masterclass in how to write for musical theatre. It clearly borrows its setting from Victorian London and might well be the only rock track to take inspiration from Gilbert & Sullivan. At the end of the day both are equally viable, though “The Wall” spells out its narrative in a much more accessible way than “Tommy”. “The Wall” is more believable settling on poetic licence to make it larger than life as opposed to “Tommy” which demands you relocate your listening position from wherever you are to a place deep inside the mind of its protagonist. “The Wall”, though nonetheless immersive, asks nothing more of the consumer than to watch, listen and learn. As for THAT 3 song run of “Vera”, with yet more beautiful scoring by Ezrin, “Bring The Boys Back Home” and “Comfortably Numb”, though not the albums climax certainly serves as the overture to the grande finale. I’d certainly swap “Empty Spaces” out for “What Shall We Do Now”, it was cut purely for time reasons and “Empty Spaces” was felt to express the same ideas but with greater brevity. As a slight aside I must urge you to beg, borrow or even buy a copy of “Is There Anybody Out There?”, a limited two CD amalgamation of the live shows which is one of the greatest sounding live albums and the closest you’ll get to being there, unless of course you were. Well done on one of your finest achievements to date ….. again.
OMG I got goosebumps when she produced that sleeve. That album fell on a very personal level back in 2002 when I first listened them. EDIT: I got goosebumps for a good part of the video (and yeah "Rog" is kind of an a$s). Great content! Keep up the amazing work!
After I listened to the album for the first time I probably replayed it like 6 more times in just a month, nowadays I really listen to it or any of the songs from it 'cause I agree, you really have to be in the mood for it, it really is one of a kind
you knocked this out of the park! your script, editing, and delivery are all super *you* and this was really enjoyable the whole way through! instant sub ✨
I remember listening to a history of Pink Floyd radio show where Bob Ezrin talked about his first day with the group. On his way in he said he caught up with a guy that walked off their crew with his back hunched over. He told Bob "You see this? They did this to me!"
Never really got into the wall but will definitely give it a good listen after this vid, also the reference to Bowie makes me think you should do some vids about the thin white Duke Era, that Era fascinated me so much
Hello! First time seeing your content. Really liked this video and now subscribed so I can see future ones. Hard to pick out songs on the wall for me. It's one that I listen to all the way through almost every time. It's a wonderful companion anytime I am enveloped in the darkness and surprisingly comforting. Also very excited to see Slowdive again but I have to wait until Oct 4 (Neil is a badass and I love so much of the work he's done in multiple projects). Thank you for the content.
Nice essay on a rich subject! I’m going to check out your other ones. The solos from money and time are way more gritty and soaring than anything on animals. The first solo in comfortably numb is akin to the middle part of the one in time - both major scales too. The solo in another brick part 2 is kindred to money’s - they both have swagger, high bends, double stops etc also they groove. Animals doesn’t have memorable solos, there are amusing ideas but it doesn’t quite “rock” like money and time or stuff from the wall. The wall’s ominous side reminds me of the mysticism of Echoes
it's funny you mention echoes, this observation was left on the cutting room floor bc i just didn't have the time to scavenge echoes for it: i swear on my life they sampled it on is there anybody out there. please tell me if you hear it too
@@abigaildevoe yeah definitely they use this distortion pedal trick that they used in the middle section of echoes where it sounds like seagulls but in is there anybody out there it makes me think of weird and ominous distant screams. Maybe they lifted the tapes from echoes like you say (this was pre sampler days) or maybe just recreated it as it would be easy, it’s just a matter of plugging in the output cable to the wrong side of the effect (the input: out through the in door you might say!) and fiddling with knobs kind of like using an analog synth. The sound on is there anybody is reminiscent to me of some sort of wicked cackling while on echoes more like bird cries. What do you think? There’s a similar effect on animals which is like a dog barking but I don’t find it as convincing
When it first came out, I was still a big Floyd head and HAD to have it but, "Animals" was JUST STARTING to leave me cold. When I got "The Wall", I played it a good bit but it was actually alienating me from Floyd even more than "Animals" did. In the spring of 1980, my cousin, who lived 3 doors away from me, said that he knew of a local band that was gonna be looking for a drummer, soon, and suggested that I, a life-long drummer dating back to my days in the womb, should audition. As he was good friends with their drummer, Doug, he set it up for me to try out. I had no competition at all so, I got the job. The name of the band was, Young Lust! They were mostly a covers band and had existed under that name for at least 3 or 4 years, by that time. Before that, they were, "Otis and The Red-Z". A few MONTHS later, Doug left the band (It was SUPPOSED to be about 2 or 3 months but ended up being 7! He just didn't wanna leave!) and I took over on drums. Not long after that I suggested that we do, "Another Brick In The Wall", all 3 parts as one song so, we did. About a year later, we dropped that, partly because my singer, Bob (he spelled it backwards) was writing a lot of original stuff so, most of the covers eventually got left behind. This was fine with me because, by this time, I started to hate "The Wall".! It was becoming quite clear that Pink Floyd was becoming Roger's backing band and all he wanted to sing about was shit about his young life and his father dying in the war! The next album, "The Final Cut" (The Wall Part 2) made that VERY clear!! When I first got into Pink Floyd via their best album, "Ummagumma", I thought Roger was king shit!! Couldn't get enough of him! By the time "The Wall" came out, I'd HAD enough and didn't really care for him much, anymore. I liked his first few solo albums, to a degree (haven't heard any of them in about 40 years!) but, it felt like everything was another part of "MY FUCKING DAD DIED IN THE WAR!!" and, "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR MY MUSIC!!". I don't think I've heard anything beyond, "Radio K.A.O.S.". The nail in the coffin for me, as far as "The Wall" goes, is the night I took a girl to see the movie and she asked if a mutual friend could come with us. I fancied it as more of date for she & I but, I didn't mind him coming along. We were all best friends. We got to the theater and all sat together, she between us and, I couldn't help notice that 99% of the time, she was talking to HIM during the movie rather than (or at least including) me!! Then the movie just got more and more depressing on top of that and, shortly before it ended, I got up and left and they never even noticed I was gone! I doubt I've listened to the full album more than once after that although I HAVE heard both live recordings they released of it. "Pulse", "Is Anybody Out There?". And OF COURSE radio HAS to play the living shit out of "Comfortably Numb" every fucking day of the week for the past 44 years!! Do they beat-off to that in the station? Is THAT why they play it so much? If it ain't that it's fucking, "Free Bird" or, "Stairway To Heaven"!!! Besides, "S. F. Sorrow", my fave rock opera is, "Jesus Christ Superstar". There was another one around that time called, "Virgin" by a band called, The Mission and another by Smoke Rise called, "The Survival Of St. Joan". I don't really even consider "The Wall" to be a rock opera. By the way, the original had no sticker on the cover. There was just a plain white sheet of paper under the shrink with the band and album names printed on it in Gerald's style. The sheet was about 3 x 5 inches and was not stuck to the cover. Also, which is heavier, a shit ton, a fuck ton or any other kind of ton? Nobody's ever been able to tell me which weighs more. Oh, and, about 2 years into my residency in the band, we changed our name to, Thin White Line, then back to Otis & The Red-Z for a couple months, then back to Thin White Line where it stayed for the rest of my 25 year stay.
