It is a story and a deep one at that. Yes, they could have made another album like the earlier ones but they wanted to do something different, and different it was. Some albums are full of great songs, and, admittedly this one isn't. But it is a true concept album so the album is a story rather than just a collection of really good songs. Why is this such a bad thing? And some of the songs on here are crackers - "Comfortably Numb", "Mother", "Another Brick In The Wall Pt 2" "Young Lust" and "Nobody Home" are very good. It is an album from a very complex and eye opening movie - so treat it as that. Creative bands go outside their comfort zone and Floyd did here...Doing so makes music all the more interesting.
Arguably, the greatest rock album ever made. I agree with other reviewers that this album has been unfairly criticized, and I'm not sure why. However you slice it, you come up with greatness. It has the hits: Another Brick, Comfortably Numb, and Hey You. It has a fairly cohesive storyline. Lyrically, it is expressive like few other albums. Has there ever been a line more descriptive than "I feel cold as a razor blade, tight as a tourniquet, dry as a funeral drum"? That is sheer bloody poetry. Though Roger was in full power grab, there is no denying he had a vision, and a brilliant vision at that. What a shame that with The Wall, the band also came crumbling down. Perhaps the criticism is due to mistakenly viewing this album as a collection of individual songs instead of a single statement with many different movements. I would encourage anyone listening for the first time to approach it that way. So even songs that some may call filler, are actually quite essential, and moving, when viewed as a whole. This album is nothing less than musical genius.
Jack Fyrebourne
February 11, 2017
The Wall was my first Pink Floyd album, a 12th birthday present in 1980. I was too young to understand most of it, but I was utterly captivated by music completely unlike anything I had heard before. I suffered from undiagnosed depression as a child, and Roger Waters' dark tale of isolation tapped into my own feelings of isolation and emotional abandonment in a way I had never been able to articulate, even to myself. I didn't understand the story at the time, but I understood the feelings being expressed perfectly. Later, as I began to collect the band's other albums, I realized I was more a fan of Pink Floyd as a band than as a mere vehicle for Roger Waters as they are here. But The Wall remains one of the few albums that can send me back to a moment in time, in this case the moment when I realized I wasn't alone in feeling all alone in the world. The Wall became the soundtrack to my angst-filled adolescence. I suspect it was that way for many others, and that's why such a blatantly non-commercial album became such a massive hit that remains iconic to this day. It's not a perfect album. Like most conceptual double albums, it's bloated at times and the story breaks down in the second half. But its emotional resonance still rings true. The Wall isn't my favorite Pink Floyd album, and it's certainly not representative of their overall output. But it had the greatest impact on me of any album I've ever heard, and for that reason it still holds a special place in my heart.
Azapro Nineoneone
September 15, 2017
Amid ever-growing band turmoil, Roger Waters wrote an absolute masterpiece of rock opera based upon the tragic Second World War death of his father and elements of his own upbringing in post-War Britain.
The storyline is kept remarkably consistent throughout a wide scope of double album rock genres and topics ranging from heartbroken balladry to crunching raunchy blues.
Of course, as wonderful a singular piece as this is, what really drew droves of listeners in were some absolutely stellar choice cuts, prime among which would be Pink Floyd's most accessible post-Barrett single in 'Another Brick in The Wall Part 2', which began life as a short disco-flavoured middle section of the 'Brick' trilogy that periodically crops up throughout The Wall but became an international chart-topper courtesy of producer Bob Ezrin, who looped the verse to extend the song and then added a choir of local school children to the chorus.
'Comfortably Numb' is another mega standout that somewhat harkens back to 'Wish You Were Here' in its lament of a tortured rock star struggling to carry on.
With hindsight this album would in fact mark the beginning of the end for the band's most successful and iconic line-up, with Richard Wright and Nick Mason somewhat distracted by life outside the band for vastly different reasons (indeed Wright would be ejected from the group during these sessions) and Waters beginning to dominate the direction that he thought Pink Floyd should be going in. But my goodness, what an album this is in spite of all the internal woes.
