“จุดสูงสุดของวง Pink Floyd อยู่ที่อัลบั้มนี้ เป็นผลงานสุดยอดของอัลบั้มโปรเกรสซีฟร็อคที่เกิดจากแรงผลักดันของอารมณ์ล้วนๆ Dark Side of the Moon สร้างประวัติศาสตร์ติดอัลบั้มชาร์ท UK ยาวนานถึง 294 สัปดาห์ซึ่งยังคงเป็นสถิติสูงสุดมาจนถึงทุกวันนี้ เพลงเกือบทั้งหมดแต่งโดยมือเบส Roger Waters เป็นคอนเซ็ปต์อัลบั้มที่มีเนื้อหาเกี่ยวกับปรัชญาชีวิตที่เต็มเปี่ยมไปด้วยสาระและแนวคิด ชื่นชมการโซโล่กีร์ต้าของ David Gilmour ให้ดีครับ เจ๋งมาก ส่วนในด้านการบันทึกเสียงถือเป็นผลงานที่สร้างชื่อให้ซาวนด์เอ็นจิเนียอย่าง Alan Parson เป็นอย่างมากที่ใช้เทคนิคการบันทึกเสียงที่ยอดเยี่ยม และในบางเพลงต้องพัฒนาการบันทึกขึ้นเองซึ่งเกินความสามารถในการบันทึกของยุคนั้น อย่างเสียงเอฟเฟ็กท์ตอนเริ่มต้นของเพลง Money ถือเป็นอัลบั้มที่ต้องขึ้นหิ้งเลยครับ ”

1. Speak To Me
2. Breathe
3. On The Run
4. Time
5. The Great Gig In The Sky
6. Money
7. Us And Them
8. Any Colour
9. Brain Damage
10. Eclipse
    

 

Rolling Stone
One of Britain's most successful and long lived avant-garde rock bands, Pink Floyd emerged relatively unsullied from the mire of mid-Sixties British psychedelic music as early experimenters with outer space concepts. Although that phase of the band's development was of short duration, Pink Floyd have from that time been the pop scene's preeminent techno-rockers: four musicians with a command of electronic instruments who wield an arsenal of sound effects with authority and finesse. While Pink Floyd's albums were hardly hot tickets in the shops, they began to attract an enormous following through their US tours. They have more recently developed a musical style capable of sustaining their dazzling and potentially overwhelming sonic wizardry.
The Dark Side of the Moon is Pink Floyd's ninth album and is a single extended piece rather than, a collection of songs. It seems to deal primarily with the fleetingness and depravity of human life, hardly the commonplace subject matter of rock. "Time" ("The time is gone the song is over"), "Money" ("Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie"). And "Us And Them" ("Forward he cried from the rear") might be viewed as the keys to understanding the meaning (if indeed there is any definite meaning) of The Dark Side of the Moon.
Even though this is a concept album, a number of the cuts can stand on their own. "Time" is a fine country-tinged rocker with a powerful guitar solo by David Gilmour and "Money" is broadly and satirically played with appropriately raunchy sax playing by Dick Parry, who also contributes a wonderfully-stated, breathy solo to "Us And Them." The non-vocal "On The Run" is a standout with footsteps racing from side to side successfully eluding any number of odd malevolent rumbles and explosions only to be killed off by the clock's ticking that leads into "Time." Throughout the album the band lays down a solid framework which they embellish with synthesizers, sound effects and spoken voice tapes. The sound is lush and multi-layered while remaining clear and well-structured.
There are a few weak spots. David Gilmour's vocals are sometimes weak and lackluster and "The Great Gig in the Sky" (which closes the first side) probably could have been shortened or dispensed with, but these are really minor quibbles. The Dark Side of the Moon is a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement. There is a certain grandeur here that exceeds mere musical melodramatics and is rarely attempted in rock. The Dark Side of the Moon has flash-the true flash that comes from the excellence of a superb performance. (RS 135) 5/5
Classic Albums
Come on, be honest, you just knew this was going to be here didn't you? Of course you did! It's one of the top-selling albums of all time. Released in 1973, 'Dark Side Of The Moon' spent an incredible 294 weeks on the UK album chart. But perhaps even more incredible is the fact that it didn't reach No.1 during that time. It stopped one place short at No.2. Said to be an album about madness or things that drive people mad, it was originally going to be titled 'Eclipse.'
The opening track, 'Speak To Me', gives us a good indication of what's to come throughout the rest of the album. We then slide into 'Breathe', a track so laid back and relaxing, you'll be almost horizontal! 'On The Run' is an opportunity for the band to dabble and experiment with the (then) new VCS3 Synthesizer. It's an instrumental track that, with Nick Mason's very effective drumming, really does give the effect of being chased. Clocks ticking and alarm bells ringing herald the start of what is probably the highlight track on the album, 'Time', which contains a blistering guitar solo by Dave Gilmore. There's more laid-back stuff on the reprise of 'Breathe' before going on to hear a superb vocal performance by session singer Clare Torry, on 'The Great Gig In The Sky.' She puts everything she's got into her part on this track. Cash registers rattle and coins chink from left speaker to right speaker on the introduction to 'Money', a track that has had loads of airplay over the years on radio stations all over the world. This track also contains another excellent Dave Gilmore trademark guitar solo as well as the first of two sax solo's by a long time friend of the band, Dick Parry. The second of his sax solo's can be heard on the next track, 'Us And Them', a track that starts off quietly, but builds and builds into a really big production. The music to 'Us And Them', which had been kicking around the Floyd camp since 1969, was originally going to be used in the film 'Zabriske Point', for which Floyd wrote the music. The instrumental 'Any Colour You Like' is a fantastic little track that once again uses the synthesizer to maximum effect, it will give your stereo a good testing. 'Brain Damage', complete with manic ramblings in the background, is next, leading to another gem of a track, the superb 'Eclipse.' Listen closely at the end of this track and you will hear "there is no dark side of the moon really, as a matter of fact it's all dark." Floyd fans would have to wait until 1979 and the release of 'The Wall', before the band would once again reach this level of creativity and quality, although the excellent 'Wish You Were Here' did come close in 1975, but the slightly overated 'Animals' in 1977 was just far too depressing. Avoid.

