The Dark Side of the Moon Hits the Big 5-0

A couple days ago marked the 50th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd's biggest album, The Dark Side of the Moon. I have run into many an article online about the album's big 5-0 including news that Roger Waters is re-recording the whole thing for reasons that aren't clear to me. Here's a rather lengthy piece that looks interesting.

While I understand the album's importance and don't hate it, I much prefer other Floyd albums, especially Meddle. I've got a real soft spot for that one. The pre-Dark Side albums are more raw and weirder, which I appreciate. Floyd performed Dark Side live in 1972 as they were working on writing and recording it. I think it was being billed as "Eclipse: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics" at that point and I find this proto-version of the album to be better than the released version in certain ways. While unfinished, I enjoy the rough-around-the-edges feel. The polish isn't there. It sounds more like a descendant of Meddle rather than an AOR staple.

Another reason I tend to avoid it these days is that I simply heard it way too much in my youth. "Money" is a great tune, but I heard it countless times as a teenager and I just don't think it's that great. The song just isn't able to maintain my interest over time and after repeated plays unlike, say, "Fearless" or "One of These Days" or "Echoes" or...

Three days after the album's release, the tour in support of it started here in Madison.

Sadly, no recording of this concert has emerged. But they returned 15 years later and that show was recorded. And from that concert, here's "Us and Them", a song from Dark Side that does hold up over the years for me.