Although it will be hard to make a better review then Med57, I will still give it a go. Instead of saying something like the tyranny of majority, it's better to say what the majority can do for you. If it wasn't for the majority, would Pink Floyd reach fame with Dark Side Of the Moon, if it wasn't for the majority it wouldn't be ranked high in every list. If it wasn't for the majority, many people wouldn't know this album, like me.
This album was originally named:
"Eclipse: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics" referrers to someone being crazy(I will get to that later). Having sold more then 40 million copies. And having stood 741 weeks after each other in the bill board top 200, and even 30 years after it’s release it has reached the billboard top 200. It’s been played live 3 times by other bands, including Dream Theater. And all this fame for only an album with a length of 43 minutes.
It's been over 3 decades since Dark Side Of The Moon was released, the follow up of Medle, is different than most people would have thought. Unlike Meddle this cd doesn't have a 20min song but you can look at this album as one whole. Everything fits in together and works together perfectly. From the starting song, Speak To Me, until the end, Eclipse, you get one great cd, with marvellous songs on it.
This is known as the first of the great four Pink Floyd albums, although Wish You Were Here, is known for it’s high standard in guitar solo’s and musicianship. Animals for the three great songs, with each has very good meanings and with great writer ship. And The Wall as being the best concept album ever together with The Who’s Tommy. It’s hard to say what makes this album better as the rest. And why this album always ranks up so high as the rest.
The reason why this album made it in mainstream is probably because of the songs are shorter, the singles Money and Time are listenable to people who aren’t used to prog music, and still everything on this album remains beautiful.
After having said
Money is very listenable to everyone, it’s probably the weakest track on the cd. As a single it’s great, but it doesn’t fit the mood of this album. It has great solo’s and a great sax. And off course the great 7/8 drum rhythm that makes it very enjoyable. But compared to the rest of the album it’s weak. There are some songs that every artist/composer would get the chills from, songs like
The Great Gig In The Sky would be a musical peak for everyone’s music career, everything is just so perfect. Builds up with Wright playing on the piano and when Claire Torry is screaming over the musical, it’s just so perfect. It just shows how underrated Richard Wright actually is. Having said that there is an other Wright song that gives you the chills.
Us And Them the longest song of the album with a length of 7:40, it builds up very slowly and shows how progressive rock is meant to be. There’s a wonderful saxophone intro at the start and it looks like it’ll be a very slow song. And when these lyrics kick in,
Forward he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died … you hear the peak of the song, a very relaxing song indeed. Followed by
Any Colour You Like having the same chemistry as Us And Them and usually seen as part of Us And Them.
I also mentioned
Time being a favourite of the listeners. Well this one has a great reason. It starts of with ticking clocks until they go off. When everything is quiet, Nick Mason shows us a roto-tom solo. Again very meaningful lyrics of Roger Waters and a great solo from David Gilmour. The reason why this song works so good is probably every member worked on this one. A thing that wouldn’t happen often. Now having mentioned the great songs of the album, there is also a beginning and an end. Let’s begin with the beginning
The album builds up very slow, with just hearing a heartbeat, probably referring to being alive. And after that some random noises come in, which probably refers to a state of paranoia. After this
Breathe comes in, a great track. If you put this cd on when you are in your bed, you will fell asleep here. It’s so relaxing, the guitar work is great. It can sooth everyone. It’s probably about being alive again, with the lines like
Breathe, breathe in the air, don’t be afraid to care When you are in the perfectly calm mood from Breathe, a strange track kicks in,
On the Run it’s strange, upbeat and you wouldn’t listen to it, when not listening the album as a whole. Sometimes it gets annoying and you look at how long it’s going to take for the next marvellous song.
After that you get the 4 songs(excluding Any Colour You Like). Well I mentioned the greatness of those songs, I haven’t mentioned there parts in the album. Every song has one of the many problems in life. Time, Death, Money and War. Although you my not mention this in the beginning, there are very subtle lyrics for it. It just shows the brilliance of Waters.
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
- Time
"And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I
don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying?
There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime."
"I never said I was frightened of dying."
- The Great Gig In The Sky
Money it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
- Money
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died
And the General sat, as the lines on the map
moved from side to side
- Us And Them
Those lines are the brilliance of Waters’ music, he does everything very subtle, and with this great variation of subjects. Everyone can relate to something on this album. And that’s another reason why this album has peaked so high, with all those subjects of life, there’s no one who can deny that they didn’t face one of those subjects. But although everyone can relate to something it’s hard to say what it’s about, like David Gilmour said: "It's about life, isn't it?" Probably the only one who really would know the answer is Roger Waters.
And when all the killer tracks reviewed it’s time to say something about the climax of the album. The last two songs make such a perfect end you’ll scream for more. It starts of with
Brain Damage it finishes the album, the person in the beginning has lost it completely, with lines like
The Lunatic is on the grass, it might be referring to Roger Waters, who’s already started building it’s wall and thinking the world is corrupt, what you’ll see in the next three albums. But this song is really one of the finest musical moments, starts up slow but it gets it’s peak at the chorus.
If you think this song was great the end will close it perfectly, a song called
Eclipse, with lyrics that sum everything up about life. It’s probably a climax you won’t find on any other cd. Finishing with the lines,
There’s no dark side of the moon really, as a matter of fact it’s all dark it will make you wonder what
The Dark Side Of The Moon really is. Probably it’s referring to madness, being at a place that doesn’t exist. A place you will find more about in
The Wall
Although this album hasn’t got the peaks that,
Meddle, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall has. It’s got its fame for a reason. It’s an album everyone can relate to. Everyone can listen to. Almost everyone will have one song in this album which whom absolutely will love. For all those reasons I can’t give this album anything else but a
5/5
Pink Floyd is:
David Gilmour: Guitar, vocals
Roger Waters: Bass, vocals, lyrics
Richard Wright: Keyboard, vocals
Nick Mason: Percussion, tape effects
With:
Lesley Duncan — Vocals (background)
Doris Troy — Vocals (background)
Dick Parry — Saxophone
Barry St. John — Vocals (background)
Liza Strike — Vocals (background)
Clare Torry — Vocals
Peter James — Assistant Engineer
Chris Thomas — Mixing
Alan Parsons — Engineer
Hipgnosis — Design, Photography
Storm Thorgerson — 20th and 30th Anniversary Edition Designs
George Hardie — Illustrations, Sleeve Art
Jill Furmanosky — Photography
David Sinclair — Liner Notes in CD re-release
