If you want to continue a master class in mixing, you should check out some Alan Parsons Project. I Robot and Tales of Mystery and Imagination are killer.
Absolutely, the mix on this album surpasses next level and goes into the stratosphere, all these decades later after thousands of listens and PF on quality headphones is even more surreal now.
Just saw an interview with AP, and a very young AP was at The Beatles rooftop gig! He was working at Abbey Road Studios at the time. He was an engineer on Abbey Road and Let It Be. He learned from the best.
This is one of the reason we oldies think a lot of today's music is crap. We grew up with Floyd and Queen and Led Zepplin. Killer guitar riffs and drum solos. Au natural.
Not just the musical performances, but the lyrics. To be sure there are musicians today who write about a lot of interesting things - and seriously, much respect to Taylor Swift for speaking to topics to matter to people - but just all the things Pink and the boys are singing about on this album, it's staggering. I have to say, the 80s broke my heart, musically. We went from a decade where songs from "Dark Side of the Moon" were top 40 fare, to "Walk like an Egyptian". Just meaningless noise, and it sold.
I grew up with Floyd, Slade, Bolan, The Clash and The Damned, but I still think a lot of todays music is great, if you only look, listen and give it a chance.
If only you guys would stop beating us over the head with it, being endlessly smug about how superior your eras music was. People still make great music, it just doesn't hit you the same because you're not young anymore.
Dude, I’ve just spent a long time hanging out with you listening to one of the greatest albums ever made, and I have some feedback. First of all, I really like you. You seem like a super nice dude and someone that I would definitely be friends with. That said, at the very end when you said that you hadn’t been listening to the lyrics, it broke my heart. I need you to re-listen to the entire album and pay attention to everything! The lyrics are essential! This is an album that will grow with you throughout your life. And you will realize that the album is literally about life. It’s also about death. The whole thing, our whole human experience is contained within this album. You need to listen to it again and pay very close attention to the lyrics because they are as majestic as every other part of the album. I think everyone should listen to this album once a year throughout their entire life to see how it changes for them over the years. Thanks for the listen dude!
Don't you feel like we could use some of this these days? We (me Gen X) Had stuff like this to sit in our bedrooms and read lyrics with headphones on for hours before bed and then think about as we went to sleep. :)
I told him to go back and listen to it on his own and concentrate on the lyrics. He is a sound engineer so we could expect tha. It was a very informative analysis of the whole sound universe of PF and this album.
He was listening like a music producer. He was listening to how the drums were recorded. He wasn't hearing the lyrics yet. Sometimes albums unfold gradually. First impressions are first impressions.
"How do you do this on tape?" Lots of mic stands, a tape player, razor blades, a lot of scotch tape, a stopwatch, an engineer or two, 3 or 4 sets of hands and a lot of patience.
Having Alan Parson as your engineer sure didn't hurt either! (Abbey Road, Let it Be, Year of the Cat, his own Project work, etc.) The man with the golden ear.
Bingo. Although you don't really need more hands or the stop watch. Razor, tape and grease pencil is all you need. Stools with empty reels on them to guide the tape for the long loops works great. It's so easy and fast to do in a DAW nowdays (not to mention easily reversed), but I kinda miss making a good tape edit.
It's fucking wild that Pink Floyd, between 1973 and 1979 (SIX years) produced Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Just one of those albums would make any band stand out and close to legend status, but 4 of them? In succession? Bro, GTFO :D
Just read through the comments here, and suddenly feel that I'm not alone. There are so many people that have already voiced my previous comments. I want to reach out and shake the hand of so many 'musical friends' that obviously understand this album and know the true importance of it, Thank you.
I feel that way too brother. I'm 66 yrs old and been a Pink Floyd fan since I was 13. They are phenomenal in every aspect. I can't imagine life without them. Thank you God.
My late father introduced me to Floyd when I was a kid. I am 61 years old now, and this was his, and also my favourite album. He treated all his records with reverence, and I was lucky enough to be able to share many listening experiences with him. I miss you, Dad...
I've never really tried to explain why I feel this way, but a lot of the best (imho) Pink Floyd songs were on the Wall album, and yet Darkside is still hands down the better album. Just my opinion, but it hurt me a little bit when I realized that Comfortably Numb was not on their best album. And I don't even think Darkside was their best album, but one of the best albums ever recorded by anyone.
I'm loving the way this bloke is a recording geek in the now, and is fighting with himself trying to figure out exactly how they did the things they did 50 odd years ago to get such a iconic and memorable product, am loving hearing his take on how he thinks they did it ... there's actually a vid out there that shows the why, how and who did what ... Huge up's to Alan Parsons and PF for this masterpiece !!!
When "Money" started playing, he gradually got a puzzled look, and I knew he was trying to figure out that time signature. Kudos to him for quickly realizing it was in 7 time.
51 years later and still sounds utterly original and ahead of its time. I cracked up when you finally started listening to the lyrics during Brain Damage. You should read the lyrics. The Pulse performance of Comfortably Numb is iconic but I'm also thinking you would seriously love the Wish You Were Here album. Might as well follow that up with Animals while you're diving down the rabbit hole, too. Thanks for a great reaction!
And for some fun insight into the making of a few of the songs and a great snapshot of Pink Floyd performing in 1972 I suggest the video, "Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii".
@@munroborisenko7278 I agree. I followed the Floyd from Syd's time. I was a big fan and I owned every LP they released until 1977. However Animals was the last album of theirs that I ever bought. It was clear with that album that the band were no longer working together. The disintegration was beginning to show in Wish you were Here in that, despite its compositional excellence, it was infected by a element of sterility in its recording and performance. Nothing they released post 1975 represented the Floyd to my ear. Barrett's Floyd and the following four: Meddle, Obscured by Clouds, Dark Side and Wish You Were Here best represent their most creative and cohesive material.
Ian Hillan I had to fight my impulsive reaction, This fella was unaware of Dark Side,Wish You Were here,Animals and The Wall.I am a Punk,but a lover of music first. I love The Beatles. Animals is one of my faves,and this Dude is not aware of it`s existence. I play as well as listen,so i could concur with a lot of his observations,regarding structure and recording. This Man owes it to Himself,to gain a better knowledge of Music. What next,Mozart,i haven`t heard Him but i will offer a first reaction critique.
The only problem is that, while some of Pink Floyd's subsequent album's were pretty damn good, they probably never quite bottled the lightning like they did with this one.
If you're at all interested, the movie Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii has many sequences showing the guys in the studio recording Dark Side of the Moon, showing the equipment, the synths and sound machines they used and how they experimented with it all to come up with the final product.
I posted the same info about Live at Pompeii under the part 1 video. Keep in mind there are several different things released under the name "Live at Pompeii", one is only the amphitheater concert, another is a more modern David Gilmore only thing, another is the thing we are referring to here, which jumps back and forth between the concert and the studio (and a diner where they get breakfast). :)
The 'Live at Pompeii ' video really lets you in on how the band worked together to create the original sounds and then put them into their songs. All creative geniuses. I wonder how many experimental riffs or beats never made it through the smoke filled haze of just jamming together
Lucky me, I've just found another channel featuring a guy who actually knows of which he speaks. I've only been listening to this album for for 50 years, still have the original LP. Your turn young fella, I wish you at least 50 years of listening to this album and having it punctuate unforgettable moments in your life, that you'll remember forever.
Im not old enough, born -87. But i'm so happy my dad got me into Pink Floyd. Years and years after, I know own his old LPs. Dark side of the moon and the wall. They really created timeless music that alwats makes you feel something
@@kivvm Mate, you could do worse than do a deep dive into some of the great Aussie bands from the 70's and 80's like Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, The Angels etc. For me it's the music and the lyrics first, then the production. Maybe that's not your bag, but there's a lot of good tracks out there. For music production I'd look at The Moody Blues or the Alan Parsons Project.
@@NedKLee Born in '84, and I didn't get into Pink Floyd until my late teens, since my parents were largely Elvis and 50s/60s country people. But I did have a car dealership demo tape with Alan Parsons on it when I was a kid. Mammagamma has been in my head ever since. Guess I have that to thank for my eventual gravitation toward Prog Rock and Industrial Metal among other genres. You came up in the best of musical eras, though, old-timer. ✌♥🤘
Something like 10,000 people per day hear this album (or anything else "we all know") for the first time. (See xkcd 1053.) And he'd heard _about_ it, he just hadn't actually heard it.
As a younger producer, there is a lot to be learned from the old time innovators. A lot of the things they did the hard way have been forgotten in modern music. If producers like yourself get immersed in things like this, there is inspiration to innovate again today
Isaac, Rick Beato just uploaded an interview with Alan Parsons, the engineer behind this album and many more. Much of your questions are answered there. Also search for the story behind the vocals on The great gig on the sky... which btw is about dying.
I saw he posted that interview. And there is an exceptional documentary, The Making of Dark Side of the Moon, that answers many questions, with Parson's commentaries accompanying isolated master tracks.
I'm a musician myself, and PF is probably my favorite band. I've been listening to this since 1973 when I was 16, and I've also recorded a number of their songs in recent years, so I know them in depth. To hear an adult, a music professional at that, who is just now hearing Dark Side for the first time, is startling and sad, really. This should not ever be forgotten. This video makes the record sound like it's a rare archeological find. This should forever be the gold standard. This should be part of everyone's introduction to music. Period.
Don't worry it's not an archeological find. Everyone knows that. I feel sorry for the poster of this video who seems to think he has discovered something. What he has discovered is that modern music is indeed, crap.
"This album has no genre" - he says. We'll give it a few months before the penny drops. "Oh, modern industry shoehorns music in to product packages to make marketing more targeted"...
This guy never registers a hit in the feelz. It's all intellectual and technical with this AH. Inappropriate laughter. I suspect Isaac is some kind of 'path.
Fear not. I was born in 1989 and this album has been in my life for as long as I can remember. I won’t have my own kids but I assure you I will make my niece and nephews listen to it with far more appreciation than this guy is giving it. Watching this guy so coldly analyze the soul straight out of this album makes my soul hurt. Talk about missing the point🤦♂️
And I see irony in his statement - he claims to have been professionally producing and writing for 10 years and has never heard this? It sounds like his focus has been on making money, not music. The deeper apect is not fun, but creativity - they weren't assembling widget songs for the market, the were creating art.
Recording engineering and mixing all done by Alan Parsons. He also did a quad mix at the time. The whole album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Parsons got his start as an assistant engineer on The Beatles "Abbey Road" album in '69. He got into producing on his own after this album even though he was asked to engineer the next Pink Floyd album "Wish You Were Here" (which I think should be the next one you experience). Parsons started recording and releasing his own music as The Alan Parsons Project and released 10 albums from 1976 to 1987. They did all this on 16-track machines. But there was a lot of pre-mix bouncing going on to clear some tracks out for new effects. No one has actually listed the members of this band yet... David Gilmour - Guitars, vocals, Synthi AKS. Roger Waters - Bass, vocals, VCS 3 (synth), tape loops (he did the tape loop effects at the start of "Money") Nick Mason - Drums, percussion, tape loops. Richard Wright - Organs (Hammond and Farfisa), piano, electric piano (Wurlitzer and Rhodes), EMS, VCS 3, Synthi AKS (all three different kinds of synths), vocals. While the band had been together since 1965, their first album was in '67 and very much psychedelic. Gilmour was not yet a member, instead Syd Barrett was on guitar and vocals and the primary song writer. Barrett had drug issues that caused him to spiral into a mental breakdown. Gilmour was brought in on their second album, but Barrett had to be kicked out by '68. Waters became the primary lyricist from that point on. The other members would contribute mostly to the music. The affect on the band that Barrett had influenced some of this album, mostly the ending. But the next one, "Wish You Were Here" (1975), is even more influenced by Barrett who was still alive at the time, but had totally cut himself off from the world. The '77 album, "Animals" is not at all about Barrett, but his influence is present on the album "The Wall" from 1979. Oh, and if you want to change your mind about slide guitars, or really, peddle steel guitars, listen to "One of These Days" from Pink Floyd's '71 album (the one before "DSotM"), "Meddle"
Hey Joel, nice input and info for Isaac. Definitely got into the Alan Parsons Projects after DSOTM. Great music. Just a side note, which please don't take the wrong way, as I always thought the same, but the album before DSOTM was Obscured By Clouds. Meddle was before that. I always got them mixed up as I reckon Meddle is more like DSOTM Than OBC, particularly the melodies in Echoes. Thanks again.
