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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 21. 5th September 1973

The Dark Side of the Moon:

The Dark Side of the Moon:

The dark Side of the Moon" explains why Pink Floyd have finally crased through to a more lucrative market, why their music deals with themes and situations that most other group don't even realise exist. From "Ummagumma" onwards the Floyd's music displayed a marked tendency towards repetition but "Dark Side ..." represents a complete rift from past musical structures and patterns.

Thematically, the album deals mainly with the depravity of the human condition, and no cut more typifies this than "Money" which looks set to become a hit single now that the NZBC has changed its mind, after first rejecting it out of hand. It balances Dick Parry's weighty sax solo against Dave Gilmour's shimmering guitar above an infectious rhythm section. The lyric according to Gilmour, comes "straight from the heart": "Money .... so they say....is the root of all evil today/But if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they are giving none away."

Despite the overall conceptual unity, other tracks are also strong enough to stand alone, notably "Time" and "Brain Damage" from which the album title was lifted. It conjures up visions of a lunatic locked into his little padded cell, being watched through a peeohole by psychoanalysts, then drifts into the cataclysmic last verse, with appropriately maniacal chantings in the background: And it the dam breaks open many years too soon/and if there is no room upon the hill/ and if your head explodes with dark forbodings too/I'll see you on the dark side of the moon." It's all there on "Eclipse" too.

Previously, Pink Floyd had mixed up the intricate guitar-organ interactions, sequestering the sound into distinct clumps. Now the lead instrumentation has been mixed more completely into the music fabric, giving the effect of greater continuity when all is said and done this is probably, the occasional vocal lapse excepted, the group's best to date. Throughout they play adroitly, fleshing out the spaces with a broad spectrum of effects including the clanging of cash registers, voice tracks and synthesiser squawkings, but I still prefer "Atom Heart Mother". Why? The answer is supplied in the form of a paradox as the album fades: "There is no dark side of the moon. As a matter of fact, it's all dark."