Album of the week: The Dark Side of the Moon

Recently, I wrote about why I listen to an album start to finish without skipping and without pausing. I also wrote that I wanted to begin to do a weekly series of albums I do that with! For the first week, I picked the legendary Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon.

I’ve mentioned this before: I grew up not knowing a lot of classic “must listen to” albums and bands. My introduction to music was kind of haphazard, and random. This year, especially after launching the podcast, I started to go back and listen to albums that people would be shocked to hear I never listened to. This is one of them!

My absolute favorite part of this album is how it plays as one continuous track. If you aren’t paying attention to what track you’re on, you wouldn’t easily know. Each song just effortlessly moves to the next, making it an album absolutely worth listening to start to finish.

The most obvious thing to state about this album is this: It’s incredibly trippy. I understand why there’s so much talk about getting high and listening to it — I can imagine it’s quite the experience under the influence of whatever your choice drug is. (For what it’s worth, I listened to it sober, and still enjoyed it and got lost in it).

The last thing I’ll say about this album is that the final two songs — Brain Damage and Eclipse — are my favorites, and the best part of the album. Brain Damage now reminds me of Westworld (no spoilers here), and then it just rolls into this incredible drum beat opening to Eclipse, and it’s just. so. good.

So if you’re like me, and you haven’t ever sat down to listen to this album start to finish, then try it out this weekend! It’s definitely worth it.