The Dark Side of the Moon [Vinyl]

This was the 1st Pink Floyd album where all the songs ran together, like a long medley (of course, the Beatles and the Moody Blues had made this technique popular prior to this). This was one of the 1st albums where the special effects were a vital part of virtually each song: take for instance the heartbeat and the dialouge during "Speak to Me" ("I've always been mad"), the running and various effects for "On the Run", the alarm clock at the beginning of "Time", the dialouge "I am not afraid to die..." on "The Great Gig In the Sky", the cash register and the voice that says "Yes, asbolutely! I certainly was in the right!" for "Money", the echo on "Us and Them", the laughing lunatic for "Brain Damage", and the speech "There is no dark side of the moon really, as a matter of fact, it's all dark!". Both "Time" and "Money" became big hits.

David Gilmour's guitar and vocals are great, especially on the blues shuffle "Money". Richard Wright was able to capture the right moods musically, particularly on "Any Color You Like", the melancholy "Us and Them", and the gospel-flavored "The Great Gig In the Sky". In addition to playing drums, Nick Mason's voice can be heard in the dialogue (I believe it's his laugh you hear on "Brain Damage"). And of course, Roger Waters wrote the lyrics, sang half the songs, and played bass. As a result, of all this work came 1 of the best selling rock albums of the 1970's. If you haven't heard this in its entirety, you're in for a big surprise!


man, this cd sucks   October 26, 2000
12 out of 76 found this review helpful

Man, I really expected this to be good, all my friends have been taking about for the last 12 years and then I went out and bought it and it.....well it was really boring and it was just dumb, like you had to smoke pot or something to understand it or enjoy it. man, was I dissapointed.


Deserves its reputation   January 12, 2005
Chris Makas (Dearborn, MI)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

It seems to me that the recent slew of one-star reviews for this album are all written essentially the same way, so I conclude that it is one anti-Floyd person trying to bring down its overall rating. Doomed to failure, as there are more than enough people who appreciate this album for what it is to ensure it will always have a high reputation amongst true music lovers. The reviewers who say "Money" is the only good track are the typical plebs who cannot see the genius of the work; they only want something they can "shake their ass to."
This album, simply put, is one of the greatest of all time. I agree with another reviewer who ranked it below only The White Album on an all-time list. Add together flawless mixing, incredible transitions, inspired lyrics, and music that continuously plays at genius levels (Rick Wright in particular shines on this album), and there is not much to complain about when it comes to this album. It is a mood piece, and the establishment of that mood is exemplified in the several instrumental pieces that perfectly complement Roger Waters' lyrical brilliance. There is no "filler" to be found on this album; when it ends, it simply leaves you in a euphoric state, and anxious to listen again to pick up the subtleties you may have missed.
This gushing praise may sound sycophantic, but I assure you that anyone who appreciates the Floyd's genius will concur that this album is a masterpiece. I do not rank it as their best (A Saucerful of Secrets claims that honor in my mind), but it is certainly one of the greatest albums of all time. It is well deserving of its reputation and of its 15-year stay on the U.S. charts.
So don't listen to the one-star reviewers...if you don't know who to believe, remember this: if you see a review that says "Money" is the only good track, disregard it immediately and move on to another, for that reviewer is full of it. That and a one-star review are the two red flags to alert you to the fact that it is being written by someone who, if s/he understands anything about music, certainly does not understand Pink Floyd.


If you don't own this cd...i'll buy it for you!   June 13, 2000
Jarhead Manley (MA)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

I once walked into a record store a few months ago, planning on buying The Wall. To my dissapointment, they didn't carry the wall but they had another famous Floyd CD, Dark Side of the Moon. At the time, I wasn't a huge Pink Floyd fan, but I took a gamble and bought it anyway. And WOWSERS!-I was absolutely amazed at this album. The first thing that caught my ear was the really nifty intro "Speak to Me". Then "Breathe started up and I really dug the psychedelic music. And then the vocals started up and I was blown away. It's very hard to describe the feeling and emotion of the vocals. Gilmour and Waters make an indestructible team. "Time" is one of the best Floyd songs and "Money" is extremely catchy and listenable to about anyone. "Us and them" is a beautiful mellow tuneand the closing medley "Brain Damage/Eclipse" wrap up human nature in a nice 5 minute song. Eclipse is an amazing song with so much feeling in it, the whole disc is worth it for that song. I usually never classify cd's as 5 stars, but Dark Side deserves 20. I now own the Wall, Wish You Were Here, Animals, Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Momentary Lapse of Reason. This is the perfect album if you want to be introduced into psycheldelia. Classic rock is pretty much all I listen to because of Dark Side. The only thing that comes close to it is Wish You Were Here, but I recommend all the Floyd albums. It doesn't sound dated at all...in fact it sounds very cutting edge, almost as if it's an album from 100 years in the future. Long live Floyd and please buy this album, you won't regret it and you'll thank me.