Thanks Abigail! Great thoughts on The Wall. I was a freshman in high school when this came out. It changed my life! I was awakened to psychological torment in the people that were closest to me. My dad was a war veteran, my mom a protective passive aggressive, my teachers as functional alcoholics. All in all, the recognition that everyone was isolated within their particular loneliness and torment. Being young and noticing that the world was shit, major recession, post-Vietnam malaise, the threat of a new war with Iran and the hostage situation, added up to a withdrawal from the world and an introspective prison. Not fun. There had to be some hope in the end. I am now almost 60. I discovered hope is found in the beauty of simple things. Look for beauty, then you will find truth. Push aside the static coming at you from too many sources. Your life is your life, not what the tribe wants you to be.
This is a great video! As a long Pink Floyd's fan, this a story I already know from head to toes, but the way you told it was really engaging and I couldn't stop watching. Laugh my ass off at the bit at 16:39. Subscribed!
The Wall is one of my fave albums. The Wall movie is one of my fave movies. It's a lowkey horror movie to me too. Abused deformed children shoved through a giant meat grinder, it does the whole crazy monsters representing trauma thing way before Silent Hill, a rockstar losing his mind to fascism. It's basically an Edgar Allen Poe story on steroids!
I enjoyed your connection to the wall and sense of humor. You did jump to a conclusion about Pink and his wife's relationship. Would the man she is secretly having an affair with answer the phone so freely and nonchalantly? NO! The relationship was obviously already in tatters. There is no sign of pink cheating either. Due to the pain of loosing his wife to his own choices he tried to sleep with a groupie but couldn't. His knowing of his own guilt of be at fault for his wife leaving him explodes as he destroys all items in the hotel room that dared to show him his own reflection. Peace/JT
Hearing someone calling the music you listened to in your youth as “Classic Rock” makes you feel ancient. You have an impressive collection of LPs. I still have hundreds of LPs from the 1960s-1980s and really miss the cover art from those days. Something missing when you purchase digital albums from iTunes. I spent a fortune buying digital copies of my favorite LPs.
"Downward Spiral" is better, unironically. Trent Reznor, like Roger Waters, is a control freak who is not a nice person. But "Downward Spiral" is 100% Reznor's vision.
The Wall is my favorite album of all time by any artist. When I was a kid (I first heard it at age 11) I used to just love the music on a surface level. The older I got, the more I became fascinated with how the album was made, the band dynamics and so on. Everything I learned about how it was made, just enhanced the music.
The Wall was an absolute favorite for me when it came out. Now I would need to edit it down considerably to enjoy it. You really have done your research and I applaud the fact that a 20 sumthin individual has the depth of knowledge you have. Kudos!
This was a great video, loved your enthusiasm & knowledge, it was a joy to watch. As for the Wall, I find it a miserable album it is almost the antithesis of what i love about Floyd, which is their dreamy atmospheric soundscapes. Love Piper it is an imaginative display of riches, after Syd's departure they were a bit directionless but nicely expressive. I think they made a mistake ceding all the lyric writing to Roger, it gave them a greater sense of direction, but ultimately was at odds with the musical direction of the other 3 members.
you're right, floyd was a little directionless for 4 years there after syd had to leave. once they found their footing again they were right back to that atmospheric magic though
Yeah, Rick was in no shape to be in the producer's chair for The Wall. It was obviously a much more involved production than their earlier albums and the stakes could not have been higher. As I understand it, when the call came for the Floyd to receive a bonus for delivering the album in time to be released at Christmas, Rick had already gone on holiday and refused to return. It's not at all surprising that Roger insisted he be fired for that. It's easy to write this off as Rick=sympathetic vs. Roger=demoniac authoritarian a-hole, but Rick was really in the wrong here. The Floyd needed every penny they could get at this point, it was go time. Considering the personal stress he was under, he should have just taken the L on the producer role and been satisfied; maybe he wouldn't have even been called back at the end. Yeah, Roger's a control freak but they were crafting the album that was to save them from complete bankruptcy and you need a control freak at the helm in that situation.
Hear hear! Too many rag on the genius of Floyd -- Roger -- even as they dig his creations... Some of them do so due to his far-left politics, which is just another reason that I love the man AND his music.
Rick was there for the recording process but Waters and Ezrin felt he wasn't giving enough creative input. So for that and spending too much time sailing and a bad habit that was getting worse, they fired him. I think Rick and Roger were both fed up with each other at this point and this was Roger's baby from the beginning anyway since Gilmour and Wright were basically out of ideas from their own solo LPs a year prior and it shows. So this to me, since its release, is a first Roger Waters solo album with the band as extra's and they had to call Rick back for the Wall Tour and hire him as a session player for the tour and he was paid per performance as he was no longer a member of Pink Floyd.
Thank you for GETTING IT! I have preached over and over the same narrative that you are and nice to say SEE, I TOLD YA! I subscribed. Gotta go watch more of your videos! 🤘😎🤘
Your analysis is pretty much spot on. I agree that there are multiple layers and complexities, it took me many many years to finally understand and appreciate that this album is the definitive artistic work of my generation. Nothing else really comes close, including Dark Side, a great album, but The Wall is still a level or levels ahead of that or any other album. P.S. I happened to be at that 1977 Montreal show, the final show of the Animals tour, at the Big O (they say the stadium depicted on the inside sleeve resembles it). My seats were up in the gods, the sound was pretty bad as you would expect in a big concrete bowl, and I had no idea of the spitting incident until I read about it years later. But I take some satisfaction that I was there for the genesis of The Wall.