Incredible to listen to this with someone who knows NOTHING ABOUT IT. Every little molecule of this musical journey is fully baked into my DNA now and this is wild to hear someone talk about it from a completely different generation. I'm 65 and I'm SO LUCKY to have grown up listening to all the music of MY time and learning guitar at the same time. Such an interesting perspective.
Up until I was around 8, I listened to classical almost exclusively. Then came The Beatles, The Who and bit of Led Zepplin until early teens when I was introduced to Pink Floyd which changed me forever. It challenged me to listen to all music in an entirely new way. I’m 54 and a musician and the way I play music and sing was impacted by my love of classical music, and my love of bands like Pink Floyd.
I’m 64, we listened to this with headphones, while high, tripping if possible, in my teens. It was revolutionary, inspiring, and I too am interested in hearing this young man being blown away by the album from his perspective
Agreed. We grew up listening to this at a friend's house, being cool and grooving to the tunes, not really realizing that we were living in a golden age of music. What a great time to grow up (mostly). Add to this a perspective 50 years removed from a young guy. Really interesting.
It's kinda weird watching someone who hasn't listened to DSOTM before when I have known it for 50 years plus. Your right about a lot of the production stuff. It was recorded with analogue equipment, years before digital was available and they managed some incredible results using, what to you must seem like stone-age equipment! I think you began to realize that DSOTM is more than just a bunch of songs while you were listening. It's a concept album, and the concept is life. I know it was your first time, that you were listening as a producer to the music, and you were trying to formulate a reaction in your head but I would urge you to listen again with the lyrics in front of you. These are some of the finest lyrics/poetry ever produced in the English language. Each song deals with different aspects of life. 'Breathe' and 'On the run' are about work, pressure and the stress of modern life. Time is obvious, but it is about how life seems endless when you are young until you realize life is finite and your time is slipping away. The older you get the quicker time seems to pass. On your recording 'Breathe Reprise' seems to have been lumped in with 'Time' but starting with the lyrics 'Home, home again' is actually a separate section. It is about being older and religion. 'The Great Gig in the Sky' is about an afterlife, heaven if you will. 'Money' again is obvious. The difference between rich and poor. The killer lines are right at the end. 'Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today, but if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that their giving none away.' 'Us and Them' is about division between people, be it rich and poor or armies going to war. It's not what ordinary people want but it's what they are stuck with. 'Any color you like' is instrumental but takes it's name from a quote by Henry Ford about his Model T Ford. You can have it in any color you like.....as long as it's black. 'Brain Damage' is often said to be about Syd Barrett, the original singer of Pink Floyd who literally fried his brains with LSD and they had to let him go. For me however it is about the media, about politicians, about advertising and what you would these days call influencers. It's about how they try to get into your head through the press and TV (there wasn't any social media then) and change the way you think. 'There's someone in my head, but it's not me'. The final track, 'Eclipse', is a kind of summary, but it is tinged. You should be aware that in many cultures, the Moon is a symbol of madness (think werewolves). Once again the killer lines are right at the end. 'Everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon'. You mention the little conversation/statements throughout the album. They are recordings of friends of the band, roadies etc, which add a light humor. Later in 'The Wall' Floyd used this idea to even better effect, using sound clips from TV and movies to link/introduce songs. Finally, to round things off, you have the cover. The Original vinyl cover was a gatefold. The white light entering the prism represents life in it's entirety and the colors coming out represent the different facets of life just as the music does. The inside of the gatefold had then lyrics and personnel involved. It also had the rainbow bars right across with the green bar becoming a heartbeat, like an ECG. Echoed at the start and finish of the album by the heartbeat rhythm.
"You can have it in any color you like.....as long as it's black" - as Roger said its alluding to not really having any real choices in your life - there is a darkside to your existance and its black
@@GregHopp At the age of 13/14, just after DSOTM was released, I copied out the words of Time as a poem in an English class. The teacher, who had never heard of it, thought he had discovered a genius and made me read it out to the class. In the end, he was so excited that I had to confess where I had got it from. He was disappointed but said he must listen to that album.
How can any guy with a pair of balls take this band seriously? The squeaky voiced whispery singing, the laid back pacing, languid guitar, airy fairy lyrics and limp drumming. They're lullabies for stoned people.
Great observing you listen to this classic album for the first time ...... man, this music still brings me to tears at certain moments. Great content !
This album is not a genre. It is a lesson on Mankind. It is the culmination of 50,000 years of wisdom and history, and a lesson about viewing and estimating the future. That's what this album is.
Well... It sort of falls into the "prog rock" genre. Moody Blues, Yes etc. My first Pink Floyd experience was the UmmaGumma album. Early PF, and if you think Dark Side is weird... In a good way.
@@milchi_ruheAnimals is very Waters dominant yet very good. Gilmour calls it his best guitar work. The Wall, yeah, i can agree but it's not weak by any means.
@@Hrithik23 no, not weak or bad in any way, but as I said - to me, the albums after Wish you were here aren‘t as good as the ones before. But again, this is a matter of taste
Great Gig in the Sky always gets them. 2 takes and NO ONE has ever been able to do it live - not even the original singer! It was a moment in time that will never happen again. You can hear her sing with her SOUL!
Lightening in a bottle, that is what it was, a moment frozen in time, never to be repeated again, and they caught it on tape, like lightening in a bottle.
Thank you. I enjoyed your reaction to this. Their albums were meant to be heard in their entirety. Comfortably Numb! Yes! My dads Beach house was named Comfortably Numb! ❤️
To me "comfortably numb" was a stage you got to when drinking when you'd had precisely enough to soften & blur all the edges, but not make you sick. If you then could manage to alternate a soft drink with a hard one, or eat something, you could stay there quite a while, roll down the hill to get home (metaphorically), then bed & wake up relatively okay the next day😅😅😅.
Just subscribed. I'd like to see you review more music from the late 60s early 70s. It's fun to watch the reaction to you hearing songs for the first time. I enjoyed this. Nicely done.
972 weeks I appreciate the way you listened to it in one sitting, as a masterpiece is meant to be heard. Back in the days of vinyl, you'd have a brief pause as you flipped the record to play side two. It astounds me that many people these days in the biz or in general music lovers haven't heard some of the "classic rock" music that continues to define popular music to this day, not to mention groundbreaking recording and production techniques. A lot of the bands back then had played together for years and were super tight and intuitive, they were creating and at the cutting edge. I grew up as a teenager listening to this fabulous music in the late 70s, it really defined an era and it's called classic for a reason. The Dark Side of the Moon is a musical masterpiece by Pink Floyd that has spent a record-breaking number of weeks on the Billboard charts. The album was released in 1973 and reached No.1 for one week. It remained on the chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988, and has since returned to the chart several times, reaching a total of 972 weeks as of 2021. It is one of the best-selling albums worldwide, with over 45 million copies sold. Peace
I remember getting this album 50 years ago, cracking it open and listening to it. The amazing lyrics are printed on the inside of the cover, so you could follow along as you listened. In fact, half the experience was reading the lyrics for the first time while you listened. Increases the enjoyment even more..
Everyone wants you to move on to their next favourite album. Do yourself a favour and listen to Dark Side of the Moon a few more times and give yourself a chance to hear how the sound collage stuff all makes sense, how the order of tracks matters, how musical ideas are reused and drawn together, not to mention the terrific solos, the use of space... I could go on.
I totally agree with this, spend some time with Dark side, after which I'd recommend spending some time with the next two albums chronologically. Wish you were here and Animals.
Isaac, I am so envious of you, getting to hear all the brilliance of the 60's and 70's for the first time!! You have so much greatness ahead of you that you truly have no idea!! Start with my Mount Rushmore of bands from this era, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Queen and then so much more from there!! Enjoy the trip!!
@@The1Elcil Lots of love. Even going back to 30's and 40's. Paul McCartney's family did sing alongs at his dad's piano, think When I'm 64. Before Bing Crosby the vocals were done by a horn player who came forward to add in a short lyric. That was my parents' music during WWII. The 70's was Vietnam. The more things change, the more they stay the same..
As a retired studio musician, I had the pleasure of working with Doris Troy, one of the featured backup singers on the Dark side of the Moon. Just to be in the studio with her was a huge landmark for me. Thanks for spotlighting this great song.
I understand the female singer on the pink Floyd album was brought in to temporally fill in those spots, she improvised her parts. There was some dispute re her minimal pay for the key element the carried over to the final version. The touring version used 2 or 3 different women to cover her part.
@@Sarconthewolfsam brown and co on the pulse tour did a fairly good job they have to put their own touch to it bcos of their personal vocal ranges and its a place to showcase what you have and a bit of fun every night you do the gig plus Dave Gilmour probably said to to them the same thing just go have a bit of fun follow the original melody of clare tory (if you can call it that) to a degree and bust ya balls out there 😂
@@billbones77 I think that's the way to go. The women in 1975, I believe, tried to copy exactly what Claire Tory did on the album. I believe that was a mistake at the time. She would have been better off doing her own version, avoiding the boos of the audience.
I'm not sure if you're aware of the deeper meanings behind this album. When their band mate left due to his worsening schizophrenia, it kept a hole in the band, and this album was about life and how it changes..since you loved this, listen to Animals, and The Wall, they are masterpieces that need to be listened from start to finish. Also if you like to dive a little into the rock genre, try Rush...they are one of those bands that make you smarter, 🤣. Good luck on your journey! I subscribed so I can follow you through it, many blessings!
Pink Floyd, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Supertramp, King Crimson, Alan Parson's Project, and a few others are fantastic examples of Progressive Rock.
@@abc456f Funny you should mention Tull...they have been my favorite band for nearly 50 years! I guess I recommend them so often to UA-cam reactors that I left them off this once.
At the end of the party...you would always roll a joint, gently put on Dark Side of the Moon and lay on the floor in the candle light, between those big 3 way speakers and soak in the experience.
Dude, of all Floyd reaction vids out there, you did it right. Floyd is to be consumed album at a time not song. Saw them in concert in Germany when stationed there. One of the best live shows ever!!! Great job.
As an audio engineer, I've been using this album as a reference track for 36 years, especially to test speakers. It's so well engineered, thank you Alan Parsons 🙏🏼
Yep. I remember buying a component stereo setup at Federated in Phoenix, AZ in 1976. The salesman demo'd the system using the DSOTM album. Fast forward to San Jose, CA at a Circuit City in 1997 on a new component setup purchase. Guess what the employee used to demo the system? DSOTM is always the first played when testing new components. It stands the test of time. In fact, it defies time.
