The Album Review Club - Week #191 (page 1286) - Harlequin Dream - Boy & Bear

Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Those tracks on WYWH other than the title track and "Have A Cigar" never have a chance on "classic rock stations", which is why I don't listen to... CRS. ;-)
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I definitely heard Welcome to the Machine more than the title track on “classic rock” stations — in fact, I think I discovered the title track when I listened to the record for the first time! Have a Cigar was the one I recall hearing the most on such stations.
 
hilts said:
Speak to me - not much to say really its a pretty harmless short intro no point in scoring it.

Breathe - dull 4/10 wouldn't turn it off, would be fine in a lift :-)

On the run - wouldn't even class it as a song 1/10

Time - Much better 8/10 good addition of female vocal bit of a classic

The great gig - not sure of the point really could have tagged it on the end of time but it would have been a pretty long boring outro if they had. 2/10

Money - now we are talking, great lyrics musically interesting and performed very well. Nice sax solo to boot. Could have cut most of the guitar solo and it would have been a 10.
Top top tune 9/10

Us and them - getting a bit repetitive now 2/10 if you've already made Time and the great gig why do this ?

Any colour you like - like a noodling jam session, is it even a song ? Not really, seems unfinished 2/10

Brain damage - stand alone its a pretty decent song, suffers from what has gone before but 5/10 on its own.

Eclipse - At this point i have finally accepted its not an album to rate individual songs because there really isn't individual songs. It just merges into one long entity. Money is the exception and gives hope that the album is going to go somewhere, a change of pace and vocal style perhaps. An increase in tempo something a tad livelier to peak the interest. It doesnt happen, not even a bit.

Tbh Money doesnt belong on the album, cut it and you have 35 odd minutes of the same thing . Just call it dark side of the moon, a 35 minute song for people with a low boredom threshold or more likely having a puff.

I get the same out of lying on the beach at night slightly pissed listening to the ocean and the wild life.

The alternative have time, money and brain damage on and actually come up with some other songs. Its actually a very lazy album. Astonished its rated so highly.

3/10
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Thematically Brain Damage belongs on WYWH. And maybe even Us and Them. To me, the miracle isn’t that Dark Side is rated so highly. It’s that they were able to do Wish You Were Here afterwards and make it so meaningful. Their unevenness became pretty palpable on Animals, and really, REALLY clear on The Wall which is arguably the most uneven record ever made.
 
The first time I heard Dark Side of the Moon was at my Uncle’s house and can’t have been long after it was released. I say my uncle’s house, it is now but at the time was actually my grandparents. My Uncle was years ahead of his time, still living with his parents into his thirties, just like today’s seemingly permanent dwellers although I suspect his financial barriers were less persuasive. As it was I think a good chunk of his money then went on a state of the art stereo system, a fitting device for playing this perfectly engineered classic.

At the time I remember the clocks, filling the house with sound as they did were, well alarming… I get on well with my Uncle and get down to see him in Bristol once a year. Funnily enough last time I was down there I reminisced about him playing Dark Side and he couldn’t recall having ever had it. Suffice to say it isn’t his bag now.



I expect the second time I heard Dark Side of the Moon would have been courtesy of my dad. I didn’t see my dad for several years during my childhood as he crumbled (understandably) under the weight of trying to care for my schizophrenic mother who eventually became a fairly long time resident of Cheadle Royal with the asylum attendants suggesting to my dad that she would never come out. She did, that’s another story but in the sage words of Mark E Smith (Repetition, b-side of the Bingo Masters Break Out single), “they put electrodes in your brain and you’re never the same”.

Anyway, my dad was a Floyd fan but held a special “affectation” for this album with it’s obvious themes of madness.

Eclipse was a fitting if rather too brief send off for my old man as he was wheeled towards the crematorium flames. We got on well in the end.

So, does this album mean as much to me as it did to him. Well, no. I’m a bit unsentimental really. But when I refer to this album as being perfectly engineered that isn’t me damning it with feint praise. I only say it’s perfectly engineered because that is what it is considered to be, who am I to argue?

It’s also one of my top ten albums and just shades Wish You Were Here for me. I’m not so fond of Money as I think it breaks the flow of the album but I’ve got used to it, certainly don’t hate it and wouldn’t skip it. This is an album that has to be listened to straight through and I often do. I like it on car journeys at night driving home from somewhere on my own when it’s dark and I know I’ll get it all in. If the journey is long enough and I’m in the mood Echoes is a decent encore too. Two Friday’s ago travelling home from an event in Manchester it was just the thing.