The Montreal Olympics stadium is indeed renowned for the bad acoustic. If it's the place you're talking about. And people in Montreal are very easy to please, the minute they sense a bit of arrogance or if if they have reasons to think the artist doesn't care for them, all hells break loose. If you don't live here, think of a mix of Paris, France, and let's say Liverpool, England. I live here but I'm from Germany and I can clearly see it.
Enjoyed this video a lot---the different voices are an absolute hoot! 😂 The album is too much of a downer for my taste, but I do appreciate it's symbolic importance to those in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. That was HUGE.
all of side three, biggest influence on my writing, discovered my synesthesia, weep all the way through it , I find it so beautiful especially is there anybody out there and nobody home with the atmosphere sounds in the background
Pros and Cons is Clapton's best album. I'm too old to care about Roger Waters' angst any more but The Wall is a pleasure to listen to in front of a pair of good speakers.
Back in 1980 during my senior year in HS, I finally woke up to Pink Floyd through this amazing album. But I actually wasn’t into them full swing until I saw that famous midnight movie, “ The Wall. “ Plus some heavy influences from college roommates, of course. So The Wall has always been special to me and thanks to your detailed review and captivating assessments, I’ve gained even more admiration for this masterpiece. And I love your comparison to “ Tommy “, the original rock opera classic 10 years before. However I’m hard pressed in deciding which of those two I like the most. Someday I’ll listen to them back to back. An excellent way of spending 4 hours 😆. Thanks again Abby !
My all time favorite Floyd album, you really, really need to be in the mood or really high or buzzed to really listen to it in full and digest it in all of it's dark, twisted story
to best enjoy the wall you either have to be zooted beyond this mortal plane, a little drunk, the best time in your life, or the absolute lowest you've ever been. there is no in between
I had been a PF fan since the late 60s, so that when The Wall was released I was in great anticipation. I remember being at my cousin's house when he had just brought it home, and I walked in to his game room just as Another Brick In the Wall/Happiest Days came on the the stereo. I was appalled at what I had heard.....Disco coming off a PF record! It took me years of therapy to get over that one.😧 I only came back to give the work another try a very long time later. It was a struggle, but eventually I came to appreciate it without prejudice or prior context. Even now I still have to be in a certain mood to really consume it, however, there are certainly some jewels and gems lying within as it covers a broad and deep landscape of musical styles. It will never be a music-for-any-circumstance such that it requires investment by listener to gain any reward.
I remember this when it was released on Nov 30th, 1979 and all the hype around it and listening to it on the way to see the Who on Dec 6th in Cleveland, 3 days after the fatal stampede on Dec 3rd in Cincinnati 1979 and it was very somber and that album was just too depressing to listen to but we listened nonetheless. The Wall is a masterpiece, but Animals is a much better LP or an ultra masterpiece. And Pink Floyd was broken after Dark Side Of The Moon. If Im not mistaken Richard Wright was fired at the end of the Wall recording sessions in late 1979 and rehired as a non-member for the 1980 Wall tour or an extra under contract and paid per performance because they could not find anyone else. He's not a member of Pink Floyd on that tour! And since both Gilmour and Wright put out solo albums in 1978, they were at a minimum for ideas and creative input, so in reality, this was Roger Waters first solo LP under the guise of Pink Floyd.
Glad I found your channel. Very true about Tommy not even close to The Wall. The Wall came out when I was in high school loved it from day one to today.
what’s your favorite song on the wall? comment below!
‘Vera’ - touching tribute to Vera Lynn
the trial, my mom thinks it's a cult or something. gotta listen to it with headphones on
Hey You
Since "Comfortably Numb" will probably get the most mentions, I'll go left and say "Goodbye Blue Sky".
RUN LIKE HELL
It’s remarkable that such a dark personal album was the number one album in the country for nearly four months. I think it will always speak to alienated people, it helped get me through some hard times in life, and I’m glad it will always be with us.
Same with The Cure. Musical anti-heroes
Billy Corgan actually thought a lot of Cure stuff sounded happy to him, but they indeed spoke to a lot of people struggling with their emotions, like good music often does and should
It spoke to me as well
Many of us. It’s no accident we’re still talking about it after all these years
Also, late seventies. Most of Lynyrd Skynrd died in a plane crash. Keith Moon died in 1978. Disco was king and it was hard for rock acts to sell albums. Rock was in a dark place.
I was 15 when The Wall was released, living in a boys’ home with other rejects. We were huge fans of DSOTM, WYWH and Animals. None of those albums prepared is for The Wall. We were spellbound. Each and every one of us felt the record in a very personal way. We had each built our walls and we understood all of it on an emotional level. At the same time, it was so liberating. A battle cry. One of my favorite memories is of the night a friend and I got caught driving in a snow storm and had to go really slow. We turned the radio off and sang The Wall from start to finish, improvising the instrumental parts by making weird noises. We knew every guitar solo. The thing is in my DNA. I think it has aged well.
driving at a snail's pace singing the wall from front to back from memory...that's a magical experience. your comments are a wealth of them, thank you always
@@abigaildevoe awww. Thank you so much. I think the world of you.
P.S. this one had me in hysterics. Lots of LOLz
I has 2 years released from a group home "Greystone house" living on my own for the first time at age 17. Remember the first Day they played it on the radio.
@@nashkita77 I think it’s especially resonant for those of us who grew up feeling profoundly unloved (foster homes, group homes and the like).
