assault the well defended: Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon"

I think you have to look at the album (and the band as a whole) in context--I mean, sure tons of bands replicate that sound or were influenced by them to a large extent--but when you remember that they were the first people to do it, they deserve a little more credit. Many, many landmark albums meant a lot more when they first came out--Joy Division and the Pixies were pioneering, but after legions of bands have replicated that sound we'll never experience Closer or Surfer Rosa with the same awe again. I would (hesitantly) go so far as to put TDSOM in that grouping.

I think TDSOM is great, but I think it'll be a long time before I ever want to hear it again.

"it's a great record to fuck to," if you're a necrophiliac on heavy doses of thorazine.

On the other hand, the downside to much of post-Meddle Pink Floyd is that the songs are generally more interesting when they were still kicking them around on stage before going in to "properly" record them. Everyone owes it to themselves to track down a 1972 bootleg of DSOTM when it was still called "Eclipse." Radically different in places and occasionally more interesting.

I lived through the post-pixies (and post-joy division) aftermath before I heard either band or record. when I was 15 I got a copy of Surfer Rosa and it blew my mind. A little of the power may have been gone (I was more impressed with the amazing rhythms and sounds they were making, I didnt even notice the supposedly groundbreaking quiet-loud dynamic structure everyone says nirvana and everyone else ripped off), but it still tore my mind apart and was instantly added to the classics list ( to a lesser degree, joy division too).

Dark Side Of The Moon is really just a totally boring record. It's middle school insence-burning music. You listen to it before you discover dub or punk rock or even led zeppelin.

Although, it may have actually been an interesting piece of music if Waters had had his way and made the most dry sounding record possible. it would have been pretty insane sounding, but since gilmour got it all wet it just sounds like some adult contemporary bullshit.

The psuedo-jazz affectations of the saxophone. Being another mainstream band that thought adding black female vocalists makes things more soulful (I'm not sure of who sings on record, but I know they were guilty of this later). AOR affectations that clip off meandering songs before they develop and make possible singles weaker because they only really fit in the scope of the album. Songs about time and money that make amazing observations.

it's a pretty good album. a tad ridiculous in parts, but contrary to popular belief, the floyd were only beginning to shove sticks up their arses when they recorded it. any post-wywh hate is justified, with exceptions. now bugger off.

i guess that i was one of those "suburban loners" mentioned above -- went so far as to get one of those pretentious "gold CDs" of this (to show off my CD player and my alleged conossieur-ness), so i once loved it. i don't feel any need to listen to it these days, but i suspect that i'd still like it a lot if i listened to it.

p.s.: joy division STILL knocks my socks off (the pixies never knocked my socks off, but i still liked 'em fine).

"If you listen to 'Dark Side Of The Moon' while watching The Wizard Of Oz, you will fall asleep - and wake up gay"

OTM!!!

For this visiting this site IN THE FUTURE, here's a permalink:

http://www.popjustice.co.uk/2005/06/pink-floyd-vs-mcfly-whos-best.htm

You are not alone.

"Lately I've been hearing Coldplay as the 21st Century's Supertramp."

Neither are you.

(x-post)

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/212/1103/320/soundsinspace.jpg

http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/S/sounds_spacef.jpg

Then, Syd left the band, and they were still great. Only in a different way.

Gier, today is the day that I write in my calendar that we agree.

(It's how this philosophy gets applied after the fact that we don't agree on...)

But Dark Side of the Moon is beyond my scope.

(Dad Rock)

Wow. that's a bit harsh, no?

In any case, I don't think I can be objective about this album anymore. I used to be a huge Pink Floyd fan, and this was the first of theirs I'd layed ears on. Prior to the `Floyd, rock began and ended with Kiss for me, so Dark Side of the Moon was a real....er....ear-opener. I'd be lying if I said I played it a lot, and my freshman year of college, there was a jackass down the hall from me who literally played it EVERY DAY and soul-denting volumes, so I went out of my way not to hear it for a long time after. That said, I still think there are some truly sublime moments on it (largely thanks to Dave Gilmour's guitar).

But, I'd take Animals over it any day.

A group of us once got suckered by this guy into watching Wizard of Oz with Dark Side playing underneath it. After we made him stop the movie, a friend of mine told me that he had never heard this album before. I was surprised, but asked him what he thought of it.

He said he liked it all right, but had no idea that there was all that ambient conversation. First time he heard the laughter at the beginning, he thought that it was one of us.

Anyway, that's my story. The only Floyd I ever really liked is, of course, the first album, "Apples and Oranges" and "See Emily Play" and "Arnold Layne," and I used to enjoy those people who'd learned "Wish You Were Here" and played the song on their acoustic guitars at parties to impress people. A simpler time, and Geir, *no one* was dancing!!

It's on backup... I'll fish it out here in a couple of days - keep checking my folder.

Also, not for nothing, but citing the Cocteau Twins as "atmospheric" is just as much of a cliche as calling Dark Side.. "atmospheric".
Welll...actually the cliché is to use "Cocteau Twins" and "Ethereal" in the same sentence.

xxpost

Anyways, the case against: It's too slow. "On The Run" is the only track with any real energy - not that NRG was ever Floyd's specialty. And it's mostly useless as audio accompaniment to "The Wizard Of Oz", unless you've got much better drugs than me.

[If this were a "Defend the indefensible" thread, I'd say that a cerebral soulless part of me will always retain a certain fascination/satisfaction with the sheer lushness of this sort of state-of-the-art pre-'80s recording. That'll never change. But there are so many other Floyd LPs I'd sooner listen to when I'm in the mood for Floyd, which is rare.]

