Get em Up Against The Wall (Is There Anybody Out There? - Pink Floyd)

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Product:	Is There Anybody Out There? - Pink Floyd
Date:	10.11.01 (387 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Outstanding

Disadvantages: odd bit of dead air etc

It's taken a long, long time to get here but at last I own a limited edition of Is There Anybody Out There? - The Wall Live 1980-81. I'm a music addict and so once I'd managed to buy every Pink Floyd studio album and a couple of videos too I had to concentrate my limited resources on trying to complete my Dylan discography and of course keeping up to date with new albums. What all this means is that I decided not to spend twenty-odd pounds on an album I already owned, the only difference being packaging and the fact it was recorded live. But how different can it be? Well actually in many cases (especially Bob Dylan) live can mean utterly different versions of songs to the original. As it happens that isn't really the case with this release. But fear not, it's greatness shall soon be unveiled.

The background of this live recording is of course quite well known in-amongst Pink Floyd circles, it was seen as many as the end of Pink Floyd. Roger Waters wrote this brilliant piece of Rock Opera and set the Floyd the task of turning it into not just an album, not just an album and a wonderful film but an album, a wonderful film and the most outrageously complex and theatrical stage show that the rock world had ever seen. In fact the show has never been matched. It was an extraordinary piece of theatre that mesmerised the audience and made the whole event so much more than just a rock and roll concert. This was perhaps the rock concerts' finest hour of pomp quite remarkably occurring after the punk revolution had set about destroying it.

The Wall stage show was only ever staged 29 times, though if you think about it the effort required for each show must have been colossal. It marked the end for the band in the sense that they'd never really work as Pink Floyd again. In fact Richard Wright had already been forced out by Roger Waters and was appearing as a hired musician rather than band member. The strains of putting on this mas
sive show pushed the band to the limits and of course it was always Roger's baby and as thus caused friction with David Gilmour. Some say The Wall was too commercial, but clearly it wasn't about that. Ego may have pushed it further than most albums/tours/films but it wasn't about money. It was pushed though to a unique place, I can't think of another phenomenon like The Wall and still today it remains a wonderful and much appreciated piece of work.

This live release can be bought with boxed book or without. Get the book! The book includes interviews with all four band members and a selection of people involved with the show such as Gerald Scarfe the brilliant art director. Along with the interviews are pictures from shows and the setting up of the shows with a few of Gerald's pieces of art thrown in for good measure. It's a nice book and hold the two CDs in its front and back hard covers.

So to the show! It all gets underway with an MC -Gary Yudman- welcoming the crowd to Earls Court and telling them no fireworks, flash photography and that kind of thing. As he speaks the Pink Floyd explode into action literally blowing with off stage. Already here we are picking up the sense of atmosphere this show must have had for those lucky people in the audience. It's dangerous and has a cutting and biting edge to it from start to finish.

I would love to talk on and on about the actual stage show even though I'd only be telling the tale second hand but I shall now concentrate on the discs. I'm sure I need not remind you again that an astounding stage show is going on throughout the music. The Wall is literally being built inbetween the band and the audience, the effects are going mad and the animation flows.

The story of Roger Water's The Wall is now underway and is backed up by atmospheric and in some ways quite scary music. Compared to the studio album version of The Wall we don't hear all th
at many changes but you will notice the extra notes here and there thrown in. At the start Richard Wright seems to contribute these additions but it's not long before David Gilmour kicks in. You really get the sense of the live playing first when Another Brick In The Wall Part II kicks in. Up until this point the album flows slowly and requires concentration to hold on to the sparse music. It's wonderful of course, but some may deem it hard work. Then on comes this disliked anthem (disliked by Pink Floyd fans for being loved by every none Pink Floyd fan!) and suddenly the Floyd over-power you and drag you into their world. Those ever misrepresented verses are delivered once by the band and once by the school children and then vanish but the music does not. Rather than being cut off just as you think Gilmour is about to play his heart out the beautiful rhythmic beat goes on. Over the top Gilmour delivers a very fine guitar solo indeed. Richard Wright then kicks in with an organ solo over the rhythm sections ceaseless beat. I'm not exactly sure what they've done to this beat, maybe changed the drumming pattern, but it's seems much better here than I've heard it before. In fact this is the finest version of this song you will find, it bounces away and takes you with it in a state of bliss.