It helped to be a latch-key kid (Gen-X), and especially single digits, on the cusp of double digits, when The Wall came out, to truly live in a headspace where you get it in an instant. In other words, where you don't need to be "in the mood" to appreciate The Wall but where hearing anything from The Wall immediately puts you in that headspace. That (my) generation were all kids of broken homes. For a lot of us there was no dad around, and life could be pretty brutal. I think that resonated with us, especially, and still resonates with kids in that position. I also don't think Roger "accidentally" wrote a commentary on patriarchy and how a man might come to treat women badly; he very intentionally wrote a commentary on how a society treating children with alternating coldness and brutality can cause them to be terrible adults to everybody around them (that's the whole point of the wall being built). It just happens to be that the society in this case was largely patriarchal and Pink's targets were mostly (not all) women. Note that Pink's mother is a problem, as well. So some matriarchal elements are also responsible for how awful he is. It is a much larger societal problem, and a very British (and also, American) problem. In the end, Pink is aware of what has shaped him, and he is critical of that society and he is remorseful. It's a profoundly human album, that coached a lot of us into being better people.
I think (and I am not alone) that the studio version of the Comfortably Numb outro solo is the greatest guitar solo ever recorded. I love David, but he never came close again to it, live. Nobody has ever again matched that pure fury of tone and intensely forward-leaning playing.
Toni "Do That to Me One More Time" Tennille sings backing vocals on The Wall.
"wow... look at this tub! Wanna take a bath?"
I particularly like Rick's keyboards on Don't Leave Me Now, Satie-esque uneasy calm framing Pink's looming psychosis.
can't believe i missed that, thank you for pointing that out!
Kind of hard to notice when it's a synthesizer. Never thought of it that way. What about his playing on nobody home? Kind of reminds me of Saties gnosiegnnes
David actually agreed with Roger that Rick wasn’t contributing enough
Rick was a jazz guy, not a theatrical keyboard man...
Rick even said he wasn't doing enough
What an album.
So dark but brilliant.
I saw a show for this album's tour. When that plane flew overhead, I knew I was done: No concert would ever surpass what I was experiencing. I've been to many shows since then, and that prediction remains correct.
Hey Abby, thank you so very much for shouting out the channel and the video! It came out absolutely fantastic and made us all wish for "Fragile" to be featured on a Vinyl Monday episode ;))
Hey! Looking forward to watching your videos (thanks Abby!)
Yes yes need a Yes almost as bad as I need the Octopus, aughh the treachery of that damn jar (bravo again on the cover art rank list!😊)
thank you so much naomi! yes will work their way into the series eventually, but i think i have a lot to answer for regarding my opinions on animals first haha
Toni Tennille did some vocal harmonies on The Wall as well
The wall is a masterpiece of an album. It breaks my heart you don’t like animals which is another masterpiece. But it’s ok .
Animals took me quite a while before it clicked with me, but now I listen to it the most. I'm hoping the same will happen for her.
First floyd i heard was borrowing an animals cassette from the local library as a kid and i was like wtf is this garbage... That was then 😂
pigs on the wing
Hey, how about this, u guys don't win the UCL this season, u loan Saka to us.
I'm not a huge Animals fan either, so I totally get it.
The film is a masterpiece. I used to see glimpses of it on TV and eventually watched it on VHS enough times that I never need to go back there. It's etched into my brain. Of all the twisted films I saw in my youth that I never need to see again, The Wall is the most beautifully twisted.
While Alan Parker was a great director, I like what I see in my head when I listen to The Wall, all due respect to him and the film.
THIS comment!!!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🎉🎉🙌🏽💖
Wot I want to know is it still available on any platform or medium? It seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth
Or am I looking in the wrong places?
The contrast between David and Rodgers voices is perfectly used to show the states of Pinks slip into crazy. This album is such a big part of my life.
Ezrin had to work hard to get Gilmour’s stuff on there, The Wall was almost a solo album
yep I have heard that, Rodger was Floyd in his own mind by this point it seems. Sad I guess but history has shown one part is less then the whole even when that part writes the words. Its music not a book.@@konowd
I always felt that Floyd needed Roger as a lyricist and he needed Gilmour and company as a band. It’s not the same without each other.
@@konowd All of my favorite tunes have Gilmour writing credits in there.
@@smaug1234 Ezrin was a producer and did what producers do: produce. The Wall was written almost entirely by Waters, so it's not hard to imagine that he wrote them with his voice in mind.
Plus, I don't believe 99% of what people say in comment sections and forums about Waters. Their stories and claims are products of the "telephone game". There might be a small grain of truth somewhere in there, but by the time it gets to me it's total BS. At the very least extremely exaggerated.
Wow... That was an epic review. So great to hear a review from someone who has such passion and knowledge. Review of your review...... 10 out of 10
thank you, glad you liked the video!
How do you only have 20k subs? Your content is 10/10, keep it up!
meanwhile i'm here thinking how do i already have 20k subs?? thank you so much!
To me it's the greatest album ever made...a cornerstone of dark art that it not likely to ever be topped. Fun fact, I did a report in middle school on the album and my teacher let me play Goodbye Blue Skies from the VHS of the movie for the class. They weren't ready for it.
Great reaction, and i like your take on having Bowie's Thin White Duke as a reference to Pink. There was definitely some overt fascism in that iteration of Bowie's alter-egos.
David Jones liked Jews a little more than Waters does, I think.
Living off cocaine, hot peppers & milk will do that to a person. It's been said that was his diet during the Station To Station sessions, which, once they were over, he never remembered.
I was a freshman in college when the wall came out. It was played CONSTANTLY in the dorms for months. When I was walking back from classes it was playing from someone's window. Of course I played it a lot myself for many years. It is one of the greatest albums ever made.
not gonna lie i wish i heard the trial blaring out of someone's dorm window while in college
instead i was the one blaring the trial out my dorm window
I've studied the lyrics on this album so much that it's driving me crazy. The similarities to my own life are undeniable, which is why I haven't listened to this record in ages. But I think it's time to listen to this masterpiece again.
Love the Monkees insert of Circle Sky during the transitions.
So happy to hear a “Vera” shout-out at the end. That was always my favourite Pink Floyd song growing up - I used to think I would name a child after it one day.
I used the name in a story i wrote.
What has become of you?
m.ruclips.net/video/HsM_VmN6ytk/видео.html
@@coloradopeoplesnews7676
Does anybody else in here….
That section during the live show in 2010 was the emotional peak of the show...
Roger Waters & David Gilmour agree on little but both championed the 2004 Scissor Sisters disco/Bee Gees inspired cover of Comfortably Numb.