'Dark Side Of The Moon' was recorded at the world famous Abbey Road Studio's in London, from June 1972 through to January 1973. This marks the point where the band started to get good. Up until this, they hadn't done anything that was really as interesting. There were the odd few decent tracks such as 'One Of These Days' and of course 'Echoes' - both from 'Meddle' - but that's about it. There was a lot of self-indulgent nonesense before this album happened along. Technology wise, it was way ahead of it's time. Copies of the album could always be found in hi-fi stores. Because of it's sound production, it was frequently used to demonstrate the latest range of Turntables/Amps/Speakers as they came onto the market. To this day it remains the biggest selling album by a British band, with sales in excess of 23 million copies worldwide. It also spent over 1000 weeks on the Billboard chart in America. Do you really need convincing any more?
Amazon
Dark Side of the Moon, originally released in 1973, is one of those albums that is discovered anew by each generation of rock listeners. This complex, often psychedelic music works very well because Pink Floyd doesn't rush anything; the songs are mainly slow to mid-tempo, with attention paid throughout to musical texture and mood. The sound effects on songs like "On the Run," "Time" and especially "Money" (with sampled sounds of clinking coins and cash registers turned into rhythmic accompaniment) are impressive, especially when we remember that 1973 was before the advent of digital recording techniques. This is probably Pink Floyd's best-known work, and it's an excellent place to start if you're new to the band. --Genevieve Williams
Keno
This is one of those albums that is very hard to rate on a song by song basic. You really have to rate it overall as a collection of all the songs rolled into one. Lots of tapes and synthesizers all over this entire album. Back when this came out and synthesizers were still new I would have given almost every song on here a 10. Of course the album is still great today, but not like the old days when I would listen to this album after a few bong hits and play it real loud. I found (sadly) that I had to turn down the volume a bit the last time I played it and could only wish I was comfortably numb like years ago. But still this album can take me places even if it is a trip down memory lane. Gilmour's guitar solos still sound real clean as does Mason's percussion
NME
- Excellent - "...although everything your punk rock elder brother said was undeniably true, it doesn't take a great mental leap to achieve the mind-set of the pot-smoking philosophy student and pronounce this album a super-sensory classic..."
MTV
Pink Floyd: David Gilmour (vocals, guitar, VCS3 synthesizer); Roger Waters (vocals, VCS3 synthesizer, bass, sound effects); Richard Wright (keyboards, VCS3 synthesizer, background vocals); Nick Mason (drums, percussion, sound effects). Additional personnel: Clare Torry (vocals); Dick Parry (saxophone); Doris Troy, Leslie Duncan, Liza Strike, Barry St. John (background vocals). Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England between June 1972 & January 1973. DARK SIDE OF THE MOON was a benchmark record. It turned the musical world on its ear with a hitherto unseen combination of sounds, and changed things considerably for Pink Floyd. For this project, Pink Floyd resurrected older and unfinished numbers, some of which came from the multitude of soundtracks the band members had previously worked on. The film "Zabriskie Point," a study of American materialism from a foreigner's perspective, provided "Us And Them" (originally titled "The Violence Sequence"). Waters rewrote "Breathe" after its appearance on his and avant-garde composer Ron Geesin's score for "The Body," a surreal medical documentary. Floyd and their long-time engineer, Alan Parsons, used a multitude of sound effects--from stereophonically-projected footsteps and planes flying overhead ("On The Run") to a roomful of ringing clocks ("Time"). Further adding to the record's mystique, barely audible spoken passages were sprinkled throughout--a result of hours interviewing random Abbey Road occupants about their views on insanity, violence and death. Floyd must have struck a nerve; DARK SIDE OF THE MOON remained on Billboard's albums chart for an astounding fourteen years. It made Pink Floyd a household name, elevating them to the level of the Rolling Stones and The Who in the rock pantheon.