This Wall Is More Like an Iron Curtain

Pink Floyd staged concert versions of its 1979 album “The Wall” only 26 times in four cities, including seven nights at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. But the production remains one of rock’s most powerful and indelible images--the title structure raised by a crew brick by brick in front of the band until it completely blocked them from view. Then, in the dramatic climax, it all came crashing down.

It was the physical realization of an album that remains remarkably popular and influential two decades after its release.

Its themes of alienation have resonated with such artists as Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson, were translated into dazzling visuals in Alan Parker’s 1982 partly animated film version, and were tied to the razing of the Berlin Wall, which was celebrated with a star-studded Berlin performance of the music in 1990. In a newly published Rolling Stone poll of readers, it was named the fifth-greatest album in rock history, with only three Beatles albums and Floyd’s own “Dark Side of the Moon” ahead of it.

But the wall between Roger Waters and David Gilmour, the band’s creative mainstays for most of its history, remains impregnable 16 years after Waters’ exit, and on the eve of the release of a live album from the six original “Wall” concerts, due in stores in February.

“We had a meeting about the terms of our divorce in December of ‘87, and that was the last time we spoke,” says Gilmour, the guitarist who took over the lead vocal and primary songwriting duties from Waters. “We did proffer Roger an invitation to perform ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ with us at Earl’s Court in ‘94, but he declined. If you’re thinking of reunions, I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

Needless to say, the work involved in preparing the live release was not exactly an exercise in teamwork.

“There is a futile scrabble after credit going on around the whole ‘Wall’ project,” says Waters, who lost a 1986 lawsuit to stop Gilmour, keyboardist Richard Wright and drummer Nick Mason from continuing to use the band’s name. “What that means is, no, there’s not going to be any rapprochement. But I’ve taken a decision not to take part in that scrabbling.”

Waters, in fact, wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the prospect for the live album in the first place. It took convincing from his son.

“I have question marks in my mind whether it’s a good idea or not,” he says. “My son, who’s 22, said, ‘Of course it’s a good idea. Especially in America, there’s a whole thing of live recordings and bootleg records of bands like Phish.’ He thought I was being a bit precious in my attitude.”

What unites Waters (currently working on his first opera) and Gilmour (who played on Paul McCartney’s new rock revival collection “Run Devil Run”) is their inability to articulate why “The Wall” has continued to find new fans. Most curious to them is that the song “Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2,” with its “We don’t need no education” children’s chorus, is certainly the most familiar piece from the Pink Floyd canon.

“It isn’t the track of our oeuvre I would have chosen,” says Gilmour. “It’s quite a thrill for kids to hear this ‘We don’t need no education’ chant--a little anthemic piece, but too easy to take out of context. For me to say the height of our artistic career, a hundred others would come to mind first.”

GOT THE KNAC: Hard rock is back with a vengeance, so what better time for a venture teaming the people behind the onetime top media vehicles of that aesthetic--L.A.’s “Pure Rock” radio station KNAC, Rip magazine and MTV’s “Headbangers Ball”?

Indeed, Lonn Friend, who created Rip at Larry Flynt Publications in the early ‘80s and was the mainstay on and off the air on “Headbangers Ball,” has joined KNAC.com, the online revival of the late, lamented radio force (https://www.knac.com). Friend, who spent most of the ‘90s as an artists and repertoire vice president at Arista Records, will serve as director of editorial content for the venture, overseeing magazine-style and video features to complement the high-decibel audio.

“I was romanced here by the possibility that I can go back to being who I was,” says Friend. “I’ve been given the freedom to create an editorial dynamic that marries with the music 24 hours a day. I want to get artists of the genre to speak their minds here. I’m starting to contact a lot of artists I’ve remained close with. I’m truly blessed with not having burned many bridges.”

Friend joins a team that already includes KNAC fixtures Long Paul as program director and former music director Ross Goza now in charge of marketing. It’s just like back in the ‘80s, Friend says--just a little more, um, mature.

“We remain rebels in our hearts and minds,” he says. “But we’ve left our egos and our hair at the door--except for Long Paul, who still has all his hair.”

SPEND THAT GELT: Hanukkah’s over, but if you’re looking for belated gifts, you could do worse than “Knitting on the Roof,” the strangest presentation of the music from “Fiddler on the Roof” that you are likely to encounter. Put together by the folks at New York’s downtown scene headquarters the Knitting Factory as part of their Jewish Alternative Music project, it involves a wide array of artists from the avant-garde and beyond.

With “Matchmaker” performed by the Residents, you know this is not Zero Mostel’s or Topol’s “Fiddler.” Others featured range from the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars doing a rather bawdy “Tradition” to Eugene Chadbourne giving “Miracles of Miracles” a twisted hoe-down treatment, to New York band Come with a strangely effective transformation of “Do You Love Me?” into a modern phone conversation, to a rather straight-ahead version of “Sunrise, Sunset” by singer-songwriter Jill Sobule.