Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon
Yup, we're here. The Dark Side Of The Moon. The album that is often considered to be the best album of all time. As always, I don't have anything else to say here at the beginning, so how about we dive head first into this record.
We start the album with Speak To Me, which at first sounds like a collection of noises with no direction, but in reality, it's a foreshadowing of future events that will take place during the album. Cash registers from Money, clocks from Time, and then towards the end, Ms. Clare Torry's screaming vocals from The Great Gig In The Sky.
Thus transitioning into Breathe. A slow, soft rock song with flutes, beautiful piano melodies, and an overall serene feel to it. Then the vocals appear, talking about how your still young, and still so much to do in your life.
And then, all of a sudden, the beat gets faster, and a repeating synth melody. Loud footsteps echo here and there, a woman announcing different flights show that we are in an airport. Engines start to get louder, and then suddenly... what we can assume was our plane... has crashed with a loud rumble, as a madman laughs.
Loud clocks and alarms suddenly go off, as a beat appears. We return to our classic rock instrumentation. Highly reverberated percussion and climactic guitar notes resonate through the soundscape, as a soft piano melody plays... and then... The vocals tell you that you have been wasting your time, and that you have missed the starting gun. A passionate guitar solo, one of the best I have ever seen in all rock history. David Gilmour plays that guitar like it's crying, trying to catch up to the others. Then, it dims down as it realizes that it can't catch up. And now, you've gotten older, and now you're closer to your death. Then, Mr. Richard Wright breaks the fourth wall, as he tells that the song is over. But it hasn't actually ended, as Breath returns, but with different lyrics.
After that, a soft piano melody slowly plays, as a man says that he isn't afraid of dying, we all go someday. A note suddenly rises, when... Clare Torry let's out one of the most beautiful vocal performances that you will ever hear. Her melodic screams sound as if her souls being pulled out of her, "as she dies". But then, the song quiets down once more, similiar to Time. A similiar idea of acceptance, in Time, the crying guitar has accepted the fact that he can no longer catch up with everyone else. Here, we see Ms. Torry accept her fate. Death has come to get her.
As cash registers ring, a funky bassline starts. Money has a very groovy melody, with David Gilmour singing about how rich he is, and how he can buy everything he wants. This is actually a critique of those with so much money, that don't have to spend it on. We then move into a funky saxophone solo, and then an echoey guitar solo, which then turns into an almost jam session-like section where the boiz lay down a groovy beat, and then back to the reverberated guitar solo. And then we return to David Gilmour singing about how money should be shared fairly, but not to touch someone else's cash.
Us And Them starts rather calm about how we are just ordinary men, with lives. But the generals sent these young men to war, whilst they sit far away from the battlefields, as they watch as lines move. Mellow piano melodies and vocal samples create a special atmosphere. We then get a saxophone solo around the 4 and a half minute mark. And then back to the powerful choir and drums, combined with sax. Slowly, we return to a calm section, ending the track on a bittersweet note. That until we get one last powerful performance of the chorus.
Any Colour You Like was a much shorter song, with a funky tune and a nice guitar. Honestly, this song says the least, but by no means is it a bad track. Just forgettable.
Brain Damage is most likely dedicated to the band's long lost member, Syd Barrett, who was kicked out of the band due to his declining mental health. The song talks about how the lunatic is on the grass. This represents society's portrayal of the mentally unstable as those who cannot be helped and take the wrong path, and decide to walk on the, even though society doesn't help them.
And finally, we transition into Eclipse, which is actually an epicer version of Breathe, the first track on the album. And as such, we just went full circle, as the cycle of life continues.
But don't take that as if this album is flawless...
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