Thoughts from the Dark Side

I finally opened my Dark Side of The Moon vinyl album I bought at Virgin. It's been sittin' there on my shelf for about two months. I had to find the right time. Listening to Dark Side, the king of the headphone albums, takes time and patience. You don't just throw 'Great Gig in the Sky' on to brush your teeth before you run out the door in the morning. The album belongs in its full form.

Mp3s screw with this "full album" concept. But does it matter? No one is recording an album like Dark Side very often. Sorry Jay-Z. The saying may go, "the more things change the more they stay the same." But that person was NOT talking about the current record business. I'm guessing full albums are going to go the way of HD-DVD, that is to say, into the "ideas of the past" junkyard (That's right next to the Jamband Graveyard for those keeping track!!).

I guess its kind of a sad time, this whole death of the album. As I've mentioned before, I feel a strong connection to listening to and purchasing vinyl. I miss the days of learning what Track 3 is, and what Track 12 is. My Dark Side album is tangible, its big and bulky and the DSOTM prism, in all of its full cardboard glory, is art. CD covers were so much worse and mp3s, well forget about visuals. Sure, Apple shows cover art on nanos and iPhones, but the album cover is a dead scene. Not only is the Dark Side album I have a nice thing to be able to hold, but it comes with freakin' posters. 3 of 'em! Two of which were available as inserts in the vinyl packaging of the original album version from 30 years ago, as well as a new 30th anniversary poster commemorating the album. I felt like a kid opening a pack of baseball cards with this thing. It was very cool to get the extras and to slide the physical album out of its jet black paper sleeve. Too bad there wasn't any powder-covered gum that snaps in two like a twig. But the dust probably would have just gotten into the grooves.

Here is the full package sprawled out onto my apartment floor...















Back to Dark Side, it truly is a full album. You take the journey and you EARN getting to Eclipse. You don't put this album on shuffle, or mix it with a playlist. What other albums are truly like that...that need the order, start to finish? Are there others? And more importantly, will there ever be another one again?!?