~music Listening Club 23 - Dark Side of the Moon

Whom
Thu, 22 Nov 2018 19:36:21 +0000

Welcome to the 23rd week, it had to come eventually...another classic record discussion: The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd! Posting a little early since I'll be busy celebrating Thanksgiving, have a great day everyone.

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. It built on ideas explored in Pink Floyd's earlier recordings and performances, but without the extended instrumentals that characterised their earlier work. Its themes explore conflict, greed, time, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by the deteriorating health of founding member Syd Barrett, who left in 1968.

Developed during live performances, Pink Floyd premiered an early version of The Dark Side of the Moon several months before recording began. New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at Abbey Road Studios in London. The group used advanced recording techniques at the time, including multitrack recording and tape loops; analogue synthesizers are prominent, and snippets from interviews with Pink Floyd's road crew and others provide philosophical quotations. Engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many sonic aspects and the recruitment of singer Clare Torry, who appears on one track. The iconic sleeve was designed by Storm Thorgerson; following keyboardist Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design, it depicts a prism spectrum, representing the band's lighting and the record's themes.

The Dark Side of the Moon produced two singles: "Money" and "Us and Them". The album topped the Billboard chart for a week, and remained on the chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. Following a change in how Billboard counts sales in 2009, it re-entered the chart and has since appeared for over 900 weeks. With estimated sales of over 45 million, it is Pink Floyd's bestselling album and one of the bestselling worldwide. It has been remastered and rereleased several times, and covered in its entirety by several acts. It is regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Here's the place to discuss your thoughts on the record, your history with it or the artist, and basically talk about whatever you want to that goes along with The Dark Side of the Moon! Remember that this is intended to be a slow moving thing, feel free to take your time and comment at any point in the week!

If you'd like to stream or buy the album, it can be found on most platforms here.

Rather than get an obscure record this week, I'd love to hear from you in responses to this comment!

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