Self indulgent?   Yes.  Pretentious?  Yep.  Bleak? Definitely  (I’m not really selling this very well am I?)  Stunning?  Absolutely.  This is the album that caused the seizure which would become the rift that was the second most famous fall out in music history.  (Sorry Dave and Roger but Paul and John take the gold medal on that one).  

The critics hated it... but this was 1979 when punk had supposedly blown away the old guard.  It would take real balls to disregard ‘the phoney Beatlemania’ mantra of The Clash or the ‘no future’ venom of The Sex Pistols in favour of a four side LP concept album which chronicles the mental demise of a  fictional rock-star. The tide was turning and music journalists have never been known for swimming against the tide, have they? 

Schizophrenic and psychotic, The Wall deals with all the factors which contribute to the mental breakdown of fictional rock star ‘Pink’; a father killed in the second world war, an unhappy childhood, a failed marriage, the rock-star excesses.  It bounces off in different directions, changing tempo, style, and event from song to song while still advancing the narrative as we witness a rock star’s withdrawal inside a metaphorical wall between him and society.

There are some less accessible, maybe even weaker, songs – The Trial, Vera to name two, which sit alongside moments of genius – Comfortably Numb being the most obvious one - and not forgetting the title song itself.  But these difficult moments just contribute to the albums greatness.  The whole album is greater for not being an easy listen, for testing you and messing with your head and your mood.

It is not ‘often overlooked’ in favour of  Dark Side Of The Moon or Wish You Were Here.  It is always overlooked.  Well not by me.

When I reach for Floyd, it isn’t these two albums (as great as they are), and it certainly isn’t Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (which the NME consistently tells us is their best album – stifles yawn).   Nope for me, Floyd’s greatest, most ambitious  album is The Wall.

Posted In Classic Albums, Feb 07 2009. Words - Thomas