- Audio CD (1 Aug 1994)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: EMI
- ASIN: B000024D4P
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | UMD Mini for PSP
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (146 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
2,984 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
- #30 in Music > Rock > Psychedelic Rock
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Product details |
Track Listings
| 1. Speak To Me/Breathe |
| 2. On The Run |
| 3. Time |
| 4. The Great Gig In The Sky |
| 5. Money |
| 6. Us And Them |
| 7. Any Colour You Like |
| 8. Brain Damage |
| 9. Eclipse |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the most famous albums of all time, Dark Side Of The Moon sold 25 million copies in its first 25 years of release. It continues to be a favourite, with 20 per cent of those sales occurring in the period since it first came out on CD, a medium to which it is ideally suited, especially in its current carefully remastered form. Dark Side Of The Moon was the first album that Pink Floyd decided to break in live before attempting to record, with the debut performance of what they then called Eclipse just over a year before the final release date. When they finally retired to Abbey Road with top sound engineer Alan Parsons, state-of-the-art 16-track recording equipment and the new Dolby technology to hand, it was to produce one of the great pieces of studio art. Covering a range of styles, this was the last album (prior to Roger Waters' departure in the early 1980s) to whose writing the other members of Pink Floyd contributed significantly. Nevertheless, it remains a stunningly coherent package, bound together by surreal fragments of speech (mostly gleaned from asking questions of the doorman at the studio) and Waters' bold and bleak lyrics. Often reputed to be about former member Syd Barrett's decline into schizophrenia, in fact Waters has said the lyrics "were a lot about ordinariness" and dealt with people's responses to the increasing insanity of the pressures of everyday life. Some of the extraordinary sound effects used came from the most unlikely sources--the coins at the start of "Money" from Waters tossing handfuls of change into an industrial food-mixer that his wife, a potter, used to mix clay. Whatever the medium, a new standard for attention to detail and production values had been set and the world of studio recording would never be the same again.--James Swift
Review
The official site for the umpteenth re-release of this old chestnut presents you with a daunting array of statistics that, if you're under the age of 30, will probably seem like the ravings of (appropriately enough) a lunatic. For if, by some freak circumstance (lost in Pacific jungle for thirty years/coma/just plain don't like lousy guitar bands etc.), you hold this CD in your hands for the first time, listen up: Dark Side Of The Moon spent an incredible ELEVEN CONSECUTIVE YEARS in the top 100 and has notched up a total of FOURTEEN YEARS lodged in the same place. That's a lot of Lear jets and football teams. But what new can be said?
Well, it now comes with an extra layer of new enhanced 5.1 surroundsound thingummy with (naturally) Dobly [sic]. And it's got a lovely new stained glass effect cover courtesy of Storm Thorgerson and his hilariously named Hipgnosis cohorts. And the music?
Contextually speaking this was the Floyd's saving grace. By 1972 they'd firmly claimed the avant garde (read: musically unadventurous but prone to hitting large gongs and setting fire to stuff onstage) art rock mainstream as their own playground. Yet these middle-class boys still craved, like, bread, man. After a prolonged period of fumbling soundtracks for European arthouse movies they'd finally emerged from under the shadow of founder/visionary/lost-marble icon, Syd Barrett with a coherently beautiful album, Meddle. Roger Waters had some big ideas about madness, life, death and all that deep stuff. EMI had a rather splendid studio with some top-notch engineers. Six months later...voila!
What made this concoction so popular at the time was a series of coincidences. The western world was now fully stereoed-up; the band hooked up with an immaculate engineer by the name of Alan Parsons (yes, that one with the project) and last, but not least, the band bothered to write some really fine songs. This was a long way from the half-baked nonsense that had plagued Ummagumma or Atom Heart Mother. Gilmour's guitar was now exquisitely tasteful (the heart still breaks over that little phrase about 36 seconds into ''Breathe'') and zen-like in what he could leave out (check the most underrated track ''Any Colour You Like''). The sound effects are as hackneyed as a 70s stereo demonstration record (that this album effectively replaced in most hi-fi stores at the time), yet the overall flow of the album still satisfies as it merges existential ballads (''Time'', ''Us And Them'') with cynical rockers (''Money'') and arena-impressing freak outs (''The Great Gig In The Sky'').
