I can't speak to "The Wall" in particular and realistically, "original tapes" is used kind of loosely.
But I think the very simplified version of the process is...
During recording, all the different recorded channels (instrumentation, vocals, etc.) are mixed down to L/R stereo (on tape, in the computer, etc). It has the effects as the artist, engineer, and producers intended.
That's made for every song. This can be called the mixdown master, the pre-master, unmastered, and maybe by other names.
The tape (or digital files) of all the songs are sent to the mastering engineer that puts final polish on it and gets it ready for each format it's destined to be on.
When something comes out today, the insinuation is that the pre-master is remastered again.
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Christian
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