Whatever anybody thinks of me or my mis-spellings or mis-quotes … just thought I’d throw that in there . . . :wally
I think that that the the DVD by Roger Walters “Live at the Berin Wall” is the best interpitation of “The Wall” that I have ever seen. Really brings it home. And appears to be a sleeper on the DVD racks.
For those younger folks, Roger wrote “most” of the Wall (he was “pink”) and this is a concert that he did live at the Berlin Wall around the time when they were tearing down the actual walll (1989) between east and west Berlin. Great show. He chose to have many of the top artist of the day (including Sinaed O’Conner) perform the parts that where originally performed by the original group and they out did them. Byran Adams kicked ass.
If you ever wondered what all the hype was about “The Wall” you should bye-pass the original movie and check this out. Seriously. IMHO.
There was some hype when The Wall was released, 30 Nov 1979. However, I think most hard core Floyd fans today see it as substandard and waaay too long. We all understand that RW had father issues, but the guy takes himself much too seriously.
For a better take on what Floyd could be (but aren’t) today, check out the studio concert with Gilmour, where he does some really good versions of Floyd tunes.
I’ve got four Floyd albums on CD and think that’s enough: Atom Heart Mother, Umma Gumma, DSOTM and Wish you were here.
I’ve seen The Wall: Live In Berlin many times and I have to agree with you, Si Amigo, it’s one of the best shows you’ll see. There’s some sound cuts of many songs from different artists that I linked so you can preview it first.
Yeah, Waters had issues, but that’s what gave him the madness and drive to come up with some cutting edge music of the time. He is Pink Floyd. Gilmour is a great guitarist, but not the main creative force that made the band what it was. Had all of the albums a while back, still have most of them on CDs now. They are in my top 3 groups that have influenced my life…good and bad…er um, mostly good.
My pick…“Hey You” sung by Paul Carrack.
Honorable mention…“The Trial” with Albert Finney and Thomas Dolby.
Yes, because of internet downloads, I’ve been introduced to Syd Barrett, and find his “style” much more captivating than Waters’. While the post-Syd Pink Floyd albums of Meddle, DSOTM, Wish You Were Here (minus “The Machine” and “Have a Cigar”), and even Animals are some of my favorite albums, I find The Wall to have an unsettling combination of extreme melodrama and average songwriting. Together, the two make for an album where the music doesn’t justify the message.
Dark Side of the Moon, on the other hand, is so layered, both in emotion and sound, that personally I find it to be their best work.
Still like Syd’s stuff though too.
I will have to check out Live at the Belin Wall. Sometimes different perspectives can change your perceptions of the same pieces.
She may be a bit of a nut job but Sinaed O’Conner singing Mother gives me chills. That and Van Morrison doing Comfortably Numb are worth the cost alone.
The full on East German marching band, a helicopter and cameos made it one hell of a show.
For a long time* The Final Cut* was my favorite Floyd album. It’s like a purified version of The Wall. All the father issues and political issues boiled down to their essence.
The problem with “concept” rock is that musical tastes change with time. What sounded revolutionary and cutting edge in the seventies sound pompous and self-important now.
Yes, Floyd, Rush, and a ton of other great bands sound terribly dated on their more experimental albums, but at the time were very respected. A kid today would have a tough time figuring out why Tommy was such a big deal, much as I find Casablanca slow paced and boring.
2112 still kicks ass muically, but oy vey, some of those lyrics (Attention all planets of the solar federation…We have assumed control…).
For what it’s worth, I think The Final Cut aged poorly, but the rest of Floyd’s catalog is still awesome (think I’m gonna go listen to Animals now).
Live at the Berlin Wall is fantastic, but more because of the location and time than the music itself. The Wall is a fine album but not perfect, but being in Berlin shortly after the Berlin Wall came down the crowds reaction when the Wall is knocked down in the show is truely electrifying.
Even though some of the stars involved aren’t the best they all do well, and when the star involved was good it was the perfect choice.
Joni Michelle, Jerry Hall, Thomas Dolby, Tim Curry, and The Band were all fantastic.
