what’s your favorite song on the wall? comment below!

It’s remarkable that such a dark personal album was the number one album in the country for nearly four months. I think it will always speak to alienated people, it helped get me through some hard times in life, and I’m glad it will always be with us.

I was 15 when The Wall was released, living in a boys’ home with other rejects. We were huge fans of DSOTM, WYWH and Animals. None of those albums prepared is for The Wall. We were spellbound. Each and every one of us felt the record in a very personal way. We had each built our walls and we understood all of it on an emotional level. At the same time, it was so liberating. A battle cry. One of my favorite memories is of the night a friend and I got caught driving in a snow storm and had to go really slow. We turned the radio off and sang The Wall from start to finish, improvising the instrumental parts by making weird noises. We knew every guitar solo. The thing is in my DNA. I think it has aged well.

Hey Abby, thank you so very much for shouting out the channel and the video! It came out absolutely fantastic and made us all wish for "Fragile" to be featured on a Vinyl Monday episode ;))

I particularly like Rick's keyboards on Don't Leave Me Now, Satie-esque uneasy calm framing Pink's looming psychosis.

Great review Abigail! You nailed it on this one. Love the wisdom, wit and humor you put into this. Definitely agree with the sentiments here. The last great hurrah of Pink Floyd. Thank you for all you do cause this made my day! 😀

I really appreciate your style of writing and your approach to these reviews. Super entertaining. Great job lady keep them coming.

Found this channel a couple weeks back. Love it. 🎉🎉🎉

I've never seen your channel before, this was interesting. thanks!

Run Like Hell, Abby... then take your Slowdive and returning home in a Rush frame of mind sounds good to me! Your brilliant reviews always drive me towards my own stacks to revisit some old friends! Thank you for all your hard work.

What an excellent job. I never really knew the whole story or even bothered to look into it but i love the Wall and have heard it 100's of times. This was great.

Well done video as always Abby 👏 A lot of things I didn't know about this masterpiece

Just discovered this channel and the video, I like this video and you did a great job talking about the wall. Thank you for the video.

Hi Ms. Devoe....That was fantastic. I watched it all. It really is a very creepy album. Thank You.

The contrast between David and Rodgers voices is perfectly used to show the states of Pinks slip into crazy. This album is such a big part of my life.

How do you only have 20k subs? Your content is 10/10, keep it up!

I've been meaning to finally do a proper deep dive into Floyd, so this is very well timed. Much obliged

Fascinating analysis. Love seeing young folks like yourself appreciating classic prog rock. I'm 68 so this is the music I've lived by/with for a long time.

Toni "Do That to Me One More Time" Tennille sings backing vocals on The Wall.

Hello! First time seeing your content. Really liked this video and now subscribed so I can see future ones. Hard to pick out songs on the wall for me. It's one that I listen to all the way through almost every time. It's a wonderful companion anytime I am enveloped in the darkness and surprisingly comforting. Also very excited to see Slowdive again but I have to wait until Oct 4 (Neil is a badass and I love so much of the work he's done in multiple projects). Thank you for the content.

Brilliant summation. I subbed based on this one video. Also, subbed on 365 days of prog. This'll give me hours of YT time.

Wow... That was an epic review. So great to hear a review from someone who has such passion and knowledge. Review of your review...... 10 out of 10

I think you've served this album well today the presentation was enthralling. Also, I think you did do more than scratch the surface. It was like a close read of a text and it convinces me to look/listen to this rich text again. Will I ever love the album which has big moments but can be so difficult a listen? Mm. Hope the Slowdive gig is/was a life-changing experience. Neil will/ does/did notice you for sure!

Great job on this review. Very entertaining too.

Thank you, that was a fascinating review!

It helped to be a latch-key kid (Gen-X), and especially single digits, on the cusp of double digits, when The Wall came out, to truly live in a headspace where you get it in an instant. In other words, where you don't need to be "in the mood" to appreciate The Wall but where hearing anything from The Wall immediately puts you in that headspace. That (my) generation were all kids of broken homes. For a lot of us there was no dad around, and life could be pretty brutal. I think that resonated with us, especially, and still resonates with kids in that position. I also don't think Roger "accidentally" wrote a commentary on patriarchy and how a man might come to treat women badly; he very intentionally wrote a commentary on how a society treating children with alternating coldness and brutality can cause them to be terrible adults to everybody around them (that's the whole point of the wall being built). It just happens to be that the society in this case was largely patriarchal and Pink's targets were mostly (not all) women. Note that Pink's mother is a problem, as well. So some matriarchal elements are also responsible for how awful he is. It is a much larger societal problem, and a very British (and also, American) problem. In the end, Pink is aware of what has shaped him, and he is critical of that society and he is remorseful. It's a profoundly human album, that coached a lot of us into being better people. I think (and I am not alone) that the studio version of the Comfortably Numb outro solo is the greatest guitar solo ever recorded. I love David, but he never came close again to it, live. Nobody has ever again matched that pure fury of tone and intensely forward-leaning playing.

