headlessparrot's Full Review: Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
Way back in the day, when I first stumbled upon Epinions.com, I was a rather naïve youth of about 14 years of age. It took several months to realize that there was no point in reviewing albums that already had fifty or so reviews listed, especially sine I rarely had any sort of significant insight into these albums. I was basically stuck repeating a mantra of “this is great,” said in about twenty different ways. I still look back on a lot of those reviews with some measure of contempt for their simplicity. But I also remember them fondly, as each review I wrote slowly built up into what I am capable of doing today.
My review of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon is just such an example. It was the fourth music review I’d put together for the site, and as such, I look back on it and see an extremely flawed review where I was unable to quite say all of the things I wanted to say - because, frankly, I didn’t yet have the words to describe them. It wasn’t until several months afterwards that I realized how foolish it was to attempt to put words to one of the most sprawling and innovative albums ever recorded. Well, with the recent release of a 30th anniversary edition of Dark Side Of The Moon, I’m finally left with the ability to right the wrongs my first review of the album had.
Pink Floyd is a peculiar band for more than one reason. In fact, they were peculiar for literally dozens of reasons. They were different from other acts of rock’s heyday in that their music bore virtually no resemblance to the band’s influence. Just like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and God knows who else, Pink Floyd’s biggest influences were classic R&B artists, blues masters, and early rock and roll stars such as Chuck Berry. In fact, the very name of Pink Floyd was derived from two bluesmen that the group found particularly interesting. Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, two artists who have become virtually nonexistent through the passage of time, became the inspiration for the name of a band that would virtually rule psychedelic rock and roll for thirty plus years. Originally composed of guitarist Syd Barrett, bassist Roger Waters, keyboardist Rick Wright and drummer Nick Mason, the group went about crafting a deeply original and influential sound that is virtually impossible to define. The group’s debut, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, was one of the purest examples of eccentric genius in music history, a childish, whimsical dream world of songs. Barrett and Waters wrote music and lyrics that sounded as if they were the next logical step forward in the progression of the experimental rock that the Beatles had begun toying with in 1966 with the release of Rubber Soul, Revolver, and later Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (released only a month before Piper).
While original, and a definite example of twisted genius, Floyd never caught on. While they were all but ignored by the mainstream, the Barrett-led Floyd became a cult icon of the rock counterculture. They never incited legions of screaming girls to riot and they never sold millions. Rather, they maintained a sort of quiet dignity, continuing to release singles. At some point, however, less than a year after the release of Piper, Syd Barrett departed (or was fired, according to conflicting stories) the group that he formed, one of the first victims of the drug counterculture. Barrett, in just his brief time in the musical spotlight, suffered a complete and total breakdown that came as a result of LSD on his fragile psyche. Some say he was lucky, but I believe that the toll inflicted upon him was much greater than death. His fertile, fragile genius was completely and utterly shattered, leaving a mere shadow of a man. His erratic and chaotic end had much more of an impact on the remaining members of Floyd than his death could have ever had. They recruited Dave Gilmour as a new guitarist and songwriter, and for the better part of the next thirty years, they have continued to wax philosophical about the state of human nature, the human mind, and the darkness within us all. It would seem, in fact, that Pink Floyd never fully recovered from the loss of Syd Barrett. After 1968, that fanciful, playful whimsy was replaced by a much more grim, serious, and frank attitude.
But to his credit, Dave Gilmour brought something new to the table that Syd Barrett never could have. Gilmour, unlike his predecessor, was a technically proficient guitarist with an absolute mastery over the instrument. His songwriting skill, too, was as advanced as that of Barrett’s, albeit in a more symbolic way. Waters, to his credit, also took the time to vastly improve his songwriting craft, and the result - after a somewhat shaky start - was a cohesive band that was capable of challenging any of the era’s significant rock acts. They did soundtrack work, and virtually revolutionized the idea of rock as an artistic statement. Meddle, released in 1971, was the first step forward that Floyd took into challenging the musical status quo, and 1972’s Obscured By Clouds - a film score by the group - both hinted at the group’s potential while providing beautifully textured mood music.
