Celebrating Nick Mason on his 78th birthday. —Ed.
Back in the day–and I’m talking very back in the day–Pink Floyd’s 1973 stoner masterpiece The Dark Side of the Moon played from behind the door of every pot smoke-filled room in my college dormitory. I say this with authority because I was in every one of the those dorm rooms, which meant I heard The Dark Side of the Moon a lot. And by that I mean I heard it to death, and by the time I got booted out of that dorm for smoking pot in dorm rooms I hated The Dark Side of the Moon so much I vowed to never listen to it again. And for decades I kept that vow.
But you know how it goes. One day your curiosity gets the better of you. You think you’ve thrown The Dark Side of the Moon out with the bong water when one day you wake up and decide to give The Dark Side of the Moon another listen. This is what is commonly called failing to learn from experience. But in the case of The Dark Side of the Moon I was pleasantly surprised. I would hardly call our reunion a joyful one; it was more like running into an old friend you’d grown tired of only to discover he wasn’t the bore you remembered. Indeed, with the exceptions of “Money” and “Time” (both of which had continued to annoy me thanks to incessant radio play over the years), our reunion was actually cordial.
The Dark Side of the Moon, which was produced by the band and engineered by wizard behind the control panel Alan Parsons, is very much a “studio as band member” affair. Gone were the days when Pink Floyd, as guitarist and Syd Barrett replacement David Gilmour put it, went in for “the psychedelic noodling stuff.” Plenty of fans weren’t particularly pleased to discover there would be no more fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants LPs along the lines of 1971’s Meddle, but The Dark Side of the Moon attracted a slew of new fans and made the guys in the band rich and famous. “Money” indeed.
The Dark Side of the Moon is Head Muzak so potent you can actually smell the reefer, which brings us to the LP’s second track “Breathe (In the Air ”), which is good for a contact high due to its “beanbag chair paralysis” ambience. “On the Run,” on the other hand, employs a bubbly synthesizer and what sounds like a guy running through an airport, which I suppose is Pink Floyd’s commentary on the soulless hustle bustle of modern life.
NEW RELEASE PICKS: Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Kaiser & Alex Varty, Pacifica Koral Reef (577) As guitarist and music journalist Alex Varty points out in his excellent accompanying text for this CD, trumpeter-composer-teacher Wadada Leo Smith and guitarist-composer Henry Kaiser have been friends for a long time, since the mid-1970s, in fact. And Varty, a Canadian resident of British Columbia, has been acquainted with Smith and Kaiser for nearly as long. While the specifics of these relationships doubtlessly impacted the shape of Pacifica Koral Reef, which consists of one 55-minute piece for two guitars and trumpet, surely discipline, dedication, and sheer talent were equally as important in making this delightful recording a reality. There was a graphic score (Smith’s) learned and honed over several sessions, and there is so much to recommend; the atypical instrumental configuration, sustained passages of heightened interaction and abstract beauty, a touch of the blues, and Vardy’s impressive acoustic soloing in the opening moments. Smith and Kaiser’s distinctive styles are in full effect. A
Tyler Mitchell featuring Marshall Allen, Dancing Shadows (Mahakala) Both Mitchell and Allen are associated with the music of Sun Ra, the latter famously so; other than the bandleader himself, Allen is likely the highest-profile member of the Arkestra. Bassist Mitchell joined the band in 1985 for a stint and then reupped after Allen became musical director, but he’s also played with Art Taylor, Shirley Horn, and Jon Hendricks, so he can do it inside and outside. The cover kinda insinuates that Dancing Shadows is a duo session, but no, it’s actually a sextet, with Mitchell on bass, Allen on alto sax and EVI, Chris Hemmingway on tenor sax, Nicoletta Manzini on alto sax, Wayne Smith on drums, and Elson Nascimento on percussion. The album they’ve made is a wonderfully wild affair, offering a dozen selections focusing on compositions by Allen and Sun Ra, but that also means there is an ass-ton of tangible swing in the mix. All the horns are blowing shit hot and with melodious twists and turns, the drums-percussion is cracking large, and the bass is big in the mix, as it should be. And the EVI is a welcome addition. A
Maya Shenfeld, In Free Fall (Thrill Jockey) This is the debut solo record for Shenfeld, a Berlin-based composer whose method, as detailed in her Bandcamp bio, is focused upon “exploring the space between modes of musical production used in experimental, classical, and popular music.” And so appropriately, In Free Fall roams around stylistically, beginning in a horn-saturated, tangibly Minimalist zone with “Cataphora” (and mirrored somewhat in closer “Anaphora”), then engaging with analog synths in “Body, Electric,” and after that delving into a more distorted soundscape with “Voyager.” While Shenfeld resides in Berlin, her use of electronics eludes expectations, as in “Mountain Larkspur,” where she reworks the choral singing of the Bethanien Youth Choir (executed in collaboration with James Ginzberg of labelmates Emptyset). Furthermore, Shenfeld’s approach to ambient avoids cliché as her melodic inclinations can become appealingly tense (borderline cinematic). That Shenfeld partook in a residency with Caterina Barbieri makes sense, as their approaches are complementary. A-
