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It’s coming, the final installment of Pink Floyd’s classic album reissues.   Here’s an overview, followed by a video walk-through, so you can see precisely what’s included in the big box o’ The wall, so to speak.   

Plus, I’ll assemble an hour featuring music and conversation with members of Pink Floyd, on your radio on the Legends series, March 4th.

Cheers,

Jeff.

This February 28^th, EMI will release ‘Immersion’ and ‘Experience’ editions of Pink Floyd ‘The Wall’, as the final installment of the ‘Why Pink Floyd?’ re- issues and extended releases.

For the record, ‘The Wall’ remains Pink Floyd’s biggest-selling release after 1973’s legendary ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’. 

Out in November ’79, ‘The Wall’ topped the album charts in North America, France, Germany, Sweden and Australia. ‘Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2’ – Pink Floyd’s first UK single since 1968 – became a Number 1 hit, selling over a million copies within weeks of its release. Between 1980 and 1981, Pink Floyd staged 31 performances of The Wall in the North America, UK and Germany.  It was a spectacular show that included a 40-ft wall, constructed, brick by brick, across the front of the stage during the performance. 

In 2010 and 2011 Roger Waters toured a new production of The Wall to huge International acclaim.  He was joined on stage in May 2011 at London’s 02 Arena by guitarist, David Gilmour and drummer, Nick Mason.  He continues to tour in the Southern Hemisphere and North America in 2012.

‘The Wall’ ‘Immersion’ 7-disc edition includes a DVD featuring a film clip from the 1980 tour and a ‘Behind The Wall’ documentary, plus, for the first time, CDs of excerpts from Roger Waters’ original demos and work-in-progress versions of songs on the final album.

Additionally, among these previously unheard versions are David Gilmour’s original demos of ‘Comfortably Numb’ and ‘Run Like Hell’.  The Immersion set also includes The Wall Live, compiled from the 1980-1981 original tour.

Both The Wall Immersion box set and Experience edition includes a rare recording of ‘Another Brick In The Wall Part 1′.  A highlight for fans, this demo showcases the evolution of the final track. Additionally, ‘The Doctor’ explores the origins of the landmark track ‘Comfortably Numb’, giving further insight into Pink Floyd’s early demo recordings.

Following on from the ‘Immersion’ and ‘Experience’ editions of ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ and ‘Wish You Were Here’, these new versions of ‘The Wall’ offera unique insight into another hugely successful chapter in the Pink Floyd story.

In 1978 after finishing Pink Floyd’sAnimals stadium tour, Roger Waters devised the concept for the album ‘The Wall’. The album is a partly autobiographical story about a fictional rock star named Pink looking back at his early life and reflecting on the nature of fame and success. Waters presented his band mates David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason with an extensive demo of songs. Pink Floyd recorded their eleventh album ‘The Wall’ throughout 1979 in France, New York and Los Angeles, assisted by co-producer, Bob Ezrin and engineer, James Guthrie.  An adjunct to the sessions was the famous addition of a group of pupils from London’s Islington Green School, who recorded their backing vocals (“We don’t need no education…”) on Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2 at Pink Floyd’s own Britannia Row Studios in London. This became the world’s introduction to the album.

Pink Floyd: The Wall Immersion Box Set, Experience edition and Collectors 180g 2LP Vinyl edition are released in North America on February 28, 2012 through EMI. The 2CD remastered Discovery edition is out now.