Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon

Arguing that Dark Side Of The Moon is Pink Floyd's best album is like arguing that The Wall is. Both are wrong, the best album is Wish You Were Here. That's just my opinion though. I will say, that until I heard Wish You Were Here, I thought Dark Side was their best.

Why would I think this album is better than anything else Pink Floyd has released (except for Wish)? It's a real simple answer. Musically it's brilliantly astounding. I have always believed music should take you somewhere and make you feel something. It's like sex for the brain on top of your shoulders, and this album is a slow intense session of tantric Karma Sutra practice.

The album opens with the instrumental Speak To Me, which effortlessly flows into Breath, and from there into On The Run.

Speak To Me is pretty much an overture to set the mood for the album, and you don't even notice that it's a different song from Breathe, except for it having it's own track listing. As for the latter of the two it's a nice, sweet, pretty, and a little zazzy.

That quickly turns into a fast paced chase, becoming On The Run. This instrumental song is actually heavy on the samples and keyboards. Also the fact that this song helps surround Breathe in instrumentals only helps strengthen the Progressive nature that band is famous for on this album.

From there the second most popular track on the album kicks off. Time wasn't a song I cared for much, when I was younger. Then when I hit my twenties I developed a new kinship to the song. I still could do without the extended clock opening, but other than that this song really gets me going. I especially dig the last minute before it slips into the Breathe (reprise). The reprise itself even adds to the over all feel of Time.

Great Gig In The Sky finished off the first side of the vinyl. This should be listed as an instrumental because the vocals provided aren't singing. Clare Torry uses her voice as an instrument on this song. She "sings" the most amazing hardcore angelic orgasm.

Side two of Dark Side Of The Moon opens with Pink Floyd's second most popular song, Money. The only song I can think of that the general public knows better than this song is Another Brick In The Wall (Part II), or maybe Wish You Were Here. This Jazzy, 7/8 timing, swirling tale of desired monetary excess, is a bit of a school boy's pipe dream, but what a lovely dream. A joke also made in the motion picture for The Wall.

Us And Them would be the ballad of the album. The Saxaphone in the song is like a nice piece of sexy neglige enticing the listener to sit down and enjoy the show that this full bodied song is about to put on.

That flows into another instrumental, Any Colour You Like. Which is a classic Floyd exploratory Jam. It keeps the flow of the album going very smoothly. The song itself is a little spacey, a little funky, and ride on a unique pulse.

Brain Damage has alway been a favourite of mine on this album. The song starts off nice and slow and nutty. From there it just builds up more and more into a grande finale, even though it isn't.

Eclipse finishes off the album with a seemless continuation from Brain Damage. This is like the big wrap up after the grand finale. Bringing a climatic ending to an album that was just so magically produced and put together.

10/10 - content

10/10 - production

9/10 - personal bias

No comments:

Post a Comment