Hi all!
Today we will continue to analyze the biography of the group in detail and thoroughly Pink Floyd. This is part II of the blog, and it’s also the final one. However, if for some reason you have not seen Part I, I highly recommend reading. For the rest, prepare a huge portion of mugs with dumplings, and enjoy reading!

So, The Dark Side Of The Moon shot and made a splash. However, Pink Floyd decided not to stand still and record a new album. Yes, such that it is not inferior to the previous one. And in 1975 a new album was released – Wish You Were Here.

Wish You Were Here (1975)

Genre: Progressive Rock

List of tracks:
All lyrics written by Roger Waters.
Side A
1.Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) (Gilmour, Waters, Wright)* – 13:30
2.Welcome to the Machine (Waters) – 7:31
Side B
3.Have a Cigar** (Waters) – 5:08
4.Wish You Were Here (Gilmour, Waters) – 5:40
5.Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX) (Gilmour, Waters, Wright (except Part IX (Wright))) – 12:31

*The author of the composition is indicated in brackets
**This is how singles are marked

After the success of the previous album, Pink Floyd was in limbo – there were difficulties in processing the accumulated material, because “Moon” devastated the foursome both physically and mentally. No one could come up with anything. Speaking about the first sessions, Richard Wright described it as a "beginning of obscurity" and Roger Waters called it a "torturous" time. Drummer Nick Mason found the multi-track recording process lengthy and tedious, while David Gilmour was generally more interested in improving existing material rather than writing something new. A difficult relationship with the media also began due to cynical and bilious articles written by Nick Kent and Pete Irskine, columnists for the music magazine New Musical Express – journalists harshly criticized all new material recorded without the participation of Syd Barrett.

In 1974, during concert tours, 3 songs were born: “Raving and Drooling”, “Gotta Be Crazy” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. Waters decided to develop the last song and turn it into the title song of the new album, which it was decided to dedicate to Syd Barrett. Roger also decided to dedicate the album to criticism of the modern music industry, which has turned into a “money-making machine”. In the first week of New Year 1975, the musicians returned to Abbey Road Studios and began work.

“Shine On” already lasted about 26 minutes during recording. However, Waters decided to experiment and split the song into two halves and scatter them at the beginning and end of the album. Except for Gilmore, everyone supported this idea. After the first and before the second half of “Shine On” there were songs about that very “music business”. Thus, Waters wanted to show the rise and fall of Sid. Recording lasted over seven months with two breaks: one in April 1975, the other in June. The songs "Raving and Drooling" and "Gotta Be Crazy" did not have a place on the new album, so they were postponed until future releases. However, during the recording, an incident occurred that Pink Floyd will probably never forget..

June 5, 1975. The recording of Shine On You Crazy Diamond was coming to an end, the band was preparing for a concert tour in the USA. Suddenly a man entered the studio. He was shaved bald, including his eyebrows, clearly showing signs of obesity, and he was holding a plastic bag in his hands. None of the band members recognized him: Wright thought it was one of Waters’ acquaintances, Gilmour thought it was one of the technical staff. However, it soon dawned on everyone that Syd Barrett had come. Nobody saw him for about 5 years..

What happened to him after leaving the group?? In 1970, at the insistence of EMI and Harvest Records, he began a solo career and recorded two albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett (both 1970). Both albums were produced by David Gilmour. However, in 1972 the contract with EMI ended and after that Sid did not release anything else. Many of Barrett’s acquaintances tried to squeeze something out of him, but to no avail.

And then June 5, 1975… Waters was upset by the appearance of his old friend. According to some, two or three people in the studio were crying. Sid came and talked to people, but no one understood what he was saying. It was a completely incoherent and thoughtless speech.

He listened to Shine On You Crazy Diamond with the band, sitting still until the end of the song. After listening to the end, Barrett said (despite the fact that the song was almost completed) that if needed, he was always ready to help. He later joined the guests celebrating Gilmore’s wedding and, after spending some time in the cafeteria, left without saying goodbye. After that, no one saw Syd Barrett again.

