I was late jumping onto the bandwagon as I only purchased Dark Side Of The Moon in 1976, around three years after its release. It was my second Pink Floyd album, after the Relics compilation that my brother had left in the house after he moved out.
There can't be many people over a certain age who hasn't owned a copy of The Dark Side Of The Moon at some point, or at least heard the whole album. At one time it was the best selling album in the world of all time, but is now down to fourth, having been overtaken by Michael Jackson's "Thriller", AC/DC's "Back In Back", and a perhaps surprisingly, the Soundtrack to the film "Bodyguard". Global sales of Dark Side are estimated at over 45 million, and it moved Pink Floyd firmly into the megastars category.
Dark Side set all sorts of records for the number of weeks in the charts. Although it spent only one week at number one in the USA, it was in the Billboard 200 chart for 15 years, and kept making sporadic appearances thereafter. In the UK it is the best selling album never to reach number one, and had a similar longevity in the album charts.
No singles from the album were released in the UK, although an edited version of "Money" was released in the US and reached number 13 in the Billboard singles chart.
One innovative feature of the album was the inclusion of a number of spoken voices during several tracks. These were taken from interviews with roadies and other people in the recording studios at the time, and some of the best are repeated below in the description of the tracks. It was also the first Floyd album to have the lyrics printed on the album cover, as well as having female backing vocalists and a saxophone player.
The album showcased the band's increased maturity as writers and performers, and it contains two beautiful pieces of music contributed by Richard Wright, in "Us And Them" and "Great Gig In The Sky", as well as some tremendous rock songs in "Money", "Time" and "Breathe". Clare Torry was belatedly given a songwriting credit for "Great Gig In The Sky" in recognition of her wordless vocals being a significant component of the track.
Side One begins with "Speak To Me" which is just over one minute long. It starts with the sounds of cash registers, then voices, a screaming female before the tranquil opening of "Breathe ( In The Air )" comes in with a gentle guitar, dreamy synthesizer and slow drums.
"On The Run" is a synthesized beat and drumming, with hurried footsteps, what sounds to be airport tannoy announcements, and ends with an aircraft crashing.
"Time" opens with the sounds of clocks and alarms going off. It has a long intro, with mesmerisng keyboards, dramatic electric guitar and drums, before David Gilmour's vocals. Unusually for Floyd there are female backing vocals for the chorus and the song has a searing guitar solo. The track seques nicely into "Breathe ( Reprise )", which is short and played with the same instrumentation as "Time".
The side closes with "Great Gig In The Sky", commencing with a slow piano and smoothing slide guitar after which the the improvised wordless vocals of Clare Torry enter, building to a crescendo before an emotional slow finish. "I am not afraid of dying, anytime will do".
"Money" starts with more ker-ching of cash registers and jangling coins and then an unusual 7/4 time signature bluesy bass riff, then keyboards, drums and guitar before Gilmour's great vocal. Another Floyd first comes with Dick Parry's saxophone solo, after which the time signature reverts to something more standard with another outstanding guitar solo as Floyd show how they can rock. The song finally catches its breath with the final verse, and the fade out voices include the comments "I certainly wasn't irate", "He was cruising for a bruising" and "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time"
"Us And Them" is a sensitive piano and organ piec with more sax, though this time very sensual. There is another big chorus with female backing vocals. "if you give them a short sharp shock, they don't do it again"
"Any Colour You Like" is a psychedelic instrumental which leads nicely into "Brain Damage", a song about madness. It has the first vocal from Roger Waters on the album, over a slow strummed electric guitar for the verse, and a rising chorus with more female backing vocals . The lyrics "and if the band you are in starts playing different tunes, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon" is an obvious reference to Syd Barrett. It leads into "Eclipse" for a short coda to finish the album, which closes with the words "There is no dark side of the moon, in a matter of fact, it's all dark".
Track Listing :
Side One :
1. Speak To Me
2. Breathe ( In The Air )
3. On The Run
4. Time
5. Breathe ( Reprise )
6. The Great Gig In The Sky
1. Money
2. Us And Them
3. Any Colour You Like
4. Brain Damage
5. Eclipse
Released : 1973
UK Chart Position : 2
