Music Review: Boomer – Dim Side Of Mars

Creating an album is one thing in itself, but to write your own follow-up to Pink Floyd’s gastronomically-huge Dark Side Of The Moon? Now that’s something altogether different.

Keyboardist Greg Halpern has always had what many would call an obsession with Dark Side Of The Moon album and the fact that Floyd never recorded any sort of sequel to their 1973 best-seller. Determined to write and produce a follow-up of his own, Halpern struggled to capture the essence and soul of Pink Floyd–but with no success.

However, his persistence continued–and six studios, thirty-four musicians, and seven engineers later, Greg Halpern’s group Boomer finally came up with Dim Side Of Mars, a seven-track release that many in the music world is a worthy (if perhaps illegitimate) sequel to Dark Side Of The Moon.

The result? Beginning with the oh-so-Floyd-sounding “Alpha State,” Dim Side Of Mars continues the cosmic journey throughout the universe of music with Rex Carroll’s strings doing an admirable job of filling in for David Gilmour and Rene LeDesma providing his best Roger Waters impersonation (it’s much better than Corey Feldman’s imitation of Waters, I’ll tell you that for certain).

The album’s message is blatantly clear: humanity’s apathy towards itself–and Dim Side Of Mars’ remaining six tracks attempt to free us from our own mental prisons brought on by war, technology, and religion. At least, that’s how I interpreted the album. Overall, it’s a good listen.

Originally pressed in 2002, Dim Side Of Mars was re-released in late 2008 via CD and as a download album through music websites, with several MP3s available at the album’s official website.

Bottom line: it isn’t Pink Floyd, kids–more like Pink Flauxd–but Dim Side Of Mars definitely captures a great deal of the original spirit that Dark Side Of The Moon has been shining on our own crazy diamonds for 36 years now. Just think of it as a collection of B-Sides from Dark Side Of The Moon and you’ll be alright.