Review Summary: It's us and them...
David Gilmour – vocals, guitar, synthesisers and production
Nick Mason – percussion, tape effects and production
Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals, synthesisers, tape effects and production
Richard Wright – keyboards, vocals, synthesisers and production
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Harvest Records and Capitol Records, March 1973
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I think that, at one point or another in our lifetime, we have seen that triangle with a rainbow to the side. At one point or another, we have heard that heartbeat at the last second of those 43 minutes. It shows a sense of power, innovation, and creativity.
The Dark Side of the Moon is the single biggest progressive album of all time, a musical soundscape. It is one of the best-selling albums of all time, and is consistently recognized as the pivotal Pink Floyd album. It's one of the most well-respected albums of all time, it affected modern life and culture with its story and lyrical messages.
From the moment those eerie, haunting sound effects hit you in 'Speak to Me', a literal audio skit, you know you're in for a ride. A very intense ride. Although notorious for its disturbing nature, not to mention its impact on concept albums, this is an album that has never again been explored. Each part of the album is just one piece of music, divided into multiple parts. It begins and ends with one heartbeat. Dark Side is an album about the negative effects about life, for example greed, mental illness, and time. The first side is the calm before the storm, side two is after the storm. Brilliant.
I'm not going to go on about how it is the single best album of all time, and one of the most well written. This is a genuinely likable album. It's been proven multiple times that Floyd's work is prodigious, creating some of the most intelligent musical devisions known. And yet, how do they do it? Why is it that you simply listen to sound effects (Speak to Me) and be blown away by how haunting and disturbing it is. To appreciate The Dark Side of the Moon, you have to understand the nature of it: and once you do, it's very enjoyable. You have to listen to a Floyd LP without any expectations: you just have to listen. Just wait for it to all blow up. And once you do just that, not expect anything to come, that is when, for me, music lovers can successfully enjoy The Dark Side of the Moon.
That being said, the massive sense of the album is sometimes far too melodramatic: it's indescribably cataclysmic, therefore making it a catalyst of things to come. Whether it be crudely short like
Eclipse, or several minutes long like
Us and Them, it is, simultaneously, breathtaking yet overhyped. To say that Money is a modern day masterpiece, to say that Us and Them is a modern day
Bohemian Rhapsody is right to an extent, but an overexaggerated one. There has never been an album opener or closer like
Speak to Me and
Eclipse. The guitars performed on
Us and Them should otherwise constitute a theme to the album, one that is undoubtedly majestic, but already offered.
So listening to this album is a challenge: it's not an easy one to listen to, when you understand the nature of it all, of course. Instrumentals like
Any Color You Like should otherwise prove that this album is, and I quote, disturbing yet beautiful. This is an album that has no beginning or end: it is a stimulating piece of art. One that never will get old. It may be a overrated, overhyped, and overexaggerated LP, but it is a purely magnificent one at that. It's more satisfying than a casual prog rock song, or anything. But a 5 should denote an album that everyone needs to listen to, one that will appeal to everyone. I don't think it will. There are numerous people that are divided by this album, but for the vast majority of it all, this an experience that you have to listen to. And once you hear it..
Well, that's up to you.
5 / 5
