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Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: EMI Records
Released: 1973.03.24
Time:
 42:00
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Pink Floyd
Rating: ********** (10/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.pinkfloyd.com
Appears with: David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright
Purchase date: 1994
Price in €: 18,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Speak to Me/Breathe in the Air (Gilmour/Mason) - 3:57
[2] On the Run (Gilmour/Waters) - 3:31
[3] Time (Gilmour/Mason) - 7:05
[4] Great Gig in the Sky (Wright) - 4:47
[5] Money (Waters) - 6:23
[6] Us and Them (Waters/Wright) - 7:48
[7] Any Colour You Like (Gilmour/Mason) - 3:25
[8] Brain Damage (Waters) - 3:50
[9] Eclipse (Waters) - 2:06

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


ROGER WATERS - Bass & Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer, Tape Effects
NICK MASON - Percussion, Drums, Tape Effects
RICHARD WRIGHT - Keyboards, Vocals, Background Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer
DAVID GILMOUR - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals, Background Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer

Additional personnel:
DICK PARRY - Saxophone
LESLEY DUNCAN - Background Vocals
DORIS TROY - Background Vocals
BARRY ST. JOHN - Background Vocals
LIZA STRIKE - Background Vocals
CLAIRE TORRY - Vocals

PETER JAMES - Assistant Engineer
CHRIS THOMAS - Mixing
ALAN PARSONS - Engineer
HIPGNOSIS - Design, Photography
DAVID SINCLAIR - Liner Notes
GEORGE HARDIE - Illustrations, Sleeve Art
JILL FURMANOSKY - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1973 LP Harvest 11163
1978 LP Capitol SEAX-11902
1982 LP Mobile Fidelity MFHR-1-017
1983 CD Atlantic UDCD517
1983 CD Atlantic CDP7460012
1990 CD Mobile Fidelity 517
1991 LP Capitol SMAS-11163
1991 CS Capitol 4XAS-11163
1991 LP Capitol C1-46001
1991 CD Capitol C2-46001
1991 CS Capitol C4-46001
1991 CD Mobile Fidelity Uhqr-1-027
1991 CD Harvest SMAS-1116
1995 CD EMI 7213 8 29750 2
1995 CD Mobile Fidelity UDCD-517
1995 CD Mobile Fidelity 517
1997 CD Capitol C2-81479

Recorded at: EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London (June 1972-January 1973)



...The sound is lush and multi-layered while remaining clear and well-structured....a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement....the excellence of a superb performance..."Q Magazine (10/94, p.137) - 4 Stars - Excellent New Musical Express (3/20/93, p.33) - 8 - Excellent - "...although everything your punk rock elder brother said was undeniably true, it doesn't take a great mental leap to achieve the mind-set of the pot-smoking philosophy student and pronounce this album a super-sensory classic...

Rolling Stone - 5/24/73, pg.57
© Copyright 2001 RollingStone.com



Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England between June 1972 and January 1973.All music written by Pink Floyd. All lyrics written by Roger Waters.DARK SIDE OF THE MOON was a benchmark record. It turned the musical world on its ear with a hitherto unseen combination of sounds, and changed things considerably for Pink Floyd. The pyramid-like prism refracting the thin white light into a rainbow became synonymous with the band, as did the album, a collection of epics steeped in Roger Waters' lyrics of paranoia, alienation and schizophrenia.For this project, Pink Floyd resurrected older and unfinished numbers, some of which came from the multitude of soundtracks the band members had previously worked on. The film "Zabriskie Point," a study of American materialism from a foreigner's perspective, provided "Us And Them" (originally titled "The Violence Sequence"). Waters rewrote "Breathe" after its appearance on his and avant-garde composer Ron Geesin's score for "The Body," a surreal medical documentary. To bring the songs into a clearer light, Floyd and their long-time engineer, Alan Parsons, used a multitude of sound effects--from stereophonically-projected footsteps and planes flying overhead ("On The Run") to a roomful of ringing clocks ("Time").The band brought in female singers to sweeten the harmonies throughout the album. Gospel singer Clare Torry was given a solo, albeit lyric-less, turn on Richard Wright's "The Great Gig In The Sky," shrieking, sobbing and sighing in orgasmic waves. Floyd also enlisted Dick Parry's saxophone on "Us And Them" and "Money," which became the group's first American Top 40 hit. Further adding to the record's mystique, barely audible spoken passages were sprinkled throughout--a result of hours interviewing random Abbey Road occupants about their views on insanity, violence and death.The combination of creative and technological concepts must have struck a nerve; DARK SIDE OF THE MOON remained on Billboard's albums chart for an astounding fourteen years. It made Pink Floyd a household name, elevating them to the level of the Rolling Stones and The Who in the rock pantheon. Maybe most important, DARK SIDE found Roger Waters for the first time using the group as a tool for his own concepts and personal views, foreshadowing conflicts that would come to a head in the band's future works.

