What are your views on this album?

One of the best selling selling albums of all time selling over 40 million world-wide and that is just the original released in 1973. Thats not including the 20th and 30th anniversary editions. The original spend 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years) in the billboard 200.

I would class The Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd as my all time favorite album.

Big deal you may say. But DSoTM was released 17 years before I was born!

I wouldnt say it has helped me re-discover myself or anything like that. I dont do drugs and I never will. This album hasnt changed me in any way like that. Its just a beautiful mixture of music and we will never here anything like this ever again.

It is just a great album. Timeless, I suppose. Funny how some think the lyrics from Pink Floyd are all tripped out, but really, they just write lyrics that anyone can relate to; I can go so far as to say Roger Water's lyrics are pretty down to earth, just written well.

Oh, and for me, I have found that enjoy Pink Floyd BETTER when sober.

Agreed, Holaback girl is one of my fav tracks.

I was talking to a mate about Pink Floyd and he said "You can't appreciate Floyd uness you are tripping on acid or something" He meant it as a joke, but Pink Floyd and Water's lyrics are always thrown, wrongley into the "spaced out music corner"

Lines like: Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way. from Time are brilliant and well written.

P.S..I saw Roger last year at Hyde Park, he done the entire DSoTM with Nick Mason on drums and I'm gonna see him again @ Earls Court.

Dark Side is one of the first records that completely blew my mind. It was 1987 and I was about 11, just starting to get into music. I lay on the floor with speakers either side of my head, closed my eyes and off I went - best non-drug trip ever Utterly inspiring!

Apart from its timeless lyrics and outstanding playing, it was a technical landmark as well. The first quadrophonic album ever recorded and reputed to be the album on which Roger Waters invented techno (you all know the song I'm talking about) without even knowing it Watch the DVD "Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii", in which our heroes play a wicked set of old stuff (Eugene, Saucerful Of Secrets, Heart Of The Sun, Little Pieces etc)to an empty Roman amphitheatre in about 1972, you can see some studio footage where they're trying out stuff for Dark Side. It's also a good insight into the mentality of the band post-Sid Barrett (RIP you crazy diamond).

Plus, as a bonus, (all trippers would know about this), if you start playing Dark Side just after the MGM lion roars at the beginning of The Wizard of Oz (sound turned down, btw), you notice some eerie parallels between the film and the music - best bit is the tornado scene with the song "Great Gig In The Sky" as soundtrack. Dude - wooooooooooah.

Floyd FTW!

As a very young kid (6 months or so apparently), the only way my parents could get me to sleep sometimes would be to put me in the car and drive around with Pink Floyd on.

Needless to say, DSoTM is ****ing ace.

But I maybe slightly biased..

I agree, it's all parental condition, my Dad has a photo of me listening to ZZ Top's Eliminator (apparently, the photo obv. doesn't really convey this) on his big (compared to my head anyway) headphones when I was about 3. Ruined me, that did.

ZZ Top! Sweet. I always liked how the only guy without a huge beard was named Frank Beard.

I saw their '32 Ford hotrod (also called the Eliminator iirc) in the flesh once, at the Adelaide Hot Rod Show. Total hotness in the eyes of a 12-year old

This is either Dusty Hill or Billy Gibbons. Never really knew which was which

Listening to it for the first time just now. I'm a rap fan and don't generally listen to any other genres. Here's my opinion so far...

Speak To Me
Strangely soothing but hardly exceptional.

On The Run
A bit too 'experimental' for me (though I appreciate this was made in the '70s, so experimental would have another definition back then). Sounds almost like video game music.

Time
First 'proper' track on the album, IMHO. Bit of an eclectic mix of a few different styles but very interesting.

The Great Gig In The Sky
If it weren't for the vocals on this I'd love this track. They spoil it for me, sadly.

Money
Great track. This is the sort of thing I was expecting from the album before I heard it.

Us And Them
Musically I wouldn't say this is outstanding (it's almost like a musical interlude after the last track) but the lyrics more than make up for it. Another great track.

Any Colour You Like
Bit too experiemntal again, got something of '70s porn music about it.

Brain Damage
I didn't understand this track so I had to look up an explanation behind it. Again, not outstanding for me, lyrically or musically.

