First Wall (SDR Records SDR CD 271/272)
Earls Court Exhibition Hall, London, England – August 4th, 1980
Disc 1: In the Flesh? (4:13), The Thin Ice (2:41), Another Brick in the Wall Part 1 (4:29), The Happiest Days of Our Lives (1:18), Another Brick in the Wall Part 2 (6:11), Mother (7:27), Goodbye Blue Sky (3:34), What Shall We Do Now (3:59), Young Lust (5:23), One of My Turns (3:52), Don’t Leave Me Now (4:38), Another Brick in the Wall Part 3 (4:40), Goodbye Cruel World (2:23)
Disc 2: Hey You (4:47), Is There Anybody Out There? (2:43), Nobody Home (3:22), Vera (1:38), Bring the Boys Back Home (1:24), Comfortably Numb (7:37), The Show Must Go On (2:36), In the Flesh (7:48), Run Like Hell (7:21), Waiting for the Worms (4:03), The Trial (7:03), Outside the Wall (4:12)
First Wall is not only a 2-pro-CD-R recording of the first (live) wall show played by Pink Floyd at Earls Court Exhibition Hall in London, England, but also apparently the first Floyd release by the SDR Records label, and the first commercial release of the August 4th, 1980 show played by Floyd. Since I’m not exactly the greatest judge of the quality of Floyd performances, as they almost always sound great to me personally, I can’t rate the performance (quality) of this particular live wall show, but at least it seems to be neither unusually good nor bad, although others might think differently.
On the rear insert it says “Previously Unreleased Superb Recording”. Given that, it turns out that the sound quality is somewhat disappointing – it’s pretty good for an audience recording, above average, but not exactly “superb”. The store in Japan from which I ordered it even says “SBD”, indicating it as a soundboard recording, in its description of it listed on the Floyd page of their website, but that’s rather unlikely. Upon its arrival, one would naturally suspect that it’s actually another live wall show instead of the one it’s supposed to be, but listening to what Roger Waters says before the song “Run Like Hell”, which is what is usually done to identify live wall shows, the following is heard –
“Do you still like our pig? He’s not a very nice pig, but he’s a very BIG pig! This next tune is one for all the paranoids in the audience. It’s called ‘Run Like Hell.’ It’s quite complicated, so you’ll have to listen carefully.”
As it turns out, that’s indeed what Roger is reported to have said for the August 4th, 1980 show – pretty much confirming that it’s the right show as claimed to be by SDR Records. First Wall comes packaged in a slimline double-disc jewel case, with both front & rear inserts being in the white-brick wall design that’s typical of many wall titles. Unfortunately the inner surface of the rear insert is completely blank white, and while the back of the front insert provides a listing of each musician or singer and all the live wall shows performed by Floyd in 1980, the inside of the gatefold turns out to also be completely blank white. Nevertheless, First Wall is a fairly good professional CD-R release worth checking out if you enjoy live wall shows.
