YET ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY
Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of "The Wall" in the United States. Let's take a look at one of the original reviews...
"Problems do arise, however. While The Wall's length is certainly justified by the breadth of its thematic concerns, the music is stretched a bit thin. Heavy-metal maestro Bob Ezrin, brought in to coproduce with Roger, Waters and guitarist David Gilmour, adds a certain hard-rock consciousness to a few cuts (especially the nearfunky "Young Lust") but has generally been unable to match the high sonic gloss that engineer Alan Parsons contributed to Dark Side of the Moon. Even Floydstarved devotees may not be sucked into The Wall's relatively flat aural ambiance on first hearing. But when they finally are–and then get a good look at that forbidding lyrical landscape – they may wonder which way is out real fast." KURT LODER (Rolling Stone)
I think Kurt's right, even though he's a big dork.
2 Comments:
Right about what? He's not really saying much except that Alan's production gives a sonic gloss that Bob's does not. Loder is a dork though.
Loder sucks... Sonic gloss?! Bullshit. Just another dork who can't avoid comparing the masterpiece to anything else someone else creates after. I wonder if Loder's every listened to DSOTM? I remember Loder, Bangs, Frick, and all the Rolling Stone mag critics of that era completely missing the significance and impact of some very good records because they just didn't get it, or they weren't made in the same vain of their 60's idol worship icons (Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Dead, Joplin, etc...). I remeber my brother and I getting the RS record guide for Xmas back in the late 70's early 80's when hard rock and heavy metal were emerging. RS and it's critics panned all the Sabbath records, all the AC/DC LP's including Highway to Hell, Judas Priest, etc... the list goes on. We were aghast. Now, many of these records appeared in their top 100 records of all time.
The Wall is a different record from DSOTM and part of that is its' sonic qualities. I like records of the same artist to sound different. It's always been my feeling that when they start to repeat thenselves sonically, quality inevitable suffers.
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