Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" turns 40

[Tusk]

There's one part where you mention that Syd Barrett had just left the band right before "Darkside" was recorded. Actually Syd was only in the band through the first two albums. "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" & "Saucerful of Secrets" (Which btw was the only album that all five members of Pink Floyd contributed to.) I think that one came out in 68' & Syd was already pretty mentally unstable by then.


Have I said I love Pink Floyd yet?

I believe in the documentary, they described that era as when PF did mostly 'soundscapes' and Waters said, without Syd's imput, they played to their strengths, which was sans lyrics, at the time. In this Bio, it said he was officially 'dismissed' in April '68.

Barrett was dismissed from the band in April 1968 because of his drug-induced personality problems; David Gilmour replaced him after covering for him when he began missing shows.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artist...z2OGGXJa59

They were still friends though, I think, so watching their friend slowly lose his mind was the impetus for both DSOTM and WYWH... He was definitely an influence if only as the tragic subject of many of the songs, if not the overall tone.

Gilmour said it was around Meddle that they began to coalesce as a band into the direction they were heading leading into DSOTM

Waters and Gilmour were the perfect balance in influence the way Lennon and McCartney were. One personality balanced out the other. Lennons's cynicism and stark reality balanced out by McCartney's pop 'always look on the bright side of light' sensibility. (Illustrated in the lyrics of the song, "It's Getting Better all the time")

The song's title and music suggest optimism, but some of the song's lyrics have a more negative tone. In this sense, it reflects the contrasting personas of the two songwriters. In response to McCartney's line, "It's getting better all the time", Lennon replies, "It can't get no worse!"

Referring to the lyric "I used to be cruel to my woman/I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved/Man I was mean but I'm changing my scene/And I'm doing the best that I can", Lennon admitted that he had done things in relationships in the past that he was not proud of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Better

By the time Pro's and Con's of Hitchhiking came around, even though a good album, I wearied of Waters' anti establishment fight against whatever .... I longed for Gilmour's lighter, more melodic touch to temper Waters' edge. On the other hand Gilmour, though I love his guitar work... I don't know, a depth, a weight was missing, it didn't have the grounding that Waters provided ....

Oh well, It was an amazing, preternatural alignment of talent while it lasted, DSOTM, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall were true Masterworks