Eclipse
Same as Brain Damage, I suppose.

Just finished listening to it for the first time. As I said before, this isn't the sort of music I normally listen to but I'd obviously heard of it before. I'm seriously disappointed by it, sadly. I suppose it's like meeting a hero in real life, it never lives up to the hype or expectation. Maybe this is an album where the experiences you've had listening to it are more important than the actual musical or lyrical content. Maybe if I listen to it more it'll mean something more to me.

Quote from Hankstar :

I saw their '32 Ford hotrod (also called the Eliminator iirc) in the flesh once, at the Adelaide Hot Rod Show. Total hotness in the eyes of a 12-year old

It is now in the Rock and Roll hall of fame in Cleveland, Ohio, or at least I believe it is the original car. Very sweet car.

As for Dark Side of the Moon, you can say I like it.....





The front is the cover of Animals. And the Wish You Were Here handshake cover is small on the back of the hood near the vents (or where the vents of the LX4 is). Oh, ok, I guess you can see the "flaming guy handshake" in my first shot. There's a quote on each side of the hood as well: Why should I be afraid of dying, there's no reason for it. We all have to go sometime and There is no dark side of the moon. As a matter of fact, it's all dark.

I was actually thinking about putting the DSotM prism on the fenders of all my skins.

I listen to Floyd at least once every day and have for the last 17 years. I had $5000 in the sound system of my car, and it was built for one thing and one thing only, playing Pink Floyd. I have the first released 10 disk CD changer from Sony that I bought in 1990 and it is still working and running in it's 7th vehicle now. What is loaded up in it? 6 Pink Floyd CD's, Metallica, and 3 Led Zepplins from the 4 disk box set.

Anyways, Dark Side is actually not the one that got me into Floyd. It was the first time I had smoked pot and someone had Comfortably Numb playing on the stereo. I layed down on the floor next to the speaker only moving to reach up and rewind the tape, yes, cassette tape, LOL. The following day I went to the store after school and promptly bought The Wall and Dark Side. As of today, the only Floyd I don't have I believe is Echos and Pink Floyd: A Collection of Great Dance Songs. I have the Wall and Dark Side on both normal CD and on 24 K Gold CD, the 8 CD box set, along with additional copies of Wish You Were Here, of course A Momentary Lapse of Reason and the Division Bell, and I'm on I think my 4th copy of Pulse. Still have the original blinking CD cover as well as the latest copy without the blinking cover.

Yea, I am playing around on the CLC Caribbean Cruise server quite a bit. I never listen to music when I race, but I'm listening to Pink Floyd the entire time I'm on that server. I just need to get all the other albums converted to mp3's. The only one I have now is Pulse in mp3 format.

I could have shot myself back in 1994. I had the opportunity to go see David Gilmore and Pink Floyd (the Pulse CD tour) and I didn't. I have the video, and recently it was released on DVD that I still need to pick up. I also have several of David Gilmore's single albums as well.

I have a cheapo guitar that I got a few years ago. I'd love to be able to play it. I want to learn strictly to play David Gilmore guitar. I just picked it back up to play around with and am currently learning Coming Back to Life from the Division Bell album.

IMO, David Gilmore's guitar playing is simply the most stunning and breathtaking guitar anyone has ever done. Comfortably Numb is my absolute all time favorite song ever and the guitar solo alone tells a story.

I've been listening to this album since 1974 so I don't get very excited about it any more, but it's still good.

Quote from amp88 :

Maybe if I listen to it more it'll mean something more to me.

Maybe if you stop listening to that rap crud and embrace some music instead your appreciation will improve?

"Money" was one of the first basslines I ever learnt to play. It's a good record and all, but I don't own it and probably won't own it.

I prefer my music a bit nutsier, on the whole.

Quote from Gunn :

Maybe if you stop listening to that rap crud and embrace some music instead your appreciation will improve?

OK let's not go there. I've been playing instruments for nearly 20 years now and I have no trouble finding the music in rap - maybe you need to open your ears a bit wider.