This is an album that with every listen I discover something new from a haunting sound effect to a surprising solo that I didn't pay attention to the first time around for a band that was in huge turmoil at the time they delivered a sonic masterpiece that's both timeless and endlessly creative
I LOVED The Wall back in High School when we were stoned all the time. We'd get baked and drive around listening to a cassette of The Wall.
Comfortably Numb was our official grad song. We acted accordingly.
Run Like Hell, Abby... then take your Slowdive and returning home in a Rush frame of mind sounds good to me! Your brilliant reviews always drive me towards my own stacks to revisit some old friends! Thank you for all your hard work.
Hi Ms. Devoe....That was fantastic. I watched it all. It really is a very creepy album. Thank You.
Althought i heard that story many times over, it's you that tells it with the most passion, thanks Abi 😋
In all my years of viewing, I have never seen before, anyone more deserving of the full accolades of your audience, click that thumbs up!
Fascinating analysis. Love seeing young folks like yourself appreciating classic prog rock. I'm 68 so this is the music I've lived by/with for a long time.
I really appreciate your style of writing and your approach to these reviews. Super entertaining. Great job lady keep them coming.
thank you! writing these is the best part. if i could do just that and know my jokes would be delivered right, i'd just do that
Found this channel a couple weeks back. Love it. 🎉🎉🎉
I appreciate you getting so much into the analysis of the Floyd muse. I've never had the opportunity with someone live to dig so deeply into my favourite muse. I appreciate the channel ;)
Great analysis as always, Abby! Waters was very crafty by holding back TWO solo albums worth of material while Gilmour and Wright released their solo albums, thus giving Waters leverage when new material was needed quickly to produce an album to pay off their tax debt. Clever bastard.
Regarding the film - the first time I saw it was a midnight showing. The stranger next to me was on . . . something, and spent the entire film rocking side to side and pretending to shoot himself in the head. Couldn’t have asked for a better viewing companion for that film.
Im not even a hardcore classic rock fan but you make it so interesting and have a fantastic channel!
thank you! it's always nice seeing non-classic rock people dropping by
I've been meaning to finally do a proper deep dive into Floyd, so this is very well timed. Much obliged
What an excellent job. I never really knew the whole story or even bothered to look into it but i love the Wall and have heard it 100's of times. This was great.
This masterpiece of an album was first heard in the 2000s by me, i love it; my father whose is dead now recommended me Pink Floyd, with all the mourning for his funeral, you came to happy me a little, thank you
i'm so sorry for your loss. i hope the music can heal you, and please treat yourself kindly
@@abigaildevoe thank you
Sorry for your loss
Roger Dean a huge influence on my early artist years … I’m heading over !
Btw the Wall … got so sick of Another Brick at number one in the charts back in the day ..😫
Hear hear on both counts, that kid's exhaustive Roger Dean thing is pretty great (still a handful I do need to own heh heh).
I can't get into the freakin Wall guys gees, lotta going way too easy on em
Saw the live show in 1980...awesome doesn't describe it! Took my daughter to see Waters Wall tour 30 plus years later. It , too, was awesome...
Great review Abigail! You nailed it on this one. Love the wisdom, wit and humor you put into this. Definitely agree with the sentiments here. The last great hurrah of Pink Floyd. Thank you for all you do cause this made my day! 😀
A very important album for me, I didn’t hear the entire thing until I was 15 and it really spoke to me. It’s cliche to say it, but some albums you listen to, others you feel. It was a hand on my shoulder that told me I wasn’t alone in feeling alienated and alone. The idea of me being on a giant side of a wall and everyone else on the other side made sense to me.
it's not cliche at all, there are albums i've had on this series that i can't NOT feel. next week's is one of those!
That’s actually a tagline from one of my favorite movies, Ordinary People, some movies you watch, others you feel, which is also true
Idk why I had this album on repeat all week
I've never seen your channel before, this was interesting. thanks!
Did I hear helium Miss DeVoe!? Great post Madam! Loved this work of art!
re: helium: i figured out how to do audio effects and now i’m making it everyone’s problem LOL
The Wall and Pink Floyd meant the world to me when I was an edgy teen in the late 2000s. Strangely, it helped me get through the bulk of my adolescence.
I definitely had a Wall period in 2005, when I was 21. I still think it's my favorite Pink Floyd album, though DSOTM and Wish You Were Here are also fantastic.
Fantastic video. Not sure why RUclips hasn’t highlighted your videos to me before.
Wow you did a fantastic job of braking down the album and the fantastic information about the album that I didn't know. When my son graduated from high school I got him the double album at the same age of 18 I hope he will enjoy it as much as I did.
I think you've served this album well today the presentation was enthralling. Also, I think you did do more than scratch the surface. It was like a close read of a text and it convinces me to look/listen to this rich text again. Will I ever love the album which has big moments but can be so difficult a listen? Mm.
Hope the Slowdive gig is/was a life-changing experience. Neil will/ does/did notice you for sure!
slowdive was wonderful, you'll see how close i got to the stage in the next vid probably! neil doesn't look up from the pedalboard much but another viewer recognized me in the merch line! THAT was a trip lol
What a coincidence. This came out while I was transcribing Run Like Hell.
Yeah. I was just listening to Mother for the first time in ages and this pops up. I was also running into or from Hell. Not sure which.
Well done video as always Abby 👏 A lot of things I didn't know about this masterpiece
Just wanted to say, I thought I knew everything about the making of The Wall - but learned some new stuff from this. Thanks so much.
Favourite track? “Waiting For The Worms”, not only is it a healthy warning against falling into a downward descent into fascism but is in a most contrary way one of the most beautiful pieces of music on the album.
There are though parallels to be found between “Tommy” and “The Wall”. In no way am I saying that the latter plagiarises the former but ”The Wall” does owe at least a nod to “Tommy”; father doesn’t (seemingly in “Tommy”) return from WWII, an abusive mother (albeit in the form of an over abundance of love in “The Wall”), a dramatic slide into a debilitating mental or physical condition out of which rises a hero (or anti-hero in “The Wall”), I could go on, so I will just a little. That they both reach such extraordinary heights in terms of climax is somewhat inevitable, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” is anthemic while the Waters/Ezrin composed “The Trial” is an absolute masterclass in how to write for musical theatre. It clearly borrows its setting from Victorian London and might well be the only rock track to take inspiration from Gilbert & Sullivan.