I’ve only listened to it once this week, no need to do more but in the natural order of things it won’t be that long before I listen to it again. Wish You Were Here by the way is ideal Saturday or Sunday morning fodder sat with the papers and a croissant or something else sophisticated like that.

I think somebody mentioned about whether there was a documentary about the making of it, there are probably several and I suspect @BlueHammer has posted one but the ultimate for me is Pink Floyd live at Pompei where you can see some brilliant live versions of earlier songs as well as the evolving Dark Side. If memory serves me right you can also find out what Nick Mason’s preferred style of apple pie is. Maybe.

Scoring. 9 out of 10
 
Where I come from, this is THE classic stoner’s record — an album that would have registered merely as attractive and curious (if dull and lumbering) were it not for the proliferation of weed among effectively all of its adherents. Someone else mentioned the laser shows at a planetarium — I must have seen our local one four or five times as a teenager and concur that the underwhelming nature of the light show actually brought down the power of the music (a normal planetarium show with planets, stars and galaxies would have been better). And whilst there may be some disagreement here, I am firmly in the camp that OK Computer is a direct comparison, because like it, DSOTM’s wisdom (as it were), darkness and pessimism seem only observed, not felt. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t resonate, and I sense none of the cynicism, fan contempt and market-consciousness that I detest so much about Radiohead here. Plus as I noted — it has hooks. Big, whopping, swelling, orchestral hooks! OKC is a comparative hook desert.

As others have mentioned, this is a piece, or a suite, not a collection of songs. Pink Floyd have always been a sound over song band which I think is a shame because they’ve crafted some quite remarkable tunes scattered frustratingly more infrequently through their collection than I think they could have been. Here, there’s not a one I dislike, other than that the unvaried tempos mush them together as much as the continuity of production does. I suppose if I HAD to pick one, it’d be Time, or Us and Them, which I find rather beautiful, but I probably have a softer spot for Eclipse than most of you, in part because a closing couplet like “And everything under the sun is in tune / But the sun is eclipsed by the moon” is pretty much the be-all, end-all final word in dour English takes on the question of “Why are we here?” But I’m a guy who thinks Comfortably Numb isn’t remotely close to their best tune, which puts me at odds with nearly every fan of the band, so what do I know?

I rarely listen to this record because it indeed is a 43-minute symphony, and as I get older, and even when I was younger, I need and needed some bounce and variation. This has the tempo of a child sucking molasses through a straw on a cold day throughout. Money isn’t enough, literally. As I find this more a study of hopelessness rather than actually hopeless, the darkness doesn’t bother me despite my optimistic nature. And there are places where the slow-motion tsunami production really does lift you to a place few bands have ever reached. But I don’t feel anything when I’m done — no sadness, no exhilaration. I’m certainly impressed, but not moved. And it just makes me want to hear all of Wish You Here, the really good 38% of The Wall (including Young Lust and — particularly — Run Like Hell), or Pigs (Three Different Ones), which is all that matters off Animals.

It’s too good to be a 7, but too formal an exercise to be a 9. An 8/10, and with — honestly, I mean it — no second-guessing those for whom it means everything.
 
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journolud said:
The first time I heard Dark Side of the Moon was at my Uncle’s house and can’t have been long after it was released. I say my uncle’s house, it is now but at the time was actually my grandparents. My Uncle was years ahead of his time, still living with his parents into his thirties, just like today’s seemingly permanent dwellers although I suspect his financial barriers were less persuasive. As it was I think a good chunk of his money then went on a state of the art stereo system, a fitting device for playing this perfectly engineered classic.

At the time I remember the clocks, filling the house with sound as they did were, well alarming… I get on well with my Uncle and get down to see him in Bristol once a year. Funnily enough last time I was down there I reminisced about him playing Dark Side and he couldn’t recall having ever had it. Suffice to say it isn’t his bag now.



I expect the second time I heard Dark Side of the Moon would have been courtesy of my dad. I didn’t see my dad for several years during my childhood as he crumbled (understandably) under the weight of trying to care for my schizophrenic mother who eventually became a fairly long time resident of Cheadle Royal with the asylum attendants suggesting to my dad that she would never come out. She did, that’s another story but in the sage words of Mark E Smith (Repetition, b-side of the Bingo Masters Break Out single), “they put electrodes in your brain and you’re never the same”.

Anyway, my dad was a Floyd fan but held a special “affectation” for this album with it’s obvious themes of madness.

Eclipse was a fitting if rather too brief send off for my old man as he was wheeled towards the crematorium flames. We got on well in the end.

