Dark Side of the Moon was released nearly 30 years ago, in 1973, but as the state of music has rapidly evolved, this masterpiece still sounds fresh, relevant and groundbreaking to this day. This is one of the most talked about classics, which makes it something of a challenge to review, as so much has been written about dark side!
By 1973, Pink Floyd already had a lot of superb material under their belt. The playful Syd Barret Psychedelic material (singles like See Emily Play & Arnold Layne, and their debut album, Piper at the Gates of Dawn) was definitely ahead of its time, and in 1971 released the spacey ‘Meddle’, famous for the 20-minute epic, ‘Echoes’. Arguably, turn of the decade Pink Floyd was the most ‘interesting’ music, more progressive than anything on Dark Side.
So, what gives Dark Side of the Moon its classic status? The songs on it were shorter, more digestible chunks of music with more standard song structures. However, what they do with the concept of the ‘pop song’ is what is truly breathtaking. Pink Floyd on this album have managed to fuse their psychedelic sensibilities with sophisticated song writing and taken in more musical influences. The songs on here have managed to touch many people, and this album is a bestseller for the best reasons. Dark Side is a concept album, and the concept is the pressures of everyday life (which is why much the album may seem rather mundane lyrically.) The album’s basic message is that these pressures that humans have to deal with can ultimately lead to madness (hence moon=lunatic (see brain damage). Dark Side also utilises production techniques ahead of its time and embraced studio technology with open arms. The VCS3 synthesiser was used to create the rich textures that dominate the album, and tape loops to give a slightly wacky and new edge to the music through sound effects, and also layer the ‘man in the street’ sound bytes that gave the album its character. The introduction of gospel-type Backing vocals is another big feature of dark side, to give it its more widescreen sound, and take on a broader range of styles.
About the Sound bytes Pink Floyd wanted to give a portrait of modern life, and to give a certain ‘realness’ to their album asked a number of ordinary folk who worked for them during the album’s creation to contribute their thoughts on a number of everyday subjects. Roger waters, the groups
bassist and driving force behind the group at that time presented their Roadie, an Abbey Road Doorman, a musician in another group and various others with flash cards with questions like ‘are you mad?’ ‘When did you last use violence?’ and so on. Waters sifted through the material and through the use of tape loops scattered these sound bytes across the album.
Here is a summarisation of the tracks that made ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ what it was:
Speak to me/Breathe: an introduction that managed to sum up the album in one minute. One of the clocks on time, the ‘cash register’ sequence of money, the wailing vocals from ‘the great gig in the sky’, a dark pulsating VCS3 and a few sound bytes on the subject of madness. This sound collage leads us into the soothing electric piano and slide guitar sounds of Breathe. However, the lyrical tone is pessimistic, as much of Water’s output on here is. The music of Breathe is used later in the last leg of ‘Time’. Breathe has a very strong chord structure which sounds very welcome later on. Breathe proved that the group could finally write songs of great maturity that were catchy without being simple, but sophisticated without being complex.
On the Run: This is an instrumental that is proof of how groundbreaking and leftfield that band could be, even in a best selling album. This track could easily be described as Techno, ambient or even trip hop, before any of these sub-categories of dance music had ever been invented. OTR uses a programmed VCS3, doing an 8-note sequence, something that had not to my knowledge been done before! The percussion used, however is just acoustic high hats doing a fast 16 beat to create the tension of ‘running’. This track does develop though! Ultra-dark distorted guitars crescendo towards the end giving it a very strong climax. Other very effective layers used are another programmed VCS3, with a single pulsating note, and the sound effect of an explosion, leading to sound effects of running leading us into the ticking clocks of………
Time: After the initial ticking, a mass barrage of tape-looped ringing clocks (something of a private joke at home, i.e. I would need that many alarms to wake me up certain mornings!) leads us into a long instrumental section of long sustained notes which set the scene nicely (in a good old prog rock way!!) In good time, we arrive at the funky, bluesy rock with lyrics that deal with the concept of time running out, mortality and old age. Here are some of the lyrics to enforce my point:
“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way”
“Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain…and then one day you find tens years have got behind you”
“Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time Plans that either come to naught or half a page or scribbled lines Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way (too right!) The time is gone the song is over, thought I’d something more to say”
The Great Gig in the Sky: This is the brainchild of keyboard player, Rick Wright. Originally, just a piano composition consisting of the slow beautiful chords that make up ‘Great Gig’, Floyd decided to bring in a gutsy female vocalist to cry out a melody without lyrics. One source said this had been voted best song to make love to (possibly due to the orgasmic quality of the vocals ;-) This song does have subject matter to it; again, this carries on the subject of time, death. The sound bytes (one at the beginning, one at the end) have 2 people answering the flashcard question, ‘Are you frightened of dying?’
