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Pink floyd the wall album 1979 value1/1/2023 ![]() I could go on and on about how brilliant each track is, but that would take us away from the real draw of this box set, which is the bonus material. The mix retains a strong continuity in quality, which is impressive given the amount of material that constitutes this double album. My favorite track of the remaster is “Young Lust”, which sounds the most invigorated of all of the songs. Immediately following the killer guitar on “In the Flesh?” is the crystal clear drum production of “The Thin Ice”. The guitar tracks sound great on this remaster, but often each song will have a track that stands out. The riff on album opener “In the Flesh?” introduces the album powerfully, and on this remastered version it sounds (what I imagine is like) the first time. The easiest area to see the improvement is in the quality of the guitar tracks. I own a good copy of The Wall on vinyl, and in comparison, this remaster is a clear improvement. The difference isn’t something that will blow you out of your seat in comparison to the original in a lot of places it’s subtle, but still noticeable. The 2011 remaster of The Wall avoids this entirely, managing to keep the original quality of the recording alive while also incorporating crisp new audio quality. Some classic rock LP’s I’ve heard actually sound better in their dated form, much in the same way that some older films don’t look good on Blu-Ray because of how the pristine quality reveals all the flaws of the older film. The word “remaster” can be misleading some albums that are “remastered” may not have needed the remastering job in the first place. Before I do that, however, I’ll speak a little to the album itself. My primary focus here will be on the bonus material found in the Immersion box set, as much of what I have to say about The Wall has already been said. While The Wall may not be the band’s finest moment (I would argue that title belongs to their 1975 release Wish You Were Here), it is still a great moment, and further evidence of the band’s consistency in their 1970’s LPs. After 33 years, the record’s criticism of institutional corruption, its depiction of angst and loneliness, and most of all the music remain as powerful testaments to the legacy of Pink Floyd. But that was all that needed to be said, and the simplicity of that statement by no means undercuts the complexity of The Wall. The statement is especially underwhelming given all of the stops EMI pulled out in the production of the Immersion edition of this legendary concept record. Once I had looked through the photography that gives a beautiful snapshot of the extravagant live shows for the album, listened to the demo tracks that thoroughly show the nascent stages of what would become the album, and once again read the album’s lyrics, one sentence summed it all up: Yet as I looked through the extensive box set that EMI crafted, I realized that there really was only one thing I could say about the album. To say the least, making a comment about this record made me pause. As devoted of a progressive rock fan I am, I am in a position that critics much greater than I once occupied. The hooks of tracks like “Another Brick in the Wall” and “Hey You” are known better by people who lived through this album. Scholars with many more credentials than I have analyzed pink Floyd’s discography. I was born 12 years after the release of the record, and I’m writing about it 33 years after its release. It would require much hubris of me to suggest that I have any more to say about this album than has already been said.
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