Pink Floyd The Wall in 5.1

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Did you ever have a set up where it worked? When it did, it was uncanny at placing audio images way out beyond the boundaries of the stereo speakers. Amused to Death has the best examples. I dont see how it was any more 'pointless' than a surround mix. Both are attempts to break beyond the confines of typical stereo.
What sort of set up required it to “work”?
 
They were huge in the USA too, I remember well. Wish You Were Here was a #1 album, and Animals reached #3. Tracks from the former are staples on 'classic rock' radio to this day, the latter less so. They were both played extensively by NYC-area rock stations in the 1970s.
Wikipedia shows in Canada "Wish You Were Here" reaching number 14 and "Animals" number 12. I still do not recall hearing any radio airplay of either. Not being a big Floyd fan I might well have missed tracks from WYWH but certainly not those from Animals! I did eventually get a copy of "Wish You Were Here", it was supposed to be the quad version but ended up just being stereo.
 
Wikipedia shows in Canada "Wish You Were Here" reaching number 14 and "Animals" number 12. I still do not recall hearing any radio airplay of either. Not being a big Floyd fan I might well have missed tracks from WYWH but certainly not those from Animals! I did eventually get a copy of "Wish You Were Here", it was supposed to be the quad version but ended up just being stereo.
They both got and continue to get airplay around here. Wish You Were Here, Shine on You Crazy Diamond pt1, Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar all get played on the local rock stations. Not nearly as often as say Money or ABitW pt2, but they do. Animals I just heard Pigs on the Wing on the radio this week. But it's played a lot less than WYWH. Probably because most of the songs are pretty long and don't fit the radio format well.

The 5.1 version of WYWH is worth seeking out.
 
Wikipedia shows in Canada "Wish You Were Here" reaching number 14 and "Animals" number 12. I still do not recall hearing any radio airplay of either. Not being a big Floyd fan I might well have missed tracks from WYWH but certainly not those from Animals! I did eventually get a copy of "Wish You Were Here", it was supposed to be the quad version but ended up just being stereo.
Don't (didn't) you guys have some rule that required all radio stations to play 70% Canadian artists? Maybe Celine Dion, Loverboy, Rush, and the Hip stole all the airtime. :cool:
 
Wikipedia shows in Canada "Wish You Were Here" reaching number 14 and "Animals" number 12. I still do not recall hearing any radio airplay of either. Not being a big Floyd fan I might well have missed tracks from WYWH but certainly not those from Animals! I did eventually get a copy of "Wish You Were Here", it was supposed to be the quad version but ended up just being stereo.

Well, that's Canada.

(courtesy of Wikipedia):

Wish You Were Here:

In Britain, with 250,000 advance sales, the album debuted at number three and reached number one the following week. Demand was such that EMI informed retailers that only half of their orders would be fulfilled. With 900,000 advance orders (the largest for any Columbia release) it reached number one on the US Billboard chart in its second week. Wish You Were Here was Pink Floyd's fastest-selling album ever. The album was certified Silver and Gold (60,000 and 100,000 sales respectively) in the UK on 1 August 1975, and Gold in the US on 17 September 1975. It was certified six times platinum on 16 May 1997, and by 2004 had sold an estimated 13 million copies worldwide. "Have a Cigar" was chosen by Columbia as the first single, with "Welcome to the Machine" on the B-side in the US. The album was a commercial hit in Europe, topping Dutch, English and Spanish charts – in Spain, the album remained at number one for 20 weeks.



Animals:

Animals was released in the UK on 21 January 1977 on Harvest Records, and in the US on 12 February on Columbia Records. It reached number two in the UK and number three in the US. Thanks to the album and the band's back catalogue, according to The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums, "Pink Floyd bested ABBA for most weeks on chart [in 1977], 108 to 106." Animals was certified quadruple platinum in the US on 31 January 1995.
 
