Album Info
THE WALL was a mighty,
sprawling affair, featuring twenty-six songs with vocals--nearly as many
as all previous Floyd albums combined. The story revolves around the fictional
Pink Floyd's isolation behind a psychological wall. The wall grows as various
parts of his life spin out of control, and he grows incapable of dealing
with his neuroses. The album opens by welcoming the unwitting listener
to Floyd's show ("In The Flesh?"), then turns back to childhood memories
of his father's death in World War II ("Another Brick In The Wall [Part
1]"), his mother's overprotectiveness ("Mother"), and his fascination with
and fear of sex ("Young Lust"). By the time "Goodbye Cruel World" closes
the first disc, the wall is built and Pink is trapped in the midst of a
mental breakdown. On disc 2, the gentle acoustic phrasings of "Is There
Anybody Out There?" and the lilting orchestrations of "Nobody Home" reinforce
Floyd's feeling of isolation. When his record company uses drugs to coax
him to perform ("Comfortably Numb"), his onstage persona is transformed
into a homophobic, race-baiting fascist ("In The Flesh"). In "The Trial"
he mentally prosecutes himself, and the wall comes tumbling down. This
ambitious concept album was an across-the-board smash, topping the Billboard
album chart for 15 weeks in 1980. The single "Another Brick In The Wall
(Part 2)" was the country's best seller for four weeks.
DISC 1: (39:21)
DISC 2: (42:03)
Pink Floyd:
Roger Waters
David Gilmour
Rick Wright
Nick Mason
With...
Bruce Johnston,
Toni Tennille, Joe Chemay, John Joyce, Stan Farber, Jim Haas and pupils
from Islington Green School Choir.
Recorded between
April and November 1979in Super Bear Studios, Frankrig
CBS, New York
Producers' Workshop,
Los Angeles
Produced by David
Gilmour, Bob Ezrin, Roger Waters
Co-producer and
engineer: James Guthrie
Engineers: Nick
Griffiths, Patrice Quef, Brian Christian, John Mclure, Rick Hart
Orchestera arrangements:
Michael Kamen, Bob Ezrin
Sound equipment:
Phil Taylor
Sleeve design:
Gerald Scarfe, Roger Waters
The lyrics for 'What Shall We Do Now?' was printed on the innersleeve, but the song didn't make it to the album. Side 2 was too long and the song was dropped. If one more song should have been on the album it would have been necessary to comprise on the technical quality. 'Empty Spaces' was originally a short reprise of 'What Shall We Do Now?'.
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