By condensing the sonic explorations of Meddle to actual songs and adding a lush, immaculate production to their trippiest instrumental sections, Pink Floyd inadvertently designed their commercial breakthrough with Dark Side of the Moon. The primary revelation of Dark Side of the Moon is what a little focus does for the band. Roger Waters wrote a series of songs about mundane, everyday details which aren't that impressive by themselves, but when given the sonic backdrop of Floyd's slow, atmospheric soundscapes and carefully placed sound effects, they achieve an emotional resonance. But what gives the album true power is the subtly textured music, which evolves from ponderous, neo-psychedelic art-rock to jazz fusion and blues-rock before turning back to psychedelia. It's dense with detail, but leisurely paced, creating its own dark, haunting world. Pink Floyd may have better albums than Dark Side of the Moon, but no other record defines them quite as well as this one.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine -  All Music Guide
© 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Dark Side of the Moon, originally released in 1973, is one of those albums that is discovered anew by each generation of rock listeners. This complex, often psychedelic music works very well because Pink Floyd doesn't rush anything; the songs are mainly slow to mid-tempo, with attention paid throughout to musical texture and mood. The sound effects on songs like "On the Run," "Time" and especially "Money" (with sampled sounds of clinking coins and cash registers turned into rhythmic accompaniment) are impressive, especially when we remember that 1973 was before the advent of digital recording techniques. This is probably Pink Floyd's best-known work, and it's an excellent place to start if you're new to the band.

Genevieve Williams -  Amazon.com essential recording



Dark Side Of The Moon, 1973 veröffentlicht, gehört zu den Platten, die jede nachwachsende Generation wieder aufs neue für sich entdeckt. Diese komplexe, psychedelische Musik funktioniert deshalb so gut, weil Pink Floyd sich alle Zeit der Welt läßt. Die meisten Songs haben langsame bis mittlere Tempi, allergrößter Wert wird auf Stimmung und musikalische Struktur gelegt. Die Soundeffekte auf Songs wie "On The Run", "Time" und ganz besonders auf "Money" (Tonband-Loops von klingenden Münzen und Ladenkassengeklingel, die aufs Feinste in den Beat eingewoben sind), sind umso beeindruckender, wenn man bedenkt, daß im Jahre 1973 die digitale Aufnahmetechnik noch in weiter Ferne lag. Floyds wohl beste Platte und der perfekte Einstieg, für solche, die die Band erst jetzt kennenlernen.

Genevieve Williams - Amazon.de



Die psychedelisch beeinflußte britische Band landete 1973 auf der dunklen Seite des Mondes. Dank Studio-Astronaut Alan Parsons wurden Traumsongs wie Money, Breathe oder das pulsierende Time klangtechnisch zur Sternstunde, die weltweit mehr als 15 Millionen Käufer fand.

