The Dark Side of the Moon [Vinyl]

It is the quintessential stoner album. There is no replacement. Headphones are NOT optional if you want to appreciate the effort from the producers. An unprejudiced attitude is required to appreciate the artistry of the band. It is not an album of songs - it is a series of sounds and moods. It will wash over you and take you with it.

There is a very good reason that this album was in the Billboard Magazine top 100 for over 800 weeks straight. It is one of a kind.

One note: "Money" should have been saved for another album (maybe Wish You Were Here). It is a big red firetruck in a field of wheat - there's nothing remotely resembling it in view. Funny thing is that it's the only thing most people know about DSOTM. It is also responsible for propagating the second most widely misquoted phrase in the English Language: "LOVE of money (not money itself) is the root of all evil".

You don't own jack if you don't own this.

Peace. Out.


a drug trip   September 16, 2001
Andrew Baillie (London)
11 out of 16 found this review helpful

Dark Side of the Moon is one of the greatest pieces of works of the 20th Century. The music and lyrics come together brilliantly to portray a journey through the human psyche riddled with temptation, fake Gods and insanity hence the title Dark Side of the Moon.

The whole story doesn't become apparent until the last words on the album "...everything under the sun is in tune but the sun is eclipsed by the moon" translated, for every good an evil will prevail, or another - good is sometimes well hidden. Essentially the album can be seen as one massive drug trip as well as a journey through good and bad. The heart beat getting louder and screams (Speak To Me) followed by sheer bliss (Breathe), which is a simulation of the initial hit from the stimulant. Then a sudden rush of disorientation portrayed by whirling electronic synth riffs (On The Run), showing a form of escapism from reality. Now the stimulant has the effect of taking you away from reality and Time appears to stop however in effect Time is going faster "ticking away the moments that make up a dull day" - Time. Breathe reprise is next, "home home again, I like to be here when I can" - which is talking about being able to relax and not to worry because you are high again (home referring to being high). The Great Gig In The Sky comes next, this has been described as a song about death and going to heaven, in drug terms it is about getting high and leaving touch with your body. Money - a song that is slightly out of place in music - it doesn't have that chilling effect that the other songs have but there is that excellent base riff and in a time signature of 5/4 that gives it its funky feeling. Back with the drug theme - the lyrics are very clever, change the word money with drugs, it fits in nicely. Us and Them - on the surface a song about war and a person in power commanding his troops into battle (Waters lost his father to war), when digging deeper its about the bad side of the stimulant fighting to take control of your mind and you coming to terms with the addiction. "...and who knows which is which and who is who" "...it can't be helped there's a lot of it about." Now the full blown effects of the drug are taking complete control in Brain Damage, "There's someone in my head but its not me" the drug now has complete control and insanity has set in. Finally Eclipse "and everything under the sun is in tune but the sun is eclipsed by the moon." This is about being in touch and in control with everything that is going on and trying to find reality.

An excellent album unsurpassed by any other bands, there are so many interesting hidden messages in DSOTM, a drug trip is just one of these. The music in itself is just breath taking and paints many landscapes with its spacey and chilled ambience. Gilmour is still one of the best on guitar - he brings out emotion with every note articulated. This is definitely one of those albums that is intellectually stimulating for philosophical people and to musicians, both will learn something from the Floyd. " I'll see you on the dark side of the moon."


very average and dated.   January 3, 2005
Michael jones (NEW YORK)
11 out of 41 found this review helpful

I am very disappointed with this album after all the hype surrounding it.It has no energy and is very depressing. Time is the only decent song of the 9 on this album. And the album relies too much on special effects, and the vocals are void of any emotion. Save your money. Led Zeppelin are 10 times better.


And people say I'm crazy   May 4, 2006
inpraiseoffolly (Living in a sanitarium on the dark side of the moon)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

Imagine yourself in an insane asylum. You might hear some of this:

"I've been mad for f****** years. Absolutely."
"I've always been mad, I know I've been mad. You have to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad."
"Here for today, gone tommorrow. That's me. Hahahahahahaha"
"I don't know, I was really drunk at the time."
"Give him a short, sharp shock and he won't do it again. Dig it?"
"Why should I be afraid to die? There's no reason for it. You've got to go sometime."
"There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it's all dark"

Or you might just be listening to the most groundbreaking album of all time, in the comfort of your own room. And I haven't even gotten to the highlights yet, to the music that made it happen.

The album opens with Speak To Me/Breathe. Speak To Me introduces the album with the heartbeat from Eclipse, the clocks from Time, the engine from On the Run, the money sounds from Money, and the screaming from The Great Gig in the Sky. After the screaming subsides, the music starts, as we transition into Breathe, about being born, and advice on how you live your life.

Next up is On The Run, a frenetic instrumental about paranoia. It could be paranoia like that which overtook Stalin, who felt the world was out to get him, or it could just be the simple paranoia a person feels running to get to a flight.

Time follows, and is about people who think life lasts forever, and before they know it, end up to old to live, without having ever done anything meaningful. It ends with a reprise of Breathe, about a funeral.

This leads into The Great Gig in the Sky, the second instrumental on the album. This particular one is about death, as can be seen in the "why should I be afraid to die" quote above. Clare Torry's shrieks of desperation are unrivalable, when anyone else even attempts it, it sounds like sex, the exact opposite of death.

Money follows, with the absolutely amazing technical achievement of the looping cash register/coins clinking/paper tearing sequence, all leading to an almost reggae (although much better) song about the evils of money, with the almost paradoxical line (money, it's a crime, share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie).

There is a brief interim period in the last fifteen seconds of this song and the first five of the next in which one of the most amazing song lyrics ever appears twice (once in each song). "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time."

This leads into Us and Them, the most moody song on the album. It's about the evils of war, and the little things we never think about, like how the soldiers on the other side are only human, too.

Next up is Any Colour You Like, an instrumental. However, like every song on the album, this too has a meaning. It is about racism, and how it doesn't really matter what color you are, you can still be a productive member of society (and you can still go insane).

Brain Damage follows, the culmination of all of the previous songs. It's about how the person finally cracks, and is sent to the insane asylum (or the dark side of the moon) where he can be with all the other people like him.

Eclipse rounds off the album, summing up all the factors that make you go insane, ending with: "and all that is now, and all that is gone, and all that's to come, and everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon" (eclipse were thought to cause seizures).

Put this all together, and you have the best concept album ever conceived, about all the factors that lead a man to insanity:
paranoia, thinking about time and growing old, worrying about death, wondering if you have enough money, the stress of war, and racism.

Now imagine yourself in a theatre. Not a movie theatre, but an honest-to-god theatre, where real people do real live acting for your benefit. You're there to see a play. On the stage is a chair, with a table next to it. On the table is a cd player, in the chair is a man, hanging his head, so you can't see his face. The play you're going to see is called "The Soundtrack to Life."

In the play, the man lifts up his head, picks up his arm, and presses one button on the cd player. After five seconds of silence, in which the man returns to his original position, you begin to hear a heartbeat, followed by some clocks, and an engine, the sounds of money, and some shrieks. And then the first note of Breathe comes on.

Who is the man? You are the man. After you hang your head, close your eyes for the next 42 minutes or so.

You'll get your money's worth.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. And please, no smoking. Pink Floyd is not drug music. This CD will take you anywhere you want to go on its own.


Disappointing   February 1, 2000
10 out of 17 found this review helpful

Look, before you get mad at me, I'm 42 years old. I've heard this recording on Vinyl, 8 track cassette and CD. The CD is flat. Oh sure the songs are still great, but there is nothing there for sound quality. Very disappointed, Alan Parsons did not want this recorded like this.