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Track List:
1.Original film presented in high-definition widescreen and mixed in 5.1 surround sound
2."The Other Side Of The Wall" - a 25 minute documentary about the making of the film
3."Retrospective" - an exclusive 45 minute retrospective documentary of interviews with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie 4.Original film trailer and production stills


In celebration of the quarter-century anniversary, Columbia Records is releasing a special limited edition DVD of this landmark film. Packaged in a deluxe DVD digi-pak designed to look like The Wall with debossed brick work and a clear O-card, this stunning release features a photo montage of film shots and a fold-out reproduction of the original film promotional poster. All the artwork and design for this lavish packaging has been coordinated by original Pink Floyd designers Peter Curzon and Storm Thorgerson.

By any rational measure, Alan Parker's cinematic interpretation of Pink Floyd: The Wall is a glorious failure. Glorious because its imagery is hypnotically striking, frequently resonant, and superbly photographed by the gifted cinematographer Peter Biziou. And a failure because the entire exercise is hopelessly dour, loyal to the bleak themes and psychological torment of Roger Waters's great musical opus, and yet utterly devoid of the humor that Waters certainly found in his own material. Any attempt to visualize The Wall would be fraught with artistic danger, and Parker succumbs to his own self-importance, creating a film that's as fascinating as it is flawed.

The film is, for better and worse, the fruit of three artists in conflict--Parker indulging himself, and Waters in league with designer Gerald Scarfe, whose brilliant animated sequences suggest that he should have directed and animated this film in its entirety. Fortunately, this clash of talent and ego does not prevent The Wall from being a mesmerizing film. Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof (in his screen debut) is a fine choice to play Waters's alter ego--an alienated, "comfortably numb" rock star whose psychosis manifests itself as an emotional (and symbolically physical) wall between himself and the cold, cruel world. Weaving Waters's autobiographical details into his own jumbled vision, Parker ultimately fails to combine a narrative thread with experimental structure. It's a rich, bizarre, and often astonishing film that will continue to draw a following, but the real source of genius remains the music of Roger Waters. --Jeff Shannon

This book presents two unpublished plays by John Thelwall (1764-1834), a friend of Coleridge, a radical lecturer for the London Corresponding Society acquitted of treason in 1794, and a prolific man of letters who produced novels, poetry, journalism, literary criticism, scientific and political essays, autobiography, and sociological analysis, in addition to drama. Both plays, libretti for the London theater, are especially relevant today as they use popular literary forms to discuss critically issues of race, empire, revolution, and sexuality. "Incle and Yarico" (1792) comically treats the important eighteenth-century intertextual fable of the English merchant, Inkle, who betrays the Indian maid, Yarico, an innocent and "noble savage." The play is forthrightly abolitionist in its depiction of slavery. "The Incas" (1792) allegorizes the French Revolution and the English suppression of political dissent in depicting a confrontation between the Europeans and the New World. Drawing upon and extending the radical Enlightenment, Thelwall undermines the justifications for European empire. Frank Felsenstein is Reed D. Voran Honors Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Ball State University. Michael Scrivener is a Professor of English at Wayne State University.

This is an album of songs from Guernsey, an island off Cornwall but much closer to Normandy, and the music is as odd and captivating as the particular brand of French in which it is sung. The music, even to a not-particularly-sophisticated ear, seems a combination of Celtic twang and French charm, with unexpected springs of rhythm amidst melodies that are as graceful as swans. One might call it folk music and I guess that's correct, but with the use of baroque guitars, shawms, cornetto and, of course, the medieval harp--the instrument of Andrew Lawrence-King (who put the program together and is from Guernsey)--among others, the "classical" side of this project is just as crucial: it's a perfect union. Some of the texts are ribald, most tell stories. Paul Hillier's fine baritone occasionally comes close to a type of Sprechstimme, but it seems just right for these ballads, some ancient, some not-so. Soprano Clara Sanabras is from Normandy, and her seemingly untrained sound and approach are, by turns, earthy and tender enough for this music as well; she also plays guitar. The other players are superb: just give a listen to the hurdy-gurdy ("chifournie," in French, and also played by Lawrence-King). Victor Hugo lived on Guernsey for a while, and the CD's title comes from one of his novels. This music is presented with no affectations; as unusual as it is, the listener feels instantly at home with the wondrous sounds. Not just for early music fans, this is a piece of musical tourism. --Robert Levine