But in 1973, just when Pink Floyd seemed destined to live out the rest of their careers as a cult icon and nothing more, something remarkable happened to them. Or, rather, they did something remarkable. That something was Dark Side Of The Moon - a concept album like nothing popular music had ever heard before, and one that would literally shape rock music for years to come. Recorded over the span of eight months, Dark Side Of The Moon, upon release, left audiences literally dumbfounded. No one really knew what to make of this conceptual opus. But, for some reason or another, it caught on, and would spend the next 741 weeks on the Billboard Top 200 (a record that stands to this day). Dark Side changed the course of musical history in more than one way, and the sudden rise to fame after years toiling in obscurity provided a feel good story that, in actuality, was sort of tragic. Syd Barrett the man who started the group wouldn’t remain a member long enough to see the fruits of his labour.
Dark Side Of The Moon is, like I’ve said before, a concept album. What makes it different from past concept albums is its bleakness and the almost overwhelming wall of despair that surrounds the record. The gloomy, almost melancholic atmosphere is understandable when one considers the album’s context. A lot of the great albums in music history require some form of context to fully understand where the artist is coming from. With DSOTM, this isn’t as true, but it’s still important to note the circumstances. Late 1972 and early 1973 were not exactly the kindest years for music and the world in general. The hippie movement, already decimated by the end of the 60s, was virtually non-existent, and the previous several years had seen the toll that excess had on popular music. Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison were only the beginning of a tremendous death toll on rock music. Add to that the collapse of Syd Barrett, and it’s easy to see that there weren’t a lot of reasons to look up. The Vietnam War was continuing, and tremendous loss of human life made many people stop and take notice of their surroundings.
Pink Floyd did just that, and Dark Side Of The Moon is largely their assessment of the nature of humanity as beings of evil. The band dives into the human psyche, and evaluates it, as if they were still struggling to come to terms with Barrett’s insanity. Dark Side Of The Moon, in fact, seems to be more an assessment of humanity as a whole, especially as it relates to insanity and the state of Syd Barrett, while 1975’s Wish You Were Here is a less analytical and more emotional assessment of Syd. The title itself, Dark Side Of The Moon finds the band attaching a literally image to something that is, in reality, far more abstract. Dark Side Of Humanity is perhaps more appropriate, but lacks the mystique of the chosen moniker. And while the band largely deals with humanity as it relates to good and evil, the album finds the band taking on a variety of different philosophical conflicts. That the album both begins with and ends with the slow measured beating of a heart seems to suggest the innate belief that everything on earth (and, the moon, coincidentally) follows a cyclical path. The moon around the Earth, and the Earth around the Sun, and the path of humanity all seem to follow similar paths. There are also times when the group takes on a pointed diatribe against war and poverty, all tying back into the idea of humanity’s darkness. This whole mess is certainly disturbing, as is the band’s nonchalant attitude as it pertains to these ideas, but it’s hard to argue with the philosophical ramblings, as they’re so pointed and so well fleshed out.
Even more so than the music, Dark Side’s cover has become an entity all on its own, taking on a meaning far beyond the depicted scene’s scientific purpose. A single beam of white light is reflected through a prism, where it is separated into the entire rainbow of colour. I’ve always been left with the impression that the cover seems to be an abstract representation of humanity, splitting one being into all of the components that control his behaviour and life.
The ten songs that make up Dark Side Of The Moon (or nine, depending on the version of the disc in your possession) are a study in brilliant musicianship, lyricism, and, well, just about everything. Dark Side Of The Moon, despite the morbid nature of the concept, is an absolutely gorgeous album sonically speaking. David Gilmour’s guitars are absolutely magnificent, one of the first works where he discovered that magic tone that managed to tow the line, sounding natural while remaining powerful and heavy. It’s warm, yet still crunchy, and his vocals - when he sings - are similarly warm and natural. Roger Waters is one of the unsung bassists in rock music, providing a thumping, driving beat that not only establishes rhythm but also creates a mood and a groove to latch on to. His vocals are a stark contrast to that of Gilmour’s, much more throaty and raw. Nick Mason brings the whole group together with his wide range of drumming. He goes from a soft, gentle rat-a-tat-tat to a full out blazing cymbal crash and still sound consistent. Richard Wright’s innovative use of keyboards and the VCS3 synthesizers is what ties the whole concept together. His accompaniments are rarely outright, and loud, instead going for subtlety and texture. Similarly, Dark Side Of The Moon found a large number of contributors, each adding their own touch that make the music special. Dick Parry’s saxophone, which would eventually become a staple of the band’s music, makes it’s first significant appearance on a Floyd record, creating an almost orchestral vibe at times as the rock instruments trade lines with the classical instrument. A number of backing vocalists also add their talents, primarily Clare Torry, each of them assisting in driving home the album’s most important lines and adding harmonies at certain points. Lastly, Dark Side Of The Moon is absolutely filled to the brim with samples, tape effects, and all sorts of sound effects and analog trickery. With all of these elements, Dark Side is almost ridiculously pretentious. But the band’s arrangements and Water’s human, emotional lyricism keep it from falling into that trap. Each of these elements is used beautifully, resulting in songs that range from melancholic sadness to pain, anguish, and even the occasional glimpse of hope.
