I First Heard "The Dark Side of the Moon" on 8-Track

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd's landmark album The Dark Side of the Moon (colloquially known as Dark Side of the Moon).

It would only be a slight exaggeration to say I have been listening to Dark Side of the Moon my entire life. The album was released less than six months after I was born. My first conscious memories of Dark Side of the Moon would probably have been in 1976 before the birth of my sister. 

First among those memories was that our family's copy of Dark Side of the Moon was on 8-track tape. Thus, it probably wasn't until I was about 13-years old that there wasn't a break in the middle of "Time" as it changed tracks with that distinctive double click to get to David Gilmour's guitar solo.

Dark Side of the Moon also represents the first time I ever heard the word bullshit. 

While Dark Side of the Moon is best heard in its entirety, the one song which stands out for me is "The Great Gig in The Sky" with its wordless vocals. Yet Clare Torrey's anguish could be understood in any language. For some reason, I remember my dad being of the opinion that it was a man who sang Torrey's part. While there are men who can sing at very high octaves, to my young ears the voice sounded female. My ears have rarely failed me since.

In the five decades which have followed, I have learned a great more about who and what was involved in making the album. Through legal action, Clare Torrey would eventually share songwriting credit with Rick Wright on "The Great Gig in the Sky." Alan Parsons was the recording engineer on Dark Side of the Moon and while David Gilmour and Roger Waters have occasionally tried to minimize Parsons' contributions, it was he who separated Dark Side of the Moon from the rest of Pink Floyd's great catalogue through its space-like sound. After all, it was Parsons who suggested Torrey sing on "The Great Gig in the Sky".

Then there is the question of Roger Waters who wrote the lyrics for Dark Side of the Moon and much of the music. Waters is living proof that one can be a musical genius and a perfectly awful human being full of bigotry and malice. In Waters' case, he directs his bigotry and malice towards Jews. Indeed, just yesterday, the city of Frankfurt saw fit to cancel Waters' performance because of his history of anti-Semitism.

From where I sit, I am content to listen to Dark Side of the Moon and other Pink Floyd albums. I certainly don't need to see him Waters in concert, nor do I need to hear his forthcoming re-recording of Dark Side of the Moon without the knowledge of either Gilmour or Nick Mason. It would be like Leonardo da Vinci repainting the Mona Lisa or William Shakespeare rewriting Romeo & Juliet. 

Dark Side of the Moon stands on its own and will continue to stand on its own. There is no need for improvement because there is no way to improve upon perfection. Just listen for yourself. Then again you probably already have. But why not listen once more?