Im not even a hardcore classic rock fan but you make it so interesting and have a fantastic channel!

you knocked this out of the park! your script, editing, and delivery are all super *you* and this was really enjoyable the whole way through! instant sub ✨

Beautifully presented and articulated. You know your shit Abigail.

What an album. So dark but brilliant.

Roger Waters & David Gilmour agree on little but both championed the 2004 Scissor Sisters disco/Bee Gees inspired cover of Comfortably Numb.

Fantastic video. Not sure why KZfaq hasn’t highlighted your videos to me before.

You are so much fun and interesting to watch...thanx for your research on all of your subjects...I commented on one of your past Floyd reviews that I don't like any of their albums after "Meddle", but all of their material from Meddle on back is psychedelically terrific...(is that even a word? I dunno)...they needed tp go commercial in order to survive but all the $ cost them their creativity...I'm sure absolutely no one agrees with me, but who cares? Please keep up the great high quality work that you do. It's always something to look forward to, whether I likethe artists or not.

I LOVED The Wall back in High School when we were stoned all the time. We'd get baked and drive around listening to a cassette of The Wall.

The film is a masterpiece. I used to see glimpses of it on TV and eventually watched it on VHS enough times that I never need to go back there. It's etched into my brain. Of all the twisted films I saw in my youth that I never need to see again, The Wall is the most beautifully twisted.

Damn, this is well done! Nice work.

Althought i heard that story many times over, it's you that tells it with the most passion, thanks Abi 😋

I've studied the lyrics on this album so much that it's driving me crazy. The similarities to my own life are undeniable, which is why I haven't listened to this record in ages. But I think it's time to listen to this masterpiece again.

I saw a show for this album's tour. When that plane flew overhead, I knew I was done: No concert would ever surpass what I was experiencing. I've been to many shows since then, and that prediction remains correct.

Omg this review is awesome! ❤in parts unintentionally hilarious - its a great story told in a interesting way! 🎉😅 Thanks Abby!

I appreciate you getting so much into the analysis of the Floyd muse. I've never had the opportunity with someone live to dig so deeply into my favourite muse. I appreciate the channel ;)

So happy to hear a “Vera” shout-out at the end. That was always my favourite Pink Floyd song growing up - I used to think I would name a child after it one day.

Great reaction, and i like your take on having Bowie's Thin White Duke as a reference to Pink. There was definitely some overt fascism in that iteration of Bowie's alter-egos.

Did I hear helium Miss DeVoe!? Great post Madam! Loved this work of art!

Fantastic video. Best Wall analysis Ive seen

This is an album that with every listen I discover something new from a haunting sound effect to a surprising solo that I didn't pay attention to the first time around for a band that was in huge turmoil at the time they delivered a sonic masterpiece that's both timeless and endlessly creative

David actually agreed with Roger that Rick wasn’t contributing enough

what a great detailed review!

This is a great video! As a long Pink Floyd's fan, this a story I already know from head to toes, but the way you told it was really engaging and I couldn't stop watching. Laugh my ass off at the bit at 16:39. Subscribed!

Never really got into the wall but will definitely give it a good listen after this vid, also the reference to Bowie makes me think you should do some vids about the thin white Duke Era, that Era fascinated me so much

Roger Dean a huge influence on my early artist years … I’m heading over ! Btw the Wall … got so sick of Another Brick at number one in the charts back in the day ..😫

Wow you did a fantastic job of braking down the album and the fantastic information about the album that I didn't know. When my son graduated from high school I got him the double album at the same age of 18 I hope he will enjoy it as much as I did.

HOORAY YIPPEE YAHOO WHOOPE SO HAPPY THANK YOU ABBEY!

Toni Tennille did some vocal harmonies on The Wall as well

To me it's the greatest album ever made...a cornerstone of dark art that it not likely to ever be topped. Fun fact, I did a report in middle school on the album and my teacher let me play Goodbye Blue Skies from the VHS of the movie for the class. They weren't ready for it.

Nice camomile turntable! Well told story. Very enjoyable cover of the text book power struggle.

