A place in my heart reserved for...

1st in a series of classic album reviews placing them within their historical context as experienced by the reviewer.

Pink Floyd: The Wall.



So there I am 7 years old in the run up to Xmas 1979, we've had Slade, Mud, Little Jimmy Osmond, Johnny Mathis, Boney M and Wings so far making the Xmas top spot during the decade I was born in. I'm completely unaware of it as yet but this years Xmas number one is going to stay with me for the rest of my life and influence my music buying choices forever.

Another Brick In the Wall Part ii was released on NOV 30th 1979 and entered the charts with an eye on the number one slot. This is back in the days when the number one Xmas slot was hotly contended, not in term of newspaper pages column inches of bullshit, made up fantasy press about X-factor contestants, but when Top Of The Pops was regularly the 2nd most watched program on Xmas day TV, when the UK music industry had NME, Sounds and Melody Maker as weekly music publications. When singles regularly sold in excess of 1 million. Before music was commoditized by the Ipod and quantity became more important than quality. (Ok, so it's pop music we're talking about here, quality was never a consideration, it's just less of one now than ever before).

Against this backdrop Another Brick In The Wall Part ii became the last Xmas number one of the 70's. We ended the 70's on a protest song, we similarly ended the 80's with a protest song of sorts, Band Aid, and even the Noughties gave us Rage Against The Machine for Xmas- god only knows what happened in 1999- Westlife F.F.S.

Even though i didn't know it at the time ABITW Pii was going to have a profound effect on me. It was the first record I can ever remember my older brother buying. Sadly the first record I'm vaguely cognoscente of buying myself was Captain Beaky and His Band, some few months later. My brother had by this time moved onto the Banana Split song by the Dickies and was headed towards Stiff Little Fingers and the arse end of Punk.

The 7" of ABITW became mine my right sometime in February, Punk had taken over my brother and he moved on from Pink Floyd with the immortal words, " You can keep that long haired school choir shite if you like- I'm off to see The Damned". I was now the owner of a credible 7" single and I had only just turned 8. There followed a 'brief' hiatus of 5 years, during which time I learned to smoke, lie to my parents about my whereabouts, drink alcohol, roll a joint and take magic mushrooms. Admittedly most of these took place towards the end of that period, in fact most of them probably taking place within an hour or two of each other.

Having an older brother means older friends with broad taste in music and recreational pastimes and it was into this morass that I fell as a young teen and once again connected with Pink Floyd. I had a paper round, I had money, I had a bicycle where the front mudguard could be flipped back to front to make it roar like a stolen moped with no exhaust and I also had at least 5 record shops all within a 20p bus ride from my front door. The summer of 85 was here, I was mobile, liquid and the bright lights of Newcastle beckoned.

On returning home from the trip during which I emptied out my savings account at the bank and purchased my first swathe of vinyl- comprising new and old from Oldhitz, Our Price, Pet Sounds and Volume Records It's fair to say i had my arse- tanned. I didn't get to listen to any of my purchases for two weeks and was made to save up all my paper round money to repay what i'd cleared out of my savings account. To be honest I'm still regularly forced to repay money into bank accounts that I've spent on Hifi and records. Some things never change, eh?

In that pile of records were two Pink Floyd records, The Wall and Animals, both of them original release versions bought 2nd hand at little expense. These two albums would form a large part of the soundtrack to my teenage years. They were summer days spent in hay-fields with the walkman on drinking cheap cider and 'necking' on with girls. They were smoking squidgy black cannabis resin in splifs made with Players Navy Cut cigarettes stolen from my mum. They would leave me for short periods, be borrowed, lost, stolen, replaced and purchased in various different formats over the years. They were some of the best and most memorable times of my childhood and are still as evocative of those times now as they ever were, they will always be part of the soundtrack of my life.

There's no point me describing the music, we have all heard Another Brick In The Wall and the rest of the album, but historically speaking, this is how they came into my life and what they mean to beyond their musical content.



Your turn...

 

An interesting thread Simon. I suspect one reason for the lack of responses may be that people feel reluctant to share feelings.

I've thought about this and ironically the record that "has a special place in my heart" is a 30 year Indian album (it's not well known at all) that I haven't played in years because it depresses me now, due to the melancholic lyrics. So when I was in young and let's just say in a particular frame of mind it sounded poetic, now it doesn't.

 

To be honest Dev I didn't expect a rousing response in terms of posts. As you say people aren't that forthcoming with their own feelings on things, so are probably less likely to comment on someone else's. The intention wasn't for it to become some sort of music self help group.... ;-)

I'm sure as I type there are posters just corralling their own thoughts on a particular album and where it fits in their life- ready to be put under the spotlight.

It would be nice to know if people liked the post though, or if it's just a self-indulgent waste of time? I can take the criticism.

 

Excellent post, Simon. Unfortunately, I hate the album.

 

You might like the next on Markus, my first live album and matching live experience... ;-)

 

The first album I ever bought was Hawkwind 'Hall of the Mountain Grill'.



(I well remember going to see the 'The Wall' at the cinema when it first came out) .

 

As I am of the older generation first album I bought was Rubber Soul - Beatles. My mate & I had been invited to our first party & it was playing, think this was around Xmas '65 when it was first released. Most of the people there were older than us, late teens, first time too really enjoy life's little pleasures - booze, cigs & sex - OK maybe not the last one The best part - it was in the house of the local primary school Headmaster, his daughter was hosting. Bought the LP with cash from Xmas presents.

 

Love that, at the school teachers house..

 

I will always rate the first Queen album. Notwithstanding my subsequent years of punk, post punk, goth, ska, reggae, industrial etc I keep coming back to it. I bought it by mistake in 1974 looking for "Seven Seas Of Rhye", which on this first album is just a brief ditty on the outro and appears in full instead on Queen II.

OK I was at an impressionable age, but it's a hard rock album with touches of glam, musicals, opera, prog and a dash of pop. It's the side of Queen that gradually diluted as the seventies went on and they became a variety act and housewives' favourite. Most people miss it and the almost-as-fresh-but-bit-laboured Queen II in their perception of the band. If they'd stopped before "A Night At The Opera" it'd be regarded as a classic.

The BBC sessions and live bootlegs also show that they could reproduce it very well outside the Trident and De Lane Lea studios.

Pete

 

after all the phases i went trough music wise, one particular album that stuck with me as a favourite was BLOODSTONE'S NATURAL HIGH, on the soul side, on the reggae side was and is BUNNY WAILER'S BLACKHEART MAN, on the rock side LED ZEPPELIN STAIR WAY TO HEAVEN, P.S. PINK FLOYD'S WISH YOU WHERE HERE,

 

i must say having had a crazy day trying to relax to some music after getting my hi-fi ready and set, i forgot to mention a very favorite album on vinyl "AMUSED TO DEATH" forgot how good it is and loved playing it 3 times, even ESB tasted better.