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

The Jezabels - Prisoner

Sticking with my minimalist approach to write-ups. A bit of a one-off album I really like. Saw them twice in the space of 6 months around the time this debut album came out. The first was accompanying a friend having never heard of them, the second by choice having loved the first. Bought the album at the second gig. Not really deep dived into their subsequent material, but this is an album I come back to every so often. Although predominantly a pop album, it has qualities of other genres I like, intensity, expression, mood driven, and a bit of 'bite'. It is an album that grows on you so worth a bit of patience and getting to know it.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd

The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paperboy brings more

While I have read most of the reviews and there's some great commentary on this iconic album, the one common theme is that we're all familiar with this. And I think "iconic" is the correct adjective to describe this release too. I don't mention the first line as a criticism per se, but as is the nature of this thread, things can change and swing quickly. Just remember that in "two weeks time" as the opposite is about to happen. And unlike a current politician who throws that timeframe around without ever delivering, this one will. And as they like to say without ever backing it up, "we'll see...".

There's not much more I can add on the songs here that hasn't already been said, but I will have a few points. First, the creativity and ingenuity of Alan Parsons as sound engineer on this cannot be understated. This is an album meant to be experienced in the whole, as the whole far exceeds the sum of it's parts. While I first heard "Time" and "Money" on FM radio, I didn't 'get this' until I heard the entirety of this recording of how the spoken word that appears throughout the songs, the merging of tracks, and the overall flow of the record happened. Just amazing and surely a study for any band with a similar approach concept album that has come since. Parsons recorded and assembled the iconic clock sounds in "Time". He used tape loops to create other effects like the cash registers in "Money". His approach to all the sound effects and advanced recording techniques (at that time) helped achieve the album's unique and crisp clean sonic quality.

The "spoken word" that runs throughout the album consisted of interviews Roger Waters conducted with people at Abbey Road Studios, including band members, roadies, and studio staff. Most were responses to questions about themes of fear of death, madness, and violence. Those responses were often edited and layered into many of the tracks, most pronounced in "Speak to Me" and "The Great Gig in the Sky". Other famous examples include the roadie "Roger the Hat" Manifold in "Us and Them" and Henry McCullough at the end of "Money". "I don't know if I was really drunk at the time", indeed. For the record, as much as I enjoyed this album, as it was said in Back to the Future: "I don't want to mess with no reefer addicts, okay?".

My favourite track from the album is the one where the sax and David Gilmour's vocals shine and take center stage on "Us and Them", lyrics by Roger Waters and music by Richard Wright. Just a beautiful track to follow "Money", and its here where the themes on the futility of conflict, exploring divisions between groups in war, racism, and social class. I find the critique of the "us vs. them" mentality especially poignant in the times we in the US find ourselves today, and for this reason alone, an album released over 52 years ago especially relevant. Only David can deliver these smooth vocals that sum up this track and album to me:

Down and out
It can't be helped, but there's a lot of it about
With, without
And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?

Further, I also have Pink Floyd to thank, largely from this album and their catalog in the '70's for helping to inspire my favourite Manchester band, Doves. This is quite evident in their shared appreciation and approach to atmospheric, spacious, and melancholy soundscapes, alot of that heard on this album and WYWH. I also have a big appreciation for the braveness and stunning vocals shown by Clare Torry and the music by Richard Wright in recording "The Great Gig in the Sky", a risk and decision that not many bands would have taken on. Then or since. It is only one of three Pink Floyd songs to feature lead vocals from an outside artist. I agree with @GornikDaze on this that the unspoken vocals are both stunning and beautiful.

Over on the Playlist Thread, I had nominated "The Human Condition" as a topic, but none of these tracks made that playlist. Maybe this was too obvious, but that is what this whole album is about to me, and why it remains held in such high esteem. Yes, I like it more than WYWH, because as good and as poignant as that album was for the band to make about them and Syd, this album in other ways is meant to touch us all. The themes here like death, greed, conflict, insanity, and the passage of time all touch on the Human Condition in one way or another. The "dark side" of such refers to the pressures and anxieties of modern life, the obsession with material wealth, societal madness, and the fear of death and insignificance. And in that way, this album always delivers what it set out to do on the whole on the struggles of existence. I'll argue that now more than ever, it resonates to point out what is needed, and hopefully to keep a few more of us sane in an insane world. It's a 9.5/10 for me for that reason, as a paperboy in the 1970s, delivering the news back then, with those lyrics always resonating with me.
Click to expand...
Wonderful write up and insight mate........
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top