Pink Floyd
„The Dark Side Of The Moon“
Psychedelic, Progressive Rock. Black Vinyl, Remaster. 2016 (1973).

Pink Floyd, founded in 1965 in England. A seminal band of psychedelic progressive rock. Professors have already written books and analyses about Pink Floyd; my focus is on the music. And yet, this review feels like a necessity, as Pink Floyd was one of my biggest influences on the development of my musical taste in the 80s. It all started with "The Wall," one of my first Pink Floyd albums. Of course, I knew "Another Brick in the Wall, Part Two," but not the rest. Oddly enough, I came to Pink Floyd from the band Marillion and not Genesis. Furthermore: What would a website about prog-rock (and other music) be without "The Dark Side Of The Moon"?

My interest in music truly awakened with the discovery of neo-progressive rock through the band Marillion. Every Saturday, my finger hovered over the record button on my Grundig cassette radio, already in stereo. Over time, I found the music that appeared week after week in the Top 20 singles charts rather boring. Then I discovered Marillion, bought the record for my newly acquired stereo system, and listened to an entire album for the first time. Then I bought "The Wall" and really made a ritual of it. I placed an armchair directly between the speakers, locked the door, and for at least two LPs, I was completely unreachable by the world. I could only understand the lyrics in a rudimentary way; my English wasn't good enough back then. It wasn't until years later that I discovered the albums "Wish You Were Here," "Animals," and "The Dark Side of the Moon," and sorry for the historical digression. Now it's all about TDSOTM, I promise.

My interest in Pink Floyd began with this, their eighth album. To my shame, I must confess that I couldn't connect with any of their previous releases. The idea for DSOTM came to Roger Waters as early as 1971. Waters wanted to demonstrate how, in his opinion, anonymous power structures like money or time could destroy people. The songs incorporate short excerpts from interviews that Roger Waters conducted with bystanders, such as studio staff at Abbey Road Studios. The album ends with a sentence from the studio doorman interviewed on the topic: “There is no dark side in the moon, really; matter of fact it’s all dark.”

I won't comment on each song individually, but rather focus on its distinctive features. The album is characterized by David Gilmour's bluesy guitar playing and the extensive use of synthesizers, such as the VCS-3.

The sound collage "Speak To Me" begins with the throbbing of a heartbeat, over which several people speak about the themes of the concept album: death, madness, and violence. The then 23-year-old sound engineer Alan Parsons (later known as The Alan Parsons Project) contributed looped sequences of ringing alarm clocks and the sounds and bell of a cash register to "Time" and "Money." "Money" is in an unusual 7/4 time signature for rock music, with only the guitar solo in the middle being in 4/4 time. A brilliant song. "On The Run" ends with distorted sounds of a crashing, exploding airplane. 

Conclusion: One of the greatest progressive rock albums, a must-have for any prog-head's collection. The album is brimming with ideas, and even after all these years it's never boring or less groundbreaking. "The Lunatic is in my Head"

Credits

Backing Vocals – Barry St. John, Doris Troy, Lesley Duncan, Liza Strike
Bass Guitar, Vocals, Synthesizer (VCS3), Tape (Tape Effects) – Roger Waters
Engineer – Alan Parsons
Keyboards, Vocals, Synthesizer (VCS3) – Richard Wright
Lyrics By (All Lyrics By) – Roger Waters
Percussion, Tape (Tape Effects) – Nick Mason
Remastered By – Bernie Grundman, James Guthrie, Joel Plante
Vocals, Guitar, Synthesizer (VCS3) – David Gilmour

The photos are all from my LP. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.

No AI was used in the making of this Review.
©12.01.2026