Pink Floyd "The Wall" (2 lp) (1979)

vinyl cover

The Wall
release date: Nov. 30, 1979
format: vinyl 2 lp (gatefold  - 7C 156-63410) / cd (1990 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, James Guthrie
label: EMI / Harvest / EMI - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "In the Flesh?" - 2. "The Thin Ice" - 3. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)" - 4. "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" - 5. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" - 6. "Mother" - - B) 1. "Goodbye Blue Sky" - 3. "Young Lust" - 4. "One of My Turns" - 6. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)" - - C) 1. "Hey You" - 2. "Is There Anybody Out There?" - 3. "Nobody Home" - 5. "Bring the Boys Back Home" - 6. "Comfortably Numb" - - D) 1. "The Show Must Go On" - 2. "In the Flesh" - 3. "Run Like Hell" - 4. "Waiting for the Worms" - 6. "The Trial"

11th studio album by Pink Floyd originally released on Harvest is released as a double gatefold album. Roger Waters continues his dominating position in the band, which also made this the last album with the original line-up, or at least what was the band since the second album (with David Gilmour replacing Syd Barrett). Waters has written all compositions (with the exception of three co-written with Gilmour, and one with Bob Ezrin) and exclusively put him and Gilmour in the production seat of band members, which was another new initiative. The recording of the album was a long enduring process in and out of studios on both sides of the Atlantic, which resulted in Richard Wright's departure of the band, apparently, feeling he had no part in the project anymore. This was not the first album I heard with the band but the first I purchased. I remember being in London the following winter and having brought a list of albums to buy on behalf of my older brother with at least three Pink Floyd albums that I didn't know. My brother already had The Wall, so I knew of it, and really liked it, so I bought the album for myself alongside albums with The Police, Dire Straits and what have you - I didn't even know of punk rock until I came back home and discovered a whole new world of fantastic music. The Wall is of course enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", and, although, rating The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) higher, which has to do with its musical significance, The Wall is most certainly my favourite Pink Floyd album if forced to pick just one.

Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]