So, does this album mean as much to me as it did to him. Well, no. I’m a bit unsentimental really. But when I refer to this album as being perfectly engineered that isn’t me damning it with feint praise. I only say it’s perfectly engineered because that is what it is considered to be, who am I to argue?

It’s also one of my top ten albums and just shades Wish You Were Here for me. I’m not so fond of Money as I think it breaks the flow of the album but I’ve got used to it, certainly don’t hate it and wouldn’t skip it. This is an album that has to be listened to straight through and I often do. I like it on car journeys at night driving home from somewhere on my own when it’s dark and I know I’ll get it all in. If the journey is long enough and I’m in the mood Echoes is a decent encore too. Two Friday’s ago travelling home from an event in Manchester it was just the thing.

I’ve only listened to it once this week, no need to do more but in the natural order of things it won’t be that long before I listen to it again. Wish You Were Here by the way is ideal Saturday or Sunday morning fodder sat with the papers and a croissant or something else sophisticated like that.

I think somebody mentioned about whether there was a documentary about the making of it, there are probably several and I suspect @BlueHammer has posted one but the ultimate for me is Pink Floyd live at Pompei where you can see some brilliant live versions of earlier songs as well as the evolving Dark Side. If memory serves me right you can also find out what Nick Mason’s preferred style of apple pie is. Maybe.

Scoring. 9 out of 10
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That’s a wonderful review. I’m glad it brought back such memories. I’m glad you mentioned the Pompei, the DS stuff is really interesting and splices well into the overall feel of the film
 
OB1 said:
Along with the music, the album cover is perhaps the most iconic of them all (Sgt Pepper clears his throat). Its simple elegance is magnificent. Designed by Storm Thorgerson, it features a prism and light spectrum, symbolising thought and ambition, aligning with Roger Waters' lyrical focus.
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I figured this would come up, and iconic as the prism is, it’s only because of the record that it’s iconic, not the art IMO.

Wish You Were Here is actually my favo(u)rite record cover of all time if I had to pick one — yet another example of DSOTM overshadowing (eclipsing?) what I think is a better record in popular consciousness.
 
RobMCFC said:
Beyond a few missing years in the 60s: 1988, 2008, 2011, 2022.
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Thanks, I was torn between a couple albums, after gornik's nomination kinda fucked mine. But one of them is from one of those years so that has decided it. I might surprise you guys with a pop album. With synths!
 
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day!

It’s a masterpiece. I love this Album so much.
It was my Dads favourite and often played on the way to football with him, I have the album cover framed in front of me in the office. I can listen tirelessly and never get bored, the whole concept, the way each track blends into the next and the quality of production, I could go on all day with the superlatives but as I’m currently squashed on the train I won’t . Good pick.

10/10
 
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I’m glad this album has prompted such varied discussion.

Just a couple of final thoughts from me before I can load up the torpedo tubes! Like a few have mentioned this album takes them back to (mostly) happy times, it certainly does for me. Is it my favourite PF album? It’s certainly up there. I love WYWH it is an incredible record and certainly has one of my all time favourite songs, and one of my favourite pieces of music. On certain days depending on my mood I’d certainly rate it higher than DSoTM.

I seem to out on a limb with the vocals on Great Gig. I’ve always found it to be haunting (in a good way) and incredible demonstration of the human voice. Performed live it’s always a moving experience. Rob’s scalded monkey analogy has however ruined any future listens!

I didn’t chose this for the points. I chose it to see how the BM critics view it in the modern era. I think it stands up pretty well. My main reason for the nomination however, was to choose something that has had a huge influence on me since I was a kid. Thanks as ever to @RobMCFC to creating and curating the best thread on BM - chapeau!
 
GornikDaze said:
I’m glad this album has prompted such varied discussion.

Just a couple of final thoughts from me before I can load up the torpedo tubes! Like a few have mentioned this album takes them back to (mostly) happy times, it certainly does for me. Is it my favourite PF album? It’s certainly up there. I love WYWH it is an incredible record and certainly has one of my all time favourite songs, and one of my favourite pieces of music. On certain days depending on my mood I’d certainly rate it higher than DSoTM.

I seem to out on a limb with the vocals on Great Gig. I’ve always found it to be haunting (in a good way) and incredible demonstration of the human voice. Performed live it’s always a moving experience. Rob’s scalded monkey analogy has however ruined any future listens!

I didn’t chose this for the points. I chose it to see how the BM critics view it in the modern era. I think it stands up pretty well. My main reason for the nomination however, was to choose something that has had a huge influence on me since I was a kid. Thanks as ever to @RobMCFC to creating and curating the best thread on BM - chapeau!
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I think after such a well known well liked and rated album (rightly so), the only options then to follow it, is either go with a similarly high quality classic, or go with something new to everyone and off piste unknown. Anything else, would probably suffer in comparison.
 
