THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

I bought this with huge enthusiasm in 1973, having seen the enormous potential of Atom Heart Mother, and then the wonderful Echoes gave me hope that Pink Floyd would be the biggest band ever... And of course they became the Biggest Band Ever in terms of album sales, but to me that was at the expense of the music. This is a good, solid album, with some very good catchy songs, clever use of the 70s equivalent of sampling, superb production - they could afford the best at this stage in their career - and almost no prog at all! Gilmour's guitar-playing aside - and I acknowledge that he is a tremendous player in terms of emotion - this is a deeply average album. I was so disappointed when I first heard this album. I expected so much more, but I now feel that PF were just not up to it; their work is forever condemned to being second-string, blues-rock based, occasionally enjoyable music. With, of course, Roger Waters' "meaningful" lyrics... I understand that many people on this site believe this to be the pinnacle of progressive rock, and maybe I'm missing something, but I've had nearly 35 years to come to the conclusion that for me at least this is no more than pleasant, undemanding stadium rock with sound effects.