Dark Side Of The Moon is an album that is inexplicably brilliant. No matter how many words I write, I’ll never completely be able to unravel just what makes the record special. The only thing that I can say about the beautiful composition, execution, and mixing of the album is that it is so inspired, it isn’t just a piece of audio. Dark Side Of The Moon is a musical record, but is so dazzling that, when all the pieces come together, it seems almost like a visual masterpiece. As I listen to the first strains of a heartbeat that begin the record, I begin to associate images in my mind with the things that I’m hearing. I visualize a conversation, and I can almost feel each of Roger Water’s lyrical metaphors taking place in front of my eyes. These images aren’t just faint either - they’re vivid, beautiful, and at times, quite sad shots of everyday life or of objects that seem to have their own existence entirely separate from the music. The ringing of cash registers, the quiet conversation, all move from one speaker to the other, swirling and swelling in a dazzling display of music. I sound absolutely nuts for making this analogy, but it’s the only way I can put to words just how I feel about this record. It is, literally, beyond perfection, the soundtrack to a film that plays in each listener’s subconscious.
People knew that Dark Side Of The Moon was special. A segment of the Earth’s population are all but convinced that us humans are incapable of differentiating between real, honest music and pre-fabricated mush. The success of Dark Side Of The Moon, an album that is repeatedly rediscovered by each generation, virtually crushes that theory. People knew that there was something about this album that struck home thematically, and Pink Floyd recognized it themselves. That’s why they’ve repayed their fan base by releasing special editions of the disc every once in awhile. The 20th Anniversary Dark Side, released in 1993, was completely remastered and came complete with new liner notes and a special cover. For the album’s 30th anniversary, the group wanted to do something special to say thank you to their fans. After some arguments over what that thank you should be, it was decided that, rather than simply remastering the disc again, they should re-release it on hybrid SACD (Super Audio CD), complete with new mixes and a layer for play on CD - and they should price it like a regular CD for the sake of the fans.
Super Audio CD is essentially the latest format for audiophiles, and will likely be the next standard in recording. These SACD are supposedly unmatched in warmth, tone, and pure recreation of the intended sound. They have a wider range of frequency response as well as a larger dynamic range, and can contain several different mixes. Unlike regular CDs, they can be played in 5.1 Surround Sound (again, from what I understand) as well as in standard 2-channel stereo format. For the album’s 30th anniversary, Dark Side Of The Moon was completely remastered and re-mixed for use with 5.1, as well as in regular stereo format, and the disc also includes a second, “red book” layer of data for use in a regular CD player which was also remastered.
I don’t personally own an SACD, and I don’t foresee getting one anytime in the near future, so I’m left only to comment on the digital remastering of the CD layer by James Guthrie. You’d think that he could do little to improve the sound quality of the record, which is already superb - but he does, and it’s quite noticeable, especially with a pair of headphones. On the normal CD version, some of the instruments seem to be pushed together for the sake of stereo recording, which was really the only complaint I’ve ever had about the record. Not only did Guthrie solve this problem - each instrument seems to exist independent from one another, each given it’s own space to breath life into the music - but he improved the overall fidelity as well. The bass and drums are crisper, the sound effects even more jaw-droppingly realistic, and the vocals and guitars warmer. As a whole, the record seems to have an even more powerful impact than it did before. It can’t really compete with the natural warmth of the original vinyl (which I break out once in a while), but does a remarkable job in creating a more natural sound than the normal CD version.
