Another 40 - Pink Floyd's "The Wall"

On November 30, 1979, Pink Floyd released perhaps one of their EPIC works since the greatest. This was their double rock opera album The Wall.

A little background

After the success of 1977's Animals and the corresponding tour, Roger Waters called a meeting where he presented two proposals for the next record. One of the proposals was a 90-minute recording with a working title of Bricks in The Wall. The other was The Pros and Cons of Hitch-Hiking, which ultimately became Waters' first solo record after he left Floyd in 1985.

Waters based bits and pieces of the story on his own life. In particular that fact that Waters' own father, Eric Fletcher Waters, was killed in 1944 during World War II when Waters was only six months old or so. Waters also went through the rigors of corporal punishment in the school system.

However, what really was the driving force behind the album was the band's recent tour. By 1977, the band graduated to larger stadiums and arenas. While playing as part of their In the Flesh Tour, Waters felt upset by the fact that their shows were becoming more of a social call rather than just an event were fans sit patiently to listen. The pouring crowds overwhelmed the band so much so that Richard Wright even threatened to quit the band and Waters being first to arrive to the venue and leave immediately afterwards.

One of the mo st significant performances of the tour was at Montreal's Ollympic Stadium. There were some fans who were screaming and making Waters nervous, so much so that he spat in one of them. All these events led him to invision a method of isolation from society, which begs the question...

...what really is The Wall?

The "wall," is not a literal wall despite making multiple references to bricks. Rather, it is a metaphorical symbol for a barrier of isolation - the bricks being events in one's life that form the person's "wall."

In tandom with this example, Pink (the protagonist), loses his father in WWII. Later in the story he is put through corporal punishment in class and deals with his overprotective mother. Eventually, he finds a girl who cheats on him which becomes more "bricks."

Pink eventually plots to form a Nazi rampage and break down homes in the area. This eventually leads to him going on trial where the judge sentences that the "wall" be torn down. At the end of the album, we can conclude that "the ones who really love you go up and down outside the wall," and that by isolating yourself from society, you also hide yourself form those who mean well.

Bob Ezrin Producing

Waters looked up to Canadian producer Bob Ezrin for help with the album. Ezrin's contribution involved bringing in the Islington School Choir to sing on Part 2 of Another Brick in The Wall. Unfortunately, there was no compensation plan for the students' time, so they were given...a free copy of the final album! The school also received a lump sum from Harvest Records.

The childrens' voices are not Ezrin's first. Seven years ago he had utilized the same idea on Alice Cooper's record School's Out, although this was not as pronounced as The Wall. Ezrin always enjoyed working on school-related tracks and incorporating childrens' voices when and where appropriate.

What about Richard Wright?

Folks this is a big one. Even though Rick Wright did play on the record, Waters let him go during recording, but at the advice of Harvest executives, Wright stayed on as a salaried musician. Their next album, 1983's The Final Cut, literally featured Floyd as a power trio. The band did continue as a trio after Waters left, but the lineup was Mason, Gilmour, Wright, so not a "power" trio.

The Album vs The Movie

Three years after the album, a movie was made to go along with the album. While the movie does keep some identical things, there are a few important differences.

-When the Tigers Broke Free is a new two-part suite (a la Pigs on The Wing). While the song did not feature on the original album, it was issued as a bonus track on a remastered edition of The Final Cut.
-The phone calls heard after Young Lust were pushed ahead to an earlier part playing between Mother and Goodbye Blue Sky.
-Speaking of which, the songs are not all in order and some are missing. Goodbye Blue Sky now comes after Another Brick in The Wall, Part 1. The Show Must Go On and Hey You are cut to cap the length of the video, but the latter was released as a bonus feature of the DVD albeit with black/white raw footage.
-Empty Spaces is also out replaced by a simillar What Shall we do Now? Occassionally, Floyd would put those two together on their 1980-81 promotional tour.
-Part 2 of ABITW has been remixed being played at a slightly faster tempo - by the time the choir comes in.

Legacy and Promotion

Floyd have performed the record in its entirety during their 1980-81 tour. In fact, they released it as a double live album in 2000. As you might imagine, as with all Floyd shows, it was very theatrical with a real wall being built, and members performing through and even on top of the wall!

To commemorate the falling of the Berlin Wall in 1990, Waters again performed the whole record in 1990. The show featured many prominent musicians of the day such as Paul Carrack on Hey You and Bryan Adams on Young Lust (in my opinion, his voice sounded fabulously on that track as it does sort of sound like an Eagles song and Adams' voice is very simillar to Henley's as it is to Rod Stewart's).

Between 2009 and 2010, Waters performed a 30th Anniversary Tour of The Wall, but will there be a 40th Anniversary? Well, Mr. Waters hasn't spoken about it yet, to my knowledge, but I sure hope so! After all, I regret not going to the 30th Anniversary Tour.

Did Supertramp's Crime of the Century Influence The Wall

As I stated in yesterday's post, Supertramp do not really get the respect and attention they deserve, and being that we're talking about The Wall, it has led me to believe that their 1974 smash album that plucked them out of obscurity, Crime of The Century, may have had a (perhaps indirect) influence on The Wall.

What makes me think that? The first side of the album foccus on themes on schooling, isolation, and even mental health. The first track in particular describes the school system and the intense rules governing it (such as "the teacher tells you stop your playing get on with your work)." The third track, Hide in Your Shell, has a theme of isolation. It compares a human being to a turtle and just like a turtle has a protective shell, encourages the listener to protect themselves from society. Asylum, referring to a mental asylum, is also SLIGHTLY influential. Pink is portrayed a rockstar and like some rockstars tends to use lots of drugs (seen when he is smoking at the start of the video). It can also be inferred that Pink does not take his profession seriously and "it's just a game he plays for fun."

And on the second side of Crime, did I mention the gong on the title track, the gong sounds a lot like a simillar sound on Hey You?