Rick Beato just interviewed Alan Parsons a few days ago the day after you dropped this comment ua-cam.com/video/xrS6LWHz-dk/v-deo.htmlsi=Py6x7wzvV6MIfLfG
They toured the song-cycle, refining the arrangements, before they recorded it. Yes, they played this live before they went into the studio, the show was called 'Eclipse'. They planned the album to take advantage of the then-new quadrophonic systems, basically a precursor to 5.1 audio. This informed the pan controllers they used, that they called 'azimuth controllers'. These give a dramatically natural sounding 3d movement of sounds in the landscape. Huge kudos to Alan Parsons as the engineer.
There is a documentary entitled " The Making Of Dark Side Of The Moon " which details the splicing and patching of 3 " recording tape stretched the length of the studio and looped around a microphone stand during the mixing process . Probably a nerve-racking experience ...
I turned 18 in the mid 70s and this became my favorite album for a lot of reasons. Of course at a college that was in the heart of the pot industry that could layer in an additional experience. But straight or stoned it was an amazing album especially given the technology of the time. The mix with the tools of that time was profound. The use of instruments and vocals was unlike anything I had heard. The journey of a continuous track only interrupted by having to flip the album to side B let you drift into the heartbeat of the music. I have the original quad album and used to sit in the middle of a room with four speakers as sounds flew across the room and then surrounded and enveloped me. The quad is an entirely additional experience in a way no one had ever played with. I still have the amp that had settings for quad, 4ch, mtx, 2ch. It was the beginnings of a whole new world in music immersion. I would love to listen again the original quad mix if that 50 year old amp still fires up.
I am so old I actually went to see them right after this album came out. It was in a theatre on the SMU campus and a fairly small venue in the early 1980's. The speakers were placed all about the theatre to recreate the total surround sound experience. One of the best concerts I have ever been to. It was stunning live. They were able to recreate the same background sounds as the album. True genius and perfectionism.
If you’re a “music producer “ and never heard Dark Side……what have you been doing. It’s one of the best recordings in history. It was on the charts for 40+ years. It’s a masterclass in musicianship and music production.
I would love to see the musical theatre director who has never heard of Andrew Lloyd Webber.... Them: "Yeah, but have you seen Wicked!?" Me: "No, no I have not..."
Honestly, artists of any discipline should know the history of their art. Unfortunately that's not the case. I've spoken to film students who complains that they have to study film history and just want to grab a camera and make movies. They have zero respect or appreciation for their own art and just want to be famous. I'm sure many musicians and producers have this attitude too. They just think old stuffs are outdated and not worth their time.
Thanks so much for reviewing this album. It was really interesting to hear a modern producer's view of techniques etc. Worth looking at lots more "progressive music" from this era. Lots of good stuff out there. Thanks again.
This video popped up as a recommendation, watched part 1 and now half way through part 2. Great reaction. This Is definitely one of if not the best album of all time. best way to listen to this is in a dark room, maybe a couple candles out, headphones on, maybe a glass of wine, or for others a little more psychedelic. The whole album tells a story and keeps a musical theme throughout. It's genius work by both the musicians and Alan Parsons and the rest of the mixing crew who put this album together. The themes of the album are just as relevant today as they were in the 70's, maybe even more so.
As an old music producer who has worked both in analogue and digital and was brought up with this music I really enjoyed your analysis and reaction. It was strange watching someone who is obviously knowledgeable experiencing this album for the first time. This album is so well known that it's hard to find a fresh reaction from someone properly into their music. I really appreciated these videos man thanks.
Money has a 7/4 time signature. Your surprise that musicians from the 60s and 70s were accomplished is astounding because by comparison with today where actual bands are a rarity and everything can be corrected and created digitally you had to be good to make good music at that time. Next up, as a composer and producer, check out the documentary on the making of 10cc’s I’m Not in Love. It’s the story of the most ambitious and creative sonic adventure that most people don’t understand just went into its production. **ADDITION- wow! This comment has received so many replies! Seems I touched on something that’s been talked about for a long time, and there are people of both camps. David says 7/8, composers and music theorists say 7/4, and it all boils down to interpretation. A trained composer will clap a 7/4 rhythm very much like how Money is played on the album and clap a 7/8 differently based on what convention states, but conventions aren’t absolute. I accept that. So, call it what you will, but be prepared to explain it both ways if ever asking someone who’s never heard it before and is playing it from the sheet music, so they can get it right.
I'm literally bewildered by how little he knows and how little he's listened to music. I can't even wrap my head around how he could even be interested in music without having heard...anything.
There’s a band called 10cc that you might want to check out. One of their songs is “I’m Not In Love” and there is a video on “the making of I’m Not In Love” that will blow you away.
This is their 8th album. Their albums leading up to it show a fascinating progression. Their early leader, Syd Barrett, was their singer, songwriter, and lead vocalist. They stood out creatively under his guidance, but he developed mental issues and was out of the band for a few albums before this was recorded. This is their first album in which they settled on a 'style' of working and recording. One of the most interesting rock stories in music history.
22:25 "I think this is the first time I'm ever really listening to the lyrics in this album". Dude... you have failed the assignment. Start over and pay attention.
I know right? Up to that point I thought "Why does he totally ignore the lyrics?". But then he commented on "the lunatic is on the grass", and I realized he doesn't understand the lyrics because he's never heard a British accent.
The background conversations on Pink Floyd's *The Dark Side of the Moon* were created using a series of questions written on cards by Roger Waters. These questions were asked to various people at Abbey Road Studios, including roadies, studio staff, and even Paul and Linda McCartney, though their responses were not used. Some of the notable questions included: - "Are you afraid of dying?" - "When were you last violent?" - "Do you ever think you’re going mad?" - "What do you think of The Dark Side of the Moon?" These snippets were used to add a human touch and thematic depth to the album.
I'm 33yo and there's not a day goes by that I don't listen to Pink Floyd. The life comfort of this music is irreplaceable. Like you said on Money, there were no vocals singing during the solo but it was like the music was singing to you. That's the epitome of their music. It speaks to you and it can be different in retrospect everytime. Echoes live at pompeii is my absolute favorite song and version of all time hands down. ❤ keep the Pink Floyd rolling you won't be disappointed 💯
Well done!! I think you should listen to "Comfortably Numb" studio version first, then have your mind completely blown with the live Pulse performance. 'Dark Side of the Moon' represented a benchmark in popular music production and creativity. Recorded in four-channel quad, it forced many a teenage boomer to run out and buy new stereo systems just to hear it properly. Remember, the early seventies were still in the early stages of stereo and high fidelity. Floyd last performed the album live in full in 1994, with speakers placed 360° around the stadium and arenas that duplicated the immersive album experice. I saw it at Soldier Field in Chicago.. they did a good job. Extraordinary! Legendary album. Legendary concert... "Pulse". Don't stop.. you ain't heard nothing yet, "Wish You Were Here" full album next!! 👍👍
Pink Floyd has a very fun progression over the years. From Syd Barrett their first singer and to Roger Waters, the bassist walking out. I'd suggest listening to all the albums though all are great in their own way. Meddle or Animals would be a fun listen.
This album is an absolute masterpiece, it was recorded the year i was born and 51 years later it is still regarded as one of the best pieces of recorded music. I seriously doubt the generic music today will stand the test of time this has. The album as a whole is fantastic, but if you're listening for the first time pay particular attention to 'any colour you like ' the musicianship and production values should make any modern artists or producer shake in their shoes with envy.
I saw Floyd play this album live in Pittsburgh. The venue was called the CIvic Arena it was a sports arena that was round, (from the outside it looked like a big space ship). And the crazy thing was the ROOF WOULD OPEN UP. You have to understand that back in the day, some bands (like Floyd) would position speakers so that the sound would literally ricochet around the venue. So in Floyd's case the sound would be going side to side, front, back and would move clockwise and counterclockwise around the venue. You really didn't need drugs to feel your head expanding. They didn't play the songs in order of the album. I was about 10 rows back center. It was near the end of the night, so by then the building, as big as it was, was filled with music-enhancing smoke. ha ha. I guess Floyd had never played this arena, they began to play the song Breathe...as soon as they started playing the roof slowly began moving. The smokey air was sucked out into the now slowly revealing starry night. The look of the band watching the crevice of the roof getting wider and wider, was so euphoric. On stage they were mouthing to each other, nodding and smiling, mesmerized with heads back and turning to watch the roof open. And you know, when the roof had got to the maximum expansion, there was the nearly full moon hanging low in the sky and the stars above. It was incredible. I miss music that is designed to open the doors to your mind and imagination. Keep opening up to old music it will serve your music journey well. I listen to new music, but I do understand my privilege of being born in one of the most prescient times in music. Yep I'm a boomer. Raised on my parents music, swing and jazz, and then on to all the variations of rock and roll, blues and country.
just sayin' : Wish you were here was and still is my favourite. I acknowledge all the 'oldies' here getting nostalgic but I also acknowledge that we gotta stop sayin' the 70's was the best. The 70's was great for music and all kinds of other stuff too (films, tv cops, black forest gateaux, etc. ) but everything has to evolve. it was what it was , embrace what will be - I feel honoured that gen-z (or anyone younger than I) would be even remotely interested in the music of the past. Great reaction Isaac , and your other videos too. love them and it's refreshing to hear about the recording techniques of today. it's all about the music
I'm late to comment here, as i just stumbled on this couple of videos. I'm a 54yo italian, meaning that i was 6 or 8 when my father was buying PinkFloyd albums, and this music not only grewed in me, but it's always been a ... reference point to what "perfection" is. As an hobbyst composer i've always looked at this album like a painter looks at Michelangelo paintings. I really can't imagine how you didn't ever know this one, 'cause this album, The Wall, Wish you were here changed history and are "cultural phenomenons". There's a other stuffs from my "kid / pre-teen" era that i think are mandatory to know, if you want to adventure in other "musical trips" like the one you had with this album, and these are some of them: - Crisis by Mike Oldfield - Seconds out by Genesis (it is a doulbe live, containing the bests songs, and some sounds better than the studio version) - 90125 by Yes (some may disagree)
As of August 2, 2024, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon has charted on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart for 990 weeks, making it the longest-charting album in Billboard 200 history.
Really enjoyed your reactions on part 1 & 2 of this amazing album. I'm sure you will re-listen many times for many reasons but of course for the lyrics. I love your setup, the look, the lighting, everything. You are very goodcat this. You definitely are great at analyzing the mechanics of it (and you def don't have to talk constantly, it's fun watching you get it... experience it... enjoy it). Def do Comfortably Numb... I will go look for it now.
The lyrics for Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here make more sense when you know these albums were written in part with Syd Barrett in mind. Barett was one of the founders of PF but his mental health gradually deteriorated to such an extent that he could no longer function in the band. Reference to mental illness is a thread on both records.
As a person who knows this album and lived the era, it is epic to watch a reaction like this. All I can say is that there are hundreds of books written about this album and there are countless documentaries and videos that you can watch about the making of this album, what they did with tape and all. And as a young man who works in music I highly recommend that you study it. And, yes, the band ""progressed on"" from this album...just a little bit!
It’s really so crazy to me that music producers today would have no idea how things were done before music became digital. I think it would be very interesting to see you not only continue to explore these older decades of music but to react to how music was actually done during this time.