Mother has always been one of my favourite tracks off The Wall and the Floyd represented it very well here. The 12-string acoustic sound as beautiful as ever and we have Richard Wright organ added that works, to an extent. On the lyrics "mother do you think they'll like this song" the crowd cheer, oh they like it! Roger Waters delivers a great performance with his vocals on this, don't let that go amiss. The crowd also shout out when Roger asks "mother should I trust the government" just to remind us that they're there I suppose. Once the song reaches it's main flow there seems to be a slight vibration of air somew
here in the mix. It's not too bad, and you certainly get used to it if you hear it at all! It's a beautiful moment in the concert which is followed by a menacing Goodbye Blue Sky with the loss of innocence to be heard everywhere.

What Shall We Do Now captures a really powerful rock wall of sound and was actually left off the album for space reasons which is a shame as it ruddy well rocks! It concludes with a biting Floyd harmony of the words "with our backs to the wall, backs to the wall." Roger then welcomes the crowd and introduces Young Lust that grooves as it always does. "ooo I need a dirty woman, ooo I need a dirty girl" goes the lyric, backed up by a reckless abandon of lead guitar, wonderful. One Of My Turns is faithfully reproduced, in fact this part of the recording is very much the same as the album version with only minor changes. Naturally that is the same as saying that it's really outstanding and majestic. Another Brick In The Wall part III is rather sprightly and forceful with an understated harmony that really delivers a fitting tone.

Now we see The Last Few Bricks which is basically an addition instrumental it seems that doesn't actually have place in the narrative as such but I would imagine is specifically designed for the roadies to be able to have time to fit the last bricks in the wall being built on stage ready for Goodbye Cruel World the last song before the intermission. The instrumental revisits different parts of the songs that have gone before, and they've done a pretty good job sticking them together. Finally we hear that downbeat bass of Goodbye. Roger delivers the song in fine pain and tenderness. The crowd goes mad as the lights go up on a complete wall, and the first disc is over.


Disc 2 / Behind The Wall

The Floyd are now playing from behind the wall separated from the audience. The power of this literal statement is of course felt through the music
itself. Hey You is as ever the start of this second half to the tale and it's given to us in a blistering style here, Gilmour is going apeshit on lead. Is There Anybody Out There as you can imagine is greeted by shouts from the audience each time the question is asked. You can really start to picture being there at this moment, as Pink shouts from behind his wall to you. You can hear the audience has really got involved in the story now and they are a part of it in fact.

Roger Waters explains in the book about how he had once had a vivid image of throwing bombs on the audience and them going mad for it like crazy animals. This and more famous things inspired this show and now you can really sense the audience being directly drawn into the picture. Nobody Home experiences from a bit of dead air in the mix but the powerful piano just about overcomes it and Roger's vocals go on in fine style. Nobody Home has always been one of my favourite songs, and I have to say I prefer the studio album version though probably only because of the live production on this version. It feels powerful; the piano is verging on classical pomp at times.

Vera and Bring The Boys Back Home go by in their inevitably plain manner. Vera sounding more like it belongs on The Final Cut than ever before here on this album. And now comes the star of the show, Comfortably Numb.

Comfortably Numb is of course famous for being musically by far the best song of The Wall, and of course for being David Gilmour's baby. If you ever had any doubt as to the majesty of this song here is the evidence to convince you. It suffers a little from that dead air that you probably wouldn't notice if it were constant throughout the entire album. Gilmour's vocals are greeted by a cheer as the song turns from outstanding into sublime. (Normally Roger is by far the best singer of course, but not on this baby!). And then the reason for living is revealed as Gilmour begins an e
pic lead performance. This was his moment, in the show he appeared on top of the wall itself for this part and he clearly loved every second of the trip! Lyrics wise you can even remove this song from The Wall, it's just an outright masterpiece that captures a breath-takingly powerful concept of how a person becomes comfortably numb to life.

