Pink Flyod “Dark Side of the Moon” 1973. Today, September 6th, is Pink Floyd singer, songwriter, bassist Roger Waters’ 75th birthday (b. 1943). Hard to believe but this is a relatively recent acquisition, mainly because as children of the 70′s we were heartily sick of it (kind of still are); one of Joe’s older sister played the shit out of it when he was a kid and I heard it waaayyyy too much a bit later, in college at UW-Madison where it was favorite in many many dorm rooms. (Being an only child whose parents weren’t into psychedelic or prog, I thankfully missed out on Floyd saturation in the 70′s.) But it’s kind of one of those records that everyone should have a copy of I suppose – and it seems most people do having sold over 45 million copies making it one of the best-selling records of all time. It was on the charts for a staggering 741 weeks from ‘73-’88 and reentered the charts in ‘09 where it has been for over 900 weeks. It’s no wonder we’re sick of it! That said, it really is a musical masterpiece and going in for a listen, straining to have fresh ears, there are moments of pure, lush beauty. “Breathe” and “Time,” which start off the record, are gorgeous – but I still really cannot stand “Money” (released as the first single in ‘73, their first in the US where it hit #13 on the charts) and in fact just picked up the needle and skipped to the second song on Side B: “Us and Them,” a jazzy-prog atmospheric mashup with plenty of saxophone. That track is alright; Pink Floyd released it as the second and final single from Dark Side of the Moon and it charted at #72.

Allmusic says about the album “By condensing the sonic explorations of Meddle to actual songs and adding a lush, immaculate production to their trippiest instrumental sections, Pink Floyd inadvertently designed their commercial breakthrough with Dark Side of the Moon. The primary revelation of Dark Side of the Moon is what a little focus does for the band. Roger Waters wrote a series of songs about mundane, everyday details which aren’t that impressive by themselves, but when given the sonic backdrop of Floyd’s slow, atmospheric soundscapes and carefully placed sound effects, they achieve an emotional resonance. But what gives the album true power is the subtly textured music, which evolves from ponderous, neo-psychedelic art rock to jazz fusion and blues-rock before turning back to psychedelia. It’s dense with detail, but leisurely paced, creating its own dark, haunting world. Pink Floyd may have better albums than Dark Side of the Moon, but no other record defines them quite as well as this one.”