March 1, 1973 - The Dark Side Of The Moon
Even though Pink Floyd began work on this album before they released "Obscured By Clouds" last year, their eighth album would not be released until March 1, 1973 when they came out with "The Dark Side Of The Moon". They didn't know it at the time, but this album would go on to become one of the best-selling, most highly regarded albums of all time. For the first time in the band's history bassist Roger Waters wrote all the lyrics on the album; and they are much more direct and to the point than previous Floyd lyrics. This album also saw Pink Floyd use a 28-track mixing desk, much expanded than any of their previous work. This allowed them to experiment with a whole bunch of different crazy sounds that are heard throughout the album. Let's give it a listen!
Side one starts with "Speak To Me", which is just over a minute long. Pink Floyd designed a bass drum to sound very similar to a human heartbeat and it's heard throughout this little song. There are lots of different voices, talking and laughing, a common theme in this album. This leads right into "Breathe" which has some trippy keyboards and cool guitar as well. David Gilmour's voice sounds fantastic, as always and this song just sounds really good. Track 3 is called "On The Run" and has crazy keyboard and tape effects that make a repeated, really fast trippy riff. Richard Wright had a fear of flying and felt this song accurately depicted his anxiety. I think he's done a great job, very cool stuff! The sound effects sound like plane noises overtop this non-stop keyboard madness! It gets quiet at the end, and ae hear some ticking...
This leads directly into "Time" and the ticking continues, then multiple clocks going off together! It's very loud! A metronome keeps the beat, as we hear a great part where Nick Mason plays some great drums! Gilmour's singing is just amazing! What a beautiful riff, and Water's lyrics sound really great when sung by Gilmour. This leads into a pretty sweet guitar solo! It's slow, but absolutely amazing and Gilmour is one of the best at that kind of guitar playing. The song seems like it might be over, but they reprise "Breathe" for another cool couple verses. The final song on side one is called "The Great Gig In The Sky" and is co-written by Wright and guest singer Clare Torry. We hear a beautiful piano opening by Wright and Torry does some really great wordless vocals! She really gives it all and I think it sounds awesome! Wright plays organ as well as piano, and it's a great tandem between the two for some unique and amazing stuff. Wright slows it down for more beautiful piano, this time with Torry overtop as the song slowly fades out.
This leads directly into "Time" and the ticking continues, then multiple clocks going off together! It's very loud! A metronome keeps the beat, as we hear a great part where Nick Mason plays some great drums! Gilmour's singing is just amazing! What a beautiful riff, and Water's lyrics sound really great when sung by Gilmour. This leads into a pretty sweet guitar solo! It's slow, but absolutely amazing and Gilmour is one of the best at that kind of guitar playing. The song seems like it might be over, but they reprise "Breathe" for another cool couple verses. The final song on side one is called "The Great Gig In The Sky" and is co-written by Wright and guest singer Clare Torry. We hear a beautiful piano opening by Wright and Torry does some really great wordless vocals! She really gives it all and I think it sounds awesome! Wright plays organ as well as piano, and it's a great tandem between the two for some unique and amazing stuff. Wright slows it down for more beautiful piano, this time with Torry overtop as the song slowly fades out.
Side two kicks off with "Money" and
Waters came up with an idea to make a beat out of a bunch of money-related noises: coins thrown in a dish, cash register opening, receipts being printed and ripped. It sounds like a very strange idea but it actually sounds pretty cool once Waters' bass riff ties it all together. We hear great keyboards by Wright throughout the song, and I can never say enough good things about Gilmour's voice. There's a guest saxophone played by Dick Parry and his solo is really fantastic! Follow that with an awesome guitar solo by Gilmour! It seems likenit might be over, but the guitar keeps going! Really great stuff by Gilmour. They play one more verse, and the lyrics throughout about how money affects people are very spot on. Lots of talking at the end fades into the longest song on the album "Us And Them" at about 8 minutes. A slow, but great guitar riff carries the opening and Wright plays ambient keyboards in background. Parry is back for some more great sax that once again sounds fantastic! Gilmour fits the slow mood so well with his singing and the verses sounds great. The chorus has Gilmour and Wright singing, and it's a little heavy, with everyone sounding very epic! Wright plays some beautiful piano, and we hear another awesome saxophone part! Parry just sounds so great! The ending goes right into "Any Colour You Like", a cool rock jam with several tracks of trippy synths by Wright. It sounds pretty cool, very space-y. Mason plays good drums and Waters bass is good too for a solid rhythm section. Guitar's turn to take over in this cool instrumental song as the synths return for the ending. This song also goes right into the next one and Pink Floyd are doing some really great segues on this album! It's very well done, but that should be no surprise by these progressive heavyweights. Track 9 is titled "Brain Damage" and Waters sings this one, and he sounds pretty good. A cool guitar riff carries the song, as Roger sings about the mental illness that was plaguing former member Syd Barrett. The chorus sounds just amazing, and I love the line "when the band you're in starts playing different tunes" in the second chorus. It's all just so epic as Wright's organ sounds great. Some trippy synths connect to the final song "Eclipse" and Mason's drumming is great on this short 2-minute closer. It has the same group of backup singers as the last song, and Waters sings lead again. Gilmour joins him at the end as this is a cool epic finale to a truly amazing album that ends as it began, with the heartbeat drum, designed so if left alone on the record player, the heart will beat forever.