Gilmore called this meeting:

The thin, graceful, albeit not always neat and sober man whom I last saw… turned into something spherical, without eyebrows and hair. It was a big loss. He could have achieved a lot, I would venture to say that he would have become a great man.

Be that as it may, on September 12, 1975, the group was already 10 years old, the album was released. And let’s finally talk about what it was about.

Wish You Were Here touches on themes of alienation, music industry issues and former band member Syd Barrett. Each song carried its own idea, but again they were musically connected, again each song smoothly flowed into the other. What was special about these compositions??

1)Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) — Beginning of the album. With the help of music and lyrics, Waters wanted to convey all the sadness associated with the absence of Barrett, calling him a “crazy diamond”. The whole song is dedicated to him, and in it you can hear the disappointment in the loss of such a great musician. It is perhaps the group’s most famous composition.

2)Welcome to the Machine – long 7-minute composition. She was the one who talked about the music industry as a “Money Making Machine”. This “Machine” knows where you’ve been and what you’ve dreamed of, because it told you so itself. In other words, it leaves no room for creativity. The topic, as for me, is still relevant.

3)Have a Cigar — has already criticized music managers more sarcastically. The lyrics are replete with typical allegories and clichés, such as “we can hardly count,” “we call it riding the gravy train,” and “by the way, which one of you is Pink?”?"(oh by the way, which one’s Pink?) is a question asked to group members at every opportunity. Roy Harper was invited to provide vocals for this song.

4)Wish You Were Here — the song showed not so much Barrett’s depressing state as Waters’ personality development. According to Roger, “it is about the “confrontation between the two sides” of his own contradictory character: the compassionate idealist and the “grasping, greedy, selfish kid who dreams of getting his hands on sweets and eating them all.”. However, Gilmore said that he still remembered Sid when he played her. Another most famous composition of the album and group.

5)Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX) — continuation of the first composition and completion of the entire album.

The song Shine On Crazy Diamond is the band’s longest composition. If you add all the parts together, you get 26 minutes. Complete overtake of Echoes (23:31) and Atom Heart Mother (23:44).

Another feature of the album was the cover. And this time it was handled by the Hipgnosis studio. It was decided to make 2 covers: one for the public and one for trade. To convey the meaning of the songs “Welcome to the Machine” and “Have a Cigar,” designer George Hardy developed a sticker depicting two mechanical hands merging in a handshake against the backdrop of the four elements: fire, water, earth and air. The sticker had to be pasted on a black cover, and already under it contained the cover itself, in which the record lay.

The main cover featured a businessman shaking hands with his burning counterpart (or another businessman). This scene, according to the authors, should symbolize the fact that people, for fear of “burning out,” often try to hide their true feelings.

Gatefold album

The first presentation of some of the album’s songs took place on July 5, 1975 at a music festival in the city of Knebworth. But the concert turned out to be extremely unsuccessful due to unforeseen circumstances: someone stole Roy Harper’s stage costume, which is why he broke the glass of Pink Floyd’s van in a fit of rage; before the start of the performance, two Spitfire planes from the Second World War were supposed to fly over the field with the audience, but due to poor communication, the planes took off too early, and the musicians, not having time to properly set up the equipment, were forced to start playing ahead of time; During the concert, serious problems arose with the power supply, which is why Wright’s keys did not sound at all like they should have (at the slightest increase in volume, they began to be very out of tune, out of tune). The disgruntled musician eventually left the stage, but returned some time later with a less sensitive instrument to take part in the performance of songs from the album The Dark Side of the Moon. On top of that, music critics present at the festival were not allowed backstage, so the first essays about the band’s new material were negative.

After its release in the UK, the album sold 250 thousand. copies of the record and achieved first position on the chart. Sales were so good that there was literally nothing left on the shelves and EMI had to replenish the stock. Regarding the American edition, about 900 thousand were received. orders, thanks to which the album reached number one in the Billboard 200 ranking already in the second week. Until 1991, Wish You Were Here was Pink Floyd’s fastest-selling album.

