The Wall, part one: that space cadet glow
I either bought or pilched The Wall by Pink Floyd on vinyl back in 1985, I can no longer remember which. I loved it at the time. It had an effect on me - more than most records - but I haven't listened to it in many years. New years day I bought it through the iTunes store and am reacquainting myself with it.
Some observations:
Side one begins, after the half-spoken phrase, after the woodwind/accordion theme, with a crunch. The minor theme is 120% rock and roll. Orff turns in our direction. Wagner stirs. There will be no limpwristed fingerpicking on this record. At least not until side two...
At the end of In the flesh? Roger promises theatrics, calling for lights and sound effects. Is this music? theater? no sensible person likes the term rock-opera.
The thin ice continues the theme of heavy with another rocker to let the rockers in the audience know this is gonna rock. But first we catch our breath.
We are introduced to Dave's voice, having only heard Roger so far. Dave's voice is used here the way it will be for the rest of the record: expressing less emotion than beauty.
Roger and Dave's voices conveyed different qualities on previous records, but with roles less well defined.
Dave sings the character of the Mother. He's also Pink at times, but not during the fucked-up scenes we most associate with Pink's dark and confused psychology.
Roger sings the second half of The thin ice, with its bleak summary of the album's distrustful worldview: things suck, and then they get worse.
But redemption is possible.
Another brick, part the first is our initial exposure to what will be a major musical theme for the record: Dave and delay. So beautiful. So beautiful.
The three versions of this song help the record cohere (as do the two In The Flesh's and the recapitulation of Is there anybody out there?). This is my favorite of the three.
The coda is the first time the band do what they always do so well: vamp a strange space.
This strange space is invaded by children (screaming? playing? i don't know, but violence is in the air) before Roger begins ordering my inner schoolboy about.
Bastard.
But it's all in the nature of the Great Reciprocal. Bullies are themselves victims of bullying, merely acting out, puppet-like, a cycle of violence which has its roots deep in the past and, according to Roger, mostly in the hearts of women.
Q: Is Roger a bleeding heart or an asshole?
A: If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding.
The music behind The happiest days of our lives is territory covered by the three Bricks.
Another brick, part the second, though it may have been stingy to the poor unpaid choir brats, is generous with Dave's guitar.
His rhythm playing is unlikely. The solo is one of his best, don't you think?
More kids playing/screaming at the end. And looped abuse from Roger. I think of Nicky as the band's tape-experimenter, and it's weird to imagine him arranging choice bits of Roger's dementia.
Mother is the early emotional peak of the album. The naked strum lexicates emotional transparency.
The fall into the guitar solo is satisfying. The solo itself drips with colors from the same emotional palette as the rest of the song.
The change of singers (and changes in time-signature and key) is... I don't even know. I can't explain it. Their creativity is so effortless. It's a very strange thing they do here and yet somehow they make it seem so natural.
Lyrically, we learn that the construction of the Wall, mentioned almost in passing several times thus far, is now complete, or nearly so, and Pink is beginning to regret having built it so well...
There's more beauty to come.