Along with the remastering job, the 30th Anniversary Dark Side Of The Moon comes complete with new liner notes with a variety of photos, tour posters, and different album cover versions, as well as it’s own new album cover. I suspect, actually, that this new album cover will be the reason that many people buy this record. Some might argue that they’ve meddled with a classic, and in a sense that’s true, but they’ve also paid tribute to the original. The new cover features a stained-glass window depicting the original album cover, with the stars and trees in the background behind the window. At first I thought that the cover had to be a painting, but I was surprised to learn that, in fact, this was a real stained-glass window and a real scene of nature. As you can imagine, Strom Thorgerson was responsible for the cover, and I found it to be sadly beautiful, especially with the way in which the trees and stars shimmer gently in the background. The photo is nothing short of breathtaking.
Dark Side begins with the slow beating of a heart that gradually increases in volume, as a variety of voices and sound effects begin to issue forth from several different locations. These voices, when listening with headphones, sound eerily like your own subconscious thoughts, issuing forth from all sides. As the montage of sounds reaches a fevered pitch, it swells into the first strains of music, playing softly and gently as the keyboards intertwine in the background and the band creates a melancholic mood with their dense texture of instruments. Gilmour and Wright sing the song together in a sort of disorganized harmony, their soft voices adding nicely to the sound. On The Run is largely a heavy, swirling electronic beat that remains at a constant pitch throughout. The song is interspersed with cuts of dialogue, voices, footsteps, and machines. The track is simple but still sends a grand message about not rushing through life, taking time to stop and think things through. This message is achieved through the sound effects, as they seem to tell a story of a man rushing at an airport, too late to catch a plan, arriving just in time to see his airplane explode as it takes off. The frenetic explosion that closes the track fades slowly into the tick-tock of clocks issuing forth from each speaker.
All at once, each of these clocks goes off, ringing wildly in a variety of tones before being replaced by a simple tick-tock beat provided by Mason. Time builds gently from that simple beat, starting out only with flashes of guitar and keyboard before the entire band joins into the bluesy, jam-like structure of the song. Gilmour and Wright find themselves trading vocals here, delivering their lines in the second person as if speaking directly to the listener about how important it is to slow down and appreciate your life.
The Great Gig In The Sky is a gentle musical piece built around a piano over which backing vocalist Clare Torry wails passionately and powerfully, while the sound of receipts tearing, money bags dropping and cash registers opening prefaces the powerful, dry wit of Money. The track is built upon a solid, bumping drum and bass piece, over which Water displays his talent for sardonic social commentary. Us And Them is a soft, melancholic epic that touches on the issue of war, poverty, and the general evil of humanity. The track is stirringly powerful, but also haunting because of the apathy in Water’s vocal delivery.
The darkly tinged psychedelia of Any Colour You Like works its way into Brain Damage, an assessment of human insanity, using childhood memories as the backdrop for the chilling verses. The chorus slowly build to a climax featuring female backing vocals and a powerful proclamation by Waters. The same approach is repeated for the next verse and chorus, eventually resulting in the famous line uttered by Waters: “And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes/I'll see you on the dark side of the moon!” The pace of the song dwindles gradually until Eclipse takes over, with Waters making a list of the reasons that we should live in the moment and not fear that which we can’t control. Perhaps the only glimpse of hope on an otherwise dim, dank album, Eclipse is moving, as the band comes together for the final time in a densely textured and powerful battle cry. And as the song fades, the heartbeat again takes over, gradually lessening in volume. The beauty of the SACD here is in the remastering - as the heartbeat grows quiet, concentrate and you can hear the strains of a symphony playing in the background. Theories abound as to why you can hear this, but it’s generally agreed that this barely audible symphonic piece is an orchestral version of the BeatlesTicket To Ride - how it got there is a different question entirely (most people believe that the band had reused an old tape sitting around the studio with the music or there was a symphony in another studio next door).
The 30th Anniversary Dark Side Of The Moon is just as essential as the regular album. There are no changes made to the music itself - it remains stirring, provocative, brooding, and intelligent - but the remastering job is worth the price of admission alone. Even if you don’t yet have an SACD player, this record is still worthwhile. It stands as a towering achievement of not only music as an art form, but of the brilliant mastering job by James Guthrie.
In March of 1973, Pink Floyd released one of the most successful albums of their music career and in music history. The most noted tracks on this albu...More at Buy.com
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