But criticism from authoritative publications was ambiguous. Rolling Stones journalists said that the potential of the “Shine On” idea was revealed tritely and not fully. Some critics, on the contrary, praised the title song, calling it almost symphonic. Despite this, in 2003 Rolling Stone magazine included the album in the list of the top five hundred and placed it at number 209, and for many listeners the album is considered one of the best. The album took 4th place in the list of Top 25 best progressive rock albums according to Progarchives.com, and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" was ranked number two on their list of the "Top 25 Progressive Rock Songs of All Time".

My opinion about the album: This album began my acquaintance with Pink Floyd, or rather with the song Shine On You Crazy Diamond. This acquaintance was realized thanks to… yes.. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. But I don’t see anything shameful here, because few people around me listened to Pink Floyd and I’m unlikely to start listening to them. And then Araki took it and inserted a reference to them. A great catalyst for meeting a group.

And my opinion is this: the band’s best album, on par with The Dark Side Of The Moon or even better. Shine On You Crazy Diamond, second only to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, is the best song of all time created on this sinful earth. I highly recommend listening to this album.

Genre: Progressive Rock

List of tracks:
Side A
1.Pigs on the Wing (Part 1) (Waters) – 1:24
2.Dogs (Gilmour, Waters) – 17:06
Side B
3.Pigs (Three Different Ones) (Waters) – 11:28
4.Sheep (Waters) – 10:21
5.Pigs on the Wing (Part 2) (Waters) – 1:27

The basis for the album was songs that were not included in the previous one: “Raving and Drooling”, “Gotta Be Crazy”, which turned into Sheep and Dogs, respectively. This time Rick Wright’s role as a composer has decreased. According to him, he wrote nothing at all for this album. The entire album was written by Waters and Gilmour. Even then, some complaints began to appear..

Unlike the other albums, Animals was recorded not at Abbey Road Studios, but at Britannia Row Studios. (I have not discovered the reasons for changing the studio. If anyone knows, go ahead in the comments)

Anyway, the album was https://jogouganhoucasino.co.uk/login/ released on January 23, 1977, and this is what it was about.

This time the concept of the album was similar to the plot of the story “Animal Farm” by George Orwell. All songs describe different classes of people as animals, dividing them into 3 parts: Dogs, Pigs and Sheep. But who are they??

1)Pigs on the Wing (Part 1) – beginning of the album. More optimistic song than all the others. The flying pig, according to Waters, is a symbol of hope.

2)Dogs — The dogs in this song are careerists from large companies, for whom their entire lives are spent in a constant competitive war among themselves for the right to be first. Lose means you die.

3)Pigs (Three Different Ones) — Pigs are the top of the “Social ladder” (moralists, and simply influential people), manipulating society. Of the three described pigs, only the last one could be identified – Mary Whitehouse – an English public figure, an opponent of liberalism and a supporter of strict censorship on TV.

4)Sheep — Sheep are simple people who follow the leaders: Pigs and Dogs. Loyal to the political system and ready to listen to lies. However, at the end of the song, they suddenly rebel against the system, but in the end everything does not end very well.

5)Pigs on the Wing (Part 2) – ending the album on an equally optimistic note.

As usual, the concept of the songs is still relevant today. Even in our country, if you look carefully, you can find the plot of this album. Many have noted that Animals are also part of the response to the punk rock movement, such as the Sex Pistols. The second, by the way, threw a lot of stones at Pink Floyd, considering them an extremely dull group.

The album brought the band two symbols that are now clearly associated with Pink Floyd: London’s Battersea Power Station, now defunct, and the forty-foot inflatable pig photographed on the album cover.

