“Another Brick in the Wall (Parts 1, 2, 3)” by Korn

Words/Music: Roger Waters, Album: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1, Epic 2004)

Over the last couple of weeks I have discussed the abundance of cover songs which grew out of the influx of Soundtracks and Tribute Albums. One of the other musical formats that has always spawned covers and oddities is the Greatest Hits compilation. Many bands have taken the opportunity of a Greatest Hits collection to release demo versions of their biggest songs, acoustic or live renditions, new singles, and cover versions of other artists’ songs. And Korn is no exception. Ten years after their debut eponymous release, Korn put together a compilation of mostly singles and bolstered it with a cover of Cameo’s “Word Up!”, a “Freak on a Leash” remix, and their version of Pink Floyd’s classic “Another Brick in the Wall (Parts 1, 2, 3)” which they were fond of playing live up until that point.  

While the songs lack the subtlety of the Pink Floyd originals (surprise, it’s Korn!), the question remains whether the resulting re-working of the songs stands and works on its own. Gone are the endearing and sometimes awkward spoken pieces (“You can’t have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat”) that remind us that the songs were originally part of a larger whole. But that’s okay, because the goal here is to re-work the three songs which share the same name, not to re-work the entire album. And while the song segues directly from Part 1 to Part 2 (skipping “The Happiest Days of Our Lives”) and again from Part 2 to Part 3 (skipping about 15 minutes of songs including “Mother” and “Young Lust”), they did include “Goodbye Cruel World” at the end of Part 3. The result is that the song finishes at the mid-way point of the original recording (the first side of the cassette, the second side of the first album, and the first CD) and at a logical break in the story. The only let down is that the version of Gilmour’s legendary solo at the end of Part 2 that seems a bit buried in the mix and lacks the touch and feel of Gilmour which just goes to show that some things can’t be improved upon. But I doubt that improving upon a song is ever an artist’s goal when recording a cover. Instead, they want to update the song for a new generation of listeners, and while many Floyd purists may be appalled that this “nu-metal” band is messing with a sacred cow, I find it refreshing. 

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