Is Pink Floyd's The Wall the greatest concept album of all time?

richardhomer

Gilmour described the demo presented by Waters to the band as ‘a bit of a whinge’ - which is how the album comes across to me.

Stuckfast

I once saw a stage production of The Wall at the Edinburgh Fringe that was impressive, but the thought of sitting down and listening to the whole album from beginning to end gives me cold sweats. Pompous, ponderous, self-important, over-long, over-inflated shite.

Concept albums that are actually good include Arthur and Village Green Preservation Society by the Kinks, Baader Meinhof by Luke Haines, The Trials of Von Occupanther by Midlake, SF Sorrow and Parachute by the Pretty Things, Peasant by Richard Dawson, The Gospel According to the Meninblack by the Stranglers, etc.

digitalscream

No. It's definitely Mindcrime.

Why? For the same reason that Die Hard is a better film than Jacob's Ladder.

It's still good, though.

steveledzep

The Wiki list really surprised me.  I have most of the Alan Parsons stuff.  Quadrophenia for me though.

fields5069

The Wiki list misses out Promenade by The Divine Comedy, which is my favourite, and I believe Neil Hannon's last album before he disappeared up his own arse.

Musicwolf

Missing a trick here.  Should have started with a 'what defines a concept album?' thread followed by 'is <insert name of album here> a concept album?' then moving on to 'what is your favourite album from the Fretboard desputed list of concept albums?' threads.

Far more scope for argument.

mart

Danny1969 said:

not_the_dj said:

There’s a Roger Walters The Wall film up on Netflix. Not seen it before, seems to be Rog visiting various war cemeteries mixed with live footage. 

I saw that with the wife when it was in the cinemas for one night. It was superb and afterwards when the credits were rolling nobody in the cinema moved or said anything .... totally silent and still. I've never experienced that before, really was moving !

Perhaps they'd been amused to death?

MrTee

Teetonetal said:

Parts of the wall are mind blowing, but it's also got some junk on it too. Always strikes me as 2 songs too long.

My favourite concept album is Hand.cannot.erase by Steven Wilson. One of the few albums that I always want to hear start to finish.

I was lucky enough to see Roger Waters do The Wall, and SW do 'Hand', in their entirety, live, within a relatively short time period. Two of my top gigs!

fretmeister

It's not the best anything. Concept album / album / cover / random bit of round plastic / random MP3 file.

Of course Pink Floyd are the best worst band of all time. No matter what musical atrocity appears in the charts it won't be as bad as PF.

Haych

fretmeister said:

It's not the best anything. Concept album / album / cover / random bit of round plastic / random MP3 file.

Of course Pink Floyd are the best worst band of all time. No matter what musical atrocity appears in the charts it won't be as bad as PF.

I don't think I'd go as far to say they're the best worst band of all time.  Musically and lyrically they're very good, but I just don't get them at all. 

No band ever has been able to create a mood like PF can.  I'm surprised they have any fans left, after listening to a couple of PF albums back to back I'd be wanting to end my life, it's just so, so, so depressing.

Grumpyrocker

Haych said:

fretmeister said:

It's not the best anything. Concept album / album / cover / random bit of round plastic / random MP3 file.

Of course Pink Floyd are the best worst band of all time. No matter what musical atrocity appears in the charts it won't be as bad as PF.

I don't think I'd go as far to say they're the best worst band of all time.  Musically and lyrically they're very good, but I just don't get them at all. 

No band ever has been able to create a mood like PF can.  I'm surprised they have any fans left, after listening to a couple of PF albums back to back I'd be wanting to end my life, it's just so, so, so depressing.

I find The Wall rather cathartic. But I feel the same about lots of miserable music - such as extreme metal.

It's cheery pop that makes me depressed. 

Teetonetal

Haych said:

fretmeister said:

It's not the best anything. Concept album / album / cover / random bit of round plastic / random MP3 file.

Of course Pink Floyd are the best worst band of all time. No matter what musical atrocity appears in the charts it won't be as bad as PF.

I don't think I'd go as far to say they're the best worst band of all time.  Musically and lyrically they're very good, but I just don't get them at all. 

No band ever has been able to create a mood like PF can.  I'm surprised they have any fans left, after listening to a couple of PF albums back to back I'd be wanting to end my life, it's just so, so, so depressing.

Gotta say, I also do not find Pink Floyd depressing at all!  Introspective, reflective, thought full & ambient at times - but far from being depressing. But then I do rather like down beat music - give me Portishead, Low, Lana Del Rey, Ben Howard etc 

ICBM

mart said:

Perhaps they'd been amused to death?

I think they were reflecting deeply on whether it was the life they really want.

Mudcrutch

Are all these your guitars?

drofluf

Could never get into the Wall. I remember the fanfare when it was launched and the reverence that some of my schoolfriends held it in but never really managed to listen to it all the way through. Some great songs there but, I feel, some filler as well. And this is coming from someone who has "Tales from Topographic Oceans" as a favourite.

Emiel

The first part of The Wall is killer, the second (starting with Hey You...) has too much filler.

One concept album that hasn't been mentioned is 'Smile' by The Beach Boys. Brian Wilson finally released it in 2004, and wow, what a record. And he managed to perform it live too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UbNwhm2EX8

Philly_Q

fields5069 said:

The Wiki list misses out Promenade by The Divine Comedy, which is my favourite, and I believe Neil Hannon's last album before he disappeared up his own arse.

I saw him on Mastermind the other day, I'd almost forgotten he existed.  He doesn't look any different.

EricTheWeary

On the back of this I have been listening to Red Headed Stranger by Willie Nelson. 

For a concept album it’s quite short and simple, it’s Willie and some minimal instrumentation so it doesn’t even have the horrible arrangements that invade so much commercial country. Very enjoyable. 

It’s also quoted in the TV series Preacher originally, so essential listening for fans of that. 

bloodandtears

Operation Mindcrime and Brave for me..

also Metallica's Black Album..  the concept being to commercialise the band and make them millionaires.

Philly_Q

bloodandtears said:

also Metallica's Black Album..  the concept being to commercialise the band and make them millionaires.

And then the concept of St Anger was to make themselves unpopular again, and presumably the concept of the last two albums was to bore everyone to death.