@@Taliesin800 This may be the most stupid comment i've seen in the past 6 months and i wanted you to know that. Do you have ANY idea how expensive it would be to acquire the technology they used back then? Tens of thousands, more even and for what? In the age of digital, why limit yourself to constraints of vintage gear that will cost you a fortune? Is the gear cool and good sounding? Yes. Should they be preserved? Yes. Used? Yes if you wish but if you don't make it in the industry, don't blame it on the modern technology, blame it on you not adopting the times. Sincerely, your hater.
Just been informed that young people think that in the 60s there were all a bunch of hippies doing drugs. Yes they were, and became one of the most inspired music movement in history. Classic rock from 1960 to 1992 is my favourite experience.
Lunatic is a term referring to a person who is seen as mentally ill, dangerous, foolish, or crazy-conditions once attributed to "lunacy". The word derives from lunaticus meaning "of the moon" or "moonstruck", unable to think or act normally, brainsick. The album "Dark Side of the Moon" revolves around a central theme that binds each of the songs and which is: (What drives people crazy). (BREATHE); If the performance required in life can drive people crazy. (ON THE RUN); If the frantic rush of life can drive people crazy. (TIME); If the fleeting aspect of passing time can drive people crazy. (THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY); If the thought of the inevitable end (death), can drive people crazy. (MONEY); If love, or lack of money can drive people crazy. (US AND THEM); If the abusive hierarchy between color, power or wealth between US AND THEM can drive people crazy. (ANY COLOR YOU LIKE); If the illusion of being able to choose can drive people crazy. (BRAIN DAMAGE); If the fear of losing their mind can drive people crazy. (ECLIPSE); If the fact that our life seems to be limited to, (All that you touch - And all that you see...) can drive people crazy. So be aware that even the brightness of the sun may be eclipsed by the Dark Side of the Moon.
It's a real treat to see a professional listen to my favorite album for the first time. Both parts were above and beyond what I expected. Thank you my friend from a new subscriber.
From the "For what it's worth department", I feel the corporate influence in the industry has sapped the creativity out of the music. As soon as you get people in a boardroom making decisions based on money only, then creativity suffers. I worked as a DJ in the late 70s and early 80s and I would pick the music played during my shift. Yes, I had a play list to follow, but within that, I picked the songs based on my mood and feeling. I went back and did a short stint at a corporate radio station in 2004 and was discussed how all the music was pre-selected by an algorithm. And very little was "live". I voiced tracked several shows over the course of a few hours. Given that experience I wonder if the creation of music has become as programmed. This album has stood the test of time because the musicians were in a studio together having fun. BTW - I am glad you enjoyed the album. If you had not, you would have opened yourself up to a world of hurt and hate from so many people who have this album as a shrine they worship to.
There's a great clip of Zappa saying, in the sixties the record company guys were suits. They didn't get the music they didn't understand it, so they just had to say, well, if the kids are into it, let's print it. Then by the late seventies, you had all these assholes who had opinions about what was hip and what would sell, and it crushed the creativity out.
My roommate had this on a real quad album. So, instead of stereo, it had 4 distinct channels. The mix on this album was epic. A speaker in each corner of the room and you in a chair in the center was an experience to be remembered. For a little equipment history, vinyl albums have one track as the side to side movement of the needle. The second track is up and down movement of the needle. There are up to twenty thousand undulations in either direction for a frequency range of 0- 20000 hrtz. To play quad, there were up to 40000 undulations per second of travel of the needle in the groove. Then it took the two channels that were 20000-40000 htz. and electronically brought them back down to audio range. Very few albums were made this way. Had to have some crazy equipment to make such an album. Out of 1500 albums, he had maybe 25 that were quad channel. In the mid 1970s a reciever capable of playing such albums cost $600. The needle and cartridge for his turntable cost $125. The records didn't last long either. The tiny little bumps in the groove of the album wore away quickly.
Ha, ha, I had 4 Bose 901s, one in each corner on crochet hangersI also had the Bose 1801 power amp that weighed 80 pounds.250 watts a side. I could shake the house. Recorded this from the record to my reel to reel. 22:10
@becauseisaac Here is a wonderful interview by Rick Beato of the engineer on this album, the master Alan Parsons, that just posted 2 days ago. He was just a kid at the time. He talks about the sound effects on Money and many other experiences. Enjoy.
Your reactions were a pure joy to watch, especially as you come from a sound engineering background and you're musically proficient Watching your brain fry through the album was soooo uplifting. You did us old buggers proud. Same thing happened to us, only 50 years ago.lol Let us know when you come upon Steely Dan. KUTGW.
Now listen to the whole album again, and pay attention to the lyrics!!
There's so much to take in, a lifetime of listening scarce scratches the surface
I've been listening to it for 50 years and I still find something new every time
THANK YOU. I am so disappointed in all the reviewers that completely ignore the lyrics of the song they're doing.
someone said, ty
Way!!!!!
"Did this win any Awards?"
It sold so well, it was in ithe BillBoard Top 200 for *ALMOST* TWO DECADES
I laughed out loud when he said that…. No disrespect to you, but yeah … welcome to the machine!!✌🏻❤️
I laughed out loud when he said that…. No disrespect to you, but yeah … welcome to the machine!!✌🏻❤️
Fabulous reaction.
And still sells ~8k copies a week...
This guy is so ignorant!
Many call this the best album in history. But few realise that this album is also a masterclass in mixing and editing. Alan Parsons did amazing work.
If you want to continue a master class in mixing, you should check out some Alan Parsons Project. I Robot and Tales of Mystery and Imagination are killer.
@@toddcoolbaugh9978 Alan Parsons's solo work is great unto itself. And he's still touring from what I understand.
Absolutely, the mix on this album surpasses next level and goes into the stratosphere, all these decades later after thousands of listens and PF on quality headphones is even more surreal now.
Few realize this?? Wrong. A LOT of people realize this.
Just saw an interview with AP, and a very young AP was at The Beatles rooftop gig! He was working at Abbey Road Studios at the time. He was an engineer on Abbey Road and Let It Be. He learned from the best.
“This song is long… like 7 minutes long” - Us and Them
“Hold my beer” - Echoes
Atom Heart Mother Suite enters would like a word
@@joshua43214 Hi, this is Shine On You Crazy Diamond Pts 1-9
Oh echoes is my favorite
😂😂
Echoes and Atom Heart Mother Suite best long form concept songs.
This is one of the reason we oldies think a lot of today's music is crap. We grew up with Floyd and Queen and Led Zepplin. Killer guitar riffs and drum solos. Au natural.
I may be old, but I saw the best bands :)
You might want to check out King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Not just the musical performances, but the lyrics. To be sure there are musicians today who write about a lot of interesting things - and seriously, much respect to Taylor Swift for speaking to topics to matter to people - but just all the things Pink and the boys are singing about on this album, it's staggering.
I have to say, the 80s broke my heart, musically. We went from a decade where songs from "Dark Side of the Moon" were top 40 fare, to "Walk like an Egyptian". Just meaningless noise, and it sold.
I grew up with Floyd, Slade, Bolan, The Clash and The Damned, but I still think a lot of todays music is great, if you only look, listen and give it a chance.
If only you guys would stop beating us over the head with it, being endlessly smug about how superior your eras music was.
People still make great music, it just doesn't hit you the same because you're not young anymore.
Dude, I’ve just spent a long time hanging out with you listening to one of the greatest albums ever made, and I have some feedback. First of all, I really like you. You seem like a super nice dude and someone that I would definitely be friends with. That said, at the very end when you said that you hadn’t been listening to the lyrics, it broke my heart. I need you to re-listen to the entire album and pay attention to everything! The lyrics are essential! This is an album that will grow with you throughout your life. And you will realize that the album is literally about life. It’s also about death. The whole thing, our whole human experience is contained within this album. You need to listen to it again and pay very close attention to the lyrics because they are as majestic as every other part of the album. I think everyone should listen to this album once a year throughout their entire life to see how it changes for them over the years. Thanks for the listen dude!
Don't you feel like we could use some of this these days? We (me Gen X) Had stuff like this to sit in our bedrooms and read lyrics with headphones on for hours before bed and then think about as we went to sleep. :)
Agree to a point. Just glossing over Pink Floyd lyrics is like putting bubble wrap over a famous painting to admire it.
Absolutely correct. Well said
Lyrics are soooo important in Pink Floyd's music.
And listen to the album from beginning to end straight through. These Gen Zs are so unaware. It's all about eyeballs and likes.
Pink Floyd is its own genre.
Damn straight
There’s nobody like them. Greatest band of all time
Not a genre, an experience. Eh?
I've ALWAYS said that since I started listening to them 50 years ago.!!!
I enjoyed watching you slowly evolve into a true Pink Floyd fan.
8:30 yes!!🎉
"You lock the door, and throw away the key, and there's someone in my head but it's not me"
YOU WINKED!!! YOU GET IT!
"I think it's the first time I'm really listening to the lyrics on this album."
Screeeeeeeeetch!!! Stop. Go back. Listen. From the beginning.
That was apparent from the beginning. He was hearing, but not listening...
I told him to go back and listen to it on his own and concentrate on the lyrics. He is a sound engineer so we could expect tha. It was a very informative analysis of the whole sound universe of PF and this album.
Hear hear!
Agreed. The lyrics of "Time" and "Us and Them" are deep. Roger Waters was the primary lyricist, and he had a real gift for it.
He was listening like a music producer. He was listening to how the drums were recorded. He wasn't hearing the lyrics yet. Sometimes albums unfold gradually. First impressions are first impressions.
"How do you do this on tape?"
Lots of mic stands, a tape player, razor blades, a lot of scotch tape, a stopwatch, an engineer or two, 3 or 4 sets of hands and a lot of patience.
CHEERS
Having Alan Parson as your engineer sure didn't hurt either! (Abbey Road, Let it Be, Year of the Cat, his own Project work, etc.) The man with the golden ear.
Bingo. Although you don't really need more hands or the stop watch. Razor, tape and grease pencil is all you need. Stools with empty reels on them to guide the tape for the long loops works great.
It's so easy and fast to do in a DAW nowdays (not to mention easily reversed), but I kinda miss making a good tape edit.
Don’t forget the acid and the whiskey.
…
And a big budget….. something we don’t have these days
🎉You’re absolutely right…this isn’t a “genre”…it’s an experience‼️ Welcome to 1973.
Nostalgic music memories. The year I left my 6th form to attend Polytechnic, this music was my life.
He doesn’t know what the “conversations” are because he talks all over them.
I disagree.
It's a genre of one.
Love them or hate them, NOBODY does music like Pink Floyd.
It's fucking wild that Pink Floyd, between 1973 and 1979 (SIX years) produced Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Just one of those albums would make any band stand out and close to legend status, but 4 of them? In succession? Bro, GTFO :D
@@verrigo And these albums are inferior to what PF did BEFORE DSOTM...
Just read through the comments here, and suddenly feel that I'm not alone. There are so many people that have already voiced my previous comments. I want to reach out and shake the hand of so many 'musical friends' that obviously understand this album and know the true importance of it, Thank you.
I feel that way too brother. I'm 66 yrs old and been a Pink Floyd fan since I was 13. They are phenomenal in every aspect. I can't imagine life without them. Thank you God.
My late father introduced me to Floyd when I was a kid. I am 61 years old now, and this was his, and also my favourite album. He treated all his records with reverence, and I was lucky enough to be able to share many listening experiences with him. I miss you, Dad...
I recently tripped on mushrooms and listened to "Dark Side" and then "Animals". It was a transcendent experience I will never forget.
@@dathorndike4908 That'll do it...