The history of the pig is quite interesting. It was manufactured in Germany at an old airship and balloon factory. On the day when photographs were to be taken, a sniper with a rifle was invited. Due to a lack of helium, the technicians were unable to inflate the pig and the filming had to be postponed. It was only possible to prepare and secure the pig at the power plant, as well as take photographs, the next day. During photography, the pig fell due to strong winds, and air currents sent it towards Heathrow Airport. This was very dangerous for airplanes, and therefore a helicopter was called in to “catch” the ball. However, everything went well and the pig fell twenty miles southeast of London. The animal was returned to its owners for a reward of £1,000. Since then, the pig has become an integral attribute of any Pink Floyd concert.

A replica of a pig photographed in 2011

According to rumors, one of the civilian pilots saw the pig before landing, but did not report it, fearing that he would be immediately sent to a narcologist.

Animals peaked at number 2 in the UK and number 3 in the US in its first week of release. Critics called the album "one of the most extreme, ruthlessly straightforward iconoclastic pieces of music you’ll hear this side of the sun…". However, Rick Wright said that this was not the band’s favorite album.

My opinion about the album: the album is good. Not Wish You Were Here, of course, but I liked the concept of the album. However, in my opinion, the songs sound too boring. I still don’t remember a single song except Pigs On The Wing and the end Dogs. Therefore, I cannot definitively say whether this is amazing or commendable from an objective point of view. But from a subjective point of view: commendable. The album doesn’t grab me very much, but I can recommend listening to it.

In 1977, Pink Floyd toured with the program In the Flash Tour, performing in large stadiums. And during the last concert of the tour at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, some fans were noisy and irritated not only the rest of the listeners, but also the members of Pink Floyd with their behavior. David Gilmour refused to give an encore after the performance Money And Us and Them. Roger Waters couldn’t resist and spat right in the fan’s face. After this incident, Waters was in a state of alienation for a long time. At some point he was ashamed of his behavior, he wanted to isolate himself from the world, to build a “wall”..

While Wright and Gilmour went to France to record their solo albums, and Mason produced the Green album, Roger Waters was writing material for a new album. This is how perhaps Pink Floyd’s most conceptual album was born – The Wall.

However, it’s worth making a little reservation here, The Wall is in a sense a franchise consisting of an album, a film and concerts. In accordance with the named components, the story will be divided into three parts. By what logic, I hope it’s clear.

Genre: Art rock, Progressive rock, Progressive pop

List of tracks:
All compositions except those noted are written by Roger Waters.
Disc 1
Side A
1.In the Flash? — 3:19
2.The Thin Ice – 2:29
3.Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1) – 3:10
4.The Happiest Days of Our Lives – 1:51
5.Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) — 4:00
6.Mother – 5:33
Side B
7.Goodbye Blue Sky – 2:49
8.Empty Spaces – 2:07
9.Young Lust (Waters, Gilmour) – 3:33
10.One of My Turns – 3:34
11.Don’t Leave Me Now – 4:16
12.Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3) – 1:17
13.Goodbye Cruel World – 1:14
Disc 2
Side C
1.Hey You – 4:41
2.Is There Anybody Out There? — 2:57
3.Nobody Home – 3:12
4.Vera – 1:28
5.Bring the Boys Back Home – 1:26
6.Comfortably Numb (Waters, Gilmour) – 6:24
Side D
7.The Show Must Go On – 1:38
8.In the Flash – 4:13
9.Run Like Hell (Waters, Gilmour) – 4:21
10.Waiting for the Worms – 4:01
11.Stop – 0:31
12.The Trial (Waters, Ezrin) – 5:19
13.Outside the Wal – 1:45

Waters’ plans were to write not just an album, but an entire rock opera with a cross-cutting plot. When the whole band gathered at Britannia Row Studios, Roger showed two records with different stories. The first was a 90-minute demo, tentatively titled “Bricks in the Wall,” about a person’s place in society and isolation. On the second – a project about a person’s one-night dreams, which concerned issues of marriage, sex, as well as the pros and cons of monogamy and family life in comparison with polygamy. The group settled on the first option.

