Pink Floyd The Wall Immersion Edition 2012

[tommyball]

I think the set is okay overall, but without hi-res or 5.1 versions of the original album, the price should have been reduced. I think the 1982 Wall film should have been included as well or at least the soundtrack. Perhaps even The Final Cut demos and outtakes - it was originally called "Spare Bricks" after all. In their Achtung Baby set, U2 included Zooropa and associated outtakes.

The quality and format of the Quadrophenia and Achtung Baby sets just feels greater compared to these immersion sets. I felt more like I was getting my money's worth with those heavy hardcover books that included a significant amount of new content.

Still, the restored footage of "Happiest Days..." looks awesome. I hope it's a teaser of what's to come. I also though it interesting that the last spread in the Wall Immersion photo book is from Waters' current tour. The HD images on the wall as well as portion of a "Trust Us" graphic is subtle, but apparent.

Since The Wall is Waters' baby and he is currently touring, I can only imagine that he does not have the time to devote to overseeing any restorations or remixes right now. I do recall reading somewhere that in the course of developing his current tour, Waters was surprised to find quality films of the 80/81 shows and was thinking of releasing it.

I'm hoping for a restored 80/81 Wall Concert film, and some additional Immersion sets for Animals and Meddle.

-todd

[J Ed]

all these Wall demos are mighty fascinating
but mighty depressing to keeping looping through while at work and not in any good way either
these early versions especially seem to be a massive kvetch against his exwife, with a lot of bitterness and immaturity that got somewhat glossed over as the album matured

musically theres a lot more wierd vcs3 type noises that never made the final release esp in the earliest demos
and I hear hints of other songs all through the demos, both variations on earlier songs and hints of future songs
for eg I swear I heard the melody fr Fletcher Memorial Home at one point, cant remember which but I heard it
and the final Run Like Hell demo has riffs fr one of the songs on Daves 1st solo album, Short and Sweet maybe? obviously the Wall sucks because its just leftovers fr Daves 1st solo album

and for an album where the lyrics were so much more important than the music, these demos present loads of variants to study, multiple iterations and lengthy chunks for which no equivalent made the final album

even a song like Young Lust once had way more lyrics, that one ended up close to an instrumental compared to Rogers original conception
and Comfy Numb has a third vocal melody that was dropped: "youve got to hold yourself together, got to take it like a man" and it turns out that melody was in Daves original demo ... did that section ever reappear elsewhere?

Teacher Teacher esp is a totally different song from what finally appeared on the next album, it seems very complete as is and a shame it was dropped but I guess was too much of a tangent?
the Floyd version of Sexual Revolution on the other hand is very raw and not so noteworthy ... Im guessing that got abandonded before it had any chance to evolve further

also theres the buried spoken word bits,
the psychiatrist in Comfy Numb especially is a good one, he was a young lad himself once
I wish that was a bit clearer because what I can make out cracks me up
Roger's groupie voice we've already heard in the Under Construction boot but Im sure Im now hearing lines I never heard in the boot, eg "you english boys are so quiet"
and the megaphone rant on Waiting for the Worms seems to be the same one as on the final album, but more complete ... I think on the official album it faded out after "its quite possible..." but now we can hear the instigator warning the mob what possibilities to expect as they march, though I still cant quite make out what he's warning of

I hope somebody somewhere can transcribe all these new lyrics and spoken word bits, cuz its a lot more info to digest and debate

still is depressing though and I really should find something else to listen to while at work

[whackystrings]

still is depressing though and I really should find something else to listen to while at work

Try The Cure's "Disintegration".

[Wolfpack]

also theres the buried spoken word bits,
the psychiatrist in Comfy Numb especially is a good one, he was a young lad himself once
I wish that was a bit clearer because what I can make out cracks me up

Disc 6, track 5, "Programme 1", you mean?

Roger's groupie voice we've already heard in the Under Construction boot but Im sure Im now hearing lines I never heard in the boot, eg "you english boys are so quiet"

Is that Waters, doing the groupie voice? (Disc 6, track 6, "Programme 3".) It sounds a bit like the 'South Park' cartoons.

I like 'Teacher, Teacher' very much. One of the best Pink Floyd outtakes I've heard.

