THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - REVIEW
The album's first track is Speak To Me; a brief, minute-long affair with a heartbeat-emulating sound in the background while sound effects, quiet chatting, and laughing is overlaid to the forefront. It's not really a song so much as it is a seamless introduction into the next track...
Breathe (In The Air), the second track, picks up right away with some delicate guitar work and bog-standard PF organ playing. The sliding guitar makes this song, giving it the relaxed and carefree sound of the times. Breathy lyrics (fitting, considering the track theme) are catchy and clear. just as the song picks up, it transitions again to the next track in a seamless way - so far, this album is the first that 100% sounds like it was made for listening in one full sitting. Many prior albums may have hoped for such continuity, but so far this one actually delivers.
On the Run comes next, cranking up the tempo with some swift drum work and fast, repetitive digital sounds. There's a strange pervasive "warble" that interjects periodically to shake up the monotony of the steady (albeit fast-paced) rhythm. Random PF sound effects aplenty here, which makes sense considering there's no lyrical component to hold the listener's attention. Definitely a mood song, and not something you'd ever hear on a radio station. A big whooshing crash at the end resets the rhythm to be able to transition into the next (much slower) track.
Time kicks off with loud clock noises, ticking, and alarm bells, then transitions into something with a bit of a sci-fi vibe to it. Heavy-hitting electronic stings set over what sounds like rhythmic bongo taps give this track a disjointed feel, as if two different song styles are colliding, though not in an entirely incohesive way. The lyrics jump in with a big punch and an upbeat, almost pleasant sound. This track formed the classic PF line: "And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" - what a power punch to the gut that lyric is, geeze! The wailing guitar solo is bracketed by choral singing and it all sounds very epic, and the lyrics have a hard rock vibe to them that waffles between heavy and soft tones at the drop of a hat. The ending slows down somewhat and tapers out to align perfectly with the next track on the album...
The Great Gig In The Sky follows with a soft piano/sliding guitar duet that transitions into a huge organ smash with wailing female vocals (sans lyrics), slowing back down around the 2:30 mark into a mellow, lounge style. The singer fits the lounge feel perfectly, and I could actually picture the song being played live in some smoky bar somewhere (not many PF songs so far inspire that feeling). The tracks ends rather abruptly compared to its predecessors; the first on the album that doesn't feel like it connects to the next piece.
Money is up next, the quintessential PF classic rock track that everyone has heard at some point. While certainly not as experimental as the rest of the album, it doesn't feel out of place. The clattering change/cash register sounds work perfectly with the song, and clearly weren't just shoehorned-in as an excuse to "weird up" the song with random effects. There's a saxophone solo in the middle of the song that really jives with the whole "corporate commerce" aesthetic of the song, though I can't quite explain why (perhaps later uses of this song in the media have caused me to associate the two things). Hefty guitar chords keeps the song peppy, and hard-hitting drum work lends a lot of energy to the second half of the track. It fades into random talking, which is par for the course when it comes to PF at this point.
US And Them starts out sounding like a church organist playing to an empty hall, but when the rest of the band jumps in, everything comes together immediately and feels very wholesome. This song has a gentle vibe to it, and thanks to some soulful saxophone work, perhaps a bit too gentle - it sounds a little like "shopping muzak"; like it was deliberately designed not to be especially attention-grabbing. All that goes out the window whenever the vocals hit a crescendo, when the song switches gears into something a little more epic, but it inevitably goes right back into the "muzak" sound by the next verse. This track has a lot of high and low points, which lends credence to the idea that it's supposed to be a ride of sorts. Breathy singing, meandering organ-playing and soft sax tones synergize surprisingly well with the epic crescendos, and the whole of the track is nicely transitional into the next one.
Comparatively, Any Colour You Like feels less like a ride and more like a stutter, jumping back and forth in tone and severity in a way that makes it hard to follow melodically. It's certainly more upbeat than the track that precedes it, but it also feels a lot less like a cohesive piece due to the stuttering. The jump from this one to the next track is just as abrupt as the rest of the song.
Brain Damage sees a reemergence of the classic PF hippy-twee singing, although backed by more contemporary-sounding instrumentals. Choir singing and organ playing really punctuates certain parts of the song, giving emphasis to the strong parts and deemphasizing the rest by its absence, with the electric guitar tying the whole song together into a single recognizable work .Synthesizers chime in near the end and help transition the song into the next track seamlessly.
Eclipse comes next, carrying a lot of the baggage from Brain Damage, including the tone and general melody. The two may have been better served combined as one track rather than two, because they both feel very close to one another. Otherwise, there's little uniqueness to be found in this particular song. Heartbeat noises jump into the void of finished instruments in order to lead out the entire album; a fitting end which ties nicely into its beginning.
Overall: This is the best of the PF albums I've heard thus far, likely because it's the first that feels like a single cohesive experience rather than a collection of songs. When people think of Pink Floyd, they tend to jump to this album first and foremost, and for good reason - it encapsulates all the psychedelia of a prog rock album, but still maintains a fair amount of the signature PF "twee and sci-fi" sound throughout. With a hard-hitter like Money in the middle, and a velvety ending with Brain Damage/Eclipse, this album tends to have something for everyone, but it doesn't feel like it was purposefully designed that way, which gives The Dark Side Of The Moon an effortless sense of authenticity. Perhaps this album is less suited to sober listening, but I found it a pleasant and enjoyable ride nonetheless.
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