I listen to hardcore bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Norma Jean, who have taken rock to the furthest extremes of dissonance and rhythmic and structural complexity.
I listen to Sufjan Stevens, who writes lengthy pop songs that employ near-orchestral instrumentation, and who has also composed a forty-minute orchestral suite about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
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| The premiere performance also included a trio of hula-hoopers. |
I listen to Radiohead, a band that began as just another 90's grunge band and has phased through more sophisticated harmonies, electronics, and jazz fusion. Several of their songs use an ondes martenot. And Johnny Greenwood, one of the guitarists, has written concert music and film scores that recall Penderecki and Messiaen.
But I recognize that Pink Floyd holds an even higher position in the rock pantheon because it was doing really cutting-edge things way back in the 70's.
All right, enough introduction. Let's look at freakin' Dark Side of the Moon.
Track 1: Speak To Me/Breathe
This is straight-up musique concrete. We hear a heartbeat, ticking clocks, a cash register, a man speaking, and two samples of a man laughing. The final sound before the first proper chord is a woman wailing fervently. What do we make of all this? Well, after hearing the whole album, we know that each of these sounds relates to a different track. The heartbeat is the beginning and end of the album, the clocks open "Time", the cash register sounds open "Money", the speaking appears at several points, the laughing is heard later in "Brain Damage". and the wail is from "The Great Gig In the Sky". It's actually shockingly straightforward. The ensuing song is a great album opener, establishing a careful pace and making great use of basically a two-chord progression (as many album openers do).
Track 2: On The Run
Claustrophobia. Paranoia. A burbling synth straight out Einstein on the Beach, skittering hi-hat, footsteps and labored breathing.
Track 3: Time
Here are the ticking clocks again. The moment when they all begin to chime still gives me chills. There is something so portentous and imposing about it. That said, the choice of differently pitched chimes is commendable. Ligeti could have made a longer piece out of it, and John Cage probably would have had a heyday with the aleatoric possibilities.
It's fascinating to listen to this song develop, because even the musical elements are closely related to clock sounds. There's a steady ticking under the drum pattern, the guitar octaves that arrive every few seconds sound like abstract chimes, and another guitar plays sequences of three descending notes that also bring to mind a clock. From there the song kicks into gear with more of a funky groove, and a fantastic guitar solo.
Track 4: The Great Gig In The Sky
We're now four tracks into the album, and three out of four tracks have been slow. And the only fast one was really just an odd instrumental. Pretty daring.
This is a track that really lets you meditate. It opens with someone (Gerry Driscoll, the band's Irish doorman) saying "I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do: I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it — you've got to go sometime." After that little comment on mortality, that familiar wailing voice comes back, over a plodding piano (same chord progression as Breathe!), and we realize this is an extended jam. The vocal is so absolutely perfect. Every note seems perfectly judged. Some of the magic disappeared for me after I learned that it was assembled from three separate takes, but that's the case with most songs in general...
Track 5: Money
This is one of Pink Floyd's most popular songs, and the only real "single" from the album. Kind of an odd single, really. 7/4 time? Six minutes plus? Opens with cash register sounds? Whatever. I don't have much to say about this one. Too much radio play has kind of numbed its effect on me.
Track 6: Us And Them
It's all about that third chord, man. It's already a nice downtempo song, but that dismal augmented chord makes it a real rainy-day song. And then the sax comes in! I think that's one of the coolest moments on the album. We've just heard the sax on Money, all brash and bright, but here it's subdued and more modest. It helps enhance the feeling of a continuous journey. And this song builds to some great climactic choruses, where the sax comes to the fore again.
Track 7: Any Colour You Like
Same chord progression as Breathe and Great Gig In The Sky! Except this time with psychedelic synths and guitar swirling around! I don't really get the point of this one. What does the title mean? That they're going offer you this same progression in a variety of "colors", whether with the opening instrumentation or the voice or the synth or what?
Track 8: Brain Damage
Another track I have little to say about, except that it combines the drama of Us And Them with the soulful vocals of Great Gig In The Sky, and feels conclusive in both its lyrical content and the inclusion of the speech snippet "I don't know what to say anymore". The lyrics are open to interpretation, but they are most likely referencing Syd Barrett, a former member of the band who had some serious mental problems. Oh yeah, and this song has the lyric "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon".
Track 9: Eclipse
This always felt more like a continuation of Brain Damage than a separate song. Very Beatles-esque. And then the closing heartbeats.
Now, I have a confession. As much as I love the music on this album and dig the concept and respect the band, I have equal fascination about the whole Dark Side of the Rainbow phenomenon.
Basically, the album Dark Side of the Moon sync up with the film The Wizard of Oz in many startling ways.
Here are some of the most impressive ones:
-In "Time", the lyric "kickin' up dirt on a road that leads to your hometown" occurs when Toto jumps out Ms. Gulch's basket and runs back down the dirt path.
-Also during "Time", there's a closeup of a sign that says "Past, Present, and Future".
-The song "Great Gig In The Sky" plays while Dorothy is flying around in her house during the tornado (Also note the opening spoken words: "I'm not frightened of dying")
-The song "Money" starts almost EXACTLY when Dorothy opens the door of her house to enter Oz.
-The munchkins appear to dance in time to the guitar solo of "Money".
-During "Us And Them", the ballerinas also dance in time to the music.
-The lyric "'Forward' he cried" occurs when the munchkin horse driver motions for the horses to trot forward.
-"Any Colour You Like" plays during the whole "makeover" scene", when Dorothy is getting all dolled-up in the Emerald City. The title relates directly to the line: "Can you even dye my eyes to match my gown?"
-In "Brain Damage", the lyric "The lunatic is on the grass" occurs when the Scarecrow is dancing crazily on the grass.
-The closing heartbeats occur when Dorothy is knocking on the Tin Man's empty chest.
The band, of course, has denied any intent in syncing the album with the film. Why would they? It would have been a bizarre, time-consuming stunt. And the synchronicities are amazing, but not always perfect. It's just one of those weird coincidental things.
The other listening for tonight was Rhys Chatham's An Angel Moves Too Fast To See. I tracked this down on YouTube. There's no standalone performance (which is telling), but there was a documentary. This section of the documentary had some good chunks of the performance.
Quite honestly, this is very cheesy, very 90's, and woefully underuses the ensemble. Can you imagine the textures you could create with 100 guitars???? All sorts of mind-altering microtones, dizzying rhythmic density, or anything. Anything but standard 90's jamming. The ensemble also looks profoundly dorky, all grooving in their white shirts and ties.
Even Glenn Branca couldn't get really satisfactory results with a huge guitar ensemble, but at least his music is distinct as an experiment in walls of sound. I just feel bad for this composer and his overblown vision, for all the guitarists lumped together, replacing individual virtuosity with mind-numbing sameness.
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