CD#1 Pink Floyd- Dark Side of The Moon

Pink Floyd's seminal 1973 album, Dark Side of the Moon, may be the perfect opening to my transition year journal. A CD loved by multiple people, it's inclusion on your Ipod will immediately redeem yourself in the minds of anyone who has heard them. Put simply, there are people who love Dark Side to the Moon, and people who haven't heard it.

I am not going to break this pattern in any way. What Dark Side of the Moon alternates between smart pop songs, soulful rants, Sprawling epics, and whatever the hell On The Run is. But even that seems to be undercutting the album, as it's so beautiful that it's hard to put into words exactly what kind of power Pink Floyd exudes upon the listener.

After an 1 minute opening played in front of industrial dialogue and sounds, we start on Breathe. Already Floyd has pulled us into a trance, it's swirling beats creating a beautiful mood. On The Run feels remarkably fresh and inventive even by today's standards. Time deals with humanity's complete dismissal of the short lives given to us, and Money seems to be contradicting itself all the time, talking about the rich and the poor, dealing with society's takeover by money.

The next four songs seem to blend together. Sure the whole album runs together, the endings moving from one track to another and beats bridging gaps, but noone's going to mix up Money and On The Run. However, Us And Them, Any Colour You Like, Brain Damage, and Eclipse seem to form together to create a long song that is just cut into three pieces to please listeners. It's masterfully done, creating a group of songs that's easy on the ears but also creates a mood that sucks you in. Eclipse ends the album on an epic note. More ambitious then the other three songs in it's group, Eclipse talks about all that is lost on the dark side of the moon, what we will lose at the world's end.

Best Song: Great Gig In The Sky-Roger Waters screams to the heavens as the world falls to pieces around him. Pure magic.