Don't quote me, but I find one man's obsession with his dead father he never met, 1984/totalitarian threat ragtag paranoia, hippie peace movement sentiments, rock star/famous people self pity alienation and a couple of other influences all purloined from Townshend's Tommy (Tommy doesn't build a wall around him like Pink does, he just turns autistic and deaf, dumb and blind, that is the thickest wall in the world) labored, bloated, self-pompous and infinitely naive. There I said it. I find The Wall as a concept album hugely overrated and the music ... well, it's a Roger Waters album, nuff said, Paul McCartney he ain't nor Robert Zimmerman. If Edith reads this I'm dead.
I can understand Gilmour's and the other guys' sentiments after The Wall recording and tour exactly. They must have felt raped by one huge Roger Waters ego trip. Pink Floyd were always better in my book when they kept their mouths shut and got on with what they did best: creating instrumental aural landscapes, Tangerine Dream with a blues guitar so to say. The Wall is verbose (with very little fundamental message, you could sum up the plot in five sentences) in comparison.
Speaking of The Wall, ever wondered what Young Lust from The Wall would sound like with Glenn Hughes, Elliot Easton, Tony Franklin, Aynsley Dunbar, Bob Kulick & Billy Sherwood?