Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon (Capitol)
Really Ben? Dark Side of the Moon? What could you possibly have to say about this album that hasn't been stated 10,000 times before? And don't you specialize in impossibly obscure artists like Maury Coles?
A few thoughts and anecdotes.
Back in my early WRCT days, some of us looked forward to receiving Billboard magazine for a single reason: to see if DSOTM was still on the top 200 album chart. It had been there perhaps nine years? Its sales are still eclipsed by The Wall, but this album sold consistently. One week, it dropped off the chart. No!! The next issue it was back on, sales no doubt spurred by its drop the previous week. The editors decided not to reset the weeks-on-chart listing, to our satisfaction.
People often refer to this as a concept album. I disagree. The Wall is a concept album, a narrative of a rock star descending into isolation and madness. DSOTM is a suite. No song stands alone outside the album, with the exception of the single "Money" and possibly the side one closer, "The Great Gig in the Sky". Despite this album's esteem and popularity, it doesn't generally make for good radio play.
Once on a family drive to New York City when I was a teen, we had on a rock station (not always the case). The station played "Money". My father commented, "This band is trying to sound Black."
I wonder how many issues of this album there have been? (I guess I could look it up. Nah.) I wonder who has collected more of those issues than anyone? I'm sure someone has paid big money for a Greek pressing off discogs.com.
In high school, I had to explain to some of the motorhead kids that I played saxophone. One of them: "Can you play Pink Floyd?" "Yeah, I could do that."
This band is identified most closely with Roger Waters and then David Gilmour. Similar to Talking Heads, I'm interested in the group dynamic at least as much as the star(s) up front. Richard Wright is given sole writing credit for "Great Gig", a piece I've always enjoyed. I think his contribution to this and other albums was probably underplayed. He was a good harmony vocalist, blending seamlessly with David's vocals. By the time of The Wall, Richard was so disengaged and/or using cocaine so much that he's only given credit as a backing musician. Pretty shitty thing to do if you ask me.
There are some sharp nine chords here, that Richard said he learned from a Miles Davis record.
Clare Torry is the voice on "Great Gig" and completely sells the work with her intense vocalese. I understand she did it in one take. Booyah.
I like David Gilmour as both a vocalist and guitar soloist. He's never flashy, and has a strong melodic sense. Roger singing is good at sounding weirder, David at sounding sweet.
There's a lyric on this album I've misheard for decades. "Us and Them" goes: "Haven't you heard it's a battle of words/the poster bearer cried". I always thought it was, "Haven't you heard it's a battle of words/and most of them are lies". You know what? I like my version better.
I often don't pay attention to lyrics, except when I think they're bad. My sister played a song for me she really enjoys, a Youtube video with lyrics included. I couldn't get past the fact that the lyrics were garbage. Oh okay, the song was in general garbage too, but I guess it spoke to her. If you're going to be a songwriter, I think it's essential you have the mechanics of songwriting down. The rhythm of the words has to fit the meter. If you're rhyming, you can only stretch rhymes so much. Some songwriters transcend those rules; rules were meant to be broken, right? But I find too many give themselves license rather than really work on their words.
Point being, the closing lyric of this album is one of my all time favorites: "All that is now/all that is gone/all that's to come/and everything under the sun is in tune/but the sun is eclipsed by the moon." For some reason that speaks to me. No matter how things align, the world is imperfect. Always.
The album credits state: All lyrics by ROGER WATERS [their capitalization]. Okay we get it Roger, you're a fucking genius.
I enjoy the musique concrète elements of this album. The clocks at the beginning, the disembodied non-sequitor voices, the tape loop at the opening of "Money". It's a rich production in general, which I don't necessarily need. But the album sounds great.
At a CAPA in service day, the instrumental music faculty met for a cheese party with music playing. Our staff head put on DSOTM. The piano lab teacher, barely 30 years old if that, had never heard it before and asked, "WHAT is THIS?" I said, "You really don't know Dark Side of the Moon? You need to sit and listen." Which she did, and said it was great.
It is essential listening, whether you enjoy it or not.
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