They both got and continue to get airplay around here. Wish You Were Here, Shine on You Crazy Diamond pt1, Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar all get played on the local rock stations. Not nearly as often as say Money or ABitW pt2, but they do. Animals I just heard Pigs on the Wing on the radio this week. But it's played a lot less than WYWH. Probably because most of the songs are pretty long and don't fit the radio format well.

The 5.1 version of WYWH is worth seeking out.
When I was last in Iowa (years ago now) I remember most stations were playing what we now refer to as classic rock. No newer music nor even country that I can remember.
Don't (didn't) you guys have some rule that required all radio stations to play 70% Canadian artists? Maybe Celine Dion, Loverboy, Rush, and the Hip stole all the airtime. :cool:
That is a problem. There is a lot of great Canadian music but a quota of 20 or maybe max of 30% would make more sense. We also have the perennial problem of only certain tracks getting the airplay. Even in the rare case that they did pick the best track(s) to play they insist on playing it over and over! I suspect that is a problem elsewhere compounded by their very narrow program formats.
 
When I was last in Iowa (years ago now) I remember most stations were playing what we now refer to as classic rock. No newer music nor even country that I remember.

That is a problem. There is a lot of great Canadian music but a quota of 20 or maybe max of 30% would make more sense. We also have the perennial problem of only certain tracks getting the airplay. Even in the rare case that they did pick the best track(s) to play they insist on playing it over and over! I suspect that is a problem elsewhere compounded by their very narrow program formats.
Oh there's Country. A LOT of it. But you're spot on that most of the rock stations are classic rock, but a couple cover new material.
 
Good speakers properly placed and calibrated in relation to the listener, in a room with good acoustics at the main listening position,

Which are basic requirements for optimal stereo audio from *any* source.
Yes. And the “holographic sound” was over-hyped and didn’t make up for weak material. IMO.
 
When you have matched speakers properly aligned with tape measure and level (and at least half way decent speakers), a phantom center (mono) sound will fool you and you'll swear it's coming from the center speaker. You have to actually get up and walk up to the speaker to hear it's coming from the stereo pair.

If you can do that with your setup, you'll hear the holophonic sound and q-sound imaging when you sit in the sweet spot.

I agree with the low opinions of holophonic sound and q-sound, mind you! But you can hear it.

Not for a while now but when I used to hear various 'classic rock' radio some years ago I'd hear Pigs (3 Different Ones) often enough and they even rarely bleeped out "You ****** up old hag..."
 
Well we did finally get Animals. So, hope springs eternal I guess. I'm sure they could get Guthrie to do it, which would appease Roger (at least on the Engineering side of things). I'm not sure it's being discussed as a project (even though it should). The Wall is the only immersion set I passed on because there was nothing audio wise I didn't already own. It's a shame, since The Wall would be quite something if treated the same as Dark Side's latest remaster.
I bought the Immersion box thinking there would be the same 5.1 blu ray the other sets had? Big mistake in not reading the finer print!! Like I’d trade those marbles for the blu ray disc in. Second! But oh well that’s what I get for impulse buying!
 
Yes. And the “holographic sound” was over-hyped and didn’t make up for weak material. IMO.
Holophonic sound is actually for headphones (used for The Final Cut amd Pros & Cons), while Q Sound is for speakers (Amused To Death). Waters has talked extensively about both formats. I first read about it in Nicholas Schaffner's Floyd book A Saucerful Of Secrets back in the day.

I thought Holophonics was indeed overrated. I never felt that the missile in Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" came from behind to explode in front of me like it was supposed to.

However, I thought Q sound was actually very impressive for a "simulated" surround for 2 speakers. Waters discussed this effect in the Amused To Death promo when it was re-released with the 5.1 mix.

Momentary Lapse was recorded using Spherical Sound, which seems to just sound more expansive but nothing to write home about. Chris Squire also used it for the song "The More We Live" on Yes' Union album.
 