© Audio



Bei MFSL muß es immer etwas Besonderes sein. Mit ihrer "Original Master Recording"-Serie setzte die kalifornische Firma audiophile Glanzlichter in der Analog-Ära. Drei Luxus-Editionen mit dem Repertoire Frank Sinatras, der Beatles und der Rolling Stones unterstrichen den Rang des Exklusiven. Der Siegeszug der CD zwang die HiFi-Freaks an der amerikanischen Westküste zum Umdenken. Fünf Jahre nach der Taufe des neuen Tonträgers ist nun das digitale Renommier-Produkt von MFSL serienreif: die "Ultradisc" in 24karätigem Gold. Sie Super-CD, die im Handel zirka 70 Mark kostet, veredelte bislang nur zwei Sampler (einmal Klassik, einmal Jazz). Jetzt fahren die Kalifornier schwere Geschütze auf: Ein Paket mit sieben Goldtalern liegt vor, darunter fünf Pop-Aufnahmen, von denen mindestens zwei handfeste Klassiker sind. Das Paradestück der MFSL-Serie ist ohne Zweifel Pink Floyds "Dark Side Of The Moon" (MFSL UDCD 517, Vertrieb: in- akustik, 7801 Ballrechten-Dottingen, 1973, AAD, 42:58, I:10, K:9, R:10). Gerade hier, bei einer mustergültigen Pop-Analogaufzeichnung, zeigt der mit dem CD-Mastering beauftragte Krieg Wunderlich, daß Kunst oft das Gegenteil von Klotzen ist. Im Vergleich mit der handelsüblichen EMI-CD tönt in "Time" der legendäre Wecker weit weniger schrill, das Schlagzeug im Herztakt klopft weniger aufgeregt. Die Registrierkasse in "Monney" klingelt nicht so gierig, und die Orgel von "Eclipse" wallt weniger aufgewühlt. Dafür sind aber die von Roger Waters und Tonmeister Alan Parsons ausgetüftelten Sound-Effekte viel genauer aufgefächert, was den beabsichtigten Gruseleffekt eher steigert. Das Rauschen am Anfang von "The Great Gig In The Sky" - dem auch die MFSL-Techniker nicht beikamen - tönt weniger aufdringlich, und der energische Baß von "Money" hat auf der "Ultradisc" viel mehr Biß und knackige Frische. Insgesamt dominiert ein für Digitalscheiben ausgesprochen ungewöhnlicher Klangeindruck: weiche Konturen, kompakt-elastischer Sound, federnde Bässe, dezente Höhen. Eine ähnliche Diagnose läßt sich auch dem zweiten Supertitel im "Ultradisc"- Katalog stellen. Supertramps "Crime Of The Century" (UDCD 505, Vertrieb: in-akustik, 1974, AAD, 44:16, I:10, K:9, R:10) kursiert bereits in einer exzellent überspielten Handelversion von A & M. Bei MFSL ist weder das Bandrauschen weggenommen, noch schüchtert die berühmte Mundharmonika stärker vor der "School" ein. Doch spätestens beim Titelstück liegt Gold eindeutig vor Silber: Viel runder, ausgeglichener und damit harmonischer ist die Klanglandschaft angelegt, die Stimmen tönen nicht so grell, das Schlagzeug gibt dem "Jahrhundertverbrechen" viel mehr Schicksalsschwere. Weniger spektakulär klingt da die Gold-CD von Huey Lewis' Erfolgsalbum "Sports" (UDCD 509, Vertrieb: in-akustik, 1984, AAD, 37:40, I:9, K:7, R:9). Der unkomplizierte Rock'n'Roll des Sängers mit dem Herzen auf dem rechten Fleck ist zwar produktionstechnisch mit allerlei modernen Studio- effekten aufpoliert - dem höhenlastigen, ziemlich engen Klangbild tut das nur wenig Abhilfe. Immerhin tönen Hits wie "The Heart Of Rock'n'Roll", "Heart And Soul" und "I Want A New Drug" jetzt etwas dynamischer, lufti- ger, in den Bässen straffer und den Höhen weniger aufdringlich. Nicht zu verachten ist auch das rockige Weihnachtsständchen, zu dem sich eine schwindelerregende Zahl von Superstars versammelte. Sting, Bruce Spring- steen, U 2, die Pretenders, die Eurythmics, Madonna, Bob Seger, Alison Moyet, die Pointer Sisters, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, John Cougar Mellencamp, Whitney Houston, Stevie Nicks und Run D.M.C. machen die schöne Bescherung von "A Very Special Christmas" (UDCD 508, Vertrieb: in-akustik, 1987, AAD, 51:11, I:6-9, K:7-9, R:9) zum Goldsegen, über den sich bei einigen Stücken auch der CD-Spieler freut. Weiter im MFSL-Katalog sind die "Ultradiscs" "Will Power", Joe Jacksons verunglückter Abstecher ins Symphonische (UDCD 503), die Aufnahme "Hot Dawg" von dem amerikanischen Mandolinenvirtuosen David Grisman (UDCD 506) und eine Geräusch-Platte für Soundfreaks, "The Power And The Majesty" (UDCD 504). Einige der hier vorgestellten Goldtaler sind in Hüllen mit Servierautomatik verpackt, so daß man beim Entnehmen der CD nicht mehr auf die Federzungen in der Mitte drücken muß.

© Stereoplay



Dark Side of the Moon is the space-rock LP that launched a thousand trips. It also turned Pink Floyd, previously just an English band with a cult following, into international superstars after the LP hit No. 1 on the U.S. album charts and "Money" became a surprise hit, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard singles chart. Furthermore, its staying power was amazing. It spent 724 weeks on The Billboard 200, including 591 consecutive weeks from 1976 to 1988 and has sold 25 million copies worldwide.

It's not so much that this album stands out drastically from Pink Floyd's other work as that it perfectly captures the group's main interests -- singer Roger Waters' ideas about alienation, the musical mix of studio experimentation and jamming -- after they'd matured and gelled into accessible forms, but before they became exaggerated through repetition.

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios from June 1972 to January 1973, with Alan Parsons engineering, it takes the idea of psychedelia to new heights with bits of taped conversation flitting in and out of the music, iconic sound effects, a heartbeat that opens and closes the album, and tracks without lyrics (most famously, "The Great Gig in the Sky" with wailing vocals by Clare Torry) that bridge the actual songs.

