Pink Floyd: Dark Side of The Moon

E.M.I released Dark Side Of The Moon on march 24 1973 crowds of Pink Floyd fans had already heard some tracks of that giant album; but very few were aware that those new songs will be part of an album, that will sale more than 25 million copies . And also that Pink Floyd will become the dinosaur he is and almost a trademark.

At the time of the recording Pink Floyd is still an underground band.They had Bands like Soft Machine as rivals and they could see a new generation coming to their left; Genesis/Yes But they had no doubt about the impact of their 8th album.

Rick Wright will later say: " when we had mixed it we sat down and listened to the whole thing; I could think of nothing else but this is going to be great; this record will be great " ...

Recorded at the mythic Abbey Road studios during the summer of 1972 Pink Floyd was in a sort of time cross-roads; technology itself is changing.

DSOTM is the 1rst Rock album to benefit from the new 16 tracks and the very new Dolby system.

It will also be (and sadly) one of the last real collaborations between roger Waters and David Gilmour ( the first was imagining concepts and writing the Lyrics, the second was imagining and polishing the music).

Another thing to mention is that many songs were being played tested and modified live in concerts all through Europe.

Pink Floyd temporarily christened this album the eclipse...

And they had played it in a memorable week of concerts at the Rainbow in London.

Clearly,The Dark Side 0f The Moon came in the nick of time to become the fetish of an entire generation, who just happened to love Hi Fi, and amazing Stereo effects.

Till then their records were sounds edifices great creations. That some rock-critics had called vain and pretentious ventures.

Decided to shut the mouth of those miscreants, roger Waters ( fascinated by the fate of his old friend Syd Barrett), will write most of the lyrics based around a unique theme; alienation.

Very inspired, the bassist, visit the deepest recesses of the human psyche, thereby proving that little events apparently harmless can send a human being in a state of total madness, paranoia, schizophrenia, depression, and so on...

For years, nick Mason, the drummer, collected sound samples with a tape recorder.

Those sounds, they will use in profusion in the middle of their usual format: drums, guitar, bass, and keyboards.

The clang of the cash register, in money, wall clock in Time and various noises like explosions, planes, races.

Even the old Abbey Road doorman (jerry Driscoll) who interviewed one day by Roger Waters, can be heard in the album opening; there is no dark side of the moon; in fact, everything is always hidden..........

Simple words indeed, told by an old cockney debonair, but amidst the tremendous high tech/noise/confusion, those words will call a generation that will make of Pink Floyd their favorite band, and a mighty cult.

In great form, the band will force their sound engineer (alan Parsons, who, later will produce progressive albums, ) to fiddle with the sound. To obtain those almost unreal chorus Parsons makes them sing in 2 mikes 1 in phase the other off phase: and thus will obtain those famous telephone voice for on the run...

The VCS3 synthetiser, is used the the very first time and the Beatles themselves will be associated to that album too:

Far away echoes of Dear prudence on Brain Damage and the riff of "I Want You (she's so heavy)",on eclipse: was this an unconscious tribute? the studio'sinfluence? We will never know because Roger Waters and dave Gilmour, have always refused to clarify this issue.

One of the most poignant moment of the project, is the end of side B on vinyl Great Gigs In The Sky an instrumental by Richard Wright featuring the gospel female singer clare Torry with incredible vocal loopings.

Being told that she won't have any lyrics to sing, the Diva accepted to contribute in solo.

Same for the saxophone solo in "Money" This was the first time too that the PF used another instrument than their usual format guitar/bass/keyboards/drums.

And the hipgnosis cover with the now famous label produced by Pink Floyd.

The final mix was so good that EMI recommended the visit from a certain chris Thomas.

He was a arty rock-champion, who had already done great things for Procol Harum and later on, he will produce Roxy Music, the Pretenders, and even the Sex Pistols .

From the first day of it's release, "THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON" will fascinate the crowds; boosted by the commercial "Money", that album will stay in the Billboards (best sales) for an unprecedented period of 736 weeks, with more than 24 million copies sold all over the world.

It's an album that just cannot grow old ! One Melody Maker survey, will reveal that this album is considered by many ideal to make love. And the great gig in the sky is a must in every go-go bars all around the planet ...

The PINK FLOYD will then tour all over America playing in front of audiences getting larger and larger.

Noisily, the new fans , as soon as there is a quiet moment clamour money which never fails to get on the nerves of the bitter Bassist ...

AFTER his split from Pink Floyd, in 1987, he will declare; DARK SIDE OFTHE MOON was to be the end of the band. Said he: "after that, we had nothing else to prove".

Track list:

11. speak to me ((mason) (1:13)
12. breath in the air (waters/Gilmour/wright) (2:46)
13. on the run (Gilmour/waters) (3:35)
14. Time (mason/waters/wight/gilmour) (7:04)
15. The great gig in the sky (wright) (4:48)
16. Money (waters) (6:24)
17. Us and them (waters/wright) (7:49)
18. Any colour you like (gilmour/mason/wright) 3:26)
19. Brain damage (waters) (3:50)
20. eclipse (waters) 2:04)