Confessions of a Fanboy

Should I fly to Los Angeles
Find my asshole brother

So, my brother got me a copy of the 40th Anniversary Edition of Pink Floyd’s The Piper At The Gates of Dawn. I listened to the mono mix, the stereo mix, and the bonus disc in order. I’ll admit, towards the end my ears started to bleed a little bit and my brain felt singed and sauteed.

After that, I created a playlist on my iPod dedicated to songs from the year 1967, the year of The Summer of Love. That was kind of cool. I got some Albert King, some Jimi Hendrix, The Doors… some very cool stuff, but I couldn’t get the Floyd out of my head so…

I re-ripped Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon to my iPod, this time from the 30th Anniversary Edition (it was remastered and released on a hybrid CD/SACD disc) in Apple Lossless format. You see, boys and girls, this is why I needed a 160 GB iPod!

I know I’ll get mixed reactions from this next statement, but I think Dark Side might be a bit overrated. Before those of you who would send hate mail start firebombing my e-mail box, I’m not saying the album is shit. It’s actually a very good rock record, one I enjoy listening to. I’m not sure the music measures up to the mythic status the album has achieved.

Sonically, it is special and sounds spectacular when I listen to the SACD layer. The surround mix is fun, although surround sound music is not generally the way I like to hear rock records. It’s one thing to hear a concert in surround, but few albums are recorded with “surround” in mind. Dark Side is dazzling and dizzying, but it’s a stereo record and that’s how I listen to it. It feels like the advanced capabilities of the SACD format, a format that should have caught on, were created with this album in mind.

I don’t consider listening to Dark Side a waste of an hour, but I’m still going to cockpunch my brother the next time I see him.

Filed under: Tags: Pink Floyd