AND IT BEGINS. Before I start my review, I should mention I'm looking at the wikipedia pages while I listen , and it's pretty interesting to see the variety of instruments they played on the different songs, very rarely the same on every tune. Check it out.
In the Flesh – A great beginning, the shift the peaceful muzak to that thunder cloud boom of a guitar note makes for the one dramatic fuck ofa beginning, and the long notes and marching drum beats just make you wanna shake your head to the rhythm. DUN, DUUUN, DUUUUUN, DUN, DUNDUN. Fuck yes. And then comes those vocals. Waters voice is so fuckign weird on this album. Compared to, say, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, his voice is so jagged, nasal, harsh. But thats intentional isn't it? He's playing a character. And it works. That heartbeat sound effect is class. Crazy fuckign ending as well.
The Thin Ice – It's slow. It's peaceful. Works well as a mood breaker after the chaos. Eh, its ok. And heres our first apparence on vocals by David Gilmour, which is nice. He has the better voice between the two. And thats guitar break is cool. Let's move on.
Another Brick In The Wall 1 – I gotta be honest. I always preferred part 1 of Another Brick to part 2. The unusual guitar, the overwhelming feel of doom brought by the keyboards, the whispred vocals….so calm, and yet creepy. And then he FUCKING SCREAMS DADDY WHATCHA LEAVE BEHIND FOR ME and it's awesome.
Happiest Days of out Lives – Not really a proper song, more an intro for Another Brick. It works well, sets the tension up. It's all about that thumping bass drum and that whispered vocal. Good use of sound effects throughout this.This album is so well produced, I forgot it was this good. Nice helicopter.
Another Brick in the Wall 2 – And here we go. The Pink Floyd song. Everyone knows this. Overplayed? Almost certainly. But perhaps there is a reason for that. The lyrics just…reach a part of us deep inside. Anger at the school, pure frustration with life. And musically its great. That bassline is so good. People forget just how good Waters was with the bass. But he was important. Kids choir. Yay. And that solo is delivered to earth by the gods. IF YA DON'T EAT YA MEAT, HOW CAN YOU HAVE ANY PUDDING?!!?!
Mother – Meh. Nice to hear more Gilmour vocals though. You should really check out the wikipedia oages though. Each song has a page, with some interesting details about each song. Apparently this is about "the idea that we can be controlled by our parents' views on things like sex. The single mother of boys, particularly, can make sex harder than it needs to be." Also, for some unexplained reason, Jeff fucking Porcaro from Toto played drums on this. Why the fukc did they hire him?! He was like the best session drummer, and this drum track is not that good. Weird.
Goodbye Blue Sky – What makes this so good? I don't know. But it is. That guitar line is so simple, but effective. It's great that a song that is mainly acoustic strumming vocals and bass can be so good. Effective use of keyboard here, a looming fog over the rest of the music.
Empty Spaces – Boring. But those piano chords and bass at the beginning are terrible good arent they?
Young Lust – FUCK YEAH TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE FUNKY RYTHYM. Seriiously, we go from oooooooooom to SHAKE THAT RUMP instantly. This songs cool. Dat bass. Seriously funky,
One of My Turns – Not so much a song, as act break. Booooring. Oh wait, totally forgot it gets awesome at 2:00. It just doesn't work that well without Bob Geldof screaming FUCK like in the movie. (Seriously, go watch it.)
Don't Leave Me Now -JESUS CHRIST THAT SINGING. I know you're meant to be in character Roger and in pain, but holy shit, even on purpose, how can anyone force themselves to sing that bad?! Jesus make it stoooop.
Another Brick 3 – Not really a song again, but a bridge for the album. Still, I love this variation. The most rocking of all. Just raw. Cool.
Goodbye Cruel World – Yet another not really a song, but an act break, its effective though. As a continuous song, this album is quality. The way every other instrument just stops at once at the end….is powerful.
Time for a break before part 2. Jesus, how long is this post gonna be.