However, the group had financial problems. The reason is very complex, but the gist is this: Norton Warburg Group (financial planning) invested £3.3 million (£16.9 million in today’s value) of Pink Floyd’s budget to invest in new ventures. This reduced musicians’ taxes. However, the strategy failed because these same enterprises soon closed and investments went bankrupt. After this, Pink Floyd had to pay tax on up to 83% of the investment amount. There were courts and proceedings, and as a result of this huge losses. Due to financial difficulties, the musicians had to leave the country for a month in order to avoid paying huge taxes. Waters moved to Switzerland, Mason to France, and Gilmour and Wright to the Greek islands.

Thus, the release of a new album became important for the group, because.To. the continued existence of the group depended on him. Waters wanted to play it safe and find an outside producer. And they found – Bob Ezrin. Roger’s common-law wife was his secretary, that’s how they contacted him.

Bob, before working with Pink Floyd, had already produced Alice Cooper, Lou Reed and Kiss. Ezrin was allowed to help write the album, and he and Waters cleaned out the excess, improved the structure, etc.d. The result of the work was a 40-page script, which was read to the rest of the group. “Everyone’s eyes lit up, everyone could already imagine the future album.”.

Ezrin’s work was truly impressive. The song "The Trial" was practically his work. Years later, engineer Nick Griffiths commented on the producer’s role:

Ezrin’s contribution was impressive and he really managed to pull it all together. He is a very purposeful guy. There was a lot of arguing between Roger and Dave about what the new record should sound like, but Ezrin bridged the gap between them.Ezrin’s contribution was impressive and he really managed to pull it all together. He is a very purposeful guy. There was a lot of arguing between Roger and Dave about what the new record should sound like, but Ezrin bridged the gap between them.

It was not in vain that it was said about the controversy. There were real scandals in the group during recording. There were disputes between Roger Waters and Richard Wright in particular. Rick didn’t like Ezrin’s job because he wasn’t punctual enough, despite all his merits. He also didn’t like Waters taking sole control of the group. Roger himself said: “If someone had a good idea, I could approve it and even use it.”. But we had only one leader – me.". An uncomfortable atmosphere was created, and Wright, as a sign of protest, helped with recording only at night, or when Waters was not in the studio. Roger did not like this behavior and there were disputes about it. And in the end, Waters fired Rick Wright because he wasn’t properly involved in the recording. The first crack of the group’s collapse. However, Wright remained a session musician, but more on that later..

By August 1979, most of the material was ready, and on November 30, 1979 The Wall went into release. And now it’s time to talk about the concept of the album.

As was said before, The Wall was a rock opera with its own plot. The main character was the character Pink Floyd. As a child, his father died in the war, his mother took paranoid care of his son, and in the future he becomes a musician, but due to problems with drugs and society, he builds a “Wall” between himself and everyone. Nothing reminds me of the album’s plot? Yes, the character was based on the biographies of Waters and Barrett.

Unlike the rock opera, there was no dialogue from other characters. However, each song carried a mini-story and added up to the overall picture of what was happening. And now about each song in order.

1)In The Flash? – the beginning of the album, which is a reference to the very concert tour where Waters made his spit. According to the plot, Pink Floyd – the main character of the entire album – organizes a concert, but in his presentation it seems more like a “Nazi meeting”. You can already guess about the character’s mental instability. The image of Nazism in the song was chosen for a reason. At those same 1977 concerts, Waters portrayed rock concerts as war rather than entertainment.

2)The Thin Ice — here we learn about the loss of Pink’s father in the war. The sensitive hero suffers greatly because of this.

3)Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1) — the loss of Pink’s father — the beginning of the construction of the “Wall”. As Waters himself pointed out, the song is not just about children whose fathers died in war, but about a more general feeling of abandonment and how this feeling of inadequacy causes a person to surround himself with emotional barriers.

4)The Happiest Days Of Our Lives – talks about Floyd’s school years. About how teachers literally underestimated the hero’s successes, making him equal to everyone else. And the goal of such teachers is to make “diligent” students who only remember and do not learn.