It's called a concept album/progressive rock. It's one of the best album of all times
But he was right, that they've started with psychedelic rock (esp. with Syd Barrett)
@@rainerzufall42 Sometimes referred to as Acid Rock as well.
This is arguably the best album ever made.
I've never really tried to explain why I feel this way, but a lot of the best (imho) Pink Floyd songs were on the Wall album, and yet Darkside is still hands down the better album. Just my opinion, but it hurt me a little bit when I realized that Comfortably Numb was not on their best album. And I don't even think Darkside was their best album, but one of the best albums ever recorded by anyone.
I'm loving the way this bloke is a recording geek in the now, and is fighting with himself trying to figure out exactly how they did the things they did 50 odd years ago to get such a iconic and memorable product, am loving hearing his take on how he thinks they did it ... there's actually a vid out there that shows the why, how and who did what ... Huge up's to Alan Parsons and PF for this masterpiece !!!
It’s pretty amazing
@@becauseisaacit’s “Classic Albums - The making of Dark Side of the Moon”
@@becauseisaacI would recommend definitely paying attention to the lyrics. Pink Floyd are some of the best lyricist in music.
When "Money" started playing, he gradually got a puzzled look, and I knew he was trying to figure out that time signature. Kudos to him for quickly realizing it was in 7 time.
@@becauseisaacThe sound engineer Alan Parsons also had a great group "The Alan Parsons Project" with great songs as Sirius
51 years later and still sounds utterly original and ahead of its time. I cracked up when you finally started listening to the lyrics during Brain Damage. You should read the lyrics. The Pulse performance of Comfortably Numb is iconic but I'm also thinking you would seriously love the Wish You Were Here album. Might as well follow that up with Animals while you're diving down the rabbit hole, too. Thanks for a great reaction!
SLOW DOWN COWBOY. this kid needs to sneak out back...and SMOKE A JOINT!!! UPTIGHT A BIT???? Arrogant? Ignorant. It's curable!
I love Pink Floyd but could never get Animals; maybe something is wrong with me. I could not stand any of those songs.
And for some fun insight into the making of a few of the songs and a great snapshot of Pink Floyd performing in 1972 I suggest the video, "Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii".
@@munroborisenko7278 I agree. I followed the Floyd from Syd's time. I was a big fan and I owned every LP they released until 1977. However Animals was the last album of theirs that I ever bought. It was clear with that album that the band were no longer working together. The disintegration was beginning to show in Wish you were Here in that, despite its compositional excellence, it was infected by a element of sterility in its recording and performance. Nothing they released post 1975 represented the Floyd to my ear. Barrett's Floyd and the following four: Meddle, Obscured by Clouds, Dark Side and Wish You Were Here best represent their most creative and cohesive material.
Ian Hillan I had to fight my impulsive reaction, This fella was unaware of Dark Side,Wish You Were here,Animals and The Wall.I am a Punk,but a lover of music first. I love The Beatles. Animals is one of my faves,and this Dude is not aware of it`s existence. I play as well as listen,so i could concur with a lot of his observations,regarding structure and recording. This Man owes it to Himself,to gain a better knowledge of Music. What next,Mozart,i haven`t heard Him but i will offer a first reaction critique.
One of the great prog rock bands of the time along with YES, the Mozart's of the era. long live the 60's and 70's music.
Greatest Album of all time. That is why it has been on the charts for 1000 weeks.
2500 weeks
I put Animals above Dark side, only just.
Personally, I would rank Sgt. Pepper #1 and this one #2.
The only problem is that, while some of Pink Floyd's subsequent album's were pretty damn good, they probably never quite bottled the lightning like they did with this one.
A Saucerful of Secrets is better... Sorry... And I also prefer Ummagumma, More, Pompeï or Meddle
If you're at all interested, the movie Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii has many sequences showing the guys in the studio recording Dark Side of the Moon, showing the equipment, the synths and sound machines they used and how they experimented with it all to come up with the final product.
They recently did a making of DSOM and I think they used some of the same footage as seen in Live at Pompeii
@@ethnoberg Will have to check that out. Thanks :)
And the snippets of conversations that were used in this album!
live at pimpeii is another classic
I posted the same info about Live at Pompeii under the part 1 video. Keep in mind there are several different things released under the name "Live at Pompeii", one is only the amphitheater concert, another is a more modern David Gilmore only thing, another is the thing we are referring to here, which jumps back and forth between the concert and the studio (and a diner where they get breakfast). :)
There is a reason music from back then is still amazingly popular. Quality never dies. Youve taken a step into a lifetime of awesomeness
There was a LOT of crap produced then too. It is just the good stuff has stood the test of time. The cream has risen to the top, so-to-speak
There's always decent music around. You just have to work damned hard to find it...
The 'Live at Pompeii ' video really lets you in on how the band worked together to create the original sounds and then put them into their songs. All creative geniuses. I wonder how many experimental riffs or beats never made it through the smoke filled haze of just jamming together
Lucky me, I've just found another channel featuring a guy who actually knows of which he speaks.
I've only been listening to this album for for 50 years, still have the original LP.
Your turn young fella, I wish you at least 50 years of listening to this album and having it punctuate unforgettable moments in your life, that you'll remember forever.
Im not old enough, born -87. But i'm so happy my dad got me into Pink Floyd. Years and years after, I know own his old LPs. Dark side of the moon and the wall. They really created timeless music that alwats makes you feel something
@@kivvm Mate, you could do worse than do a deep dive into some of the great Aussie bands from the 70's and 80's like Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, The Angels etc.
For me it's the music and the lyrics first, then the production.
Maybe that's not your bag, but there's a lot of good tracks out there.
For music production I'd look at The Moody Blues or the Alan Parsons Project.
Well put! ❤
Lucky lucky you to still have the vinyl.
@@NedKLee Born in '84, and I didn't get into Pink Floyd until my late teens, since my parents were largely Elvis and 50s/60s country people. But I did have a car dealership demo tape with Alan Parsons on it when I was a kid. Mammagamma has been in my head ever since. Guess I have that to thank for my eventual gravitation toward Prog Rock and Industrial Metal among other genres. You came up in the best of musical eras, though, old-timer. ✌♥🤘
Clare Torry is the female vocalist and how did you get to your present age in the music industry without hearing about Pink Floyd. Mindblowing.
Something like 10,000 people per day hear this album (or anything else "we all know") for the first time. (See xkcd 1053.) And he'd heard _about_ it, he just hadn't actually heard it.
@@DavidLindes How many of those 10,000 are actually in the music industry, I wonder?
@@Doc_Possum I don't know, but some non-zero number, clearly.
It happens. He doesn’t realize DAWs were invented to make music with this many tracks and special effects easier.
@@eyetalic uhh, yes he does, he talks about that. :P
As a younger producer, there is a lot to be learned from the old time innovators. A lot of the things they did the hard way have been forgotten in modern music. If producers like yourself get immersed in things like this, there is inspiration to innovate again today
Starts out super-analysing every bit. By the end, just sitting back in awe. That's what it does, my friend. Listen to more; you won't regret it.
That was so great to watch, wasn't it?
Isaac, Rick Beato just uploaded an interview with Alan Parsons, the engineer behind this album and many more. Much of your questions are answered there.
Also search for the story behind the vocals on The great gig on the sky... which btw is about dying.
This! 👆
Brilliant interview it is too!
Seriously, go check out the interview with Alan Parsons!
I saw he posted that interview. And there is an exceptional documentary, The Making of Dark Side of the Moon, that answers many questions, with Parson's commentaries accompanying isolated master tracks.
Yeah, what a legend that guy is. You forget how many albums he was absolutely key on.
I'm a musician myself, and PF is probably my favorite band. I've been listening to this since 1973 when I was 16, and I've also recorded a number of their songs in recent years, so I know them in depth. To hear an adult, a music professional at that, who is just now hearing Dark Side for the first time, is startling and sad, really. This should not ever be forgotten. This video makes the record sound like it's a rare archeological find. This should forever be the gold standard.
This should be part of everyone's introduction to music. Period.
Don't worry it's not an archeological find. Everyone knows that. I feel sorry for the poster of this video who seems to think he has discovered something. What he has discovered is that modern music is indeed, crap.
"This album has no genre" - he says.
We'll give it a few months before the penny drops. "Oh, modern industry shoehorns music in to product packages to make marketing more targeted"...
This guy never registers a hit in the feelz. It's all intellectual and technical with this AH. Inappropriate laughter. I suspect Isaac is some kind of 'path.
Fear not. I was born in 1989 and this album has been in my life for as long as I can remember. I won’t have my own kids but I assure you I will make my niece and nephews listen to it with far more appreciation than this guy is giving it.
Watching this guy so coldly analyze the soul straight out of this album makes my soul hurt. Talk about missing the point🤦♂️
@@cantymccantfuce2078 Your feelz don't extend to basic manners and decency when talking to people?
The genre is Pink Floyd.
Psychedelic Rock might be the closest it could be described in the usual terms
Well said and I wish more young people knew what that meant
Yes the whole idea is beyond the limits of category
Absolutely ... when he got to that point he was that much closer to understanding .
Psychedelic Prog Rock. They evolved as a band from Psychedelic into Progressive Rock
19:20 you hit the nail on the head, music today lacks the playfulness that allows masterpieces like this to be born. Be inspired.
And I see irony in his statement - he claims to have been professionally producing and writing for 10 years and has never heard this? It sounds like his focus has been on making money, not music. The deeper apect is not fun, but creativity - they weren't assembling widget songs for the market, the were creating art.
Recording engineering and mixing all done by Alan Parsons. He also did a quad mix at the time. The whole album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Parsons got his start as an assistant engineer on The Beatles "Abbey Road" album in '69. He got into producing on his own after this album even though he was asked to engineer the next Pink Floyd album "Wish You Were Here" (which I think should be the next one you experience). Parsons started recording and releasing his own music as The Alan Parsons Project and released 10 albums from 1976 to 1987.
They did all this on 16-track machines. But there was a lot of pre-mix bouncing going on to clear some tracks out for new effects.
No one has actually listed the members of this band yet...
David Gilmour - Guitars, vocals, Synthi AKS.
Roger Waters - Bass, vocals, VCS 3 (synth), tape loops (he did the tape loop effects at the start of "Money")
Nick Mason - Drums, percussion, tape loops.
Richard Wright - Organs (Hammond and Farfisa), piano, electric piano (Wurlitzer and Rhodes), EMS, VCS 3, Synthi AKS (all three different kinds of synths), vocals.
While the band had been together since 1965, their first album was in '67 and very much psychedelic. Gilmour was not yet a member, instead Syd Barrett was on guitar and vocals and the primary song writer. Barrett had drug issues that caused him to spiral into a mental breakdown. Gilmour was brought in on their second album, but Barrett had to be kicked out by '68. Waters became the primary lyricist from that point on. The other members would contribute mostly to the music. The affect on the band that Barrett had influenced some of this album, mostly the ending. But the next one, "Wish You Were Here" (1975), is even more influenced by Barrett who was still alive at the time, but had totally cut himself off from the world. The '77 album, "Animals" is not at all about Barrett, but his influence is present on the album "The Wall" from 1979.
Oh, and if you want to change your mind about slide guitars, or really, peddle steel guitars, listen to "One of These Days" from Pink Floyd's '71 album (the one before "DSotM"), "Meddle"
👍👍👍 you said everything 👏👏👏
Meddle is my favorite album!
