Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon

On February 17th in 1972, Pink Floyd premiered a new piece of music entitled “Eclipse” at London’s Rainbow Theater. It evolved into the album Dark Side of the Moon.

 

What can be said about DSOTM? Many people have memories of Pink Floyd (whether it be The Wall or Dark Side). Usually, it's been in the dark, late at night and possibly under the influence of some herbal jazz cigarettes...

 

"Dude...FLOYD on disc!"

According to Wikipedia, It was an immediate success topped the Billboard 200 for one week. It then remained on the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988 to be longest charting album of all time.

For me, I probably have many of the same memories as most when it comes to this album. As I drove home from work this past week, I thought about Abbey Road studios and the memories of this album I associate with this album. Todd Rundgren said in a Rock n Roll history documentary about the 70's that a lot of bands felt they could make their musical masterpiece akin to the greatness associated with the Beatles'-Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For the 70's and Pink Floyd, DSOTM was their "Sgt Pepper" Achievement.

I originally bought my LP copy of DSOTM from the used LP bin at Dustys Records. I had been working there and had heard about the greatness of the LP. But, had yet to experience it. I put the LP on my stereo in my first college basement apartment. I kept the volume low and listened to it in the dark. I was immediately swept away by the swirling swooping keyboards of On the Run executed by Richard Wright and the perfected emotional guitars of David Gilmour.

According to "1001 Albums",

 "Anxious to shed their psychedelic shackles, the band gathered in Nick Mason's kitchen to compile a short list of things that bothered them. Those pressures being - Time, Money, Madness, and Death"

 

For me, it wasn't until years later that I paid closer attention to the themes in the music. It may have been the 1995 concert film and CD-Pulse (where the band performed the album in its entirety) that heightened my awareness of this album.

My former roommate took the music from DSOTM and combined images of video "feedback". He put it all on a video tape. He was very proud of it.....and rightly so...DUDE, IT WAS COOL!

Then, in 1995-96, there was a rumor in the early days of internet usage, that while playing DSOTM you could sync up the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz such as the character Dorothy beginning to jog when the band sings 'no one told you when to run'. It was said that the band wrote the album to accompany the 1939 movie. Both Nick Mason and David Gilmour deny it. Roger Waters described the rumours as "amusing" and producer Alan Parsons says the movie was never mentioned while recording the album.   I was actually working in a Video rental store at the time and all this talk piqued my interest. So, I checked out a copy of the Wizard of Oz and took it home and tried this little experiment. Some say it matched up perfectly. It did? Wizard of Oz is a 2 hour movie. DSOTM clocks in at 42:30. So, I don't think so. Just a really cool coincidence.

I love how this whole album just flows. It should never be broken up.....never played on shuffle. If you listen to the themes of Time, Money, Madness and Death, You can hear them start with the myriad of sounds of the opening track "Speak to Me" which builds into "Breathe in the Air". "Breathe in the Air" just feels like a breath of fresh air. It just relaxes my senses. It's like at the end of a long hard stressful day, David Gilmour reassures me by saying

"Breathe in the air, Don't be afraid to care"

 

Onto the swirling keyboards of Rick Wright that pans from one side of your speakers/headphones/earbuds to another with "On the Run". By this time, I am completely engrossed with the aural landscape that has enveloped my head....the laughter, the explosions prompting my brain with endless scenarios which take me down to almost sleep.....then....

TIME....tick tock tick tock, alarms going off, grandfathers clocks ringing. The ticking continues. Nick Mason begins to play around his drumkit on the toms and other percussion to set off...

"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day!"

Wow! a dull day really is just simply watching the moments TICK away.

"....and then one day you find, ten years have got behind you"

the events I experienced 10 years ago don't seem like they were that long ago. In the song, you have the dichotomy of Rick Wright's lilting vocals mixed with the subtle yet raspy vocals of David Gilmour.



Great Gig in the Sky is up for anyone's interpretation. It is a vocal improvisation by British session vocalist Clare Torry. In a few short takes, Torry improvised a wordless melody to Wright's emotive piano solo.

Money .... the subject that became something the band didn't have to worry about after this album. Roger Waters quote about this LP in "1001 albums" (from 2003) "We still had a common goal, which was to become rich and famous." David Gilmour has said that after this album, they became lost in themselves and their riches which reflects in the title of their next album "Wish You Were Here".

This is an album of a band with great musical talent along with fantastic production to make a great album....one of the greatest.
I could go on and on. I'm not going to touch on every song. To me, most of the music that touches us sometime in our lives is an intangible thing that can't be put into mere descriptive words. When I hear this album, I think of the myriad of my college friends and associates(many of who I still keep in touch with thanks to FB)....among those...Matt, Mick, McKinney, Vodie, Forrest, Bob and a lot of others.