GornikDaze said:
Thanks as ever to @RobMCFC to creating and curating the best thread on BM - chapeau!
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Thank you. As ever I'm standing on the shoulders of giants.

Shortly after I joined the forums, @BlueHammer85 had an incredible run of music/film/TV/books threads that kept us all going through Covid. It was one of his threads that inspired this one.
 
PINK FLOYD DARK SIDE OF THE MOON


I’ve never been a big PF fan,but I’ve had this album and WYWH in my collection for decades.
It’s one of the ultimate classic albums, like others I know it so well ,that like Bimbo it only needed one listen to enjoy it again.I also liked Coats suggestion of listening to it while sipping a fine malt unfortunately I’m off alcohol at present since my recent procedure.


An excellent pick if a little too obvious but I get your reasons for it @GornikDaze



8.5/10
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I figured this would come up, and iconic as the prism is, it’s only because of the record that it’s iconic, not the art IMO.

Wish You Were Here is actually my favo(u)rite record cover of all time if I had to pick one — yet another example of DSOTM overshadowing (eclipsing?) what I think is a better record in popular consciousness.
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If the cover was on a crap album, it wouldn’t be iconic but I am sure that they could have picked very many alternative covers that would not have been so iconic. I could be wrong but I doubt many people consider the cover of, say, “Thriller”, iconic; I know I don’t.

Can’t say that I have ever tried to pick a favourite album cover. I did love a Roger Dean one as a “kid”, had big postcards of a few on the wall at my University digs.

The cover (the whole package) to the vinyl version of Physical Graffiti is, not surprisingly, up there for me.

WYWH is good but I don’t think I prefer that cover to the prism, even though I what’s in the grooves.
 
GornikDaze said:
I’m glad this album has prompted such varied discussion.

Just a couple of final thoughts from me before I can load up the torpedo tubes! Like a few have mentioned this album takes them back to (mostly) happy times, it certainly does for me. Is it my favourite PF album? It’s certainly up there. I love WYWH it is an incredible record and certainly has one of my all time favourite songs, and one of my favourite pieces of music. On certain days depending on my mood I’d certainly rate it higher than DSoTM.

I seem to out on a limb with the vocals on Great Gig. I’ve always found it to be haunting (in a good way) and incredible demonstration of the human voice. Performed live it’s always a moving experience. Rob’s scalded monkey analogy has however ruined any future listens!

I didn’t chose this for the points. I chose it to see how the BM critics view it in the modern era. I think it stands up pretty well. My main reason for the nomination however, was to choose something that has had a huge influence on me since I was a kid. Thanks as ever to @RobMCFC to creating and curating the best thread on BM - chapeau!
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Never pick an album for the points. My best points score was a complete surprise to me.

DSoTM is a great choice and may have inspired my next pick. I have a fairly long list, in my head (must write it down), of albums that I would like to review. I have picked several off with my pieces on different years but you don’t find out much about what people think of those albums doing that. As demonstrated earlier in the thread, one of those was DSoTM so this pick is extra interesting to me.

I also find it a quandary whether to pick a widely recognised classic because I am sure not everyone wants to listen to something that is very familiar for their weekly homework. I am quite happy to do that; although I did not listen to DSoTM this week but it is not long since I gave it a few spins when working on my review of it.

Just spotted Mancitydoogle’s comment about DSoTM as a pick being a little obvious - and therein lies a problem, that I shall ignore.
 
I think I have deliberately shied away from PF due to the pedestal that they have been put upon, pretty much in the same way as I have with regard to Radiohead.
This is the first full PF album I have ever listened to and certainly and interesting and enjoyable few spins. That said I'm not sold on it being as good as "everyone else" suggests.
I found it interesting realising how much of an influence they have been on other bands and how that influence can diverge into the likes of the Orb & Radiohead. One I love and the other I can simply ignore.
I got to listen to this @journolud stylee,, in the dark driving to work over the last few early mornings.
It certainly flows as a single creation, save for those bloody alarm clocks, but I could certainly do without the into and then TGGITS.
I certainly got the woman being rather careless and repeatedly stubbing her toes, but I also recognised the fact that this was a group of incredibly talented musicians who have created something good....that has a few hooks and something that seeped into many peoples worlds and memory aided by drugs (not everyone but the majority I would suggest).
It didn't leave me thinking, what have I been missing all these years and so its a 7 from the Derry jury
 
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