Hey Joel, nice input and info for Isaac. Definitely got into the Alan Parsons Projects after DSOTM. Great music. Just a side note, which please don't take the wrong way, as I always thought the same, but the album before DSOTM was Obscured By Clouds. Meddle was before that. I always got them mixed up as I reckon Meddle is more like DSOTM Than OBC, particularly the melodies in Echoes. Thanks again.
Glad you took the time to educate this guy. Thanks.
Nice. Thanks. Nice refresher.
Incredible to listen to this with someone who knows NOTHING ABOUT IT. Every little molecule of this musical journey is fully baked into my DNA now and this is wild to hear someone talk about it from a completely different generation. I'm 65 and I'm SO LUCKY to have grown up listening to all the music of MY time and learning guitar at the same time. Such an interesting perspective.
Up until I was around 8, I listened to classical almost exclusively. Then came The Beatles, The Who and bit of Led Zepplin until early teens when I was introduced to Pink Floyd which changed me forever. It challenged me to listen to all music in an entirely new way. I’m 54 and a musician and the way I play music and sing was impacted by my love of classical music, and my love of bands like Pink Floyd.
I completely agree. I'm 56 and this album has always been part of the soundtrack of my life.
I’m 64, we listened to this with headphones, while high, tripping if possible, in my teens. It was revolutionary, inspiring, and I too am interested in hearing this young man being blown away by the album from his perspective
I'm 64 and have been listening to Pink Floyd since 1972. Love it.
Agreed. We grew up listening to this at a friend's house, being cool and grooving to the tunes, not really realizing that we were living in a golden age of music. What a great time to grow up (mostly). Add to this a perspective 50 years removed from a young guy. Really interesting.
It's kinda weird watching someone who hasn't listened to DSOTM before when I have known it for 50 years plus. Your right about a lot of the production stuff. It was recorded with analogue equipment, years before digital was available and they managed some incredible results using, what to you must seem like stone-age equipment! I think you began to realize that DSOTM is more than just a bunch of songs while you were listening. It's a concept album, and the concept is life. I know it was your first time, that you were listening as a producer to the music, and you were trying to formulate a reaction in your head but I would urge you to listen again with the lyrics in front of you. These are some of the finest lyrics/poetry ever produced in the English language. Each song deals with different aspects of life. 'Breathe' and 'On the run' are about work, pressure and the stress of modern life. Time is obvious, but it is about how life seems endless when you are young until you realize life is finite and your time is slipping away. The older you get the quicker time seems to pass. On your recording 'Breathe Reprise' seems to have been lumped in with 'Time' but starting with the lyrics 'Home, home again' is actually a separate section. It is about being older and religion. 'The Great Gig in the Sky' is about an afterlife, heaven if you will. 'Money' again is obvious. The difference between rich and poor. The killer lines are right at the end. 'Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today, but if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that their giving none away.' 'Us and Them' is about division between people, be it rich and poor or armies going to war. It's not what ordinary people want but it's what they are stuck with. 'Any color you like' is instrumental but takes it's name from a quote by Henry Ford about his Model T Ford. You can have it in any color you like.....as long as it's black. 'Brain Damage' is often said to be about Syd Barrett, the original singer of Pink Floyd who literally fried his brains with LSD and they had to let him go. For me however it is about the media, about politicians, about advertising and what you would these days call influencers. It's about how they try to get into your head through the press and TV (there wasn't any social media then) and change the way you think. 'There's someone in my head, but it's not me'. The final track, 'Eclipse', is a kind of summary, but it is tinged. You should be aware that in many cultures, the Moon is a symbol of madness (think werewolves). Once again the killer lines are right at the end. 'Everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon'. You mention the little conversation/statements throughout the album. They are recordings of friends of the band, roadies etc, which add a light humor. Later in 'The Wall' Floyd used this idea to even better effect, using sound clips from TV and movies to link/introduce songs. Finally, to round things off, you have the cover. The Original vinyl cover was a gatefold. The white light entering the prism represents life in it's entirety and the colors coming out represent the different facets of life just as the music does. The inside of the gatefold had then lyrics and personnel involved. It also had the rainbow bars right across with the green bar becoming a heartbeat, like an ECG. Echoed at the start and finish of the album by the heartbeat rhythm.
"You can have it in any color you like.....as long as it's black" - as Roger said its alluding to not really having any real choices in your life - there is a darkside to your existance and its black
Well said David. The song time haunts me as I'm about to turn 60 and you couldn't be more right.
@@GregHopp At the age of 13/14, just after DSOTM was released, I copied out the words of Time as a poem in an English class. The teacher, who had never heard of it, thought he had discovered a genius and made me read it out to the class. In the end, he was so excited that I had to confess where I had got it from. He was disappointed but said he must listen to that album.
How can any guy with a pair of balls take this band seriously? The squeaky voiced whispery singing, the laid back pacing, languid guitar, airy fairy lyrics and limp drumming. They're lullabies for stoned people.
Great observing you listen to this classic album for the first time ...... man, this music still brings me to tears at certain moments. Great content !
You're like a genius blank slate. The perfect reviewer/reactor. And I second that you check out "Wish You Were Here".
Watching someone enjoy something I've enjoyed my whole life will never not be a great thing
Definitely go down this rabbit hole!
This album is not a genre. It is a lesson on Mankind. It is the culmination of 50,000 years of wisdom and history, and a lesson about viewing and estimating the future. That's what this album is.
Well... It sort of falls into the "prog rock" genre. Moody Blues, Yes etc. My first Pink Floyd experience was the UmmaGumma album. Early PF, and if you think Dark Side is weird... In a good way.
“Wish You Were Here” album is stunningly beautiful. “Animals” album is a complex masterpiece. You are in for a treat!!!
yes and yes
This is, of course, subjective - as soon as Roger Waters took over, I stopped listening to it, wasn‘t as good as before (to me!).
@@milchi_ruheAnimals is very Waters dominant yet very good. Gilmour calls it his best guitar work. The Wall, yeah, i can agree but it's not weak by any means.
Previous Pink Floyd records are the best!
@@Hrithik23 no, not weak or bad in any way, but as I said - to me, the albums after Wish you were here aren‘t as good as the ones before. But again, this is a matter of taste
Great Gig in the Sky always gets them. 2 takes and NO ONE has ever been able to do it live - not even the original singer! It was a moment in time that will never happen again. You can hear her sing with her SOUL!
I went to a Brit Floyd concert a couple weeks ago, and the soloist NAILED IT!! She got a standing ovation at the finish. Truly amazing talent.
Clare Torry is one-of-a-kind.
IIRC, she was very pregnant at the time, and got called in to the studio at something like 2 in the morning to do that part.
When Roger Waters did his Radio KAOS shows in London, he brought Claire Torry on to sing this song. I was there, it was absolutely amazing.
Lightening in a bottle, that is what it was, a moment frozen in time, never to be repeated again, and they caught it on tape, like lightening in a bottle.
Thank you. I enjoyed your reaction to this. Their albums were meant to be heard in their entirety.
Comfortably Numb! Yes! My dads Beach house was named Comfortably Numb! ❤️
To me "comfortably numb" was a stage you got to when drinking when you'd had precisely enough to soften & blur all the edges, but not make you sick. If you then could manage to alternate a soft drink with a hard one, or eat something, you could stay there quite a while, roll down the hill to get home (metaphorically), then bed & wake up relatively okay the next day😅😅😅.
Just subscribed. I'd like to see you review more music from the late 60s early 70s. It's fun to watch the reaction to you hearing songs for the first time. I enjoyed this. Nicely done.
972 weeks
I appreciate the way you listened to it in one sitting, as a masterpiece is meant to be heard. Back in the days of vinyl, you'd have a brief pause as you flipped the record to play side two.
It astounds me that many people these days in the biz or in general music lovers haven't heard some of the "classic rock" music that continues to define popular music to this day, not to mention groundbreaking recording and production techniques. A lot of the bands back then had played together for years and were super tight and intuitive, they were creating and at the cutting edge.
I grew up as a teenager listening to this fabulous music in the late 70s, it really defined an era and it's called classic for a reason.
The Dark Side of the Moon is a musical masterpiece by Pink Floyd that has spent a record-breaking number of weeks on the Billboard charts. The album was released in 1973 and reached No.1 for one week. It remained on the chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988, and has since returned to the chart several times, reaching a total of 972 weeks as of 2021. It is one of the best-selling albums worldwide, with over 45 million copies sold.
Peace
I remember getting this album 50 years ago, cracking it open and listening to it. The amazing lyrics are printed on the inside of the cover, so you could follow along as you listened. In fact, half the experience was reading the lyrics for the first time while you listened. Increases the enjoyment even more..
When lyrics mattered
@@Beachdudeca Pure poetry!
Everyone wants you to move on to their next favourite album. Do yourself a favour and listen to Dark Side of the Moon a few more times and give yourself a chance to hear how the sound collage stuff all makes sense, how the order of tracks matters, how musical ideas are reused and drawn together, not to mention the terrific solos, the use of space... I could go on.
I totally agree with this, spend some time with Dark side, after which I'd recommend spending some time with the next two albums chronologically. Wish you were here and Animals.
And listen to the lyrics!!
One listen is certainly not enough. I find new things in PF music almost every time I listen to them.
@@TripleBerg Ha! Listen to this one time! I`m on my 9,453rd time.
@@TheRealAko Add Meddle to that list.
this, young brother, is probably one of the top five album ever recorded in rock history
love to see how you enjoyed it
Isaac, I am so envious of you, getting to hear all the brilliance of the 60's and 70's for the first time!! You have so much greatness ahead of you that you truly have no idea!! Start with my Mount Rushmore of bands from this era, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Queen and then so much more from there!! Enjoy the trip!!
no love for the blues and jazz from America which influenced those bands?
oh well.
@@The1Elcil Lots of love. Even going back to 30's and 40's. Paul McCartney's family did sing alongs at his dad's piano, think When I'm 64. Before Bing Crosby the vocals were done by a horn player who came forward to add in a short lyric. That was my parents' music during WWII. The 70's was Vietnam. The more things change, the more they stay the same..
Check out Comfortably Numb, Pulse Concert if you want to see them live.
Pulse concert 1994.
Yes. What he said!
THIS!!!!!!
Pulse is not Pink Floyd. It's David Gilmour who owns the brand name with his own new band.
@@Firefoxy-rz1nwit’s three of the four members….yes it’s not the same without Roger but it’s still Floyd to me.
As a retired studio musician, I had the pleasure of working with Doris Troy, one of the featured backup singers on the Dark side of the Moon. Just to be in the studio with her was a huge landmark for me. Thanks for spotlighting this great song.
I understand the female singer on the pink Floyd album was brought in to temporally fill in those spots, she improvised her parts. There was some dispute re her minimal pay for the key element the carried over to the final version. The touring version used 2 or 3 different women to cover her part.
@@MaxMaxis-k4t I saw them in concert the women singing her part were not as good.
Claire Tory.
@@Sarconthewolfsam brown and co on the pulse tour did a fairly good job they have to put their own touch to it bcos of their personal vocal ranges and its a place to showcase what you have and a bit of fun every night you do the gig plus Dave Gilmour probably said to to them the same thing just go have a bit of fun follow the original melody of clare tory (if you can call it that) to a degree and bust ya balls out there 😂
@@billbones77 I think that's the way to go. The women in 1975, I believe, tried to copy exactly what Claire Tory did on the album. I believe that was a mistake at the time. She would have been better off doing her own version, avoiding the boos of the audience.
That was such a pleasure watching this reaction!!! It reminded me if the first time listening with my son, which was a amazing experience! Thank you!