5)Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) – an openly expressed protest against bad teachers who became “another brick in the wall” for Pink Floyd. Is the most famous song on the album. However, most people interpret the song incorrectly, believing that it is against education in general. However, for most students, this song has become a kind of anthem. Because of this, the song was banned in South Africa. To my surprise, even my former classmates who are unfamiliar with the group heard about this song.

The children’s choir for the song was found at an Islington school whose music teacher agreed to bring a whole class to the studio. Subsequently, a scandal broke out when reporters learned that the children did not receive either a fee or even an album. The school then received a ton of money for new music equipment, and Waters personally made sure that every student in the class received a copy of the disc.

6)Mother – a song about Pink’s mother, who in every possible way compensated for the loss of her father with excessive care and protection from external threats. Because of this, the hero becomes very distant from society, and from girls in particular. Thus, the mother becomes “another brick in the wall”.

7)Goodbye Blue Sky – a song about a child’s entry into the adult world. However, the future will not be happy for Pink..

8)Empty Spaces — we are talking here about Pink’s search for himself in this new adult world. And the hero becomes a fairly famous rock musician.

9)Young Lust – a song about how Pink Floyd, entering the world of rock and roll, goes “all bad” and begins to drink alcohol and drugs, establish relationships with groupies. As it turns out, the hero managed to get married, but at the end of the song his wife cheats on him.

10)One Of My Turns — in a fit of rage, Pink Floyd destroys his apartment in front of his fan (something similar happened with Roy Harper, don’t you think??).

11)Don’t Leave Me Now — Pink Floyd makes desperate attempts to get his wife back, but it doesn’t work. The hero falls into despair.

12)Another Brick In The Wall (Part 3) — the loss of his wife finally completes Pink’s wall. He decides that he doesn’t need the world around him and decides to isolate himself from it.

13)Goodbye Cruel World — the main character finally says goodbye to the world and isolates himself. The song describes the state of a person who has turned away from the world and closed himself off.

14)Hey You – a call to the people who built the wall to establish normal relationships with each other. Locked in his room, Pink turns to his friends and loved ones with a request not to leave him. In this song, for the first time, the image of worms appears, a symbol of decay that affects the consciousness of people who have gone into painful isolation. Quite a famous song.

15)Is There Anybody Out There? – Pink’s question to ensure isolation. And he doesn’t get an answer. This means that the wall perfectly protects him from others.

16)Nobody Home — Pink’s painful self-analysis, during which it becomes obvious to him that he doesn’t seem to exist, “no one is home”.

17)Vera – a memory of Vera Lynn, a popular singer during World War II, whose work raised the morale of soldiers fighting in Europe and Africa. Her image appears after Pink watches TV.

18)Bring The Boys Back Home – a song about Pink’s condition when his father went to war. People should not go to a senseless war and die.

19)Comfortably Numb — Pink is about to go on stage, but he’s not ready. A technician comes into the room to call for Pink, and when he receives no answer, he calls Doctor Feelgood, who injects Pink, possibly with heroin, so he can play the show. At the same time, the hero remembers his childhood, when he was happy, and he experiences a “pleasant numbness.”.

Considered the best song on the album.To. coupled with Waters’ good lyrics, David Gilmour composed a wonderful guitar solo that is considered one of the best in the world. It conveys all the emotions of both the hero and the performer. The peculiarity of the song is that musically it is in no way connected with the other songs, and can be listened to independently of the album.

The lyrics are based on a real-life incident in Waters’ life, when he was being treated for hepatitis and was under the influence of tranquilizers, which were injected into him by a certain doctor in Philadelphia so that he could perform at concerts.

20)The Show Must Go On (damn familiar name. ) — describes Pink’s state before going on stage. And despite the hero’s condition, his managers are convinced that the show must go on.

21)In The Flash — reprise of the very first composition. Here the hero behaves aggressively on stage, says that old Pink Floyd stayed at the hotel. The dark side of his psyche has now emerged before us. And here he imagines himself as a kind of Nazi Fuhrer, dividing people into right and wrong.