Actually, the record I've most often had to replace due to wearing it out or lending it to people who didn't return it is Public Enemy's "Fear Of A Black Planet". That's a classic record.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

"Money" was one of the first basslines I ever learnt to play. It's a good record and all, but I don't own it and probably won't own it.

And every time we get into the car to go somewhere, my 6 year old is asking "can we listen to the Money song?"

That and I find here headbanging every time I play Metallica. Gotta bring them up right .

Quote from Gunn :

Maybe if you stop listening to that rap crud and embrace some music instead your appreciation will improve?

Now there's a reasoned and intelligent response if ever I saw one. At least I actually took the time to listen to this album before I gave my opinion on it (which is what this topic is for, rather than making petty comments about other genres of music).

Nice one Kev - Fear Of A Black Planet is a classic :up: Way back before bling stole the limelight, some rappers actually had a point to make Chuck D ftw!

Can't really dig much of the rap that's popular these days - not the stuff that makes it onto the Saturday morning music video shows anyway. Can't be arsed hunting down the good stuff much either, there's too much future-rock like The Mars Volta stuck in my brain. Some of the best lyrics and best guitar playing I've ever heard has been from Mars Volta records. They're sorta like Floyd on better drugs - or Zeppelin after a few years in orbit

amp: I don't blame you for not getting Dark Side straight away. It's a mood thing a lot of the time - I haven't listened to it for ages because I've heard it so many times and know every note backwards. I need to be in the right mood to want to do it all over again (and I always skip Money - my least favourite Floyd song, probably because it's their most popular and always gets played on the Hits & Memories station here at work ). When I got into it I'd already heard Momentary Lapse Of Reason (1987 I think) and was a confirmed Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits fan, thanks to Brothers In Arms. I was already on the mellow/psychedelic path as a youngster, had a solid jazz/blues upbringing my dad and was really appreciative of a good guitar solo, interesting, progressive music or an intricate, well-crafted instrumental part (though I turned out to be a singer and only bought my first axe two years ago, oddly enough). That was all eclipsed by my enduring love of metal & rap in the 90s but funnily enough I've been back in mellow-land for maybe a decade, with Radiohead taking up a lot of space on my mp3 player and my guitar tab collection. I'll never give up on metal though: Metallica's Master of Puppets - one of the best records by anyone ever. Up there with Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue :up:

Plus, I think reading this thread would've bigged it up quite a bit and given you really high expectations. I think you oughta put Dark Side into perspective though. It was 1973 and noone else in the music world was doing the things Floyd were doing with sound or technology. They were always the first to use any new piece of gear or any new technique (like quadrophonic sound). After a few years of utter psychedelia and long, drawn-out songs which could often border on pure self-indulgence, Dark Side was their first record with a cohesive sort of narrative (which helped to trim song length), this one being a general review of the state of the world and modern man's place in it. Some things may seem dated and some of the lyrics may seem a bit simplistic (not to me), but Roger Waters was great at writing in that timeless, unpretentious sort of way. What I love is that even though it's full of rich sounds and multi-tracking and overdubs and is impeccably produced in quadrophonic sound, it still sounds stripped-back, clean and not self-indulgent at all. David Gilmour's guitar tones are utterly sublime (they always are) and his playing is some of the best ever (solo from Time - gold) Give it a chance and it may grow on you. Or not. I think I was lucky, I just dug it straight off

It's quite funny to read someone describe Waters' writing as unpretentious because since the Wall, all he seemed to be, to me, was attrociously self-absorbed - and not in small part rather depressing. The Final Cut was the most awful thing I ever heard.. and I really did try to like it, because I would have been cool like my mates if I had.

I don't really find much music in rap, tbh. I find a lot more poetry in there, but it's really on the outside edge of what I'd personally call music. Perhaps my appreciation is laboured by my age. I think my acceptance of new music styles was as good as congealed/clotted by the time I hit about 30. It's really not moved on since then. The only new stuff I like these days is new tracks set inside old genres. I finally understand why my dad couldn't take on anything with an electric guitar. His perspective congealed long before Dylan turned "Judas".