At the end of the day both are equally viable, though “The Wall” spells out its narrative in a much more accessible way than “Tommy”. “The Wall” is more believable settling on poetic licence to make it larger than life as opposed to “Tommy” which demands you relocate your listening position from wherever you are to a place deep inside the mind of its protagonist. “The Wall”, though nonetheless immersive, asks nothing more of the consumer than to watch, listen and learn.
As for THAT 3 song run of “Vera”, with yet more beautiful scoring by Ezrin, “Bring The Boys Back Home” and “Comfortably Numb”, though not the albums climax certainly serves as the overture to the grande finale.
I’d certainly swap “Empty Spaces” out for “What Shall We Do Now”, it was cut purely for time reasons and “Empty Spaces” was felt to express the same ideas but with greater brevity.
As a slight aside I must urge you to beg, borrow or even buy a copy of “Is There Anybody Out There?”, a limited two CD amalgamation of the live shows which is one of the greatest sounding live albums and the closest you’ll get to being there, unless of course you were.
Well done on one of your finest achievements to date ….. again.
The wall has always been a beast of an album for me to get through. This definitely has made me want to give it another shot!
Brilliant summation. I subbed based on this one video.
Also, subbed on 365 days of prog. This'll give me hours of YT time.
Just discovered this channel and the video, I like this video and you did a great job talking about the wall.
Thank you for the video.
OMG I got goosebumps when she produced that sleeve. That album fell on a very personal level back in 2002 when I first listened them. EDIT: I got goosebumps for a good part of the video (and yeah "Rog" is kind of an a$s). Great content! Keep up the amazing work!
After I listened to the album for the first time I probably replayed it like 6 more times in just a month, nowadays I really listen to it or any of the songs from it 'cause I agree, you really have to be in the mood for it, it really is one of a kind
HOORAY YIPPEE YAHOO WHOOPE SO HAPPY THANK YOU ABBEY!
you knocked this out of the park! your script, editing, and delivery are all super *you* and this was really enjoyable the whole way through! instant sub ✨
also excited to see some Rush coverage from you :O
I remember listening to a history of Pink Floyd radio show where Bob Ezrin talked about his first day with the group. On his way in he said he caught up with a guy that walked off their crew with his back hunched over. He told Bob "You see this? They did this to me!"
Never really got into the wall but will definitely give it a good listen after this vid, also the reference to Bowie makes me think you should do some vids about the thin white Duke Era, that Era fascinated me so much
i'd absolutely do a vid on the berlin trilogy, and we're in dire need of a ziggy stardust redux. it's the second worst episode lol
Beautifully presented and articulated. You know your shit Abigail.
Hello! First time seeing your content. Really liked this video and now subscribed so I can see future ones. Hard to pick out songs on the wall for me. It's one that I listen to all the way through almost every time. It's a wonderful companion anytime I am enveloped in the darkness and surprisingly comforting. Also very excited to see Slowdive again but I have to wait until Oct 4 (Neil is a badass and I love so much of the work he's done in multiple projects). Thank you for the content.
thank you, welcome to this long strange trip! it's only gonna get weirder from here. i am a certified Neil Halstead Girlie, my gig was amazing
Nice essay on a rich subject! I’m going to check out your other ones. The solos from money and time are way more gritty and soaring than anything on animals. The first solo in comfortably numb is akin to the middle part of the one in time - both major scales too. The solo in another brick part 2 is kindred to money’s - they both have swagger, high bends, double stops etc also they groove. Animals doesn’t have memorable solos, there are amusing ideas but it doesn’t quite “rock” like money and time or stuff from the wall. The wall’s ominous side reminds me of the mysticism of Echoes
it's funny you mention echoes, this observation was left on the cutting room floor bc i just didn't have the time to scavenge echoes for it: i swear on my life they sampled it on is there anybody out there. please tell me if you hear it too
@@abigaildevoe yeah definitely they use this distortion pedal trick that they used in the middle section of echoes where it sounds like seagulls but in is there anybody out there it makes me think of weird and ominous distant screams. Maybe they lifted the tapes from echoes like you say (this was pre sampler days) or maybe just recreated it as it would be easy, it’s just a matter of plugging in the output cable to the wrong side of the effect (the input: out through the in door you might say!) and fiddling with knobs kind of like using an analog synth. The sound on is there anybody is reminiscent to me of some sort of wicked cackling while on echoes more like bird cries. What do you think? There’s a similar effect on animals which is like a dog barking but I don’t find it as convincing
When it first came out, I was still a big Floyd head and HAD to have it but, "Animals" was JUST STARTING to leave me cold. When I got "The Wall", I played it a good bit but it was actually alienating me from Floyd even more than "Animals" did.
In the spring of 1980, my cousin, who lived 3 doors away from me, said that he knew of a local band that was gonna be looking for a drummer, soon, and suggested that I, a life-long drummer dating back to my days in the womb, should audition. As he was good friends with their drummer, Doug, he set it up for me to try out. I had no competition at all so, I got the job. The name of the band was, Young Lust! They were mostly a covers band and had existed under that name for at least 3 or 4 years, by that time. Before that, they were, "Otis and The Red-Z". A few MONTHS later, Doug left the band (It was SUPPOSED to be about 2 or 3 months but ended up being 7! He just didn't wanna leave!) and I took over on drums. Not long after that I suggested that we do, "Another Brick In The Wall", all 3 parts as one song so, we did. About a year later, we dropped that, partly because my singer, Bob (he spelled it backwards) was writing a lot of original stuff so, most of the covers eventually got left behind. This was fine with me because, by this time, I started to hate "The Wall".! It was becoming quite clear that Pink Floyd was becoming Roger's backing band and all he wanted to sing about was shit about his young life and his father dying in the war! The next album, "The Final Cut" (The Wall Part 2) made that VERY clear!! When I first got into Pink Floyd via their best album, "Ummagumma", I thought Roger was king shit!! Couldn't get enough of him! By the time "The Wall" came out, I'd HAD enough and didn't really care for him much, anymore. I liked his first few solo albums, to a degree (haven't heard any of them in about 40 years!) but, it felt like everything was another part of "MY FUCKING DAD DIED IN THE WAR!!" and, "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR MY MUSIC!!". I don't think I've heard anything beyond, "Radio K.A.O.S.".
