Remembering Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon
New Delhi, Mar 3: Progressive rock pioneers Pink Floyd need little introduction and little can be said of their importance of their development of rock and metal. With their slow, atmospheric, melodic, art rock inspired music, Pink Floyd became a household name in the world of rock with the release of “The Dark Side Of The Moon”(1973).
Recorded a year earlier, it has been almost 50 years since the release of what became one of the most critically acclaimed albums in the world and is to this day considered the band’s “magnum opus”. The album introduced the band to the whole world, and features some of the band’s biggest classics such as “Time”, “Money”, “ The Great Gig In The Sky” etc, with the album being among the biggest pioneering pieces in the world of prog rock alongside Uriah Heep’s “Demons and Wizards”, Magnum’s “Kingdom of Madness”, King Crimson’s “In The Court of the Crimson King”, Yes’s “The Yes Album”, Hawkwind’s “Doremi Fasol Latido” and Rush’s “2112”.
Combining the eclecticism of 60s proto prog, synth music, a flair of hard rock and above all of psychedelic rock, “The Dark Side Of The Moon” is a concept record dealing with topics such as greed, conflict, time, mental illness and death, the album has been a subject of great debate among music scholars for decades in regards to its importance and musical inventiveness and whether it deserves its stature of legend, for this is the record which not only launched the band to international fame, but also is the one where they supposedly hit their creative peak finding themselves. While a truly sublime piece of work, a fact that many overlook is that it has overshadowed almost every other Pink Floyd album in their discography with their being several other albums that have had Pink Floyd be far more interesting, though it has a sound that can’t be forgotten as it is both special even by today’s standards and yet more than presentable to modern day audiences as it carries a sound that will be liked even by today’s pop listening audience making it just mainstream enough.
Many critically acclaimed albums have often fallen short of their reputation, but Pink Floyd’s 8th studio album is one which has to be among your top 100 listens, as it is progressive, psychedelic and just an amazing listen focusing on topics going down the lane of existence. This might not be the best Pink Floyd album, but it is certainly an essential listen.
