• AllMyVinyl #55
• Band: Pink Floyd
• Album Title: Dark Side of the Moon
• Release Date: 1 Mar 1973
• Date purchased: 4 Apr 2020
• Location purchased: Amazon
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

What can one really write about THIS ONE?   Is there anyone into rock music that doesn’t know this?  I mean it’s one of the biggest selling albums of ALL TIME, you have to know this.  According to the RIAA, it’s the fourth best selling album by anyone of all time.  It’s been preserved in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in the United States because of its cultural significance.  I mean calling it “huge” makes it seem small.  It’s bloody universal!

It’s a masterpiece from the opening heartbeat to the close with “Matter of fact it’s all dark”.  There’s not a single note, lyric, or anything on this album that isn’t utter perfection.  I almost thought about stopping there and closing the album with just that, because I really do feel it’s an absolute perfect album.  In some ways that might be seen as a bit of a cop out, but it’s real.  I’ve listened to this SO MANY times on tons of formats.  Vinyl, cassette, CD, 8-Track, digital, you name it I’ve spun the black prism record so many times.  I can (as most can) “recite” it from memory – even the music.

I originally bought it on vinyl back in the day, plus bought it on CD.  I bought the 30th anniversary version on CD, which came with a Super Audio CD mix of the album which sounded AMAZING (when I had gear that could play that).  When I bought a new record player in 2020, this was the FIRST THING I bought.  I mean I had to.  If you own a record player, you absolutely must own Dark Side.  When my brother found my old vinyl collection in our mom’s basement, it had my OG print of Dark Side.  I told him to keep that version, as I didn’t need two.

As I sit here listening to it, it’s the ultimate album of an etherial feel.  It’s VERY much an album you put on, and it flows from one song to another.  I could talk about Waters’ bass line in “Money”, or Claire Torry’s vocals on “Great Gig” or Gilmour’s guitar work in Time.  I mean it’s internally just one giant song split into chapters.  I find it super hard to break down the songs individually, as I’ll be here for 8,000 words if I did that.

So I’ll lump all the music together in a very simple review…  Utter perfection.

One final memory…  When I was in college and got high a bunch, this album was the soundtrack to a lot of that.  Heck, the vinyl cover was used to roll quite a few in the day.   It was in that frame of mind that I thought I could sing Claire Torry’s vocals and play like Dave Gilmour.  Neither worked.  AT ALL.