22)Run Like Hell — Pink encourages his fans to follow him, their new Fuhrer. Here Waters presented the fear of fascism, Nazism and other totalitarianism.

23)Waiting For The Worms – in Pink’s sick imagination, the concert turns into a rally, and he, addressing the crowd through a megaphone, calls on them to campaign against social minorities, a clear allusion to the Holocaust. However, at the end of the song the effect of the drug stops, and Floyd asks to stop all this.

24)Stop — Pink realizes his guilt and decides to put himself on trial.

25)The Trial – the court itself. All those who were the source for the construction of the “Wall” testify on it: mother, teachers, ex-wife. The court concludes that the hero needs to “break down the wall!“. What happens at the end of the song.

26)Outside The Wall — the end of the album, a kind of epilogue. Here is an appeal directly to the listeners. Truly loving people can break through your wall, which gives you hope.

But the most important thing is that the album is cyclical. Song Outside The Wall ends with the words “Isn’t this the place…” and In The Flash? begins with the words “…Where we came from?». The result is "Isn’t this where we came from??». This may mean that this is not the last wall in the life of the main character, and soon history will repeat itself..

If you don’t look closely, you get the feeling that you didn’t understand anything at all. But this was the author’s idea: with the help of metaphors and innuendo, to convey the main plot to the listener, and he himself would interpret it as it should. And by and large, we have before us a complex and complex work that shows how a closed person relates to the world, and how he actually became that way.

By the way, this time the cover was not made by the Hipgnosis studio. Waters feuded with Storm Thorgerson over his use of the Animals album cover in his book Walk Away Rene. As a result, the album was designed by artist Gerald Scarfe, the design theme was inspired by the album concept. Although it would seem like an ordinary wall. However, the spreads showed the wall at various stages of its construction, accompanied by characters featured in the plot.

This is what it looked like
And in 1979 the album was received warmly. The single “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2” topped the charts in the UK, USA, Norway, Portugal, Israel, West Germany and South Africa. The album itself reached number 1 on the US chart and number 3 in the UK. Entered the top three best-selling albums in the US. Rolling Stone magazine placed The Wall at number 87 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

My opinion about the album: The Wall is truly great and deserves a listen. In particular Another Brick In The Wall pt. 2 and Comfortably Numb. This is an album in which you really need to listen to the meaning, understand the music and lyrics, a real phenomenon in the world of music. However, in my personal top “best”, The Wall takes 3rd place, behind only Wish You Were Here and The Dark Side Of the Moon. Yes, the album is not my favorite, it seems to me not as lamp-like as the previous ones. But it was nice to listen to The Wall, in some places I impersonated myself with the hero. So “Amazing”, without any doubt.

A short chapter, but worth your attention

In support of the album, a concert tour was carried out in 1980, which was remembered by all Pink Floyd fans. Lots of fireworks, a huge wall on the stage, lots of actors and musicians, etc.d. But let’s talk about everything in order.

Concerts took place in the USA and Europe. The performance covered the entire album, in strict order and without changes. The only thing is the song Empty Space was supplemented by the composition What Shall We Do Now?, T.To. the second song was originally in the original The Wall. Also a concert exclusive was the song The Last Few Bricks, which linked Another Brick in the Wall (Part III) and Goodbye Cruel World.

Rick Wright was invited to concerts as a session musician. The ironic thing is that he is the only member of the group who earned the most money on this tour, t.To. the official lineup of Pink Floyd spent more money on concerts.

The performance demonstrated the entire plot of The Wall. However, the concerts were remembered for special effects and other beautiful finds. For example, at the end of the song In The Flesh? a small plane flew over the wall and exploded, thereby showing the death of Pink’s father. During Comfortably Numb, Gilmour performed a guitar solo on a hydraulic elevator that took him to the top of a wall, where an illuminated puppet figure cast a giant shadow over the audience. Well, destroying the wall at the end is a special kind of pleasure.

It’s impossible to describe in words, you have to watch it. And concert recordings from those times remain.