Highlight of my week this ❤

The wall is a masterpiece of an album. It breaks my heart you don’t like animals which is another masterpiece. But it’s ok .

The wall has always been a beast of an album for me to get through. This definitely has made me want to give it another shot!

Thank you for GETTING IT! I have preached over and over the same narrative that you are and nice to say SEE, I TOLD YA! I subscribed. Gotta go watch more of your videos! 🤘😎🤘

Great channel. I don’t love all the bands you do but Pink Floyd is one of my favorites. Pink Floyd has influenced me profoundly. Anyway, I love the artistic flare with which you create your content. I wish you’d do one of favorite albums if all time: Black Sabbath’s “Sabotage”.

Woo-hoo, only 100 subs from 20k. You go, Abby 👍

This masterpiece of an album was first heard in the 2000s by me, i love it; my father whose is dead now recommended me Pink Floyd, with all the mourning for his funeral, you came to happy me a little, thank you

Wow, "Circle Sky" for transition music. You continue to impress me with your music choices. Thanks.

Just wanted to say, I thought I knew everything about the making of The Wall - but learned some new stuff from this. Thanks so much.

Great analysis as always, Abby! Waters was very crafty by holding back TWO solo albums worth of material while Gilmour and Wright released their solo albums, thus giving Waters leverage when new material was needed quickly to produce an album to pay off their tax debt. Clever bastard. Regarding the film - the first time I saw it was a midnight showing. The stranger next to me was on . . . something, and spent the entire film rocking side to side and pretending to shoot himself in the head. Couldn’t have asked for a better viewing companion for that film.

I was a freshman in college when the wall came out. It was played CONSTANTLY in the dorms for months. When I was walking back from classes it was playing from someone's window. Of course I played it a lot myself for many years. It is one of the greatest albums ever made.

Please do Rush next! I just discovered you recently and enjoy you equally as much JTCurtis, of whom I also want to do a Rush review at some point. Your review of King Crimson is your funniest. Cheers mate. :)

In all my years of viewing, I have never seen before, anyone more deserving of the full accolades of your audience, click that thumbs up!

OMG I got goosebumps when she produced that sleeve. That album fell on a very personal level back in 2002 when I first listened them. EDIT: I got goosebumps for a good part of the video (and yeah "Rog" is kind of an a$s). Great content! Keep up the amazing work!

After I listened to the album for the first time I probably replayed it like 6 more times in just a month, nowadays I really listen to it or any of the songs from it 'cause I agree, you really have to be in the mood for it, it really is one of a kind

Love the Monkees insert of Circle Sky during the transitions.

Been watching you since the Neutral Milk Hotel video and I just have to say that youre genuinely a beast for making so many incredible videos every week!! Oh also would literally die if you ever did a Brian Eno vid 🫡

This was a great video, loved your enthusiasm & knowledge, it was a joy to watch. As for the Wall, I find it a miserable album it is almost the antithesis of what i love about Floyd, which is their dreamy atmospheric soundscapes. Love Piper it is an imaginative display of riches, after Syd's departure they were a bit directionless but nicely expressive. I think they made a mistake ceding all the lyric writing to Roger, it gave them a greater sense of direction, but ultimately was at odds with the musical direction of the other 3 members.

The Wall and Pink Floyd meant the world to me when I was an edgy teen in the late 2000s. Strangely, it helped me get through the bulk of my adolescence.

Right on. Thanks for sharing.

One of the best reviews I've heard of The Wall, seriously. You were great.

A very important album for me, I didn’t hear the entire thing until I was 15 and it really spoke to me. It’s cliche to say it, but some albums you listen to, others you feel. It was a hand on my shoulder that told me I wasn’t alone in feeling alienated and alone. The idea of me being on a giant side of a wall and everyone else on the other side made sense to me.

The Wall is my favorite album of all time by any artist. When I was a kid (I first heard it at age 11) I used to just love the music on a surface level. The older I got, the more I became fascinated with how the album was made, the band dynamics and so on. Everything I learned about how it was made, just enhanced the music.

Nice thumbnail...skillz! The Wall is one big piece. I saw the Wall in 1980 - best theater I have ever seen/heard.

Thanks Abigail! Great thoughts on The Wall. I was a freshman in high school when this came out. It changed my life! I was awakened to psychological torment in the people that were closest to me. My dad was a war veteran, my mom a protective passive aggressive, my teachers as functional alcoholics. All in all, the recognition that everyone was isolated within their particular loneliness and torment. Being young and noticing that the world was shit, major recession, post-Vietnam malaise, the threat of a new war with Iran and the hostage situation, added up to a withdrawal from the world and an introspective prison. Not fun. There had to be some hope in the end. I am now almost 60. I discovered hope is found in the beauty of simple things. Look for beauty, then you will find truth. Push aside the static coming at you from too many sources. Your life is your life, not what the tribe wants you to be.