Holophonic sound is actually for headphones (used for The Final Cut amd Pros & Cons), while Q Sound is for speakers (Amused To Death). Waters has talked extensively about both formats. I first read about it in Nicholas Schaffner's Floyd book A Saucerful Of Secrets back in the day.

I thought Holophonics was indeed overrated. I never felt that the missile in Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert" came from behind to explode in front of me like it was supposed to.

However, I thought Q sound was actually very impressive for a "simulated" surround for 2 speakers. Waters discussed this effect in the Amused To Death promo when it was re-released with the 5.1 mix.

Momentary Lapse was recorded using Spherical Sound, which seems to just sound more expansive but nothing to write home about. Chris Squire also used it for the song "The More We Live" on Yes' Union album.
I, too, played it through headphones hoping to hear something special but never really did. It’s a marvelously sounding album and very well recorded. And a pleasure to listen to, to the degree I can stay awake through it.
 
I don't know, if you look at the movie and see how all those songs fit into the overall vision of the story, none of the songs seem that superfluous to me.
That's funny since a few songs were shortened for the film version and Hey You was completely cut from the film.
 
I don't know, if you look at the movie and see how all those songs fit into the overall vision of the story, none of the songs seem that superfluous to me. I remember when the movie was released and I saw it for the first time, I thought it was amazing how some of the background noises/dialogue that were on the album showed up in the movie. Now granted, they could mold the movie to make it fit to some degree, but still, the overall concept was pretty flushed out when the album was released. Originally, we just thought all the background noises and dialogue were there to make it more trippy (and I can vouch, that it worked).

The movie is a different animal.

I do like the album. All the songs are good. However, some are filler or don't drive the story or are unneeded subplots.

As an exercise, if I were to trim the wall to 3 twenty minute sides, I'd do the following:
1. I would not touch Side 1.
2. I would delete Empty Spaces and get rid of half of One of My Turns and half of Don't Leave Me Now. I would delete Goodbye Cruel World. There is no better way to end that part of the album than the modified last line of Bricks 3 "all in all you were all just bricks in the wall." It says the same thing as Goodbye Cruel World in one sentence. This would remove 7 minutes of music from side 2.
3. For side 3, I would lose Vera and Bring the Boys Back Home. We've moved on from the WWII part of the story. This reduces side 3 by 3 minutes.
4. For Side 4, I would lose The Show Must Go On, and Stop for 2 minutes. I'd lose 2 minutes total from Waiting for the Worms and the Trial. That's 4 minutes on side 4.

Sides would go like this:

Side 1
1. In the Flesh?
2. The Thin Ice
3. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 1
4. The Happiest Days of Our Lives
5. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2
6. Mother
20:11

Side 2
1. Goodbye Blue Sky
2. Young Lust
3. One of My Turns
4. Don't Leave Me Now
5. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 3
6. Hey You.
7. Is There Anybody Out There?
8. Nobody Home
22:13

Side 3
1. Comfortably Numb
2. In the Flesh
3. Run Like Hell
4. Waiting for the Worms
5. The Trial
6. Outside the Wall
22:15

It would fit on one CD, one cassette, and is right on the edge of 3 sides of vinyl.
 
The movie is a different animal.

I do like the album. All the songs are good. However, some are filler or don't drive the story or are unneeded subplots.

As an exercise, if I were to trim the wall to 3 twenty minute sides, I'd do the following:
1. I would not touch Side 1.
2. I would delete Empty Spaces and get rid of half of One of My Turns and half of Don't Leave Me Now. I would delete Goodbye Cruel World. There is no better way to end that part of the album than the modified last line of Bricks 3 "all in all you were all just bricks in the wall." It says the same thing as Goodbye Cruel World in one sentence. This would remove 7 minutes of music from side 2.
3. For side 3, I would lose Vera and Bring the Boys Back Home. We've moved on from the WWII part of the story. This reduces side 3 by 3 minutes.
4. For Side 4, I would lose The Show Must Go On, and Stop for 2 minutes. I'd lose 2 minutes total from Waiting for the Worms and the Trial. That's 4 minutes on side 4.

