THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

There's a reason why one in three households owns a copy of this record. It is, even amongst the music of Pink Floyd, unique. Light and dark, but always colourful. Cutting-edge and progressive but lodged in rock and blues. Carefully constructed yet often improvisational. Lyrically mind-blowing. Dark Side of the Moon is THE song-cycle of the century. Here are just a few reasons why:

The opening heartbeat (unfortunately, now clichéd) with it's increasing intensity and build up of sound effects (which are sourced from elsewhere on the album: excellent use of cross-referencing and an essential ingredient of any good concept album) flows cacophonously into 'Breathe', a steady, swirling, slide- guitar led overture which introduces us to the album's main theme (the Em to A chord progression). While not an especially influential song in itself, 'Breathe' effectively introduces 'Dark Side' and sets the tone for the rest of the album. Then comes any experimental fan's dream: the sensationally technological exercise that is 'On the Run'. Way ahead of it's time, this little number will take you to the psychedelic depths of your own mind, without being too long. Next is 'Time', with wonderful instrumentation (loving the electric piano from the right speaker) and a guitar solo that seems to transport the listener through a spacey tunnel of immense pleasure. The phrase "shorter of breath, and one day closer to death" is potentially the most chilling line on the album. Following a cleverly segued reprise of the album's principal theme, we are treated to Wright's epic 'Great Gig...' with contributor Clare Torry's melodic wails that send a shiver down one's spine.

Side 2 opens with the famous 7/8 cash register-led beat, which leads to more funky verses in 'Money' and some astonishingly cool soloing from Dick and Dave. 'Us and Them' is calmer (initially)and perfectly balances sweet melody with uncomfortable paranoia. The song is driven to it's close by increasingly violent choruses, immediately giving way to the third instalment of the 'Dark Side' theme, in the form of 'Any Colour You Like'. This instrumental jam is funky and as appropriately placed as everything else on here (again, not too long either- room for live expansion). And finally the Waters-led 'Brain Damage' and 'Eclipse' sum up the album's thoughts and emotions in a surprisingly brief finale, ending the cycle with more of that heartbeat.

These 9 segments of madness, together with the inordinate tape effects, overdubbed voices (I am NOT frightened of dying!), unifying main theme, and general compositional and lyrical standard, are what puts this album up with CTTE or ITCOTCK. Pink Floyd are amazing in a totally different way of course, but no two progressive bands are "similar". There will never be another insanity-themed song- cycle like it.