Ayyy hope you had fun seeing slowdive!!!

I definitely had a Wall period in 2005, when I was 21. I still think it's my favorite Pink Floyd album, though DSOTM and Wish You Were Here are also fantastic.

Glad I found your channel. Very true about Tommy not even close to The Wall. The Wall came out when I was in high school loved it from day one to today.

The Wall was an absolute favorite for me when it came out. Now I would need to edit it down considerably to enjoy it. You really have done your research and I applaud the fact that a 20 sumthin individual has the depth of knowledge you have. Kudos!

Enjoyed this video a lot---the different voices are an absolute hoot! 😂 The album is too much of a downer for my taste, but I do appreciate it's symbolic importance to those in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. That was HUGE.

Idk why I had this album on repeat all week

great vid. New sub - I enjoyed this a great deal as an old floyd head. Sure i know the history but not all the bits you cover here and the presentation here is great.

Back in 1980 during my senior year in HS, I finally woke up to Pink Floyd through this amazing album. But I actually wasn’t into them full swing until I saw that famous midnight movie, “ The Wall. “ Plus some heavy influences from college roommates, of course. So The Wall has always been special to me and thanks to your detailed review and captivating assessments, I’ve gained even more admiration for this masterpiece. And I love your comparison to “ Tommy “, the original rock opera classic 10 years before. However I’m hard pressed in deciding which of those two I like the most. Someday I’ll listen to them back to back. An excellent way of spending 4 hours 😆. Thanks again Abby !

Nice essay on a rich subject! I’m going to check out your other ones. The solos from money and time are way more gritty and soaring than anything on animals. The first solo in comfortably numb is akin to the middle part of the one in time - both major scales too. The solo in another brick part 2 is kindred to money’s - they both have swagger, high bends, double stops etc also they groove. Animals doesn’t have memorable solos, there are amusing ideas but it doesn’t quite “rock” like money and time or stuff from the wall. The wall’s ominous side reminds me of the mysticism of Echoes

When it first came out, I was still a big Floyd head and HAD to have it but, "Animals" was JUST STARTING to leave me cold. When I got "The Wall", I played it a good bit but it was actually alienating me from Floyd even more than "Animals" did. In the spring of 1980, my cousin, who lived 3 doors away from me, said that he knew of a local band that was gonna be looking for a drummer, soon, and suggested that I, a life-long drummer dating back to my days in the womb, should audition. As he was good friends with their drummer, Doug, he set it up for me to try out. I had no competition at all so, I got the job. The name of the band was, Young Lust! They were mostly a covers band and had existed under that name for at least 3 or 4 years, by that time. Before that, they were, "Otis and The Red-Z". A few MONTHS later, Doug left the band (It was SUPPOSED to be about 2 or 3 months but ended up being 7! He just didn't wanna leave!) and I took over on drums. Not long after that I suggested that we do, "Another Brick In The Wall", all 3 parts as one song so, we did. About a year later, we dropped that, partly because my singer, Bob (he spelled it backwards) was writing a lot of original stuff so, most of the covers eventually got left behind. This was fine with me because, by this time, I started to hate "The Wall".! It was becoming quite clear that Pink Floyd was becoming Roger's backing band and all he wanted to sing about was shit about his young life and his father dying in the war! The next album, "The Final Cut" (The Wall Part 2) made that VERY clear!! When I first got into Pink Floyd via their best album, "Ummagumma", I thought Roger was king shit!! Couldn't get enough of him! By the time "The Wall" came out, I'd HAD enough and didn't really care for him much, anymore. I liked his first few solo albums, to a degree (haven't heard any of them in about 40 years!) but, it felt like everything was another part of "MY FUCKING DAD DIED IN THE WAR!!" and, "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR MY MUSIC!!". I don't think I've heard anything beyond, "Radio K.A.O.S.". The nail in the coffin for me, as far as "The Wall" goes, is the night I took a girl to see the movie and she asked if a mutual friend could come with us. I fancied it as more of date for she & I but, I didn't mind him coming along. We were all best friends. We got to the theater and all sat together, she between us and, I couldn't help notice that 99% of the time, she was talking to HIM during the movie rather than (or at least including) me!! Then the movie just got more and more depressing on top of that and, shortly before it ended, I got up and left and they never even noticed I was gone! I doubt I've listened to the full album more than once after that although I HAVE heard both live recordings they released of it. "Pulse", "Is Anybody Out There?". And OF COURSE radio HAS to play the living shit out of "Comfortably Numb" every fucking day of the week for the past 44 years!! Do they beat-off to that in the station? Is THAT why they play it so much? If it ain't that it's fucking, "Free Bird" or, "Stairway To Heaven"!!! Besides, "S. F. Sorrow", my fave rock opera is, "Jesus Christ Superstar". There was another one around that time called, "Virgin" by a band called, The Mission and another by Smoke Rise called, "The Survival Of St. Joan". I don't really even consider "The Wall" to be a rock opera. By the way, the original had no sticker on the cover. There was just a plain white sheet of paper under the shrink with the band and album names printed on it in Gerald's style. The sheet was about 3 x 5 inches and was not stuck to the cover. Also, which is heavier, a shit ton, a fuck ton or any other kind of ton? Nobody's ever been able to tell me which weighs more. Oh, and, about 2 years into my residency in the band, we changed our name to, Thin White Line, then back to Otis & The Red-Z for a couple months, then back to Thin White Line where it stayed for the rest of my 25 year stay.