I don't understand the "programme" labels. Disc 5 has programme 1-3. But Disc 6 also has programme 1-3. Has each disc it's own programme 1-3 scheme. Or does (for example) the "programme 1" in both discs refer to the same programme 1?

I think the snippets of Water demo's are strange, as if I'm listening to some brief samples on an internet shop.

[Damn!t]

Teacher Teacher esp is a totally different song from what finally appeared on the next album, it seems very complete as is and a shame it was dropped but I guess was too much of a tangent?

Teacher Teacher has, I think, a harmony part that strongly resembles that song from the last mimzy film - hello I love you.

As for similarities of run like hell and short and sweet... I think that these songs basically emerged from one riff that David played on Animals - Sheep, or in this case much earlyer, all during wywh period.
From a guitarist point of view, the final killer riff on sheep, run like hell and short and sweet are all very alike.

I really like the demos, not including Roger's "early originals" which tend to be a bit annoying, but in some way interesting becouse you can see the core of it all.
The somewhat polished band demos are in many places fucking brilliant. Love the Rick's piano parts on the thin ice.

Still havent seen the happiest days of our lives video clip and I'm searching the web like a maniac.
I except donations heh...

[RonToon]

Teacher Teacher esp is a totally different song from what finally appeared on the next album, it seems very complete as is and a shame it was dropped but I guess was too much of a tangent?

Teacher Teacher has, I think, a harmony part that strongly resembles that song from the last mimzy film - hello I love you.

Um...I think you have that backwards.

And Teacher, Teacher became an outtake from The Final Cut as well appearing on the b-side of the Not Now John single as The Hero's Return (Part 2). The final version is quite similar to the demo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEyu4FDxN7Y

[mosespa]

I kind of wish that Pink Floyd had taken a tip from Pearl Jam, who included a functioning "replica" cassette tape of the original demos that Eddie Vedder first sang over.

A "replica" cassette of the entirety of Waters' original Wall demos would probably make me shell out the money for this boxed set (since I already have The Wall, Is There Anybody Out There and Under Construction as well as Behind The Wall, albeit on VHS...*shrug*)...but the snippets of Waters' demos just leave me wanting more. Although, I do have to say that the "band demos" do seem to be somewhat different mixes (with higher sound quality, of course,) than Under Construction...so, I dunno. Might end up buying it...might not.

[davidjay]

A "replica" cassette of the entirety of Waters' original Wall demos would probably make me shell out the money for this boxed set

then i'd have to shell out the money to buy a cassette deck. i haven't had one in more than a decade. they might as well include an 8-track or a wax cylinder!

[danielcaux]

...so, I dunno. Might end up buying it...might not.

Too bad that the odds of finding in a couple years the two demo CDs from the immersion box in used record bins are pretty slim, since they don't even come in a jewelcase like the early singles CD from Shine On. Is the only thing that I reeeally want from that box...

I'm listening to the demos right now. Never had noticed how much the begining of "Is There Anybody Out There?" resembled the intro of "Shine On" (those watery "cosmic" blips). It's kinda amazing that Roger could recreate that kind of "Wright" sounds at his home.

Also, it's really frustrating not being able to hear the comple Roger Home Demos, there are actually a lot better than I had imagined, very musical, you can pretty much here all the basic melodies that would form the album already there, but it's more synth centered than the actual album. Those electronic textures give the songs a more menacing and dark nature. I like it!

[sherer]

That's the weird thing about this set. it includes an album they've already released as an extra when instead they could just include the full home demos. Yes the quality may not be great but we know that as they are demos.

[J Ed]

...in RED the demos that are unique to UC:
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
07. Goodbye Blue Sky
08. Empty Spaces Pt.1
09. Young Lust (instrumental)
19. Is There Anybody Out There? Pt.2
20. Is There Anybody Out There? Pt.3
21. Comfortably Numb
23. The Show Much Go On
25. Run Like Hell (instrumental)
27. Stop
28. The Trial (piano demo)

checking my old copy of the boot, this adds up to just under 30 minutes
supposedly cd5 fr the Immersion set is approx 70 minutes
and cd6 is approx 60 minutes
leaving 30 minutes of blank cd space across a pair of 80minute cds
Im going to make myself a megamix and fill in those Empty Spaces!
if its a few seconds over I'll sacrifice one or two of those early Roger demos that start cd5, whichever seem most redundant

looking at your list, theyve sure scrambled these demos around the 2 discs, theyre not exactly in order but are grouped into about 3 or 4 clusters with other versions in between
with "side1" of the album at the end of disc5, disc6 beginning with "side3" and "side4" (but interrupted with alternate versions), then we get "side2" before concluding w Daves original demos

