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Question Re : Pink Floyd
Fat Buddha
Posts: 882 Forum Member
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Whilst on holiday I got talking to a guy at length about various bands, mostly over several beers and G & T's. The topic of conversation moved on to Pink Floyd, and he posed the question "What makes the album Dark Side Of The Moon the utter masterpiece it is ?" Now we all agreed that Meddle and Wish You Were Here were also deserving of master works status, but DSOTM was on a level far beyond either. Not one of us could give a reason as to why it is. I would like to ask all you musos out there if you could offer a reason.
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(I heard that Floyd are bringing out a new album, don't know much about it, could be a compilation of old stuff but those in the business are excited.)
New album is the stuff which did not make the Division Bell in 1994. It's mainly instrumental stuff nice for collectors and a nice Swan Song for Richard Wright but that's all it is.
It will not be the next Dark Side but what is
DSOTM took a leap of faith in being written around a set of universally identifiable themes - war, madness, greed, ageing - but which rather than being individual pieces somehow coalesced as a whole and one greater than the sum of its parts. Each band member contributed fully (unlike later albums which veered more and more towards Waters-only projects) and every track on the album is beautifully written and performed.
It's not to everyone's taste - the overall feeling of melancholia is too much for some - but it reflected the mood of its time perfectly, especially from a musical point of view where the early 70s were still on something of a comedown from the craziness of the previous decade and "serious" rock music had lost its way a bit.
It showcased the band at their creative peak and managed to chuck in a ton of ideas without making the whole endeavour seem too overblown or self-indulgent (again, a criticism often made of later albums, sometimes unjustifiably). Indeed, there's a lightness of touch in songs like "Brain Damage" which contrasts against the weight of their meaning (in this case the band still trying to come to terms with Syd's mental collapse)
I've read many music critics who would argue that Wish you Were Here? is a better album than Dark Side Of The Moon.
For me, Animals is the Floyd album I listen to the most
I think it's the quality of the songwriting; both musically and lyrically. No matter how many times I've listened to it, the opening spoken-word "I know I'm mad, I've always been mad...I've been mad for ****ing years" collage of 'Speak To Me' fading into the soaring guitar/organ of 'Breathe' gets me every time.