The nail in the coffin for me, as far as "The Wall" goes, is the night I took a girl to see the movie and she asked if a mutual friend could come with us. I fancied it as more of date for she & I but, I didn't mind him coming along. We were all best friends. We got to the theater and all sat together, she between us and, I couldn't help notice that 99% of the time, she was talking to HIM during the movie rather than (or at least including) me!! Then the movie just got more and more depressing on top of that and, shortly before it ended, I got up and left and they never even noticed I was gone! I doubt I've listened to the full album more than once after that although I HAVE heard both live recordings they released of it. "Pulse", "Is Anybody Out There?". And OF COURSE radio HAS to play the living shit out of "Comfortably Numb" every fucking day of the week for the past 44 years!! Do they beat-off to that in the station? Is THAT why they play it so much? If it ain't that it's fucking, "Free Bird" or, "Stairway To Heaven"!!!
Besides, "S. F. Sorrow", my fave rock opera is, "Jesus Christ Superstar". There was another one around that time called, "Virgin" by a band called, The Mission and another by Smoke Rise called, "The Survival Of St. Joan". I don't really even consider "The Wall" to be a rock opera.
By the way, the original had no sticker on the cover. There was just a plain white sheet of paper under the shrink with the band and album names printed on it in Gerald's style. The sheet was about 3 x 5 inches and was not stuck to the cover.
Also, which is heavier, a shit ton, a fuck ton or any other kind of ton? Nobody's ever been able to tell me which weighs more.
Oh, and, about 2 years into my residency in the band, we changed our name to, Thin White Line, then back to Otis & The Red-Z for a couple months, then back to Thin White Line where it stayed for the rest of my 25 year stay.
Sir this is a Wendy’s
@@onlyonestarwarsfan5337 Okay, I'll have a triple with cheese, mayo & ketchup and a medium fries....to go.
Thanks Abigail! Great thoughts on The Wall. I was a freshman in high school when this came out. It changed my life! I was awakened to psychological torment in the people that were closest to me. My dad was a war veteran, my mom a protective passive aggressive, my teachers as functional alcoholics. All in all, the recognition that everyone was isolated within their particular loneliness and torment. Being young and noticing that the world was shit, major recession, post-Vietnam malaise, the threat of a new war with Iran and the hostage situation, added up to a withdrawal from the world and an introspective prison. Not fun. There had to be some hope in the end. I am now almost 60. I discovered hope is found in the beauty of simple things. Look for beauty, then you will find truth. Push aside the static coming at you from too many sources. Your life is your life, not what the tribe wants you to be.
This is a great video!
As a long Pink Floyd's fan, this a story I already know from head to toes, but the way you told it was really engaging and I couldn't stop watching. Laugh my ass off at the bit at 16:39.
Subscribed!
The Wall is one of my fave albums. The Wall movie is one of my fave movies. It's a lowkey horror movie to me too. Abused deformed children shoved through a giant meat grinder, it does the whole crazy monsters representing trauma thing way before Silent Hill, a rockstar losing his mind to fascism. It's basically an Edgar Allen Poe story on steroids!
I enjoyed your connection to the wall and sense of humor. You did jump to a conclusion about Pink and his wife's relationship. Would the man she is secretly having an affair with answer the phone so freely and nonchalantly? NO! The relationship was obviously already in tatters. There is no sign of pink cheating either. Due to the pain of loosing his wife to his own choices he tried to sleep with a groupie but couldn't. His knowing of his own guilt of be at fault for his wife leaving him explodes as he destroys all items in the hotel room that dared to show him his own reflection. Peace/JT
Hearing someone calling the music you listened to in your youth as “Classic Rock” makes you feel ancient.
You have an impressive collection of LPs. I still have hundreds of LPs from the 1960s-1980s and really miss the cover art from those days. Something missing when you purchase digital albums from iTunes. I spent a fortune buying digital copies of my favorite LPs.
One of the best reviews I've heard of The Wall, seriously. You were great.
I loved your review. I consider "The Wall" the last great statement of the "album rock" era.
"Downward Spiral" is better, unironically.
Trent Reznor, like Roger Waters, is a control freak who is not a nice person. But "Downward Spiral" is 100% Reznor's vision.
I never taken the time to listen to the whole thing. I'll check it out.@@zimriel
The Wall is my favorite album of all time by any artist. When I was a kid (I first heard it at age 11) I used to just love the music on a surface level. The older I got, the more I became fascinated with how the album was made, the band dynamics and so on. Everything I learned about how it was made, just enhanced the music.
what a great detailed review!
The Wall was an absolute favorite for me when it came out. Now I would need to edit it down considerably to enjoy it. You really have done your research and I applaud the fact that a 20 sumthin individual has the depth of knowledge you have. Kudos!
Woo-hoo, only 100 subs from 20k. You go, Abby 👍
This was a great video, loved your enthusiasm & knowledge, it was a joy to watch. As for the Wall, I find it a miserable album it is almost the antithesis of what i love about Floyd, which is their dreamy atmospheric soundscapes. Love Piper it is an imaginative display of riches, after Syd's departure they were a bit directionless but nicely expressive. I think they made a mistake ceding all the lyric writing to Roger, it gave them a greater sense of direction, but ultimately was at odds with the musical direction of the other 3 members.
you're right, floyd was a little directionless for 4 years there after syd had to leave. once they found their footing again they were right back to that atmospheric magic though
Omg this review is awesome! ❤in parts unintentionally hilarious - its a great story told in a interesting way! 🎉😅 Thanks Abby!
Damn, this is well done! Nice work.
Ayyy hope you had fun seeing slowdive!!!
They are awesome 👌
my gig was amazing! you'll see how close i got to the stage in the next vid
Yeah, Rick was in no shape to be in the producer's chair for The Wall. It was obviously a much more involved production than their earlier albums and the stakes could not have been higher. As I understand it, when the call came for the Floyd to receive a bonus for delivering the album in time to be released at Christmas, Rick had already gone on holiday and refused to return. It's not at all surprising that Roger insisted he be fired for that. It's easy to write this off as Rick=sympathetic vs. Roger=demoniac authoritarian a-hole, but Rick was really in the wrong here. The Floyd needed every penny they could get at this point, it was go time. Considering the personal stress he was under, he should have just taken the L on the producer role and been satisfied; maybe he wouldn't have even been called back at the end. Yeah, Roger's a control freak but they were crafting the album that was to save them from complete bankruptcy and you need a control freak at the helm in that situation.
