Off The Wall

Writing on the Wall's only album was theatrical heavy blues-psychedelic-rock that, despite its power and menace, was too obviously derivative of better and more original artists to qualify as a notable work. The organ-guitar blends owe much to the Doors, Procol Harum, and Traffic, though the attitude is somehow more sour and ominous than any of those groups. The vocals are sometimes pretty blatant in their homages to Arthur Brown, particularly when Linnie Paterson climbs to a histrionic scream; Jim Morrison, Gary Brooker, and Stevie Winwood obviously left their imprints on him too.

Roger Waters' The Wall, Live In Berlin marks the second in a series of Pink Floyd related reviews I will be writing to commemorate the long awaited release of the band's Pulse DVD, which I reviewed last month. During the end of the 80's, after Roger Waters had left Pink Floyd, he began making plans to perform The Wall as a huge event, originally considering such grand places as the Sahara Desert, Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon, and Wall Street. Around this time, plans were also underway for the reunification of Germany, and the Berlin wall eventually fell in November of 1989.

Prog rock that’s epic and intimate… dense and hummable. Soaring vocals lead into quirky instrumentals going in unexpected directions. Every Waking Hour is not ashamed to say they play prog rock. Heck, they're proud of it. Guitarist Tim Kestle boasts, "We think prog is about epic songs, spooky moods and twisting instrumental passages, and that's where we live musically". Their debut CD "Writing on the Wall" is proof positive of this.
Kestle and keyboardist/drummer/vocalist Paul McLean have been collaborating on and off for more years than they are willing to admit. They were first drawn together by a mutual love of classic prog bands like Yes and Genesis as students back in the 1970's…