That is the end of "The Dark Side Of The Moon" and it really was a fantastic album! All the segues between the songs are expertly done and it feels like one big song, with several really great parts. But how does it compare to their other 7 albums?! Well honestly this album is so good, that I believe it rises all the way to the top of their ranks. "Meddle" and "Atom Heart Mother" are both really good albums, and that goes to show how amazing "Dark Side" was when I think it is not just better, but really in a different league. Pink Floyd have reached a new level of awesomeness. What an album to have as my first one of the year, it will be hard for others to top this!
Waters came up with an idea to make a beat out of a bunch of money-related noises: coins thrown in a dish, cash register opening, receipts being printed and ripped. It sounds like a very strange idea but it actually sounds pretty cool once Waters' bass riff ties it all together. We hear great keyboards by Wright throughout the song, and I can never say enough good things about Gilmour's voice. There's a guest saxophone played by Dick Parry and his solo is really fantastic! Follow that with an awesome guitar solo by Gilmour! It seems likenit might be over, but the guitar keeps going! Really great stuff by Gilmour. They play one more verse, and the lyrics throughout about how money affects people are very spot on. Lots of talking at the end fades into the longest song on the album "Us And Them" at about 8 minutes. A slow, but great guitar riff carries the opening and Wright plays ambient keyboards in background. Parry is back for some more great sax that once again sounds fantastic! Gilmour fits the slow mood so well with his singing and the verses sounds great. The chorus has Gilmour and Wright singing, and it's a little heavy, with everyone sounding very epic! Wright plays some beautiful piano, and we hear another awesome saxophone part! Parry just sounds so great! The ending goes right into "Any Colour You Like", a cool rock jam with several tracks of trippy synths by Wright. It sounds pretty cool, very space-y. Mason plays good drums and Waters bass is good too for a solid rhythm section. Guitar's turn to take over in this cool instrumental song as the synths return for the ending. This song also goes right into the next one and Pink Floyd are doing some really great segues on this album! It's very well done, but that should be no surprise by these progressive heavyweights. Track 9 is titled "Brain Damage" and Waters sings this one, and he sounds pretty good. A cool guitar riff carries the song, as Roger sings about the mental illness that was plaguing former member Syd Barrett. The chorus sounds just amazing, and I love the line "when the band you're in starts playing different tunes" in the second chorus. It's all just so epic as Wright's organ sounds great. Some trippy synths connect to the final song "Eclipse" and Mason's drumming is great on this short 2-minute closer. It has the same group of backup singers as the last song, and Waters sings lead again. Gilmour joins him at the end as this is a cool epic finale to a truly amazing album that ends as it began, with the heartbeat drum, designed so if left alone on the record player, the heart will beat forever.
That is the end of "The Dark Side Of The Moon" and it really was a fantastic album! All the segues between the songs are expertly done and it feels like one big song, with several really great parts. But how does it compare to their other 7 albums?! Well honestly this album is so good, that I believe it rises all the way to the top of their ranks. "Meddle" and "Atom Heart Mother" are both really good albums, and that goes to show how amazing "Dark Side" was when I think it is not just better, but really in a different league. Pink Floyd have reached a new level of awesomeness. What an album to have as my first one of the year, it will be hard for others to top this!
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