Sides would go like this:

Side 1
1. In the Flesh?
2. The Thin Ice
3. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 1
4. The Happiest Days of Our Lives
5. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2
6. Mother
20:11

Side 2
1. Goodbye Blue Sky
2. Young Lust
3. One of My Turns
4. Don't Leave Me Now
5. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 3
6. Hey You.
7. Is There Anybody Out There?
8. Nobody Home
22:13

Side 3
1. Comfortably Numb
2. In the Flesh
3. Run Like Hell
4. Waiting for the Worms
5. The Trial
6. Outside the Wall
22:15

It would fit on one CD, one cassette, and is right on the edge of 3 sides of vinyl.
OK, I like the flow, but why cram it all on 3 sides of vinyl?

What's gonna go on the 4th side?

Many double albums are ~65 minutes long.
 
Though it has come to light recently that he was unofficially involved with that album.
Rick did contribute to about half of AMLOR, but only as a session musician. He didn't really have creative input. The one thing he did come up with, an organ solo for "On the Turning Away", wasn't used because it didn't fit. A shame we still haven't heard it.
While I'm not a huge Floyd fan, I'm rather surprised at the negative comments about the album. As I recall "The Wall" was almost as big as "Dark Side of the Moon". AFAIK all the other albums went somewhat unnoticed. I'm sure that they were all huge other places like the UK.
It was the first PF studio album I've heard and I loved it then, so I should have positive opinions of it, but somehow it has just constantly decreased in my estimation... I don't think it has aged all that well. If pressed, I'd play the live recording, which has more instrumental embellishments and those omitted parts I talked about earlier, both of which help to make it sound more musically potent to me.
I one read an article that said Waters came to the band with two potential projects, The Final Cut, an what eventually became Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking. Gilmour hated both of them but voted for Final Cut. The specific quote I remember was Waters saying, (paraphrased) "of course they accepted it, they know songs don't grow on trees."
As has been said before, Pros and Cons was offered back in 1979, and the band went for The Wall instead. After that, they started working on "Spare Bricks", which was initially meant to mop up some of the alternate versions from the film and eventually developed into The Final Cut. It was very important for Roger to comment quickly on the Falklands war - something that he felt he couldn't have done if he had waited for David to write some songs. The message became front and center for The Final Cut.
Every moment Gilmour plays on The Final Cut is brilliant.
I think he runs out of ideas during the "Your Possible Pasts" solo, and even "The Fletcher Memorial Home" doesn't sound like his heart is fully into it (although it's one of the three songs he likes).
The “holophonic sound” was a pointless, over-hyped gimmick, IMO.
Well IMHO "Paranoid Eyes", which I find totally uninteresting musically (but Steven Wilson is a big fan - go figure!), really gains a dimension by the sounds spinning around on headphones.
 
Not sure if I related this before, but the first time I heard any form of "The Wall" all the way through was on a camping trip.
My ex and I were camping on the Suwannee River where it was narrow and heavily wooded on both sides. Sounds from up or down river were amazingly clear.
Early one morning, we were surprised to hear "The Wall" floating along the river almost crystal clear, and were enjoying the music, if a slightly surreal experience.

After a bit, a young man comes across our camp site and introduces himself, and asked did we like the music. He was staying at a cabin down river a short ways and had the video fired up and cranked , through what was obviously not TV speakers.
 
As has been said before, Pros and Cons was offered back in 1979, and the band went for The Wall instead. After that, they started working on "Spare Bricks", which was initially meant to mop up some of the alternate versions from the film and eventually developed into The Final Cut. It was very important for Roger to comment quickly on the Falklands war - something that he felt he couldn't have done if he had waited for David to write some songs. The message became front and center for The Final Cut.
It was very important for Roger to comment quickly on the Falklands war... otherwise no one would ever remember it. LOL
 
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