Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

Are you ready...

No.2: “The Wall” by Pink Floyd (1979)
When Roger Waters presented two drafts to the band in late 1978 of a proposed new album by Pink Floyd and asked them to choose their favourite, the band unanimously plumped for The Wall. The other was eventually released solo by Waters in 1984 entitled The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking. How different the music world might have been. Good as pros & Cons is, the band went with the right album.
The Wall is a work of genius. Period. It’s almost entirely written by Waters, save for some of the more uptempo compositions whose music was composed by David Gilmour. Nick mason obviously played along as usual and Richard Wright was virtually forced by the others to continue as a member of the band by this point in their career.
The double album with the ominous, rather throwaway sleeve with further illustrations this time by artist Gerald Scarfe, this record is an unsettling, frightening, depressing work of art in equal measure. Highlight ‘Comfortable Numb’ is often described as the highlight of all Pink Floyd’s recordings with its unequalled guitar solo by Gilmour, a truly wonderful 6 ½ minutes of awesome playing. But we also get ‘Nobody Home’, ‘Hey You’, ‘Run Like Hell’ and so many more classic songs on this daddy of all concept albums.
Rarely joyous but always interesting, The Wall is a stunning album by anybody’s standards.
The music then, and Pink Floyd once again tackled the subject of life itself as their chosen theme. Things start off with a baby’s cries as the lead character in all of this is born. Pink Taking us through infancy, childhood, schooling (the fluke hit ‘Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2’, which was only a last-minute decision to release a single at all), teenage sex, illness, neo-Nazi type propaganda-style rebellion and ultimately the descent into the depths of despair and fear and loneliness. Roger Waters’ masterpiece would take this on a very expensive two-year world tour, spawn a fine movie and feature as its music as important stage highlights by the band’s members for many years to come.
I truly wanted this album at No.1 in my list, but nothing would ever take the place of my final choice.

Sleeve image, other images:




Videos:

Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

The Wall, live concert. Nassau 1980:

Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

Documentary:


Interviews:



Track listing:
Side one
1. "In the Flesh?"
2. "The Thin Ice"
3. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)"
4. "The Happiest Days of Our Lives"
5. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
6. "Mother"
Side two
1. "Goodbye Blue Sky"
2. "Empty Spaces"
3. "Young Lust"
4. "One of My Turns"
5. "Don't Leave Me Now"
6. "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 3)"
7. "Goodbye Cruel World"
Side three
1. "Hey You"
2. "Is There Anybody Out There?"
3. "Nobody Home"
4. "Vera"
5. "Bring the Boys Back Home"
6. "Comfortably Numb"
Side four
1. "The Show Must Go On"
2. "In the Flesh"
3. "Run Like Hell"
4. "Waiting for the Worms"
5. "Stop"
6. "The Trial"
7. "Outside the Wall"

Personnel:
• Roger Waters – vocals, bass guitar, synthesizer, acoustic guitar on "Mother" and "Vera", electric guitar on "Another Brick in the Wall Part III" [109]
• David Gilmour – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitar, synthesizer, clavinet, percussion
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion
• Richard Wright – acoustic and electric pianos, Hammond organ, synthesizer, clavinet, bass pedals

Additional musicians
• Bruce Johnston – backing vocals[110]
• Toni Tennille – backing vocals
• Joe Chemay – backing vocals
• Jon Joyce – backing vocals
• Stan Farber – backing vocals
• Jim Haas – backing vocals
• Bob Ezrin – piano, Hammond organ, synthesizer, reed organ, backing vocals
• James Guthrie – percussion, synthesizer, sound effects
• Jeff Porcaro – drums on "Mother"
• Children of Islington Green School – vocals on "Another Brick in the Wall Part II"
• Joe Porcaro, Blue Ocean & 34 others[111] – snare drums on "Bring the Boys Back Home"
• Lee Ritenour – rhythm guitar on "One of My Turns", additional acoustic guitar on "Comfortably Numb"
• Joe (Ron) di Blasi – classical guitar on "Is There Anybody Out There?"
• Fred Mandel – Hammond organ on "In The Flesh?" and "In the Flesh"
• Bobbye Hall – congas and bongos on "Run Like Hell"
• Frank Marrocco – concertina on "Outside the Wall"
• Larry Williams – clarinet on "Outside the Wall"
• Trevor Veitch – mandolin on "Outside the Wall"
• New York Orchestra – orchestra
• New York Opera – choral vocals
• Vicki Brown and Clare Torry (credited simply as "Vicki & Clare") – backing vocals
• Harry Waters – child's voice on "Goodbye Blue Sky"
• Chris Fitzmorris – male telephone voice
• Trudy Young – voice of the groupie
• Phil Taylor – sound effects

Production
• David Gilmour – co-producer
• Roger Waters – co-producer
• Bob Ezrin – production, orchestral arrangement, music on "The Trial"
• Michael Kamen – orchestral arrangement
• James Guthrie – co-producer, engineer
• Nick Griffiths – engineer
• Patrice Quef – engineer
• Brian Christian – engineer
• Rick Hart – engineer
• Doug Sax – mastering
• John McClure - engineer
• Phil Taylor – sound equipment
• Gerald Scarfe – sleeve design

Which just leaves....

Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

Okay the moment you have all been waiting for. Most of you got it right. Cue the obligatory fanfare first….

Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

No.1: “The Transformed Man” by William Shatner (1968)















But seriously, folks…….

Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

Obviously.

Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

I don’t think this is a surprise. Most of you would have guessed from day one…

No.1: “The Dark Side Of The Moon” by Pink Floyd (1973)


My all-time favourite album is in a league of its own. It’s the story of life from start to end. What theme could possibly eclipse that?
Forty-three minutes, 10 songs, 45 million sales, one unbroken U.S. chart run from 1973-1988, an unbroken Top 40 placing in the U.S. rock album charts since 1985, the third best-selling CD of all-time, the No.1 album of the 1970’s in combined votes from thousands of sources, etc etc etc…
It’s awesome. It’s so absolutely well made in every sense; the music, the score, the performances, the lyrics, the band on top form, the enigmatic sleeve which I can just stare at for hours on end. I have an obsession with this record. I have umpteen t-shirts, videos, bootlegs, key rings, badges, mugs, hoodies, stickers, a lampshade, canvas prints, posters, a cushion and a chair.
I could sit here enthusing about this record – and I do to my friends who all love it just as much – but I’ll simply analyse the track listing (based on the original vinyl release):

Side One:
1. Speak To Me
A heartbeat. Recorded voices, noises of madness in a building crescendo to some final screams.

2. Breathe
After the heartbeat there is life. The music plummets into a lush beauty, wallowing in splendour. Time to completely relax, taking it all in.


3. On The Run
Footsteps, echoes, more strange voices.

4. Time
Gentle ticking of clocks. Alarms. Big Ben. Nick Mason with his extremely intricate drum pattern, tapping away until the rest of the band take their places for the ultimate in musical pieces. The world of work, the drudge of everyday life and finally getting home again and relaxing. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it? The lyrics speak for themselves.



5. The Great Gig In The Sky
Lust. Sex. Clare Torry with her moment. Beautiful piano accompaniment courtesy Rick Wright.


Continued...

Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

Side Two:
1. Money
The album’s commercial piece, the catchy tune, the rocker. David Gilmour takes it away with some screaming guitar parts and Roger continues the story with his observations. This time on greed…which continues into the next song:


2. Us And Them
The most beautiful song on the album, ‘Us And Them’ is simply gorgeous. Nearly eight minutes of Rick and Roger singing about the everyday tussle of the working man fighting the high and mighty. Dick Parry’s saxophone work is wonderful on this.


3. Any Colour You Like(instrumental)
Another instrumental bridge. Stabs of guitar and keyboards, introducing the final medley.

4. Brain Damage
Roger Waters’ final two compositions. ‘Brain Damage’ is the story of madmen, of lunatics on the grass and creeping further into the house until they get inside the head.

5. Eclipse
The final ending. Everything thrown into the mix. Lyrics encompassing just about all we can think of which has gone before and is to come, and ultimately, how it all ends - With a heartbeat and then nothing.

Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

Other images:



Other videos:



Documentary:


Personnel and production:
Pink Floyd
• David Gilmour – vocals, guitars, Synthi AKS
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion, tape effects
• Richard Wright – organ (Hammond and Farfisa), piano, electric piano (Wurlitzer, Rhodes), vocals, VCS 3, Synthi AKS
• Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals, VCS 3, tape effects
Additional musicians
• Dick Parry – saxophone on "Us and Them" and "Money"
• Clare Torry – vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky"
• Doris Troy – backing vocals
• Lesley Duncan – backing vocals
• Liza Strike – backing vocals
• Barry St. John – backing vocals
Production
• Alan Parsons – engineering
• Peter James – assistant (incorrectly identified as "Peter Jones" on first US pressings of the LP)
• Chris Thomas – mix supervisor
Design
• Hipgnosis – sleeve design, photography
• George Hardie – sleeve art, stickers art

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Sincere thanks to all who’ve participated in my thread, it’s been a helluva long road which has nearly finished me off many times. Apologies for my frequent teddies-out-of-the-cot outbursts and mindfvcks on occasion but against all odds we’ve got there.
P.S. The thread doesn't need to be over. Those albums are there for prosperity and looking at at any point.
Oh, and by the way...I still want to see your own Top 20's please, either in here on on your own threads

You guys have been fantastic. Thank you all

Floydy

Re: Floydy's All-Time Top 1000 Favourite Albums

And thank you Floydy for sticking with it. I think most of us wiould have had the odd outburst had we been doing the same.

I suppose it was a given that there would be a Pink Floyd at No.1 and I suppose Dark side of the moon is the ultimate. I have to be completely honest and say that I don't know much about the album although I have probably heard some of them at some time or other. I will be diving in and out having a listen to it.

William Shatner -