Hello everyone! As you can probably tell from the title, today I am going to be going over my thoughts on the album "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd. Now before I get started I wanted to talk a little bit about the format regarding how I tackle albums in comparison to other pieces of media.
Unlike other pieces of media, albums will not have a "critique" section. There are many reasons for this, but the most important is that I do not feel well versed enough in musical theory or musical history to give an accurate "critique" so to speak. Because of this the length of my album reviews will be the shortest of the bunch, and will mainly be opinion pieces. They will include my rating, my expectations, my thoughts, and my standout tracks.
With that out of the way, here are my thoughts on "The Dark Side of the Moon".
Expectations: If there is one thing I can say about "The Dark Side of the Moon" with one hundred percent confidence it is that it was absolutely nothing like I expected. I have to be honest, when I heard "progressive rock album" I was not intrigued at all. Were it not for the popularity of Pink Floyd and this album I may have never checked it out at all, and that's a real shame. It just goes to show you that most of the time your presumptions on a particular piece of media or a genre are almost always incorrect. To put it simply, what I expected was a generic rock album with strong percussion and a samey upbeat structure. What I got was something so strange and interesting that I cannot stop thinking about it.
Review: "The Dark Side of the Moon" is an incredibly inventive album that goes against everything I ever thought to be true of progressive rock. It's so provocative in how it seamlessly dips its toes into a multitude of genres. One second it's cacophonous electronic music, the next it's theater, the next it's jazz, the next it's rock. It's all over the place and yet it feels like each new track is the natural conclusion to that before it. How oxymoronic it must sound that an album that's all over the place feels so well structured, but that's honestly how I feel about it. The tracks all blend together to the point that until I went out of my way to notice I did not know when many tracks ended and where they began.
What I love the most about this album though is how melancholic it is. Since I was very young I have always loved music that puts me in a sad, reflective mood, and this album absolutely had me feeling some type of way. I'm not sure why, there's just something about flexing those sad muscles that really gets me going. It's minor, but I also love the sampling in this album. The ticking of a clock or the opening and closing of a door all seems so "modern" to me but really these types of samplings have been around for decades.
Another thing that blows my mind about this album (and something that will be a running theme for this month) is that it came out in 1973. Immediately upon listening to this album I became aware of so many little things music I listen to today does that are likely inspired by this album. Listening to the album was like listening to the progenitor of much of modern music as I know it, so I'm incredibly appreciative of have finally gotten around to it.
Standout Tracks:
Time: I love how theatrical this track is. It feels like the true start of the album, and starts it off with a bang.
Us and Them: This track feels so bittersweet to me. It has a pretty sad chord progression but keeps it just light enough with the infrequent sprinkling of jazzy riffs. Loved it.
Conclusion: This album was a very welcome surprise among my picks for this month. I'm incredibly glad I listened to it as my first album for the year as it makes me very optimistic for what's to come. I plan on listening to many genres I have little to no experience or interest in, so starting out with an album I was generally uninterested in and having it blow away all of my expectations has me incredibly excited. I currently have this album at a five out of six, but every time I listen to it I enjoy it more so who knows if it will remain there or not. If you assumed Progressive Rock was boring and samey like me please give this album a listen. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.
Until next time!
Malachi
Unlike other pieces of media, albums will not have a "critique" section. There are many reasons for this, but the most important is that I do not feel well versed enough in musical theory or musical history to give an accurate "critique" so to speak. Because of this the length of my album reviews will be the shortest of the bunch, and will mainly be opinion pieces. They will include my rating, my expectations, my thoughts, and my standout tracks.
With that out of the way, here are my thoughts on "The Dark Side of the Moon".
The Dark Side of the Moon
Review
Expectations: If there is one thing I can say about "The Dark Side of the Moon" with one hundred percent confidence it is that it was absolutely nothing like I expected. I have to be honest, when I heard "progressive rock album" I was not intrigued at all. Were it not for the popularity of Pink Floyd and this album I may have never checked it out at all, and that's a real shame. It just goes to show you that most of the time your presumptions on a particular piece of media or a genre are almost always incorrect. To put it simply, what I expected was a generic rock album with strong percussion and a samey upbeat structure. What I got was something so strange and interesting that I cannot stop thinking about it.
Review: "The Dark Side of the Moon" is an incredibly inventive album that goes against everything I ever thought to be true of progressive rock. It's so provocative in how it seamlessly dips its toes into a multitude of genres. One second it's cacophonous electronic music, the next it's theater, the next it's jazz, the next it's rock. It's all over the place and yet it feels like each new track is the natural conclusion to that before it. How oxymoronic it must sound that an album that's all over the place feels so well structured, but that's honestly how I feel about it. The tracks all blend together to the point that until I went out of my way to notice I did not know when many tracks ended and where they began.
What I love the most about this album though is how melancholic it is. Since I was very young I have always loved music that puts me in a sad, reflective mood, and this album absolutely had me feeling some type of way. I'm not sure why, there's just something about flexing those sad muscles that really gets me going. It's minor, but I also love the sampling in this album. The ticking of a clock or the opening and closing of a door all seems so "modern" to me but really these types of samplings have been around for decades.
Another thing that blows my mind about this album (and something that will be a running theme for this month) is that it came out in 1973. Immediately upon listening to this album I became aware of so many little things music I listen to today does that are likely inspired by this album. Listening to the album was like listening to the progenitor of much of modern music as I know it, so I'm incredibly appreciative of have finally gotten around to it.
Standout Tracks:
Time: I love how theatrical this track is. It feels like the true start of the album, and starts it off with a bang.
Us and Them: This track feels so bittersweet to me. It has a pretty sad chord progression but keeps it just light enough with the infrequent sprinkling of jazzy riffs. Loved it.
Conclusion: This album was a very welcome surprise among my picks for this month. I'm incredibly glad I listened to it as my first album for the year as it makes me very optimistic for what's to come. I plan on listening to many genres I have little to no experience or interest in, so starting out with an album I was generally uninterested in and having it blow away all of my expectations has me incredibly excited. I currently have this album at a five out of six, but every time I listen to it I enjoy it more so who knows if it will remain there or not. If you assumed Progressive Rock was boring and samey like me please give this album a listen. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.
Until next time!
Malachi
Comments
Post a Comment