lol ... it is getting rather long .... I'm still deciding whether to do the eighties or perhaps even the next album as a part 2 thread .... I just like people to be able to find things easily. This is by far the longest thread I've done and so it seems even more in need of some way of navigating it
Maybe post the Index every tenth page, so readers know that on page 110, 120 etc they'll be able to find the index?
At the end it will be put in the first post. With a seventy five hour working week, I don't really have time to be that precise
Excellent write-up of "Chamber of 32 Doors" from Mark. When I am thinking about the tracks on this album I often find it hard to relate the song titles to the music that I recall. Some songs such as the Carpet Crawlers or Counting Out Time stand out as having an identity - there is a reason why those two were chosen for single releases. With others such as Chamber I know the part of the album where it sits, but I would have to consult the lyrics to be sure of exactly where it begins and ends. I hope that makes sense. this is not a criticism of the album, it's something that is often the case with concept albums that have related songs which flow into one another.
Yes! There are certain songs that I still to this day hear the pause-click-pause. I actually still have a nice collection of 8 tracks and a stand alone player, but haven't played them in years.
Love, love, love "The Chamber Of 32 Doors". Aside from "The Lamia" it's my favorite track on this album. Do you think it's too precious to think that the last piano chime at the end represents a teardrop hitting the floor? Just my take on it.
I have several albums like that. I know and love the album, but can't pinpoint songs ... they aren't even all concept albums lol
The Arquives Box and the Genesis live 2008 mix have a live version LA 75 of "chamber 32 doors" in this song all vocals are from 1975
Agreed..The Wall is probably my least favorite Pink Floyd album (not counting future releases). Chamber of 32 Doors. Great song that took me a while to fully appreciate. To me, it always felt like the musical climax of the song was the intro; extremely intense, and then the intro ends and it kind of goes into this bouncy rhythm. Can't think of a whole lot of songs with an introduction that intense. Great playing by Steve.
Lillywhite Lillith The second disc starts off with an exceptional Pop/Rock song that has a great feel. I always feel that it could have been a fantastic single, but I suppose with the musical reprise turning it into a super short song, it wouldn't have worked. Musically we have the first half of the song being this fantastic pop/rock anthem and then the second half works as a reprise to Broadway Melody 74. That first half of the song though is great, with the heavy guitar riff and a chorus that always just sounds so inviting to sing along with and a beautiful arrangement that makes it stand out. I have always really liked this song, and as I loved Broadway Melody also, I really like the song. Lillith sort of helps Rael, but not in the way he asked, as she merely leads him to a chair to wait for whatever is coming next.
Lillith - I really like this one. The guitars are gritty, the "ooh"s and "aah"s in the chorus are perfect. If they'd have written another verse instead of the Broadway Melody reprise, it would have been a great single.
Lilywhite Lilith I remember having read once an interview with Phil Collins where he told that during his teen years he wrote a thing that later became Lilywhite Lilith on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. He found funny how it surfaced only in his later life. He obviously referred to Lilywhite Lilith's first half, which feels to me nothing about weird to it, even more so if compared to the overall album's atmosphere. That first half has a catchy vibe, it's just rocking and I like it, regarless of the lyrical meaning aspect. I find even kind of a "Beatlesque" mood to it. As for the last half of LW, it's a beautifully contrasting change of atmosphere. Although the switch here is even stronger than that of "Fly On A Windshield_Broadway Melody Of 1974", it flows really naturally and smoothly again, kudos to their craftsmanship! And its last 10 seconds or so brilliantly harks back to the arpeggios of "The Broadway Melody of 1974"'s last musical sentences, this time just a pitch higher and a slightly different sonic and rythmic approach. In short words, Lilywhite Lilith is indeed a great song.
A few late thoughts on the first half... The Lamb always slays - from Tony's cross-hand keyboard in constant motion to Mike's aggressive bass line to Phil's perfect busy fills, it's kind of a dirty groove for them. Fly is a beautiful mess of mellotron & Steve's almost backward-sounding playing. Broadway Melody is lyrical wordplay & slide show style imagery with great dramatic chords. Has that double hit rhythm been used by any bands before this album? Cuckoo is a little sluggish but makes sense for the narration that it's quieter & less developed. In The Cage is a bit repetitive but appropriately manic, plus it has a tastefully melodic ARP keyboard solo. Does the little incidental music at the end represent Rael on a conveyor belt moving into the Grand Parade factory? It's great how that then builds into machinery-like cartoon chaos. NYC, while also a bit repetitive, has great moments with the big piano chords & low synth sweep. The aggression also matches the Rael "tough guy" persona. Steve strikes a fine balance of mood & melody with his Hairless Heart, where the instant soft to loud dynamic is perfectly executed. Counting Out Time is Beatles & Python & English silliness, right down to Steve's Synthi Hi-Fli guitar effect that emulates the kazoo-like solo. Bonus points for Mike's bass line. Carpet Crawlers ties in with the Lamb bridge. Nice keyboards - ever try to play Tony's rolling arpeggios for four minutes straight? While also playing the bass line with the left hand? On an unforgiving RMI Electra Piano? Absolute stunts. Phil's tasty, tasty hi-hat work is the glue though. Finally, glad to see Chamber get much credit. Dramatic, folky, & soulful, this track is outstanding. The highlight may be the chilling high vocal trade off to Phil during "...that I've walked throoooough..." that then echoes & erupts into the full instrumentation. Wish they had done more tunes like this. About the Carpet Crawlers enigma - it's both metaphor & not, illustrating that biological & spiritual drives are essentially the same. Rael's experience is just another version of the same events that have been happening since before birth. The last verse is indeed about sperm & conception at the surface level. It follows the Counting Out Time clumsy sexual encounter & puts the focus at both micro & macro levels. Peter's mix of poetry & humor (the female red ochre corridor & male tickler's stickleback) allows for it to match with the rest of the "seeking" narrative, where all moments of life are about searching/yearning/being instinctively or unknowingly led towards something. There are implications fractals & Fibonacci in motion ("spiral staircase"), & these biological motivations beget the seemingly spiritual ones later in life; i.e., pick your poison or your idols or whatever you chase, but you will be doing so regardless, & it's up to you if you want to be aware of making those decisions consciously or unconsciously (as described in Chamber). The whole album side is about sex & the drive of life, & that theme carries on about the mythology of it all on the tracks that follow.
From the earliest known live audience tape - 7 March 1971 - recorded at their first ever foreign gig - in Belgium after Trespass made #1 on the album chart there (and only a few weeks after Hackett joined the band) Anyone recognize the song?
Well spotted! It seems slightly like a messy mess to me... no surprise it didn't end up on an album then. Given the double size and all, it's not surprising they recycled old material, either. What IS more surprising is that you wouldn't tell it was old ideas or themes. They fit organically. IIRC, this is the last time they did though. Starting with Trick it should be all new material. Anyone?
I think so. Although I still maintain that the opening piano chords from “Shepherd” are re-used in the middle of “Duchess”.
