Roger Waters - The Wall (Live in Berlin) From:Bryan Adams , Leonard Cheshire , Tim Curry , Rick Danko , Thomas Dolby , Roger Waters , Island / Mercury ,
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See larger picture. | | Amazon Sales Rank:# 8059 User Rating: Customer Reviews List Price:$19.98 Amazon.com's Price:$13.97 Prices subject to change. You Save:$6.01 (30.08%) Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours |
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0044003843899
Format: Color
Format: Dolby
Format: DVD-Video
Format: Full Screen
Format: Live
Format: NTSC
Label: Island / Mercury
Audio Format: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Manufacturer: Island / Mercury
Number Of Items: 1
Packaged Height: 60 hundredths-inches
Packaged Length: 740 hundredths-inches
Packaged Weight: 18 hundredths-pounds
Packaged Width: 540 hundredths-inches
Publisher: Island / Mercury
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2003-06-24
Running Time: 115 minutes
Studio: Island / Mercury
Theatrical Release Date: 1990
Product Description:
The Wall (Live in Berlin) seemed uninspired and gimmicky in 1990 but looks and sounds terrifically compelling on DVD, thanks to its vivid image quality and greatly improved audio mixes. The freshly mineswept Potsdamer platz--a once-thriving plaza destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943--proved the perfect place to mark the opening of the Berlin Wall with an all-star production of Pink Floyd's magnum opus: a Wall for a wall. An unlikely assemblage of musicians augments Roger Waters's impressive house band (led by guitarist Rick DiFonzo and organ wizard Nick Glennie-Smith), with everyone from the Scorpions to Joni Mitchell to the Military Orchestra of the Soviet Army getting in on the rock-opera action. Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams, James Galway, Thomas Dolby, and Albert Finney all turn in tasty cameos, while Sinead O'Connor looks unaccountably aloof in "Mother." The documentary is thorough and juicy, and producer Tony Hollingsworth offers an above-par essay in the booklet. --Michael Mikesell
Customer Reviews:
 Amazing!, 2008-11-06
Roger Waters - The Wall (Live in Berlin)
This was incredible. I must admit that the one thing I truly regret in my life is the one thing I had no control over... I was born in 1987. I regret it because I missed some of the most incredible times in music history: The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Woodstock '69, Led Zeppelin, ELP, Pink Floyd, etc...
And, of course, this. I was 3 years old, here, and the only music I knew were the lullabies my Dad would sing to me before I went to sleep at night.
I wish I had seen this amazing show live, but I had to settle for the DVD.
Now, I have about five different video sources of Pink Floyd's The Wall Live, as well as tons of audio recordings (including the studio album and Is There Anybody Out There). With the exception of Van Morrison's performance on "Comfortably Numb," this is my favorite version of the show.
Now, something I'd like to address:
I noticed that, on here and on YouTube comments, a lot of people feel that this was "over-acted," "over-produced," etc. I think what you all don't get is that The Wall is NOT a concert. It is NOT something you simply perform with a band on stage. This is a spectacle, a story, a show... this is a performance. It is something that would work just as easily on a Broadway stage (and Roger Waters should consider that idea, IMO) as it did with Pink Floyd and as it does here.
You can't simply play The Wall live. You have to perform it. You have to have scenes and props and actors. Because that's what The Wall is.
I always thought that Pink Floyd's performance would have been even better then it already was (and it was good) with actual actor's, especially during The Trial. To see that here is an amazing thing. The sheer power and performance of this piece astounds me. I admit I thought the Judge on The Trial could have been a lot better, but he wasn't as bad as some people seem to think he was. And Tim Curry was a great choice for the prosecutor, IMO (if Roger does take The Wall to Broadway, I think he should recast Tim Curry as the Prosecutor).
Now, I must admit that I'm a Waters fan. I was a fan of Gilmour until Floyd broke up. Then I kind of lost all my respect for him as a person (he thinks Pink Floyd was rubbish!) and I can't stand his solo material (as well as Division Bell and Momentary Lapse of Reason), but I do consider him one of the greatest guitarists of all time and "Comfortably Numb" didn't just suffer from Van Morrison's performance, but from the lack of David Gilmour. What I would have loved to see him play off of Snowy White. And only David can sing that chorus correctly.
That said, at the very least, Roger could have, and should have, gotten somebody other then Van Morrison to do that chorus, because Morrison and those other people all but killed it.
However, Roger's performance on the song, and the guitar solo(s) almost make up for it, so they save the song and allow me to give this DVD and show the 5-Star rating it deserves.
And finally, the ending. I admit that I wish they had done "Outside the Wall" first, but I love "The Tide is Turning" and I'm glad it was performed here. I also truly believe that Waters should perform "The Tide is Turning" at Barack Obama's Inauguration because it would fit perfectly.
Over all, I truly enjoyed this performance and consider it the best live performance of The Wall I have ever seen ("Comfortably Numb" excluded).
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