…If you’re going to call a song “Time” you’d best have an abundance of clock noises in there, right? Thankfully, Pink Floyd doesn’t disappoint with the opening salvo of this standout cut exploding into life with a deafening jolt of alarm sounds and chimes (initially recorded by engineer Alan Parsons as a quadraphonic test). Darker in tone that the album opener, “On The Run” reaches its apex in what sounds like an aircraft crashing before running seamlessly into… Pulsing synth sounds dominate the album’s second, longer instrumental, which, once again, incorporates snatches of tape loops, distorted sound effects, and a metronomic drum beat with a succession of space-age squelches, blips and beeps. A one-minute reprise of the song, featuring its original third verse, is located at the end of track four “Time.” Waters’ melodic bass line and Mason’s subtle percussion underpin a luscious bed of echo-laden guitar, electric piano, double-tracked harmonies and lap steel. “For long you live and high you fly, and smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry” sings Gilmour on the appositely-named “Breathe (In The Air)” – a track so gentle, light and leisurely-paced that’s the aural equivalent of floating through England’s Kew Gardens on a helium-filled pillow. A mesmerizing, richly-layered mix of looped sound effects, maniacal laughter (courtesy of Pink Floyd’s road manager Peter Watts) and snatches of speech (“I’ve always been mad, I know I’ve been mad, like the most of us are”), “Speak To Me” culminates with the soaring, pained vocals of Clare Torry, as later heard in “The Great Gig In The Sky.” The song is credited solely to drummer Nick Mason – a “gift” from main songwriter Roger Waters that he later came to regret when band relations soured. The ground-breaking work of engineer Alan Parsons meanwhile, can be heard in the myriad of tape loops and then-revolutionary effects that run throughout the album’s hypnotic grooves.īeginning with the gradual fade-in of a synthesized heartbeat, “The Dark Side Of The Moon’s” 90-second long opening instrumental collage perfectly sets the tone for the psychedelic masterwork that follows. “There was something about the symbiosis of the musical talents of the four of us that worked really well,” Waters told Billboard in 2006, looking back on the record. Lyric writer, bassist and principal architect Roger Waters deserves much of the credit for its record-breaking success, as do bandmates David Gilmour (vocals and guitar), Nick Mason (drums) and Richard Wright (keyboards and vocals), who were all similarly at the top of their game.
PINK FLOYD THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON SERIES
Recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios between May 1972 and January 1973, and having been developed and rehearsed during a series of live performances in the months preceding, “The Dark Side of the Moon” is the ultimate expression of Pink Floyd’s sonic artistry – an Olympian psychedelic concept album that, despite being very much of its time, still retains the ability the dazzle and astound in the digital age. It is estimated to have sold over 45 million copies worldwide, while its artistic legacy is arguably even greater. 1 spot for one solitary week, the album continues to hold the record for the most weeks charted on the Billboard 200 (over 800 weeks!) and was a constant feature on the Billboard 200 from its initial release until 1988 – returning to the chart in late 2009 after Billboard revised its chart eligibility rules regarding older releases.
exactly 40 years ago on March 17, 1973.ĭespite only reaching the No. Revered as one of the greatest rock albums of all time, “Dark Side” - which tackles weighty themes of greed, conflict, religion, mortality and mental illness - was first released in the U.S.
“‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ was an expression of political, philosophical, humanitarian empathy that was desperate to get out,” Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters states at the start of the “Classic Albums” retrospective dedicated to the record. A song-by-song journey through Pink Floyd’s ambitious psychedelic masterpiece, which was released 40 years ago.
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