Pink Floyd- The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

I'm going to revisit this old classic, which was the second album I reviewed on blog mk. 1. At that time, Dark Side of the Moon was my favorite album of all time. What makes Dark Side of the Moon so magical? It's clearly got an enormous audience of people who love it- 15 years on the billboard chart, and entire factory dedicated to just making this record, a place as the #2 album of all time on my general music rating site of choice (http://rateyourmusic.com). Roger Waters (bass), David Gilmour (Guitar), Richard Wright (Keyboars), and Nick Mason (Drums) had done a lot of good space rock up to this point, but this was something else. It was transcendent. This record was grounded in space rock and psychedelia  but had something more.

The genius of Dark Side of the Moon is the atmosphere, the all around feeling it creates. This is a record that immerses this listener in sound. Dark Side is the ultimate headphones record, and it thunders. The perfect balance of emotion, distance, and musical technicality comes together and builds upon itself into a unified work. And what a work it is. "Breathe", "Time", "Us and Them", I probably don't even need to describe them to you. They just pull you along in to a world of existential musing. The more I listen to the record, the less important I think those lyrics- which are great and have plenty of room for interpretation- are not what makes Dark Side special for me. It's that atmosphere- this record feels boundless and unhinged. Some people complain that "Money" interrupts that flow- I just don't see it. It still has the same people making the same sounds, just a little harder. That booming pulse "balances on the biggest wave" and comes through all the same- and this pulse is what ties down the whole thing. In parts, Dark Side of the Moon is fine. As a whole work, it's utterly phenomenal.

I will admit, I don't think this is my favorite album of all time anymore. It's damn close though, and that does not stop me from coming back to Dark Side of the Moon time and again. It's not a record where you find something new every time- after a while, you just keep finding that enveloping atmosphere, and it gets richer and richer with each listen. No prog fan should be without it.

Grade A+