Hear hear! Too many rag on the genius of Floyd -- Roger -- even as they dig his creations... Some of them do so due to his far-left politics, which is just another reason that I love the man AND his music.
Rick was there for the recording process but Waters and Ezrin felt he wasn't giving enough creative input. So for that and spending too much time sailing and a bad habit that was getting worse, they fired him. I think Rick and Roger were both fed up with each other at this point and this was Roger's baby from the beginning anyway since Gilmour and Wright were basically out of ideas from their own solo LPs a year prior and it shows. So this to me, since its release, is a first Roger Waters solo album with the band as extra's and they had to call Rick back for the Wall Tour and hire him as a session player for the tour and he was paid per performance as he was no longer a member of Pink Floyd.
Thank you for GETTING IT! I have preached over and over the same narrative that you are and nice to say SEE, I TOLD YA! I subscribed. Gotta go watch more of your videos! 🤘😎🤘
Thank you, that was a fascinating review!
Your analysis is pretty much spot on. I agree that there are multiple layers and complexities, it took me many many years to finally understand and appreciate that this album is the definitive artistic work of my generation. Nothing else really comes close, including Dark Side, a great album, but The Wall is still a level or levels ahead of that or any other album. P.S. I happened to be at that 1977 Montreal show, the final show of the Animals tour, at the Big O (they say the stadium depicted on the inside sleeve resembles it). My seats were up in the gods, the sound was pretty bad as you would expect in a big concrete bowl, and I had no idea of the spitting incident until I read about it years later. But I take some satisfaction that I was there for the genesis of The Wall.
The Montreal Olympics stadium is indeed renowned for the bad acoustic. If it's the place you're talking about. And people in Montreal are very easy to please, the minute they sense a bit of arrogance or if if they have reasons to think the artist doesn't care for them, all hells break loose. If you don't live here, think of a mix of Paris, France, and let's say Liverpool, England. I live here but I'm from Germany and I can clearly see it.
No need for comparison.
Both great albums. The world would be less without either.
@@miguelservetus9534 Well said, I can't disagree.
Enjoyed this video a lot---the different voices are an absolute hoot! 😂 The album is too much of a downer for my taste, but I do appreciate it's symbolic importance to those in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. That was HUGE.
LOL you can tell exactly when in my videos i figured out the audio effects
all of side three, biggest influence on my writing, discovered my synesthesia, weep all the way through it , I find it so beautiful especially is there anybody out there and nobody home with the atmosphere sounds in the background
Fantastic video. Best Wall analysis Ive seen
Pros and Cons is Clapton's best album.
I'm too old to care about Roger Waters' angst any more but The Wall is a pleasure to listen to in front of a pair of good speakers.
better than layla??
@@abigaildevoe In my opinion. It's more mature musicianship. He's seasoned.
He really is just as angry now as he was back then. Like at some point, you think he would grow up a bit.
He just got senile at age thirty.
My favorite album of all time
Back in 1980 during my senior year in HS, I finally woke up to Pink Floyd through this amazing album. But I actually wasn’t into them full swing until I saw that famous midnight movie, “ The Wall. “ Plus some heavy influences from college roommates, of course. So The Wall has always been special to me and thanks to your detailed review and captivating assessments, I’ve gained even more admiration for this masterpiece. And I love your comparison to “ Tommy “, the original rock opera classic 10 years before.
However I’m hard pressed in deciding which of those two I like the most. Someday I’ll listen to them back to back. An excellent way of spending 4 hours 😆. Thanks again Abby !
Highlight of my week this ❤
My all time favorite Floyd album, you really, really need to be in the mood or really high or buzzed to really listen to it in full and digest it in all of it's dark, twisted story
to best enjoy the wall you either have to be zooted beyond this mortal plane, a little drunk, the best time in your life, or the absolute lowest you've ever been. there is no in between
The Wall is a masterpiece one of the greatest albums of all times.
Not as good as Dark Side.
@@johnbrowne2170 I agree John.Thank you.✌
@@danielfuentes3226 I also think Wish You Were Here is better.
@@johnbrowne2170 I like that album.It's a great album.✌
I had been a PF fan since the late 60s, so that when The Wall was released I was in great anticipation. I remember being at my cousin's house when he had just brought it home, and I walked in to his game room just as Another Brick In the Wall/Happiest Days came on the the stereo. I was appalled at what I had heard.....Disco coming off a PF record! It took me years of therapy to get over that one.😧
I only came back to give the work another try a very long time later. It was a struggle, but eventually I came to appreciate it without prejudice or prior context. Even now I still have to be in a certain mood to really consume it, however, there are certainly some jewels and gems lying within as it covers a broad and deep landscape of musical styles. It will never be a music-for-any-circumstance such that it requires investment by listener to gain any reward.
Great job on this review. Very entertaining too.
I remember this when it was released on Nov 30th, 1979 and all the hype around it and listening to it on the way to see the Who on Dec 6th in Cleveland, 3 days after the fatal stampede on Dec 3rd in Cincinnati 1979 and it was very somber and that album was just too depressing to listen to but we listened nonetheless. The Wall is a masterpiece, but Animals is a much better LP or an ultra masterpiece. And Pink Floyd was broken after Dark Side Of The Moon. If Im not mistaken Richard Wright was fired at the end of the Wall recording sessions in late 1979 and rehired as a non-member for the 1980 Wall tour or an extra under contract and paid per performance because they could not find anyone else. He's not a member of Pink Floyd on that tour! And since both Gilmour and Wright put out solo albums in 1978, they were at a minimum for ideas and creative input, so in reality, this was Roger Waters first solo LP under the guise of Pink Floyd.
I was at that Who concert at The Coliseum. WMMS was great then, too.
Tell me why I do like mondays 😊
Glad I found your channel. Very true about Tommy not even close to The Wall. The Wall came out when I was in high school loved it from day one to today.