Pink Floyd Retrospective: Album 08- Dark Side of the Moon

 

You may have heard of this album...

Album:  Dark Side of the Moon

Year Released:    1973

Lineup:

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – guitars, vocals, EMS Synthi AKS
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion, tape effects
• Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals, EMS VCS 3, tape effects
• Richard Wright – organs (Hammond and Farfisa), piano, electric pianos (Wurlitzer and Rhodes), EMS VCS 3, EMS Synthi AKS, vocals

Additional musicians Dick Parry – saxophone on "Money" and "Us and Them" Clare Torry – vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky" Doris Troy – backing vocals Lesley Duncan – backing vocals Liza Strike – backing vocals Barry St. John – backing vocals

Production

• Alan Parsons – engineering
• Peter James – assistant (incorrectly identified as "Peter Jones" on first US pressings of the LP)
• Chris Thomas – mix supervisor

Design

• Hipgnosis – sleeve design, photography
• George Hardie – sleeve art, stickers art

Track Listing:

Side one

No. Title                                                                           Length

1. "Speak to Me"                                                           1:07

2.     "Breathe (In the Air)"                                                 2:49

3.     "On the Run"                                                             3:45

4.     "Time"                                                                        6:53

5.     "The Great Gig in the Sky"                                        4:44

Total length: 19:18

Side two

No. Title                                                                          Length

6. "Money"                                                                  6:23

7. "Us and Them"                                                  7:49

8.     "Any Color You Like"                                                3:26

9.     "Brain Damage"                                                       3:46

10.   "Eclipse"                                                                   2:12

Total length: 23:36

Album Length:  43:09

Overall Thoughts:

For the eighth album, Roger Waters wanted to build around a theme- things that "make people mad".  Syd Barrett and his mental issues were the inspiration for Waters.  It's the first album Pink Floyd wrote centered around a single theme, and this seems to provide the focus that was lacking on their earlier albums.

Unlike the previous albums (which had different members of the group each writing songs), Roger Waters wrote every song on Dark Side of the Moon.  The others concentrated on playing.  Pink Floyd has already been a mixture- Waters writing songs that were cynical and dark, and the rest of the group performing etherial music.  Sometimes the combination failed; in this album, it worked perfectly.

The album is full of short songs that run together, instead of the longer tracks from previous albums.  The songs are full of sound effects that accentuate the music- cash registers ("Money"), clocks ("Time"), background sounds of an airport ("On The Run").  They hit the sweet spot on this album- the sound effects add to the songs without distracting from the music.

It is an album about stress, anxiety and mental health- and it is full of beautiful songs on cynical and bitter lyrics.  The album received almost unanimous critical praise, and was on the US Billboard LP and Tape Chart for 990 weeks (that's over 19 years on the charts), a record by over 100 weeks.  

Pink Floyd hit their apex with this album- and it continued for the rest of the decade.

Ranking of Pink Floyd Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. Dark Side of the Moon
2. Meddle
3. A Saucerful of Secrets
4. Obscured by Clouds
5. Ummagumma
6. More
7. Piper at the Gates of Dawn
8. Atom Heart Mother

Top 10 Pink Floyd Songs (changing as more albums are reviewed):

1. "Money", Dark Side of the Moon
2. "Us and Them", Dark Side of the Moon
3. "Time", Dark Side of the Moon
4. "Fearless", Meddle
5. "The Great Gig in the Sky", Dark Side of the Moon
6. "Brain Dmaage", Dark Side of the Moon
7. "Let There Be More Light", A Saucerful of Secrets
8. "Eclipse", Dark Side of the Moon
9. "Set The Controls For the Heart of the Sun", A Saucerful of Secrets
10. "Childhood's End", Obscured by Clouds