Dim Side of Mars

Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon has been reincarnated as the Dim Side of Mars !

     

I just downloaded Dim Side of Mars Let me clear up a few things - I am a second generation Pink Floydian Lunatic. I love their music as much as any rock ever recorded. Another thing to clear up here is that I feel this sequel - Dim Side of Mars is just COMPLETELY SICK!!! For you old timers like my Mom and Dad who were rockin’ in the 70's, that is the younger generation’s way of saying "It is Awesome." But really, Dim Side of Mars is like a reincarnation of Dark Side of the Moon which is like the best selling music ever. You can do what I did if you want your Mom and Dad to be happy - Buy them the CD from Amazon. I actually had already downloaded my own full version on iTunes for a couple dollars less but Dad paid for it so all is well. Finally, I want to clear up the review below. I have essentially cloned it from the pinkfloydismyhero.com web site because, while I am pretty witty , I am just not the arsekickin' writer like that Boomer dude. Pinky<3 So here it is - The year was 1977. Pink Floyd had taken over the psychedelic minds of Teenagers around the Universe. After a spectacular performance in Cleveland, I was invited to the back stage party. David Gilmour was a Brit from Cambridge where we had been school chums. I had the good fortune to speak to him for the first time since he had become a big star. I let him know what was really on my mind. I wanted to hear about the band's plans. Like every other diehard fan, I wanted to know if there were any plans to reprise DSOTM. He told me that with the success of Wish You Were Here and the mediocre fan reaction to Animals he was now looking for a new sound to the music which manifested a couple years later as The Wall. As the party was winding down, I told David that like a lot of fellow mood enhanced spiritual travelers I would never lose hope that he would eventually reprise DSOTM because of the remarkable achievement it represented. A month later, after spending a beautiful day in a boat on Lake Michigan celebrating way too much with some friends I ended up at an Aerosmith concert in Chicago. At Jam’s groupie gathering after the gig, I got into a spirited conversation with a then very young Cameron Crowe and a curious keyboard player named Greg Halpern who was a little hung up on how both his parents were born on March 6, and how it was oddly enough David Gilmour's birthday too. When I overheard how passionately they were fantasizing about putting together a reprise to DSOTM I let them know they were talking about an old pal of mine and I let them know that I thought Gilmour and Company would go in a new direction instead of trying to recapture the magic of DSOTM. Halpern did not accept my statement and he became more intense than ever going so far as to promise to deliver a sequel recording himself if he had to. While I found the concept irresistible and Halpern’s enthusiasm infectious, I recall laughing noticeably at the prospect of anyone other than Pink Floyd being able to turn such a dream into a reality. Nearly 25 years goes by and I get this CD in my mail with a note that reads: "Dear Boomer: It only took 6 studios, 34 musicians, 3 rewrites and 7 engineers to figure out how they did it. Here's a response to Dark Side that I feel I can be proud of. DSOTM was either divinely inspired, or it was some intense acid that Waters and Gilmour took before making DSOTM. Anyway, I got so much older trying to build this project, that when I finally figured out how to do it, I realize I had been on a natural high for almost 25 years. After a great creative struggle, I finally figured out how to create the magic wall of sound that has endured for 3 decades. So I hope it knocks you out. Your Crazy Diamond, GJH" The cover graphic was freakishly cool. I was jazzed to the limit trying to imagine whether or not it had any real Mr. Natural power like DSOTM. I put on my best old Koss headphones, laid down on the bed in the dark and listened to it start to finish – twice. It blew me away, more the second time as I began to hear many sounds I missed the on the initial listening. The entire work has quite a bit of the awe-inspiring, thought-provoking, psychedelic, mood enhanced attitude and inventiveness Waters and Gilmour brought to DSOTM. Much of the musicianship and writing Floyd used were here on Dim Side of Mars swing waltz beats, bending Stratocasters and VCS1 synths. I felt the music may some day gain enough recognition to be mentioned in the same historical sentence as DSOTM. According to Halpern, several other planetary based sequels will be released whenever he gets around to it in the years to come. He plans to bring it to Australian Pink Floyd and get them to tour with the new original music. I was really inspired to write this introduction, but then I didn't hear another word from Halpern for six more years about any launch so I just figured he and the project had drowned in Lake Michigan. He finally finished whatever else he was doing and gave me the go ahead so here's my opinion for whatever it's worth. Dim Side of Mars is definitely an inspired rainbow colored journey of lyrical and musical moods and textures. The one truly relevant point that comes to mind about this recording is that if you loved Dark Side of the Moon the way I have, and the way countless millions of first, second, third and now fourth generation listeners have over the past several decades, then I know you will absolutely fall head-over-heels in love with Dim Side because this newer work was truly an outgrowth of its predecessor in ways that you can only appreciate by listening to it from beginning to end in a dark private place. In my humble opinion, you will not be at all disappointed by the hypnotic experience and adventure this music causes which is like traveling back in a machine through time and space... Shine on, Boomer