Review of "Dark Side of the Moon"

By Matthew Dunn

Pink Floyd’s 1973 release entitled “Dark Side of the Moon”, is to the 20^th century what Beethoven was the 18^th.  It is an album whose style and sound resonate over time, and even though is now over 40 years old, it still manages to sound current. 

                Originally released in 1973, “Dark Side” spent 15 years on the charts and sold over 50 million copies.  Although much of the album was composed by singer and bassist Roger Waters, this album was a complete collaborative group effort with each member of the band giving great contributions.  Richard Wright the keyboardist shined greatly on this album with his mesmerizing riffs on both “The Great Gig in the Sky” and “Eclipse”.  David Gilmour, the lead guitarist, contributes both leading sounds and effects throughout on guitar, and Nick Mason sets the necessary tone, with both driving and soft percussion.  As well as the four members of the band, they were helped by many other musicians, as well as engineer Alan Parsons, who gave great experimentation to many of the sounds on the album. 

                Throughout the album, many themes are discussed on its songs.  “Money” discusses the power of greed in humans while “Us and Them” reflects on the relationship between those with power and those without it.  On “Brain Damage” the band reflects on mental illness, probably relating to former band member Syd Barrett, who exited the band because of his struggles with LSD, and erratic behavior.  The band also gives time to innovative instrumental pieces such as “The Great Gig in the Sky” which features powerful vocals by Clare Torrey, without any lyrics and “On the Run” which seems to be an important precursor to modern techno music. 

                However, it is when the band is reflecting on life’s nature and the passage of time when they are at their best.  The track “Time” starts with the playing of a large amount of alarm clocks and then discusses the passage of time, probably most poignantly with the lyric “and then one day you find, ten years have got behind you”.  To anyone who has listened to this album for ten years or more, you will find that this lyric resounds more and more every time you hear it.  Lastly, the finale of the album “Eclipse” is the grand conclusion to the great concepts that this album brings together.  On “Eclipse” each lyric is started by “All that you” and Waters goes on to list all the things that we do like begging, borrowing, and stealing.  In the song’s last line states “And everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon,” referring to the fact that our lives are greatly interconnected, but matter very little in the grand experience of the universe. 

                “Dark Side of the Moon” is a classic album, that any serious lover of music should both own and love.  The lyrical depth combined with the experimental and powerful sounds, make for a great listening experience for a person at any time of their life.  It is not an album that will make your feet dance, but your mind will dance for its entirety.  This was truly one for the ages.  

Greatness?

Greatness?

Alexander was masterful and conquered an empire

Thousands bent down and addressed him as sire

But he could not control it, it was not meant to be

And he fell down and died at age thirty three

Caesar was clever, wealthy, and shrewd

When speaking to plebs he was rarely booed

But he was too proud, and his will would not bend

Until he murdered and betrayed by a friend

Columbus was adventurous and discovered new sands

From which a new world would spring, and create great lands

But he was relentless, in his search for new gold

Which of course led to many slaves being sold

Marx said capitalism is the worker’s pollution

He yelled “Stand up and find another solution!”

But when not writing he would say thank you and please

And listen to his daughter play keys

Ford built a process and perfected a car

And he became famous in lands near and far

But when he was at home he was not very much fun

As he harangued, tortured, and belittled his son

Yes these men were all great, what they did can have no price

When compared to them most of us look only like mice

But you must look closer, beneath all of their glory

Because there are always, two sides to a story

Fear

            

           By nature we all come into this world very afraid.  We start out as microscopic cells that morph and grow into something that is living and feeling.  On the day that we are born, we make an enormous breakthrough.  The world in which we have been created disappears around us never to be seen again.  Think about how scary that really is.  It seems only natural that living organisms must experience fear when they are born.  It’s almost as if the baby who cries after being born is saying how am I going to survive in this new world?

               

There I am.  I am three years old.  It is cold outside and I am wearing a green osh-kosh bigosh jacket and mittens with a winter hat on.  My parents are taking me to see The Muppets on Ice.  Of course I don’t really understand any of this, I’m three years old, and all I know is that my mother is holding me and we are on a city street.  It turns out that there has been an accident.  A taxi cab cut off my father and my father rear ended him.  This was my first memory.  I don’t really remember how I felt but it was probably a mix of confusion and fear.  And then the memory just fades away.

I spent a good part of my first few years with a great deal of fears.  I remember being very afraid of some adults and older children.  They just looked so large, and some of them just stared right through you.  On my first day of kindergarten, I was given a place to sit the same as the other children.  My teacher then gave us something to color.  I remember starting to cry because I wanted to go home and be with my parents.  I didn’t want to be around all of these new people.  I had a family that I belonged to and a house that I lived in.  Why did I have to go to this place?  Damn you Horace Mann for coming up with the idea of compulsory schooling. 

However, thinking back on these early episodes of my life, there is a lesson.  Fear passes.  I remember these two moments in detail but yet the aftermath is gone.  The body cannot go on in a state of fear always.  Sure there are many things to be afraid of, but there are also things that make us not afraid.  In those two moments of fear, the fear passed because someone helped me through it.  My mother held me when we had an accident.  My teacher calmed me down when I was upset at school.  We can all get through our fears, when we realize that there will always be someone there to help us.  

Shock

                “I think you have a leukemia.” 

                Wait a minute here.  Slow down doc.  What leukemia?  Cancer?  Scary shit?  No that can’t be right.  You see I was just running a few fevers and had some swollen gums.  I’ve been out doing all my regular stuff.  Hell I’m probably in the best shape I’ve been in a while.  I’m 28 years old this can’t be happening, oh shit my brain’s about to explode. 

                Those are some of the things that I said to myself as I looked calmly back into the face of the doctor. 

                There I was sitting in the emergency room with my wife watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, waiting as usual as everyone waits in an emergency room.  I really didn’t feel too sick.  Sure I had been to the doctor a couple of times for some symptoms during the previous few weeks, but they assured me that it was probably a virus and it would just take some time to get over.  So there we sat waiting watching television.  We saw an older man trying to pick up a woman in the ER and damn he was kicking it good.  Who knew the ER could be a hot spot for singles right? 

                So eventually we went in.  They did all the standard stuff, ask your medical history, take my blood pressure, and do some blood work.  Then the inevitable waiting for results.  Whatever, we were sure it would be nothing.  I had spoken to the dentist and he thought that my swollen gums could be oral herpes.  Alright, not the most pleasant thing, but not too bad.  So we waited and waited.  Now like most people I had been to the emergency room before, but something about this time was different.  It seemed like all the people next to me were leaving before me, and I wondered why. 

                Then I got the news.  No one every really considers how they are going to react to bad news.  As an emotional guy, I thought perhaps if I heard bad news I might break down and cry.  But I didn’t.  I just sat there calmly, like a peace had come over me.  It was like all the little bullshit that we all seem to worry about on a daily basis just went away.  My wife immediately started crying and I told her that it was ok.  Don’t worry about me I’m going to be fine.  Maybe that’s just how the body has to react.  It’s just too much to take in all at once. 

                I guess that is what shock is.  It is a time when your body is not sure really what is going on, almost like a dream.  It’s your body’s way of not being able to cope with something that is happening.  But I made a very important decision during those first few hours of shock after hearing the news.  This cancer wasn’t going to kill me.