I dont know if I can be bothered to sort all that out for my megamix, or if I'll just make the Under Construction leftovers their own "program" wherever I can squeeze them in

I'm surprised that this version of Comfortably Numb is only on UC as it's my favorite version of the lot!

its closer to the final version than any of the versions in the Immersion demos
Ive now realised the "gotta pull yourself together..." melody was the original verse, and the "hello hello is there anybody in there..." melody replaced it, and the "I am a physician" lyric on Under Construction is closer to the final melody than the earlier one
also those earlier versions lack the second chorus or the big geetar solo, they just end after the second verse

Is that Waters, doing the groupie voice?

the more I listen to it the more I conclude thats not Roger
Roger can do funny voices, like that psychiatrist character, but theryre always variations of his own voice with maybe an accent and an attitude, I dont think he could be doing the womans voice heard here

[danielcaux]

I think the groupie sounds like a speeded up Waters.

I'm also trying to work on a "definitive" playlist for all those demos but the more I look into them the more troubles I find and the more I realized that such a "definitive" run of songs in demo form is not actually possible or at least desireable.

It seems like we have 3 more or less "complete" tentative versions of the album in demo form, spread between the immersion demos and Under Construction, so IMO the best way to listen to these versions is independently, not mixing songs from one version into the others. But there are also those demoed songs standing on their own (Gilmour demos, Never To Late, C. Numb), not linked to any particular version of the album in demo form; what to do with those? I guess one could insert them in any of the 2 big sets of Band Demos to create yet another version of the album, but they lack the crossfades and would break the flow, etc...

So IMO the best way to listen to the demos as an album would be in any of these 3 "historically accurate" options:

- Roger Home Demo: More or less the whole album, but listening to just 30 seconds clips is kinda boring, you can replace some clips with the complete versions found on other places (ITAOT 1-2-3, Vera, Prelude, etc...) but still... not a complete experience of the album.

-Band Demos (Version 1): Most probably CD5 Programme 2 and CD6 Programme 1 are part of the same version of the album in demo form, begining with "Vera: Perlude" and ending with "The Thin Ice Reprise".

-Band Demos (Version 2): the whole demo compilation that appears in Under Construction, most of which appear in better sound quality in the Immersion box (both Programmes 3 and the complete Roger demos repeated on CD6 Programme 1) and could be upgraded with these versions of the tracks in a personal "megamix". It seems to me though that the Under Construction demos are a little speeded up compared to the immersion versions, so perhaps a little tinkering with those would be required in order to get a more "together" sound when mixing the different sources.. I also think that since "Outside The Wall" cuts abruptly in Under Construction, "Never To Late" was actually at some point part of this set of demos, and not part of the previous one, which ends instead with "The Thin Ice" (by the way am I the only one who thinks the idea behind that reprise was to give the album the whole "never ending cycle" concept? That idea would later evolve into the "This is... where we came in" trick and the two versions of "In The Flesh" on each LP) So I would add "It's Never To Late" to the Under Construction set instead.

[RonBaker2003]

I've only listened to the main album so far. I can't stand Roger Waters' shrieking! I can't imagine how bad the demos will be. They should never have allowed Roger to 'sing' (and I use the term extremely loosely) on this album.

There are some lovely moments on the second disc where the backing vocals sound very much like the Beach Boys. I will have to check the credits.

I have to confess that the only format I've ever owned of "The Wall" is the dvd of the movie. This and "The Final Cut" are the only two Pink Floyd albums I've never owned...and now I do.

[Damn!t]

I NEED TO SEE that damned happiest days of our lives from immersion.
CAN ANYONE help me with that?!?
...please.

[Lurking Fear]

It's probably this but cleaned up a bit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_NbRHkpsTM