REISSUE/ARCHIVAL PICK: The Innocence Mission, Now the Day Is Over (Badman) Lancaster, PA’s The Innocence Mission, an alt-folk trio featuring Karen Peris (vocals, guitar, keyboards, more), her husband Don Peris (guitar), and Mike Bitts (bass), released their debut full-length in 1989; this is their seventh out of a grand total of 12, released by Badman in 2004 and making its vinyl debut here. With one exception, Now the Day Is Over is a covers album, specifically focused upon standards and traditional songs that Karen Peris sang as lullabies to her children; we’re talking “Stay Awake” from Mary Poppins, “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz, “What a Wonderful World,” and “Moon River,” but also Chopin’s “Prelude in A,” Beethoven’s “Sonata No. 8” (these last two technically not lullabies, as they are played solo on guitar) and even the gospel hymn “It Is Well With My Soul.” In less assured hands, this sort of gentle and sweet endeavor would rapidly wear out its welcome, but there is an ease to The Innocence Mission’s sensitivity, a lack of straining for the beautiful, that solidifies the record’s appeal. A-
Kearney, NE | CDs and vinyl hit the right note for Buffalo Records: More buyers are coming around to an old way of listening to music, according to one Central Nebraska record store. Outside the street, on the bricks, you’ll find a black and white sign for a record store, but once you take a step inside, things are not so colorless. “Things like Pink Floyd. These are brand new seals of those records and a new copy if you wanted to start fresh with one of those.” Buffalo Records Co-Owner Bryce Jensen said his business offers a different take to buying music. “You pick out a record, you take it and put it on the turntable and you sit down and spend some time with it.” The store features records from all genres of music including rock, funk and soul. Jensen said records bring sort of 
Kolkata, IN | From Indus Creed and Susmit Bose to Arinjoy Trio, A New Record Label is Bringing Indian Rock to Vinyl: Kolkata’s Free School Street Records is founded by Aveek Chatterjee and Rajiv Pandey and have partnered with Manu Trivedi in Mumbai. To say that Kolkata resident and entrepreneur Aveek Chatterjee is a vinyl collector would be an understatement. He owns over a thousand LPs, some of which he inherited from his parents’ collection. “We had a vintage Garrard record changer made in the U.K. in 1975. It could stack up to seven 45s and it was fun to watch them drop one by one from the changer and the forward & return functions of the tone arm,” he told The Revolver Club in an interview. Although Chatterjee got swept up in the cassette tape and CD waves through the Eighties and Nineties, he continued to build his record collection. After all, Kolkata had its share of marketplaces for vinyl collectors. The most notable one through the ages was Free School Street, a locale that Chatterjee frequented and credits as responsible for 
Winnipeg, CA | What one Winnipeg store is auctioning off to help teachers through the pandemic: A local Winnipeg store is hoping to do its part in helping out during the pandemic by auctioning off a piece of music history. Ray Giguere, the owner of Argy’s Records and Entertainment Shop, said he is auctioning off a bus shelter poster from the Meat Loaf concert that came to Winnipeg on Aug. 29, 1994. All the proceeds that are raised from this auction will go toward buying N95 masks for teachers. Giguere said the idea came to him after he learned that Meat Loaf passed away last week. “I was kind of thinking of turning a negative into a positive,” he said. He said he posted the idea he had online and immediately people started bidding on it. He added he chose getting masks for teachers because he has friends and family who work in the school system and he understands the struggles they have been facing. “I just thought it was good to give something back…
Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, U2 Among Interscope 30th Anniversary Vinyl Series Dropping Via Livestream: Interscope Records is celebrating its 30th anniversary by releasing a limited-edition vinyl series featuring new artwork on classic albums for sale exclusively via livestream shopping platform NTWRK (thentwrk.com). 2Pac, Billie Eilish, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Gwen Stefani, Juice WRLD, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Mary J. Blige, MGK, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, Olivia Rodrigo, Selena Gomez, Snoop Dogg and U2 are among the musicians featured in the series of 57 albums that will go on sale January 27-31. The drop features 100 of each album with the reimagined artwork, each released with a numbered archival quality giclee printed cover and delivered via a custom Gucci box for a price tag of $2,500 as part of an Interscope-Gucci collab. Interscope and NTWRK 
Meanwhile Zevon was writing songs like “Mr. Bad Example,” which included the lines, “I like to have a good time/And I don’t care who gets hurt.” In short, he was a latter day Jerry Lee Lewis, only 500 times more literate. While Zevon shared The Killer’s love for guns, at least he never managed to shoot one of his own musicians in the chest with a .357 magnum, as Jerry Lee did at his own 41st birthday party.
