Style:
Track Listing - Read the Lyrics
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
7. Goodbye Blue Sky
8. Empty Spaces
9. Young Lust
10. One of My Turns
11. Don't Leave Me Now
12. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)
13. Goodbye Cruel World
14. Hey You
15. Is There Anybody Out There?
16. Nobody Home
17. Vera
18. Bring the Boys Back Home
19. Comfortably Numb
20. The Show Must Go On
21. In The Flesh
22. Run Like Hell
23. Waiting for the Worms
24. Stop
25. The Trial
26. Outside the Wall
Reviews
by Chris Dressner
by Ed Durham
by James Floyd
by Michael Alexander Cormack
The Wall Album Review
By Ed Durham
I have not been a Floyd fan for very long, but I can claim to enjoy all 3 eras of the band: Syd's, Roger's, and David's dominance. Having said that, I'll get to my actual subject:Why I don't like "The Wall"
Dark Side, WYWH, MLOR, and Division Bell are very evocative. The music flows out of the speakers from some other world and pulls you out of yours. The lyrics are open enough that you can take them in almost any direction. The Wall, on the other hand, is quite different (more like Animals, another album I don't care for). The music is aggresive and mostly without subtlety. It jumps out of the speakers and screams at you (not an attack on Roger's voice, although one would certainly be appropriate). The lyrics are very staight-forward, leaving little to interpretation. Both types of lyrics are (at least in PF's hands) very thought provoking, but where DSOTM, WYWH, MLOR, and DB set a mood and let you take it where you will, the Wall tells you what to think about and what to think about it. Far less fun and rewarding for my time.
My other problem with "The Wall" is that there are very few actually good songs on it. Comforably Numb, Run Like Hell, Hey You and a few others are great songs. Most of the rest are decent songs with great guitar solos. Several of the songs, taken on their own, are average at best (Don't Leave Me Now, Stop,One of My Turns, Bring the Boys Back Home, etc.)
I recognize that I have a minority opinion in this matter (just as, judging from the other reviews, I'm about the only one who really likes Piper). "The Wall" was cvertainly one of the most ambitious undertakings in rock history. The band, and Roger Waters especially, deserve credit for even attempting it. Still, by the end of it, I don't feel anything except that something rather violent has intruded upon my personal space.