My nipples are erect listening to Gilmour's end lead, supported by a particularly full and powerful sounding Floyd. It may be a million miles away from the days of Syd Barret but this is a moment that surpasses any of his. Brilliant, utterly brilliant.

The Show Must Go On: no that's the name of next song, though it is a very relevant thought after Gilmour's show stopping performance! It's delivered quite loosely and with a feeling Reggae almost in parts (but obviously not quite!). After this comes a very bizarre track of the MC on tape from the start of the show. It's slowed down to an odd distorted level and in fact produces a moment of terror. You see the album starts with In The Flesh? note the question mark. Back then the people presumed to be Floyd by the audience turn out to be the surrogate band wearing rubber masks of the actual members of the Floyd. The Floyd then themselves appear in dramatic fashion as the surrogate band vanish through the stage floor. It's hard to explain here, but if you know the story and narrative you'll probably get what's going on. If not it'll just sound scary and odd. In The Flesh (minus question mark) is now performed. The idea is that the rock star Pink has become a fascist and the rock concert has become like the Nazi rally at Nuremberg. This is portrayed in total genius in the movie version. After the song Roger actually adds some improvised narrative to the story.

Talking to the crowd Roger (aka Pink the fascist isolated rock star) asks "are there any paranoids in the audience tonight [crowd shout yes], is there any
one that worries about things? [crowd shout yes] ..<pause> PATHETIC!" this is wonderful, Roger is a genius! He goes on in a scream: "This is for all the weak people in the audience. Is there anyone here who is weak? [crowd shout yes]." Roger then carries on his little genius addition to the narration by getting the audience to clap, he really screams at them to clap and clap louder and louder as Run Like Hell kicks in. This is a really clever thing in here as it turns the story into something that literally is real to those in the audience. Roger makes a great Nazi, but don't tell him I said that (he might spit in my face!). He whips up the crowd into a state of hysteria and could you ask for anything more from a rock and roll show! Brilliant stuff and the album is probably at it's strongest at this point.

Waiting For The Worms is performed very well indeed and captures that vile and nasty taste of hatred. It's a brilliant crescendo, Pink's isolation has bred the most stupid and yet very extreme hatred. Gradually that last little bit of human being inside him that we presumed dead sometime ago finally seems to find one last bit of energy. The hatred mounts up and up in dramatic style, the music here makes me shiver it's so powerful. Then Pink finally, finally finds that last bit of energy to own up to himself, to finally find his truth as indicated in Stop. And so begins The Trial of Pink (in his own mind). The Trial is faithful to the studio version, I just wish I could have seen the scene being animated on the out side of the wall complete with inflatable characters and goodness knows what! Oh and the little rag doll that the once powerful Hitler like Pink has now turned into. He is tossed about and you can actually hear this in the music if you visualise.

The Judge judges that Pink is indeed guilty and sentences him to his worst fear, to be exposed before his peer. And then comes the cry "tear down
the wall, tear down the wall, tear down the wall [etc]" there's a rumble, and then an explosion - the crowd goes mad. The Wall my dears has fallen, it's tumbled down.

Outside The Wall slowly winds us home with its poetic conclusion. The backing singers sing in beautiful harmony and Roger talks his words out of sync over the top. It's a much better version than that on the studio album. "After all it's not easy banging your heart against some mad buggers wall" and the audience applaud as the backing singer hum their way to a sweet end.

This is truly an awesome show and album. If you're a fan of the studio album and/or the movie version you need this live version. It's a wonderful set to own. It isn't 100% perfect because no live show ever can be, but it's probably the best live show I've ever heard laid down. The story is told and felt, and through the power of musical narration we see the whole darn thing in our mind too. Brilliant.

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