James Guthrie even said Rick played on most of the album. James was one of four producers on the album and the chief engineer. David was against Rick’s ouster and told Rick that he was not pulling the weight but he was an important member of the band and was a founding member and his position was sacrosanct and if Rick was not leaving David would support him. Rick stayed up for days contemplating and said he would leave on the condition that he finished the album and performed the album live which he did.

I am so glad I found your channel! I'm also a music nut! Also, 16:41! xD!!!

Favourite track? “Waiting For The Worms”, not only is it a healthy warning against falling into a downward descent into fascism but is in a most contrary way one of the most beautiful pieces of music on the album. There are though parallels to be found between “Tommy” and “The Wall”. In no way am I saying that the latter plagiarises the former but ”The Wall” does owe at least a nod to “Tommy”; father doesn’t (seemingly in “Tommy”) return from WWII, an abusive mother (albeit in the form of an over abundance of love in “The Wall”), a dramatic slide into a debilitating mental or physical condition out of which rises a hero (or anti-hero in “The Wall”), I could go on, so I will just a little. That they both reach such extraordinary heights in terms of climax is somewhat inevitable, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” is anthemic while the Waters/Ezrin composed “The Trial” is an absolute masterclass in how to write for musical theatre. It clearly borrows its setting from Victorian London and might well be the only rock track to take inspiration from Gilbert & Sullivan. At the end of the day both are equally viable, though “The Wall” spells out its narrative in a much more accessible way than “Tommy”. “The Wall” is more believable settling on poetic licence to make it larger than life as opposed to “Tommy” which demands you relocate your listening position from wherever you are to a place deep inside the mind of its protagonist. “The Wall”, though nonetheless immersive, asks nothing more of the consumer than to watch, listen and learn. As for THAT 3 song run of “Vera”, with yet more beautiful scoring by Ezrin, “Bring The Boys Back Home” and “Comfortably Numb”, though not the albums climax certainly serves as the overture to the grande finale. I’d certainly swap “Empty Spaces” out for “What Shall We Do Now”, it was cut purely for time reasons and “Empty Spaces” was felt to express the same ideas but with greater brevity. As a slight aside I must urge you to beg, borrow or even buy a copy of “Is There Anybody Out There?”, a limited two CD amalgamation of the live shows which is one of the greatest sounding live albums and the closest you’ll get to being there, unless of course you were. Well done on one of your finest achievements to date ….. again.

The Wall is one of my fave albums. The Wall movie is one of my fave movies. It's a lowkey horror movie to me too. Abused deformed children shoved through a giant meat grinder, it does the whole crazy monsters representing trauma thing way before Silent Hill, a rockstar losing his mind to fascism. It's basically an Edgar Allen Poe story on steroids!

Great review and breakdown. I listened to this album extensively in high school. (Early 90’s), also watched the movie a few times. It’s one of my top albums to sing along to and hum/whistle through the music.

Thank you for the video!

What a coincidence. This came out while I was transcribing Run Like Hell.

I remember listening to a history of Pink Floyd radio show where Bob Ezrin talked about his first day with the group. On his way in he said he caught up with a guy that walked off their crew with his back hunched over. He told Bob "You see this? They did this to me!"

Saw the live show in 1980...awesome doesn't describe it! Took my daughter to see Waters Wall tour 30 plus years later. It , too, was awesome...