I'm not sure if you're aware of the deeper meanings behind this album. When their band mate left due to his worsening schizophrenia, it kept a hole in the band, and this album was about life and how it changes..since you loved this, listen to Animals, and The Wall, they are masterpieces that need to be listened from start to finish. Also if you like to dive a little into the rock genre, try Rush...they are one of those bands that make you smarter, 🤣. Good luck on your journey! I subscribed so I can follow you through it, many blessings!
Pink Floyd, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Supertramp, King Crimson, Alan Parson's Project, and a few others are fantastic examples of Progressive Rock.
You missed Procul Harem, to this day Whiter Shade of Pale is the most played song in the UK
Jethro Tull. This guy needs to listen to Aqualung.
@@abc456f Funny you should mention Tull...they have been my favorite band for nearly 50 years! I guess I recommend them so often to UA-cam reactors that I left them off this once.
Agree, all of the above.
Rush
At the end of the party...you would always roll a joint, gently put on Dark Side of the Moon and lay on the floor in the candle light, between those big 3 way speakers and soak in the experience.
We used to roll more than one and listened to this fully in the dark
Ahhh, yes, I remember that ritual so fondly.
Yes yes and the incense, and the shag pile, and the magic mushrooms, it's coming back to me now
Great minds think alike 😊
@@Haroun-El-Poussah yes, though we had a bong or hookah
It's hard not to get lost in the sauce of the music, but I wish you would listen again, concentrating on the lyrics this time.
He's Gen Z. Don't count on it. He's most likely forgotten about it already...
I would not count on that.. He seems genuinely interested and into the music. He's going to listen again. @@SpaceCattttt
So true. It's like looking at a pretty sports car and not driving it.
They won the award of one of the greatest continuing selling albums of all time.
Dude, of all Floyd reaction vids out there, you did it right. Floyd is to be consumed album at a time not song. Saw them in concert in Germany when stationed there. One of the best live shows ever!!!
Great job.
As an audio engineer, I've been using this album as a reference track for 36 years, especially to test speakers. It's so well engineered, thank you Alan Parsons 🙏🏼
Yep. I remember buying a component stereo setup at Federated in Phoenix, AZ in 1976. The salesman demo'd the system using the DSOTM album.
Fast forward to San Jose, CA at a Circuit City in 1997 on a new component setup purchase. Guess what the employee used to demo the system?
DSOTM is always the first played when testing new components. It stands the test of time. In fact, it defies time.
Rick Beato just interviewed Alan Parsons a few days ago the day after you dropped this comment ua-cam.com/video/xrS6LWHz-dk/v-deo.htmlsi=Py6x7wzvV6MIfLfG
And only 16 tracks on tape for each song available to make this.
They toured the song-cycle, refining the arrangements, before they recorded it. Yes, they played this live before they went into the studio, the show was called 'Eclipse'. They planned the album to take advantage of the then-new quadrophonic systems, basically a precursor to 5.1 audio. This informed the pan controllers they used, that they called 'azimuth controllers'. These give a dramatically natural sounding 3d movement of sounds in the landscape. Huge kudos to Alan Parsons as the engineer.
Alan Parsons was a force in his own right. The Alan Parsons Project was an underrated progressive rock monster.
There is a documentary entitled " The Making Of Dark Side Of The Moon " which details the splicing and patching of 3 " recording tape stretched the length of the studio and looped around a microphone stand during the mixing process . Probably a nerve-racking experience ...
It's so good!
Insane genius!
I turned 18 in the mid 70s and this became my favorite album for a lot of reasons. Of course at a college that was in the heart of the pot industry that could layer in an additional experience. But straight or stoned it was an amazing album especially given the technology of the time.
The mix with the tools of that time was profound. The use of instruments and vocals was unlike anything I had heard. The journey of a continuous track only interrupted by having to flip the album to side B let you drift into the heartbeat of the music.
I have the original quad album and used to sit in the middle of a room with four speakers as sounds flew across the room and then surrounded and enveloped me. The quad is an entirely additional experience in a way no one had ever played with.
I still have the amp that had settings for quad, 4ch, mtx, 2ch. It was the beginnings of a whole new world in music immersion. I would love to listen again the original quad mix if that 50 year old amp still fires up.
I am so old I actually went to see them right after this album came out. It was in a theatre on the SMU campus and a fairly small venue in the early 1980's. The speakers were placed all about the theatre to recreate the total surround sound experience. One of the best concerts I have ever been to. It was stunning live. They were able to recreate the same background sounds as the album. True genius and perfectionism.
My boyfriend at the time was an in-town roadie. Pink Floyd had the hardest set-up and the most trailers. ❤ Phoenix, AZ.
If you’re a “music producer “ and never heard Dark Side……what have you been doing. It’s one of the best recordings in history. It was on the charts for 40+ years. It’s a masterclass in musicianship and music production.
These people live in an echo chamber.
I would love to see the musical theatre director who has never heard of Andrew Lloyd Webber....
Them: "Yeah, but have you seen Wicked!?"
Me: "No, no I have not..."
Honestly, artists of any discipline should know the history of their art. Unfortunately that's not the case. I've spoken to film students who complains that they have to study film history and just want to grab a camera and make movies. They have zero respect or appreciation for their own art and just want to be famous. I'm sure many musicians and producers have this attitude too. They just think old stuffs are outdated and not worth their time.
@@JackChurchill101 I had a friend who worked on wicked lol but I fully get your point
Thanks so much for reviewing this album. It was really interesting to hear a modern producer's view of techniques etc. Worth looking at lots more "progressive music" from this era. Lots of good stuff out there. Thanks again.
This video popped up as a recommendation, watched part 1 and now half way through part 2. Great reaction. This Is definitely one of if not the best album of all time. best way to listen to this is in a dark room, maybe a couple candles out, headphones on, maybe a glass of wine, or for others a little more psychedelic. The whole album tells a story and keeps a musical theme throughout. It's genius work by both the musicians and Alan Parsons and the rest of the mixing crew who put this album together. The themes of the album are just as relevant today as they were in the 70's, maybe even more so.
As an old music producer who has worked both in analogue and digital and was brought up with this music I really enjoyed your analysis and reaction. It was strange watching someone who is obviously knowledgeable experiencing this album for the first time. This album is so well known that it's hard to find a fresh reaction from someone properly into their music. I really appreciated these videos man thanks.
I concur
in the Classic Albums documentation, Dave Gilmour says he would've loved to have discovered the album like a 1st-time listener
He couldn't count to 7
@@daviddwyer6824haha fair point
@@Curlybenjihe gets there eventually! I think he was saying it wasn't quite 7/8, but it is obv
Now it's your time to take what you've learned and bring back some of the magic that's been lost over the decades.
Wilco, my friend, Wilco.
It’s so cool to see somebody who knows and appreciates music listen to this masterpiece for the first time. Thank you!
And now you have heard The Dark Side Of The Moon.
Welcome to the world.
Money has a 7/4 time signature. Your surprise that musicians from the 60s and 70s were accomplished is astounding because by comparison with today where actual bands are a rarity and everything can be corrected and created digitally you had to be good to make good music at that time. Next up, as a composer and producer, check out the documentary on the making of 10cc’s I’m Not in Love. It’s the story of the most ambitious and creative sonic adventure that most people don’t understand just went into its production. **ADDITION- wow! This comment has received so many replies! Seems I touched on something that’s been talked about for a long time, and there are people of both camps. David says 7/8, composers and music theorists say 7/4, and it all boils down to interpretation. A trained composer will clap a 7/4 rhythm very much like how Money is played on the album and clap a 7/8 differently based on what convention states, but conventions aren’t absolute. I accept that. So, call it what you will, but be prepared to explain it both ways if ever asking someone who’s never heard it before and is playing it from the sheet music, so they can get it right.
I'm literally bewildered by how little he knows and how little he's listened to music. I can't even wrap my head around how he could even be interested in music without having heard...anything.
Except for the solo that's in 4/4. That's why it feels like it speeds up.
@@redadamearthagree
Yes, I was thinking he should look into 10cc i’m not in love when he made the layering comment in part 1. It’d blow his mind.
Is it 7/4? I always thought it was 7/8?
There’s a band called 10cc that you might want to check out. One of their songs is “I’m Not In Love” and there is a video on “the making of I’m Not In Love” that will blow you away.
Thanks. I'll check that out!
@@timspencer1can vouch, this one will blow your digital mind.
I bought a snare drum off former drummer Paul Burgess. Nice bloke - was really interested in chatting about music.
"I wonder what this sounds like live?"
PULSE.
And "Live At Pompeii"
It was fantastic. 1973
The “Pulse” concert is a must-listen !!❤❤
Exactly!!!😏
Watch PULSE!
This is their 8th album. Their albums leading up to it show a fascinating progression. Their early leader, Syd Barrett, was their singer, songwriter, and lead vocalist. They stood out creatively under his guidance, but he developed mental issues and was out of the band for a few albums before this was recorded. This is their first album in which they settled on a 'style' of working and recording. One of the most interesting rock stories in music history.
22:25 "I think this is the first time I'm ever really listening to the lyrics in this album". Dude... you have failed the assignment. Start over and pay attention.
That caught me out too. Listen to the album again (alone at night).
"Wrong! Do it again!"
So cringe. He needs to stop talking and just listen.
@@SuperBluewatermelon Very true
I know right? Up to that point I thought "Why does he totally ignore the lyrics?". But then he commented on "the lunatic is on the grass", and I realized he doesn't understand the lyrics because he's never heard a British accent.
The background conversations on Pink Floyd's *The Dark Side of the Moon* were created using a series of questions written on cards by Roger Waters. These questions were asked to various people at Abbey Road Studios, including roadies, studio staff, and even Paul and Linda McCartney, though their responses were not used. Some of the notable questions included:
- "Are you afraid of dying?"
- "When were you last violent?"
- "Do you ever think you’re going mad?"
- "What do you think of The Dark Side of the Moon?"
These snippets were used to add a human touch and thematic depth to the album.
They asked Paul McCartney to do one (he was around the studio), but he made a joke of it and answered al sing-song-y, so they didn't use it.
And if you were in a fight , Where you in the Right ? - Hence one of the response "Yeah I was Definitely in the Right."
"That geezer was cruising for a bruising" 😂
“When were you last violent?” “I don’t know, I was really drunk at the time.”
This album was engineered by Alan Parsons ( also worked on the Beatles' Abbey road and Let it be) who is an amazing musical artist in his own right.
Alan Parsons’s project was also a great album
@@MarkMcghee-e8h The name of his group was The Alan Parsons Project. The made many albums.
These guys were Musicians when being a musician was not only a job, but an art form
I'm 33yo and there's not a day goes by that I don't listen to Pink Floyd. The life comfort of this music is irreplaceable. Like you said on Money, there were no vocals singing during the solo but it was like the music was singing to you. That's the epitome of their music. It speaks to you and it can be different in retrospect everytime. Echoes live at pompeii is my absolute favorite song and version of all time hands down. ❤ keep the Pink Floyd rolling you won't be disappointed 💯
Well done!!
I think you should listen to "Comfortably Numb" studio version first, then have your mind completely blown with the live Pulse performance.
'Dark Side of the Moon' represented a benchmark in popular music production and creativity. Recorded in four-channel quad, it forced many a teenage boomer to run out and buy new stereo systems just to hear it properly. Remember, the early seventies were still in the early stages of stereo and high fidelity.
