Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon - 1973

It's not the first time, since I started writing about the music I'm listening to, that I've wondered how I could say anything about albums that are so famous, so big, so influential, that pretty much everything that could be said has already been said.
Add to that the fact that, while I like this album quite a lot, it's far from being my favourite Pink Floyd album, even though I can recognise its greatness. Still, I would sooner play any of the three albums that would follow it (or a couple that came before) than this one. I never have been too sure why, probably it's got to do with the fact that it was the album you "must" like, if that makes any sense.
This was, of course, the band's breakthrough album, the one that finally gave them universal acclaim, fame and a lot of money. And regardless of what I said above, I think they deserved all of it.
There are three things that stand out for me, listening to it again and trying (and failing) to listen to it with fresh ears.
The first thing is an obvious one, but still a very important one: The sheer sound quality. The band took their sweet time recording this one, and took advantage of whatever technical capabilities they had at hand. Produced by Alan Parsons, who had worked with them in Atom Heart Mother, they managed to explore the capabilities of stereo and quadraphonic sound to the maximum. Now, they had been experimenting with sounds for ever. What is brilliant here is not only how amazing everything sounds from a technical point of view, but how smart they were in using sounds to add to the mood of the album. As an example, take "On the Run", which is, pretty much, purely sound experimentation. But the sped up synths, coupled with the footsteps, moving from one channel to the other, the voices that sounds like someone speaking over a PA system, the doppler effects, all of it works to give a clear sense of frenzy, you feel as if you're in an airport or any crowded place, with people rushing by. The explosion at the end feels, therefore, slightly ominous, and matches the overall feel of the album perfectly.
Another thing that stands out, for me, is how much more focused this album feels, compared to its predecessors, from the composition point of view. It feels as if they had all the ingredients for a long time, but when it came to the point of recording, there was always a lack of balance in the end product. It doesn't happen here: every song seems to be exactly the way it should be, without any filler, and they all fit perfectly, as if they were parts of a puzzle that was finally solved.
The third aspect is the lyrics. And I think they had a lot to do with the incredible success the album had. They are deep, profound and deal with seriously important topics. But that's not, in itself, too different from what they were doing before, or what most progressive bands were attempting. What sets this album apart from any other album at the time is that the lyrics are completely relatable to everybody. They don't deal with arcane spiritual topics, or obscure myths. They are about the anguish, fears and obsessions of every day life. Their appeal is universal. And not only that, they are clear: you don't need to spend hours puzzling over what they could mean by a line, the meaning is transparent. And that is a rare thing and it causes immediate empathy.
And I think it is a combination of those three things that made this album so big. Their songs were more focused, shorter, so anybody could give them a listen without getting bored or exasperated. And they were talking about things that interested everyone. I often think that most of progressive rock (and hard rock as well) was a bit elitist at the time. You had to be a bit of a nerd to really be interested in the lyrics of Genesis, Yes, or even Led Zeppelin. But these guys came and would tell you: "you know, I suddenly realised that now I'm 30 (or 40, 50, whatever age you are), and I'm not too sure how I got here and time keeps slipping away", or they would tell you: "yes, I know, money is supposed to be evil, and bad, but I really want to have nice things".
In a way, this album made prog rock, not only more commercially available, but also more appealing, I think, to an older audience, who could relate more with the topics they dealt with. Probably that, coupled with the increasing over-indulgence of prog rock bands as the 1970s progressed, would end up giving the genre its "dinosaur" reputation they gained by the end of the decade, which would ultimately cause its own implosion. I'm not saying that this album killed progressive rock, but it would be a fun thought.

• In many songs, like "Time", "Breathe", and even "The Great Gig in the Sky", Gilmour's guitar sounds more bluesy than before, and it's a sound that he would continue exploring in future albums. And it's a great sound.
• "Time" ranks very high (probably first) in my personal ranking for most depressing lyrics ever. Seriously. The fact that every time we listen to it we're older (shorter of breath, and all that) than the previous time we heard it doesn't help. 
• Apart from that, the beginning of "Time" is the best alarm clock one could ask for.
• Claire Torry was originally paid only 30 pounds for her incredible singing in "The Great Gig in the Sky". Years later she sued them for songwriting royalties, which is understood. After that (and an undisclosed settlement), she started appearing as co-writer in the credits. 
•  The first single of the album was "Money", and it was their first big hit single, and one of their greatest hits singles of all times. Yes, they managed to make a huge commercial success our of a song that has a 7/4 time signature for most of the time. 
• "Brain Damage" is a clear allusion to Syd Barrett's schizophrenia. The line "And when the band you're in start playing different tunes" is a direct reference to the times in which he was still in the band and would sometimes start playing something different from the rest of the band. 
• At the end of the album, when "Eclipse" finishes and we're left with the heartbeat sounds that open it, we can hear Gerry Driscoll, doorman at Abbey Road saying: "There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact, it's all dark. The only thing that makes it look light is the sun".
• This album stayed in the Billboard charts for 741 consecutive weeks, from 1973 till 1988. 741 weeks is a long time and, hopefully, it's much longer than it will take me to go through all my music. 
• Hard to choose what to put here, and I'm going to pick 3 songs: "Money", because it's sort of a given, "The Great Gig in the Sky" because it's truly beautiful, and "Time" because it's sort of necessary to listen to those lyrics every now and then. And also, because it's sort of cool to post two songs called "Time" on two consecutive days.