Three or four good tracks (not by chance co-written by Gilmour) cannot explain the consensus for this highly overrated album. As a whole, this is a very boring listen, marred by its literary ambitions, although not as much as what was about to come next.
Russell Newton
February 1, 2016
"The Wall" tells the disjointed story of a rock musician's fall from grace, using Syd Barrett's rise and fall as a reference point. Using an incident with an audience member at a concert a couple of years prior, this purely and simply Roger Waters's baby.
In fact, Waters goes full assertion here, even going so far as having a hand in Richard Wright's dismissal from the band by the time the album was released, then retained as a hired musician for the tour. The band is coming apart at the seams here, evidenced by the number of studio players hired to help complete the album. (Including members of the Beach Boys and Toni Tenille!) Yet somehow through the adversity, the band delivers a solid, tight performance of the material here, making this not only Waters's best work, but his high-water mark and defining moment. Yet, using terms such as self-indulgent and excessive are also appropriate descriptions of the material here."
However, they turn in some of the most aggressive and immediate tracks of their entire career on this album. From the plodding opener "In the Flesh?" to songs like "Another Brick in the Wall", "Young Lust", "One of My Turns", "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell", the performances here are top notch and rank as among their best loved. And David Gilmour delivers the solo of a lifetime to the end of "Comfortably Numb", his vocal duet with Waters one of the last (and best) displays of unity between the two.
The band would spend the next several years tearing itself apart after this, making The Wall the end of Pink Floyd's classic era. But the end is punctuated by one of the best and best known albums they ever put out, even if it exemplifies the excesses of the classic rock era they came from.
An almost 40 year old album with the power of compelling, as of 2017, thousands of souls to be just another brick among thousands in a stadium for a couple hours is, at least, a masterpiece. An cunning masterpiece.
I listened to The Wall in its entirety for the first time in many years today, and my feelings are still the same as in 1980. Floyd fans could rely on the band for compelling psychedelic music up until this album...Waters really broke away from that here. With the brilliant exception of David Gilmour's gorgeous, incredible composition and performance on "Comfortably Numb", most of the album is rather bombastic and overwrought. I know that many fans will dismiss my review, but I've tried numerous times over the years to relate to "Pink", the central character of the loose "story", and I fail every time. Even the tracks that are "not bad" like "Hey You" or "Run Like Hell" are quite mediocre compared to the brilliance and elegance on Floyd's previous albums.
One of the absolute best albums in the world!
It is so complete in both music and lyrics that it is beyond belief.
It is also a much better movie for your inner eye (with headphones on), than the somewhat redundant (but good) movie Alan Parker made of it.
After having made Meddle, Dark side, and Wish You Were Here, there was a subtle but definate change with Animals. But even if few people was prepared for the monumental new direction and originality of The Wall, in retrospect it was the only logical step forward for Pink Floyd.
Roger Waters never was better or as inspired as here, and he uses his voice with an extreme range. Often singing several backup voices in the background also.
The Wall is simply perfect in every possible way. The compositions are spinechilling and performances goosebump inducing, Waters vocals show a nerve and timing of staggering proportions. And David Gilmour runs neck'n neck with his guitar.
Even the soundquality exceed what was thought possible in the late 70's.
As a work of art this album should be listened to from beginnig to end in one sitting
This album always leave me completely drained, yet healed at the same time, like only a handful of other albums do.
Simon Bramhall
June 15, 2022
I’m not going to repeat the pros and cons of other reviews. It is a phenomenal album created during a period where progressive / space rock was not welcomed. It has a fantastic story. There is absolutely no way this record would get made today. I don’t care if Radiohead came up with this concept the non-politically correct aspects of the album would get it shelved. I know Roger or the rest of the band are not racist, homophobic, right wing nazis, etc. but this is how they would be depicted in todays environment. The point being made by the band is this is not acceptable. I am still very happy to see this album consistently sell without the negative aspects coming up, it truly is surprising, but maybe Roger was clear with his approach?
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