The lyrics themselves have been the subject of many stoned exegeses. Such Waters musings as "Far away across the field / The tolling of the iron bell / Calls the faithful to their knees / To hear the softly spoken magic spells" have great flavor, whether or not a listener actually makes any sense of them. Or there are such cheery thoughts as "And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking / Racing around to come up behind you again / The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older / Shorter of breath and one day closer to death" (also from "Time"), which sums up the main point of this album. Also notable are the anti-war "Us and Them" and the madness-anticipating "Brain Damage" -- both themes Waters returned to later in blunter and clumsier fashion.

But it's the sound of the music that catches listeners' ears before the lyrics. Richard Wright's swirling organ chords, David Gilmour's gentle guitar arpeggios, and session man Dick Parry's soulful saxophone on "Us & Them" keep the lyrics from seeming merely preachy. Waters' bass line on "Money" ties together the keyboard and guitar chords in opposite channels and makes the odd meter seem natural. All the best elements of Pink Floyd are at their peak here. Small wonder, then, that Dark Side of the Moon remains the group's most popular album.

Steve Holtje - April 9, 2001
CDNOW Senior Editor
Copyright © 1994-2001 CDnow Online, Inc. All rights reserved.



The future began here. Recorded at Abbey Road on the new 16-track desk, seamlessly constructed and employing a thematic 'concept' to link the songs, Dark Side was the album which swiftly projected the Floyd from cult band to cornerstones of rock culture. A Quadrophonic mix by Alan Parsons, authorised by EMI and launched at the London Planetarium, caused a rumpus, with the band refusing to attend. This aside, the album was a huge success, and is still their biggest in commercial terms, with 28m copies sold worldwide.

It seems rather appropriate that "Dark Side" was EMI's first rock CD release. If there was a prime candidate for the new digital medium, then this was it. Inevitably, the release of "Dark Side" on CD helped give the album a new lease of life. Its success was 80 great--legend has it that there was an EMI factory which did nothing but churn out "Dark Side" CDs--that it enabled the album's U.S. chart run to top 730 weeks.

It is the fourth best seller rock album of all time - just behind "Thriller", "Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack" and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors". It stayed on Billboard's top 200 album chart until April 23, 1988, and after that they changed the format so that once an album dropped off, it could not return. It stayed there for 723 weeks, the longest of any album, ever.

Nick Mason: "Dark Side started as a sequence called Eclipse. Most of it was developed in rehearsals for live shows, and we played it live at the Rainbow in London and opened shows with it in America in 1972. The concept grew out of group discussions about the pressures of real life, like travel or money, but then Roger broadened it into a meditation on the causes of insanity. The linking of all the sounds and the voices was very well done, I think, and we introduced an early synthesizer, the VCS3, right at the end. The recording was lengthly but not fraught, not agonised over at all. We were working really well as a band, But it wasn't only the music that made it such a success. EMI/Capitol had cleaned up their act in America. They put money behind promoting us for the first time. And that changed everything."

David Gilmour: "The big difference for me with this album was the fact that we'd played it live before we recorded it. You could't do that now of course, you'd be bootlegged out of existence. But when we went into the studio we all knew the material. The playing was very good. It had a natural feel. And it was a bloody good package. The music, the concept, the cover, all came together. For me it was the first time we'd had great lyrics. The others were satisfactory, or perfunctory or just plain bad. On Dark Side, Roger decided he didn't want anyone else writing lyrics."

As a side note, it is rumoured that initial U.K CDs were mastered not from the original tapes, but from second-generation copies. The story among Floyd buffs is that Dave Gilmour discovered this and ordered a shame-faced EMI to rectify this situation straight away.

www.pinkfloydfan.net
 

 L y r i c s


Speak to Me

Instrumental


Breathe

Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be

Run, run rabbit run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down it's time to start another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave.


On the Run

Instrumental


Time

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then the one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older
And shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desparation in the English way
The time is gone the song is over, thought I'd something more to say

Home, home again
I like to be there when I can
When I come in cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.


The Great Gig in the Sky

Instrumental


Money

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and your O.K.
Money it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team

Money get back
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off my stack.
Money it's a hit
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit
I'm in the hi-fidelity first class traveling section
And I think I need a Lear jet

Money it's a crime
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie
Money so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it's no surprise that they're giving none away.


Us and Them

Us and Them
And after all we're only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do

Forward he cried from the rear and the front rank died
And the General sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side

Black and Blue
And who knows which is which and who is who
Up and Down
And in the end it's only round and round
And round
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
the poster bearer cried
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside

Down and Out
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about
With, without
And who'll deny that's what the fightings all about
Get out of the way, it's a busy day
And I've got things on my mind
For want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died.


Any Colour You Like

Instrumental


Brain Damage

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path

The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more

And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane

You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.

And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon


Eclipse

All that you touch
And all that you see
All that you taste
All that you feel
All that you love
All that you hate
All you distrust
All that you save
All that you give
All that you deal
All that you buy
beg, borrow or steal
All you create
All you destroy
All that you do
All that you say
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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