The whole Wall concept was supposed to be a live theatrical experience from the beginning. I’m not keen on the album (I gave my copy away) most of it never really sounded like PF to me - some of the music is very weak. And the film is a drag. But the Berlin gig was quite an event.
It’s years since I saw it (was it shown live?) I remember there was a power failure and Roger Waters came on stage and tap danced. That’s not something you’d see at a Floyd gig.
[QUOTE=Small ClangerIt’s years since I saw it (was it shown live?) I remember there was a power failure and Roger Waters came on stage and tap danced. That’s not something you’d see at a Floyd gig.[/QUOTE]
Yes it was shown live on UK tv, and was quite a fiasco in places with power and sound problems. The dvd version available now manages to edit out all of the problems. Cindi Lauper couldn’t be heard in the live telivised version I saw (whether that is a plus or a minus is left up to the reader to decide) but her performance is fully restored and sounds fine on the DVD.
As a matter of fact, much of the songs Waters wrote suggests losing Syd haunted him. Shine on You Crazy Diamond. There are others I can’t think of now in my quick reply.
I also thought that a lot of the songs regarding insanity mixed with genius were about Syd Barrett, as if Roger Waters was really taken aback by Syd’s plight.
I was at the concert. Still have my program and paper crowd mask, too.
The sound went completely dead (except I think for the on-stage monitors) just as Ute Lemper started singing “The Thin Ice” and did not come back up until, IIRC, the end of “Another Brick in the Wall Part I.” Waters announced right after the sound came up (and in the middle of the music) that they would redo those songs after the show ended. They did not do so. I can only assume they either recorded the missing songs that appear on the album during rehearsals or at some later date. The film covers it up too.
As for the show: Pretty cool. More fun as an event than an actual concert, since there were about a half million people crammed into Potsdamer Platz, but a definite sense of history and cameraderie.
As for the performance: Hit and miss. Some of the guests were great (Sinead O’Connor), some were acceptably good (Bryan Adams), and some sucked big time (Cyndi Lauper and, yes, Van Morrison and his godawful croaking on “Confortably Numb”). Nowehere near as good as the original, or the live recording they put out for the 20th anniversary.
As for the original: It certainly has not aged as well as Floyd’s other albums, in large part because Waters only wrote three damn songs for the whole thing and repeated them five times each. Still, it’s an impressively ambitious achievement for a rock album, and the highlights are incredible stuff.
I’m not a hardcore Floyd fan, but that’s how I feel about it. I think that with a concept album, ultimately you have to choose between sticking religiously to the concept and writing good songs. Otherwise you end up doing subpar songs that fit the themes and beating people over the head with them. The better option is to stray from the themes somewhat and include better songs.
Yes, or you can go with a more broad concept to begin with. The Dark Side of the Moon is good in that it has a “concept” but isn’t tied down by being too narrative the way the Wall is.
In my opinion the Wall has some excellent music, Comfortably Numb would have to be my all time favourite song for a number of reasons, but it also has far too much filler whose purpose is just to be a vehicle for Waters’ sometimes mediocre lyrics.
Personally I believe that the music must be good to start with, then the lyrics need to be good in case the listener decides to look deeper into the song. Once you get into the territory of good lyrics over poor music, you may as well go and recite poetry.
Gilmour and Waters were a pretty good combination. By themselves their weaknesses become readily apparant, together they tended to hide each other’s weaknesses. To me, the Wall had a little too much Waters and not enough of Gilmour and the other blokes.
As for the Wall: Live in Berlin, I liked some of it, I disliked Van Morrison a lot, I liked Sinead O’Conner and I remember liking Bryan Adams. As a version of the album I’d much rather listen to the Live at Earls Court release rather than the studio version or the Berlin one. As a momento to an historic event though, I think The Wall: Live in Berlin is an important album.
Oh by the way, which one’s Pink?
Nick Mason of course, he’s the only one who has been in the band from start to finish.
Say what you will about The Wall, but “When the Tigers Broke Free” is such a chillingly perfect song about how a child might feel if his father was killed in a war that everything else pales in comparison. I still can’t hear that song without feeling a visceral impact on my emotions in my bottom of my chest.
And yet it was the one song they omitted from the album. Go figure.
Seriously. IMHO.