PINK FLOYD THE WALL
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released 30 November 1979 on Harvest and Columbia Records. The album was a commercial success, topping the US charts for 15 weeks, and reaching number three in the UK. It initially received mixed reviews from critics, many of whom found it overblown and pretentious, but later came to be considered one of the greatest albums of all time.
The Wall is one of the most well-known concept albums and was adapted into a 1982 feature film of the same name. The album has sold more than 24 million copies, is the second best-selling in the band's catalog, and is one of the best-selling of all time. Some of the outtakes from the recording sessions were later used on the group's next album, The Final Cut (1983). In 2003, Rolling Stone listed The Wall at number 87 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Bassist Roger Waters conceived The Wall during Pink Floyd's 1977 In The Flesh tour, modeling the character of Pink after himself and former bandmate Syd Barrett. Recording spanned from December 1978 to November 1979. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-imposed isolation from society is symbolized by a wall.
Three singles were issued from the album: Another Brick in The Wall Part 2 (the band's only US number-one single), Run Like Hell, and Comfortably Numb. From 1980 to 1981, Pink Floyd performed the full album on a tour that featured elaborate theatrical effects.
The album's cover art is one of Pink Floyd's most minimal - a white brick wall and no text. Issues of the album would include the lettering of the artist name and album title by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, either as a sticker on sleeve wrapping or printed onto the cover itself, in either black or red. Scarfe, who had previously created animations for the band’s In The Flesh tour, also created the LP's inside sleeve art and labels of both vinyl records of the album, showing the eponymous wall in various stages of construction, accompanied by characters from the story. The drawings would be translated into dolls for The Wall tour, as well as into Scarfe's animated segments for the film based on the album.