The Wall by Pink Floyd (CD, Dec-1997, 2 Discs, Columbia (USA))

If you're reading this, you should know enough about this LP that a synopsis of the story and/or a list of tracks would be most redundant. I wouldn't do that to ya... That being said, I'll add a tiny bit of perspective.
It was 1980...
When I was a snot-faced pre-pubescent, roaming the malls with rudimentary knowledge of classic rock and ignorant trepidation about heavy metal (Sabbath: Oooooooo!) I saw a record store (remember those?) with it's entire bay window decked out in Pink Floyd The Wall stuff. In those days (and at my age), the album was bigger-than-life. I knew what I wanted before I even KNEW what I wanted! Until then, my only exposure to Floyd was late-night radio plays of "Another Brick..." by the green light of the console radio. There were 45 and LP sleeves and promo posters just WALLPAPERING the entire display. Gerald Scarfe's renderings of the Schoolmaster, Wife and Dear ol' Mum, and the stark white wall itself.
I remember a time (and so do you) when you walked into that store to see racks and racks of shrink-wrapped 12" squares just BEGGING to be opened and have that initial meeting with the tonearm. Was it THAT long ago? It was...long enough that surviving sealed copies bring in significant green.
And to top it all off, the album was a great as the hype!
I remember tearing off the plastic of the LP and staring at the Gerald Scarfe artwork in the gatefold or the lables spinning slowly around. I wedged the white title card in the jacket and wore that album completely out. Somehow, though CDs have shrunken the bombast of music to an almost disposable medium, the CD still manages to be big (and needs to be in a double-wide jewel case-presentation counts. Record labels, take note!). As for the remaster: for those of us without $10,000 systems, it completely negates the need to plunk down $100-200 for the MFSL Ulteadisc. The EMI/Harvest edition is just fine, thanks.
That being said, I wouldn't be adverse to seeing something deluxe come out in 2009. A nice box set would help in righting a few wrongs...maybe they could include "What Shall We Do Now?," seeing as how those of us who had the vinyl know the words. How about a concert DVD from the original tour? I know some of those dates were filmed. (and releasing a concert on mere CD for such a VISUAL spectacle? Bleah!)
What we've got here is a bona-fide rock classic. A bit hard to follow the story without seeing the film. Another Brick (Part II), Comfortably Numb, Young Lust and Hey You are the classic-rock FM staples (Run Like Hell b/w Don't Leave Me Now was the second single, by the way. How do these choices get made, anyhoo?).
The long-and-short of it is that this is one of the only times that a record release was an event, and that the album remains cherished to this day. It is the excitement that youth is made of, and it cannot be replicated.

This is considered to be a quintessential rock opera concept classic which tells the story of ' Pink ' a manic depressive rock star.

The songs flow together and some have of course become stand alone ‘ hits ‘

The story follow Pink’s life covering such topics as his mother, suicidal notions, schoolmasters, dysfunctional relationships, communism, war, music fans and beyond.

Released in 1979 as a 2 record set and followed up by the classic movie.

This cd will draw you in and take you on an emotional rollercoaster. From lows ( depression ) to highs ( excitement )and all points in between. The more I hear it the more I seem to get out of it. The lyrical genius of Roger Waters combined with the musical magic of the rest of the band never tires.

The experience is best of when listened to in it's entirety, preferably on headphones or high end equipment.

A superb piece of progressive rock.

This cd came out back when I was in elementary school and I had no clue what
the songs meant. As I got older, I listened to it more and more when I was sad-- it has some very sad songs on it.
Now, a good 20 + years after I heard it, I find it just a brilliant piece of work. Make an album about a person who went insane and the roadtrip he took to get there. A paranoid but yet poetic piece of music.
I have to say this is probably one of the best albums ( yes they were albums when they first came out) that I own.
"Run Like Hell" just is such a solid song. the drums, the guitar and the screams.
Some may not like Pink Floyd, but this cd was way ahead of its time, and it is a masterpiece

This is the Highly sought after first pressing of Pink Floyd The Wall. There has been quite a few released versions of this recording on CD, but I must say here, this is still the best one to date, here's why...
Compact disc that were manufactured in the early eighties, were basically "Flat Transfered", meaning that there was no adjustments made to the sound transfered from the master tapes, other than track separation cues, and on some CD's were not exactly on cue. If You a Collector of Rare First Pressing CD's, then You might have seen the term "Flat Transfer", as it is used quite frequently from sellers here on ebay.
When Listening to this CD set, there is the presence of inherent "hiss" or tape noise, You can slightly hear this on the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab version, as that has been greatly reduced through "Digital Processing". The most notable Rarity found on the HARVEST CD #1 is the track "One of My Tunes" which is indeed a misprint on the label, which should have read "One of My Turns" and the editing for this particular track cue has been mastered so that after the quite passage leading into the change up, has been placed there instead of at the beginning. Maybe the guy that mastered this interpreted this as a different track? At any rate, I was truly lucky to have finally found a MINT conditioned copy and got it for a great price of $125.00. All in All this was a the missing piece "brick" to My collection "Wall" of CD's.

This is my favorite Pink Floyd album. So I am rather proud to have a legit perfect copy of it. This rock opera is the best ever. The tale of a tormented musician as he struggles with facing the outside world could not be better told by anyone but Roger Waters and Pink Floyd.