Floyd last performed the album live in full in 1994, with speakers placed 360° around the stadium and arenas that duplicated the immersive album experice. I saw it at Soldier Field in Chicago.. they did a good job. Extraordinary!
Legendary album. Legendary concert... "Pulse".
Don't stop.. you ain't heard nothing yet, "Wish You Were Here" full album next!! 👍👍
This is how music should be played; not digitised and quantised to within an inch of its life. Welcome to the amazing world of PF. Glad you got there.
Pink Floyd has a very fun progression over the years. From Syd Barrett their first singer and to Roger Waters, the bassist walking out. I'd suggest listening to all the albums though all are great in their own way. Meddle or Animals would be a fun listen.
It's not a genre, it's Pink Floyd!
Well, they weren't the most impressive prog rock band
Pink Floyd is their own genre.
This album is an absolute masterpiece, it was recorded the year i was born and 51 years later it is still regarded as one of the best pieces of recorded music. I seriously doubt the generic music today will stand the test of time this has. The album as a whole is fantastic, but if you're listening for the first time pay particular attention to 'any colour you like ' the musicianship and production values should make any modern artists or producer shake in their shoes with envy.
I saw Floyd play this album live in Pittsburgh. The venue was called the CIvic Arena it was a sports arena that was round, (from the outside it looked like a big space ship). And the crazy thing was the ROOF WOULD OPEN UP. You have to understand that back in the day, some bands (like Floyd) would position speakers so that the sound would literally ricochet around the venue. So in Floyd's case the sound would be going side to side, front, back and would move clockwise and counterclockwise around the venue. You really didn't need drugs to feel your head expanding. They didn't play the songs in order of the album. I was about 10 rows back center. It was near the end of the night, so by then the building, as big as it was, was filled with music-enhancing smoke. ha ha. I guess Floyd had never played this arena, they began to play the song Breathe...as soon as they started playing the roof slowly began moving. The smokey air was sucked out into the now slowly revealing starry night. The look of the band watching the crevice of the roof getting wider and wider, was so euphoric. On stage they were mouthing to each other, nodding and smiling, mesmerized with heads back and turning to watch the roof open. And you know, when the roof had got to the maximum expansion, there was the nearly full moon hanging low in the sky and the stars above. It was incredible.
I miss music that is designed to open the doors to your mind and imagination. Keep opening up to old music it will serve your music journey well. I listen to new music, but I do understand my privilege of being born in one of the most prescient times in music. Yep I'm a boomer. Raised on my parents music, swing and jazz, and then on to all the variations of rock and roll, blues and country.
just sayin' : Wish you were here was and still is my favourite. I acknowledge all the 'oldies' here getting nostalgic but I also acknowledge that we gotta stop sayin' the 70's was the best. The 70's was great for music and all kinds of other stuff too (films, tv cops, black forest gateaux, etc. ) but everything has to evolve. it was what it was , embrace what will be - I feel honoured that gen-z (or anyone younger than I) would be even remotely interested in the music of the past. Great reaction Isaac , and your other videos too. love them and it's refreshing to hear about the recording techniques of today. it's all about the music
Yes, they're British. And we are very proud of them.
As you should be...
As well you should be.
@@freeclimb5487 😂
British yes, but also a world treasure.
Don't go overboard there old chap, we are quite proud of them, thank you.
I'm late to comment here, as i just stumbled on this couple of videos. I'm a 54yo italian, meaning that i was 6 or 8 when my father was buying PinkFloyd albums, and this music not only grewed in me, but it's always been a ... reference point to what "perfection" is. As an hobbyst composer i've always looked at this album like a painter looks at Michelangelo paintings. I really can't imagine how you didn't ever know this one, 'cause this album, The Wall, Wish you were here changed history and are "cultural phenomenons".
There's a other stuffs from my "kid / pre-teen" era that i think are mandatory to know, if you want to adventure in other "musical trips" like the one you had with this album, and these are some of them:
- Crisis by Mike Oldfield
- Seconds out by Genesis (it is a doulbe live, containing the bests songs, and some sounds better than the studio version)
- 90125 by Yes (some may disagree)
Yes Seconds Out - Supper’s Ready will blow him out the window…
As of August 2, 2024, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon has charted on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart for 990 weeks, making it the longest-charting album in Billboard 200 history.
It also hold the Guinness world record...
Congratulations Pink Floyd!
...fond memories from my high school days in Canada
Really enjoyed your reactions on part 1 & 2 of this amazing album. I'm sure you will re-listen many times for many reasons but of course for the lyrics. I love your setup, the look, the lighting, everything. You are very goodcat this. You definitely are great at analyzing the mechanics of it (and you def don't have to talk constantly, it's fun watching you get it... experience it... enjoy it). Def do Comfortably Numb... I will go look for it now.
The lyrics for Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here make more sense when you know these albums were written in part with Syd Barrett in mind. Barett was one of the founders of PF but his mental health gradually deteriorated to such an extent that he could no longer function in the band. Reference to mental illness is a thread on both records.
As a person who knows this album and lived the era, it is epic to watch a reaction like this. All I can say is that there are hundreds of books written about this album and there are countless documentaries and videos that you can watch about the making of this album, what they did with tape and all. And as a young man who works in music I highly recommend that you study it.
And, yes, the band ""progressed on"" from this album...just a little bit!
The entire PULSE concert is the top o’the mountain - you really can’t go wrong
Hahaha brilliant reactions 😂 The Lunatic 😂 Best reaction I've seen! You're a funny guy 😂👌👍
It’s really so crazy to me that music producers today would have no idea how things were done before music became digital. I think it would be very interesting to see you not only continue to explore these older decades of music but to react to how music was actually done during this time.
It's the same in many fields involving technology. People who come in when everything is automated don't get the same root understanding of process
& maybe try to produce some of your music using ONLY what was available at the time of recording DOTM.
I'll bet there are some killer drum fills or something from the 20's to 40's that would be amazing if sampled today. Just a totally different sound.
@@Taliesin800 This may be the most stupid comment i've seen in the past 6 months and i wanted you to know that. Do you have ANY idea how expensive it would be to acquire the technology they used back then? Tens of thousands, more even and for what? In the age of digital, why limit yourself to constraints of vintage gear that will cost you a fortune? Is the gear cool and good sounding? Yes. Should they be preserved? Yes. Used? Yes if you wish but if you don't make it in the industry, don't blame it on the modern technology, blame it on you not adopting the times. Sincerely, your hater.
@@apollothegreatt Thank you for your comments.
David Gilmour is a musical genius.
Richard Wright, keyboards, runs a close second.
@@LinzDubNZ the combination of Rick and David was insane. Real symbiotic music.
Sorry to tell you, but without Waters there would have not been any of this album. Bye.
@@LinzDubNZ
Won’t get an argument from me.
@@MoreTEN PF did fine without him. Not so much the other way around
Just been informed that young people think that in the 60s there were all a bunch of hippies doing drugs.
Yes they were, and became one of the most inspired music movement in history.
Classic rock from 1960 to 1992 is my favourite experience.
You really really need to see this whole album played live at their legendary pulse concert. It's on you tube but I saw it live.
"Did this win any Awards?" got a follow outta me. Love your honest approach. Lends a ton of credibility.
16:15 that’s because it’s poetry and it’s telling you something, it’s cerebral, not a pop song. I’m glad you’re taking the time to hear it!
Lunatic is a term referring to a person who is seen as mentally ill, dangerous, foolish, or crazy-conditions once attributed to "lunacy".
The word derives from lunaticus meaning "of the moon" or "moonstruck", unable to think or act normally, brainsick.
The album "Dark Side of the Moon" revolves around a central theme that binds each of the songs and which is: (What drives people crazy).
(BREATHE); If the performance required in life can drive people crazy.
(ON THE RUN); If the frantic rush of life can drive people crazy.
(TIME); If the fleeting aspect of passing time can drive people crazy.
(THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY); If the thought of the inevitable end (death), can drive people crazy.
(MONEY); If love, or lack of money can drive people crazy.
(US AND THEM); If the abusive hierarchy between color, power or wealth between US AND THEM can drive people crazy.
(ANY COLOR YOU LIKE); If the illusion of being able to choose can drive people crazy.
(BRAIN DAMAGE); If the fear of losing their mind can drive people crazy.
(ECLIPSE); If the fact that our life seems to be limited to, (All that you touch - And all that you see...) can drive people crazy.
So be aware that even the brightness of the sun may be eclipsed by the Dark Side of the Moon.
I have never heard this interpretation before. Thanks for that.
Wonderful words interesting to read the interpretation, so accurate. Great thanks
It's a real treat to see a professional listen to my favorite album for the first time. Both parts were above and beyond what I expected. Thank you my friend from a new subscriber.
From the "For what it's worth department", I feel the corporate influence in the industry has sapped the creativity out of the music. As soon as you get people in a boardroom making decisions based on money only, then creativity suffers. I worked as a DJ in the late 70s and early 80s and I would pick the music played during my shift. Yes, I had a play list to follow, but within that, I picked the songs based on my mood and feeling. I went back and did a short stint at a corporate radio station in 2004 and was discussed how all the music was pre-selected by an algorithm. And very little was "live". I voiced tracked several shows over the course of a few hours. Given that experience I wonder if the creation of music has become as programmed. This album has stood the test of time because the musicians were in a studio together having fun.
BTW - I am glad you enjoyed the album. If you had not, you would have opened yourself up to a world of hurt and hate from so many people who have this album as a shrine they worship to.
Right. Btw, which one is Pink?
There's a great clip of Zappa saying, in the sixties the record company guys were suits. They didn't get the music they didn't understand it, so they just had to say, well, if the kids are into it, let's print it.
Then by the late seventies, you had all these assholes who had opinions about what was hip and what would sell, and it crushed the creativity out.
My roommate had this on a real quad album. So, instead of stereo, it had 4 distinct channels. The mix on this album was epic. A speaker in each corner of the room and you in a chair in the center was an experience to be remembered. For a little equipment history, vinyl albums have one track as the side to side movement of the needle. The second track is up and down movement of the needle. There are up to twenty thousand undulations in either direction for a frequency range of 0- 20000 hrtz. To play quad, there were up to 40000 undulations per second of travel of the needle in the groove. Then it took the two channels that were 20000-40000 htz. and electronically brought them back down to audio range. Very few albums were made this way. Had to have some crazy equipment to make such an album. Out of 1500 albums, he had maybe 25 that were quad channel. In the mid 1970s a reciever capable of playing such albums cost $600. The needle and cartridge for his turntable cost $125.
The records didn't last long either. The tiny little bumps in the groove of the album wore away quickly.
I heard them live, twice in Quad in '77 with Animals in the rain in Houston, TX. Unmatched ever. I haven't heard anything since that compares.
I was there in Houston, 1977. The quad for welcome to the machine was brain-blasting! As you say, nothing compares.
Ha, ha, I had 4 Bose 901s, one in each corner on crochet hangersI also had the Bose 1801 power amp that weighed 80 pounds.250 watts a side. I could shake the house. Recorded this from the record to my reel to reel. 22:10
@becauseisaac Here is a wonderful interview by Rick Beato of the engineer on this album, the master Alan Parsons, that just posted 2 days ago. He was just a kid at the time. He talks about the sound effects on Money and many other experiences. Enjoy.
Your reactions were a pure joy to watch, especially as you come from a sound engineering background and you're musically proficient
Watching your brain fry through the album was soooo uplifting.
You did us old buggers proud.
Same thing happened to us, only 50 years ago.lol
Let us know when you come upon Steely Dan.
KUTGW.