Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

This is one of the most well-known, commercially successful and most highly rated albums of all times. At the same time, it actually is one of the greatest albums ever made. Dark Side of the Moon deserves all the praise it has ever received. At the time of its release in 1973 it must've been groundbreaking. I remember seeing a document about the album and something that was said there has stayed in my mind for a long time. There was a fan of the band in the documentary who described the feeling of buying this album from a record shop and going home and putting it on for the first time. When the futuristic sounds started rolling in, it must have been a magical experience. It's very rare to experience anything like that today, since pretty much everything in music has already been done. But Dark Side of the Moon remains an album that has that magical quality that offers a listening experience that can't be matched by many other albums.



I owned this album on a CD from a fairly young age. My father used to bring me Pink Floyd CDs from his work trips quite often. At that time, we didn't really have a working vinyl player and anyway it seemed like the time of the vinyl was over (even though it has made its return later on). My father had the album also on vinyl and I just thought it was one of the coolest albums he owned. Later on, I bought a vinyl player of my own and got my father's vinyl collection. He had gotten this album from a friend back when it was brand new, so now I actually own a first pressing Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl. Also, for non-understandable reasons, this wasn't my father's favourite Pink Floyd album, which means that he hadn't listened to it as much as Atom Heart Mother for example, which means that the album is in excellent condition. It is definitely one of the dearest albums in my record collection.

In the 70's, post-Syd Barret era, Pink Floyd had an amazing capability of making albums that sounded like unified wholes, but still you could also listen to an individual song and it sounded great. More than anything, Dark Side of the Moon is an album. It's a manifestation of the era when single didn't mean as much as the album. This album has a clear mood that continues through all of the songs and to me it has to be listened to as a whole album. There are also great connective parts between songs that tie them together.

The album starts with a heartbeat, cash register and a helicopter in the song Speak to Me. It features some sounds heard later on the album. It's just an intro, but it gives it a magical start that must've been quite unique way to start an album back in the day. The first actual song is Breathe (In the Air), which shows some excellent clean electric guitars by David Gilmour. Before this album, Pink Floyd had made quite a few albums that were mostly instrumental, so this much singing probably felt strange for the band's fans. Next up, is the amazingly strange On the Run, which just has a fast beat on the drums and psychedelic synthesiser sounds along with footsteps, announcements and crazy space sounds. This song must have sounded amazingly futuristic at the time of its release. It still sounds amazing today. Time is one of the hit songs of the album. It starts with a number of clocks going off at the same time. There's also a ticking on the background of the song. The dark sound is somewhat similar to some of the songs on The Wall seven years later. The Great Gig in the Sky is absolute bliss to listen to. The mellow guitar sounds and soft bass lines bring goosebumps all over my body, but even greater parts come in with the amazing vocals of Clare Torry. This non-lyrics part is one of the most epic moments of rock history. Next up is Money. This is one of the biggest Pink Floyd hits of all times. The money and cash register sounds of the song are iconic and as a bass player I'm really excited about the amazing bass line. It's followed by another huge Pink Floyd hit, Us and Them. There's something about the space-like mellow sounds of this song that are just blissfully hypnotic. I can definitely see how this song was probably very popular for the weed-smoking hippies back in the day. Any Colour You Like continues directly from Us and Them and it features some amazing synth sounds but it's not really much of a song on its own. Brain Damage is one of my favourite Pink Floyd songs, it sounds so wonderfully crazy. Apparently this song was inspired by the founding member of the band, Syd Barrett, who had gone a bit crazy at the beginning of Pink Floyd and had to leave the band. The chorus parts in the end are amazing. The album ends with massive Hammond organs in the song Eclipse. It wraps up one perfect album nicely.

There's something so perfect about The Dark Side of the Moon that it's difficult to understand how it has been made. Of course, it was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios that have a reputation of recording some amazing albums. When I listen to the great albums of late 60's and early 70's I can only wonder how those bands were able to make such amazing sounds at a time when studio techniques weren't that developed yet. I guess that's part of the charm that they don't sound a bit artificial despite the experimenting nature of the instruments. No new records sound like this probably because they are polished with that modern studio technology.

I know this album is a bit of a cliche, but it's still definitely one of the greatest albums ever made.

Listen to the album on Spotify.