What's good about Pink Floyd. Pretty much every one of their albums are ment to be heard from beginning to end. The songs just simply tie into one another so smoothly. I agree that Darkside is among one of the best albums. But it's not my favorite Floyd album. Actually, The Wall is quickly approaching Darkside's sales figures. I enjoy listening to The Wall much more. I think it's a more complete album. Not to mention it's got the best full length music video to go with it. I also enjoy Wish You Were Here and Animals more than Darkside.

Pink Floyd is truely one of the greatest artists of all time. I got to see Roger Waters live back in 2000. One of my favorite shows. I didn't get to see him last year though, cause I was too broke. I pray for a reunion tour!!!

Amp, it's understandable that you probably wouldn't like it if it's a genre that you don't associate with too often. People say Purple Rain is truely a great album, but I know I wouldn't enjoy it, cause I don't like Prince's music.

Quote from SamH :

I don't really find much music in rap, tbh. I find a lot more poetry in there, but it's really on the outside edge of what I'd personally call music. Perhaps my appreciation is laboured by my age.

I think mine probably is too, so I just listen to older hip-hop! Bands like De La Soul, Stetsasonic, EPMD, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Furious Five, etc. Some really diverse-sounding stuff was happening in the '80s and early '90s, before the sampling laws came in and stomped all over their art.

Now the chart stuff is mostly loops licensed and lifted wholesale from other peoples' tunes (either that or really basic beats, which aren't musical enough to hold my interest), whereas before it was a challenge to identify the samples in rap records. I think there's only really the Beasties still making records in that way, and their last couple of albums have been largely crap anyway.

Quote from Hankstar :

Nice one Kev - Fear Of A Black Planet is a classic Way back before bling stole the limelight, some rappers actually had a point to make Chuck D ftw!

Yeah I still think Chuck D's the best rapper ever, and he had the best voice in rap too. Listening to him just totally go off on tunes like War at 33 & 1/3, Fight The Power, Prophets of Rage or She Watch Channel Zero - nobody's got that kind of authority and power in rap music any more.

I don't suppose you've got Terminator X & The Valley Of The Jeep Beats have you? I lost it years ago and it's deleted now. That was a really funky record.

You could / should also listen to Selling England by the Pound by Genesis (1973 Gabriel on vocals / Phil on drums)

And once you like that, go for The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, a double whopper of amazing music! (the less accessible from the two..)

Not DSotM, but Hey you, Wish you were here and Comfortably numb are 3 of the best songs ever written IMO.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

nobody's got that kind of authority and power in rap music any more.

When did hip hop stop being so damn good and become an agent of cultural imperialism?

PE at their best could be as disorientating as any of the so-called psychedelic bands: sirens and atonal noise fighting little melodies and rock hard rhythms. There's few bands in history that can combine aural interest, erotic drive, and polemical coherence the way that Public Enemy did.

(Floyd? Early albums only for me... Dark Side, the whole album, is just not as compelling as a single like Arnold Layne)

Quote from nihil :

PE at their best could be as disorientating as any of the so-called psychedelic bands: sirens and atonal noise fighting little melodies and rock hard rhythms.

It's a pretty unique noise they used to make, definitely. Tight and funky while chaotic and noisy. It disappoints me when I hear musicians these days dismiss rap music because of how musical and distinct the old stuff was.

Their records remind me a lot of old Parliament records actually - the way you feel like you've been mentally assaulted and reprogrammed when you're finished listening to them!

Quote from amp88 :

Now there's a reasoned and intelligent response if ever I saw one. At least I actually took the time to listen to this album before I gave my opinion on it (which is what this topic is for, rather than making petty comments about other genres of music).

It wasn't a petty comment about other genres of music.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

OK let's not go there. I've been playing instruments for nearly 20 years now and I have no trouble finding the music in rap - maybe you need to open your ears a bit wider.

I've been playing musical instruments for 36 years and have no trouble mistaking rap for actual music. Maybe you need to open your ears wider?

Quote from Gunn :

I've been playing musical instruments for 36 years and have no trouble mistaking rap for actual music. Maybe you need to open your ears wider?

Public Enemy were as creative and progressive a band as Pink Floyd. If not more so.

There, I said it!

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Public Enemy were as creative and progressive a band as Pink Floyd. If not more so.

There, I said it!

I didn't realise that you had such an evolved sense of humour. You're good!