The psuedo-jazz affectations of the saxophone. Being another mainstream band that thought adding black female vocalists makes things more soulful (I'm not sure of who sings on record, but I know they were guilty of this later). AOR affectations that clip off meandering songs before they develop and make possible singles weaker because they only really fit in the scope of the album. Songs about time and money that make amazing observations.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, June 16, 2005 4:47 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't think it matters, but wasn't the female singer actually white? Your point still stands though

Whatever happened to Custos?

Custos = Dom

people who go out of their way to attack records like Dark Side are pathetic to me. I mean, it's not one of my favorites, but it isn't offensive or anything. Like it or don't, jesus.

Hey, I like it! I think Christgau's comment about it being kitsch says more about him than it

http://www.lifeinlegacy.com/2004/0221/TroyDoris.jpg
Doris Troy

They were actually playing that Dub Side of the Moon thing in the bar I was in last night. Pretty good, and bot just in that "Well, it's better than the reggae tribute to the Police" way.

ftr There were three black female backing singers on Dark Side doing the three part harmony stuff, the vocalist on The Great Gig is Claire Torry who is white.

Thanks MaresNest, I knew she was white.

RIP Roger The Hat

It was with sadness that we heard the news this week that Roger "The Hat" Manifold, a prominent and much loved roadie in the 1970s for Pink Floyd, Johnny Winter, and many others, passed away on October 31st, 2009. He got his famous nickname due to his habit of wearing a top hat (and other such headwear) during his roadie duties.

He is best known to Floyd fans as one of the more notable voices heard on The Dark Side Of The Moon, providing lines such as "Live for today; gone tomorrow. That's me!" and "I mean they're gonna kill you, so if you give them a short, sharp shock, they don't do it again.... I mean, good manners don't cost nothing, do they? Eh?"

A suggestion that on later CD pressings a faintly audible orchestral version of The Beatles's "Ticket to Ride" can be heard after "Eclipse", over the album's closing heartbeats, may be due to a remastering error.[47]

Wow, I've been wondering about that for years. I always assumed this was intentional. And I never knew it was "Ticket To Ride..." Thats... kinda amazing.

I don't have a problem with this record at all. The only real criticism I could level at it, is that if I'm in completely the wrong mood, 'Us And Them' draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaags like a motherfucker.

pink floyd rules

I hate the sound of this record

forward he cried
from the rear
and the Pink Floyd rules

A suggestion that on later CD pressings a faintly audible orchestral version of The Beatles's "Ticket to Ride" can be heard after "Eclipse", over the album's closing heartbeats, may be due to a remastering error.
if you play "ticket to ride" backwards you can hear ringo say "pinnnnk floyyyyyd rullllles"

In fact, come to think of it: Nick Mason's drumming. Are those drum tracks completely laced with marijuana or could he just not be bothered? :D His drumming has this real 'I caaaaan't beeeeee arrrrsed' feeling about it, which I really don't get from many other Pink Floyd albums.

huh, the part where the drums come in on us and them is like my favorite part of this record

hell yes

should I turn off "Jamaica Jerk-Off" to listen to "Us & Them"

ridiculous question, I know

The most powerful drumming on the record has to be on either 'Time' or 'Eclipse'. The part where 'Brain Damage' segues into 'Eclipse' is THE moment on this record for me.

http://meanspeedmusic.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/pink-floyd-meanspeed-chart-speed-psychology-us-and-them-1a.jpg

I have no idea what this means but it rules

should I turn off "Jamaica Jerk-Off" to listen to "Us & Them"

ridiculous question, I know

― Euler, Friday, February 17, 2012 11:24 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes :)

I think if you read that graph starting right when "Us & Them" starts, it rules

lollll i love that graph.

http://meanspeedmusic.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/pink-floyd-meanspeed-chart-speed-psychology-us-and-them-2.jpg

wtf

by which I mean, it rules

no idea what i was on about 6 years ago re Gilmour's vocals. i love those vocals!

So I guess I'm the only one whose ever turned up the volume really loud after the "Eclipse" fadeout. I was like 13 when this happened, so forgive me.

this is one of those "first five CDs i bought" albums where, having listened to it probably 500 times in 1996, i can basically play it note for note in my head. but i grabbed a fixer-upper vinyl copy this week, it cleaned up beautifully, and man, despite some very corny moments it still works for me as just this lush 70s studio-band rock experience. upthread, noiseyrock complains about the sound being too "wet," but the wetness and the studio "space" are what make it magic.

my favorite is still "any colour you like," but "on the run" really jumped up in my estimation this time. were they early Kraftwerk adopters, or what?

"breathe" also always a favorite - really like that kind of gentle overdubbed vocal vibe with Floyd. see also "fearless" and "goodbye blue sky."

"on the run" really jumped up in my estimation this time. were they early Kraftwerk adopters, or what?

Floyd's use of a sequencer predates that of Kraftwerk by three or four years!

oh wow, i had that chronology way off... it just reminded me so much of Autobahn, especially the integration of these more 60s type psychedelic "special effects" with weird slowed down sounds panning darkly through the mix...

It's more Tangerine Dream than Kraftwerk but then there's a bit in "Autobahn" which does resembles this - and that sounds more like Tangerine Dream than Kraftwerk too.

gorgeous album

“On The Run” was used as the background music on WLS-AM in Chicago in the mid ‘70s-early ‘80s when the DJ spoke to the winning caller. So they’d announce, “The 15th caller wins tickets to see the Eagles at the Chicago Amphitheater!” or whatever the fuck it was. Then, on the air, the DJ would talk to the winner, and under their conversation would be “On The Run.” It wasn’t until years later, when I finally heard DSOTM, that I found out it was a Pink Floyd song.