'Speak to Me': The Legacy of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the MoonRussell Reising The endurance of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon on the Billboard Top 100 Chart is legendary, and its continuing sales and ongoing radio airplay ensure its inclusion on almost every conceivable list of rock's greatest albums. This collection of essays provides indispensable studies of the monumental 1973 album from a variety of musical, cultural, literary and social perspectives. The development and change of the songs is considered closely, from the earliest recordings through to the live, filmed performance at London's Earls Court in 1994. The band became almost synonymous with audio-visual innovations, and the performances of the album at live shows were spectacular moments of mass-culture although Roger Waters himself spoke out against such mass spectacles. The band's stage performances of the album serve to illustrate the multifaceted and complicated relationship between modern culture and technology. The album is therefore placed within the context of developments in late 1960s/early 1970s popular music, with particular focus on the use of a variety of segues between tracks which give the album a multidimensional unity that is lacking in Pink Floyd's later concept albums. Beginning with 'Breathe' and culminating in 'Eclipse', a tonal and motivic coherence unifies the structure of this modern song cycle. The album is also considered in the light of modern day 'tribute' bands, with a discussion of the social groups who have the strongest response to the music being elaborated alongside the status of mediated representations and their relation to the 'real' Pink Floyd. |
Contents
12 | |
18 | |
audiovisual stadium rock aesthetics in Pink Floyds | |
Pink Floyd classic rock and white masculinities | |
music myth and narrative structure in The Dark | |
the sound and structure of The Dark Side of | |
tracing tonal coherence in The Dark Side of the Moon | |
the enigma of The Great Gig in the Sky | |
the Pink Floyd | |
reading The Dark Side of the Moons philosophical | |
covering the dark side | |
the influence of The Dark Side of the Moon on the next generations | |
an interview with | |
an annotated bibliography of selected reviews | |
Other editions - View all
Speak to Me: The Legacy of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon Russell Reising Limited preview - 2005 |
'Speak to Me': the Legacy of Pink Floyd's the Dark Side of the Moon Russell Reising No preview available - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
Alan Parsons artists audience band band's Barrett bass Beatles beginning Best Albums Brain Damage Breathe Reprise chord chorus Clare Torry Colour concept album created culture Dark Side David Gilmour death dominant dorian mode early Echoes Eclipse electronic emotional erotic ethical example experience fans feeling film final Fitch Fitter Happier Floydian going guitar solo harmonic heartbeat human images instrumental Krause light listener lunatic madness major masculinities minor Money Moon Nick Mason notes OK Computer original performance Phish piano piece Pink Floyd playing popular music progressive rock psychedelia psychedelic Radiohead record reggae release rock music Roger Waters Rolling Stone segues sense Sheila singing slide guitar song song's sound effects soundtrack stadium studio suggests Syd Barrett synthesizer theme tonal tone tonic Torry's tour track turnaround verse visual voice Wall Waters's lyrics Wizard of Oz Wright