“I am not frightening of doing, any time will do I don’t mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There’s no reason for it, you’ve got to go sometime” declares a bloke at the beginning. A softly spoken woman at the end says simply “ I never said I was frightened of dying”.
Money: Possibly a dig at the capitalism, Money starts off with a 7/4 loop of Cash Registers, jingling money and torn paper joined by a funky bass & drum line and angsty vocals. Here is an example of the lyrics “Money, it’s a gas Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash… Money get back I’m alright Jack keep your hands off my stack I’m in the hi-fidelity first class travelling set And I think I need a Lear Jet”
The most penetrating verse however is: “Money, it’s a crime Share is fairly, but don’t take a slice of my pie Money so they say Is the root of all evil today But if you ask for a rise, it’s no surprise that they’re giving none away”
After the first verse, a strong sax solo links to the next verse. This kind of instrumentation is what made Dark Side more eclectic. Later on, Dave Gilmour treats as to a first class bluesy guitar solo, by now the time has changed to a regular 4 beat, which gives the song a good effective contrast from the original quirky time signature.
After more sound bytes, this time from the ‘When did you last use violence” flashcard being looped the gentle organ line of ‘Us & Them’ fades in beautifully.
Us & Them: Very much a protest song, but instead of being upbeat, find itself a very melancholy backdrop, to give a motion of despair rather than anger, describing the gaping gap between rich and poor, racism, and the lack of humanity towards the homeless (‘Out of the way, it’s a busy day, I’ve got things on my mind. For want of the price of a tea and a slice, the old man died’) Musically, this song has a simple verse-chorus structure, and the Sonics of a power ballad. It has all the right ingredients, like a husky sax, very gentle guitar chords that lead to the simple and powerful chorus. This kind of song may have alienated those Floyd fans that favoured trippy Psychedelic Space Rock era Floyd, but to me (I incidentally love all the Pre Dark side material) this is just a f*****g good song, pop before pop became such a dirty word, so to say.
Any Colour You Like: A fitting title, considering the prism cover art of the album, this is an instrumental with largely the same kind of beat as the last track. This track is dominated by overlapping synth notes, the band liked their VCS3’s quite a lot you know! The harmony is a little reminiscent of Breathe, a strong chord structure suited for the trippy soloing that makes this track what it is.
Brain Damage: Part 1 of the simpler closing tracks of Dark Side, this track deals mainly with founding member Syd Barret, who left due to his decreasing mental health and tendency to stand his band mates up in concert towards the end. The second line of the song deals more generally with public figures, “The lunatics are in my hall, the paper holds their folded faces to the floor”. Musically, the song is quite simple in its harmony, sarcastically copying the kind of comical harmony that Barret would use in his songs, such as ‘Bike’. This leads straight into….
Eclipse: “All that you touch All that you see All that you taste” and so on.
A very bold ending to this gem of an album, Eclipse has a more traditional sound to it, complete with Hammond Organ and ends the album with great style. Although this is not a choice cut from the album, it ends it well.
Dark Side of the Moon maybe seen as a defining album for the band, which is actually a mistake considering all their past achievements. The band had every intention of making this record a best seller, naturally giving this more of a catchall appeal. In no way am I having a dig at music that is popular and universal (as long as it isn’t transparent like much of what dominates the mainstream of today’s music) but the band have definitely experimented more in the past, putting popularity lower in their priorities. Just listen to great tracks like ‘Careful with that Axe, Eugene’, ‘Interstellar Overdrive’, and ‘Echoes’, and of course their most daring album ‘Atom Heart Mother’ and you’ll see what I mean. Dark Side of the Moon is indeed not the darkest they have done and after getting into this album go back in time and discover that there is more to Floyd than just this! Every band that sells so many records faces the decision of whether to sell to the masses, but luckily, Floyd chose to do so on this record without ‘selling out’ so to say. That question has far more basis, however when dealing with their 1979 album ‘The wall’ and its famous lead single ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. Therefore, this album more than deserves its 5 star rating.
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Advantages: Put Prog Rock On The Map, Introduced The World To Sound Effects As Music Disadvantages: A Decent Set Of Headphones Is Needed For The Full Sensory Effect
Advantages: A musical watershed; Your CD player will biodegrade before these tracks become yesterday's noise... Disadvantages: Hazardous to listen to if you're prone to contemplating suicide...
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