Too much scrutiny reveals a rhythm section that's laughably leaden, song structures that employ the same descending runs that appear on every Floyd album since Meddle (cf: ''Echoes'') and lyrics that embarrass with their sixth-form triteness. Yet how many writers will be saying the same of Radiohead's cosy attacks on globalisation and 21st century ennui on OK Computer (which owes such a huge amount to this album) in thirty years time? Ultimately it matters little. DSOTM is still a lovely record made brittle by overuse. One almost wishes that instead of spicing it up one more time, EMI had deleted it for a while to give us all room to breathe again... --Chris Jones
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
68 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The perfect album,
By
This review is from: Dark Side of the Moon (Audio CD)
There's not much to say that hasn't already been said about Dark Side. For what it's worth I can only try to explain my recent simultaneous discovery of Pink Floyd and their masterpiece. I've been into all sorts of music from hip hop, Prince & Nirvana to dance music, but I'd never really ventured into the realms of classic rock. I bought DSOTM on a whim one day, listened to it from strart to finish and was so blown away by it I listened to it again straight away. It's simply a superb musical experience, a journey even. The lyrics are simple but meaningful, David Gilmour's guitar playing is spectacular, and the whole album falters nowhere from the opening bar to the last fade. This really is a must own album for anybody who loves good music. Makes the vast majority of "verse/chorus/verse" popular compositions seem a complete waste of time.
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Be Patient,
By
This review is from: Dark Side of the Moon (Audio CD)
I first came across DSOTM over 10 years ago, and I didn't get it. I thought like others, that it was just a bunch of sound effects with no SINGLES, but I was wrong, unfortunatly it took a long time to come around, but it as worth it.
A few years ago I was introduced to The Wall, which at least had a song I knew and I was supprised to find I really enjoyed it, then followed Wish You Were Here, The Final Cut, Animals and Finally DSOTM. At first my impressions were the same but after several listens it dawned on me what a fantastic piece of music this is, no longer just sound effects but an immersive experience the like of which you don't get very often, and I love it. My advice to anyone who hasn't experienced DSOTM before is to shut yourself off in a room relax and let it wash over you, don't go hunting standout songs, don't skip through the tracks trying to find singles, it's not that type of album. Be patient, it'll get you in the end.
42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Spectrumful Of Soundscapes,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dark Side of the Moon (Audio CD)
Released in March, 1973 DSOTM has since become a classic. It has already sold in excess of 30 million. It's appeal is impossible to define. David Gilmour has said of it that it sounds very complicated but the more you listen to it the more basic it becomes, cross that with the timeless sound of the tunes/lyrics/mixes and there you have it. I tend to agree with the Floyd guitarist on that. I first heard this album back in 1982 and was awestruck. It was on a tape backed with Wish You Were Here and although Wish became my all time favourite album (Floyd's 1975 follow up release) as soon as one side finished it would be turned over. Both albums are compulsive listening. Many articles have been written about DSOTM explaining how it was recorded using sound effects (cash tills, clocks etc); interviews (questions on flashcards requiring one sentence answers) and the use of a new type of synthesiser: VCS3. This devise was used widely on the album and unlike a lot of current releases its sound has not aged the album. The albums theme basically deal with things that drive a person insane. Money, war, power, time, death and constant worrying help make this most depressing of albums an absolute gem. Roger Waters wrote all the lyrics and as he was only 22 at the time he must have been inspired. The words hold true today. Indeed, on The Division Bell tour 1995, DSOTM was played live in it's entirety by a Waters-less Floyd. Refer to Pulse album/video. For me the live version was OK but 'Money' was still as awful as it was on Delicate Sound Of Thunder. If your introduction to Floyd was with the Echoes compilation then you will already have 4 of the 10 titles. You will know what sound to expect and the style of lyrics. So why should you want to buy this 40 minute album. Well admittedly the 2 standout tracks on the album are Time and Money but the record is a concept album and as such should be listened to as a continuous piece. For me what Echoes doesn't contain really should be owned. Brain Damage, Eclipse and Breathe have brilliant lyrics and Speak To Me (Written by Waters but credited to Mason for a birthday present) and On The Run are great sound montages. The overall sound fuses rock/soul/space rock and stereophonic confusion. The album was mixed back in '73 in stereo and quadraphonic, today it sounds awesome through surround sound as well as on headphones. The digitally remastered version really does sound far superior to the first CD releases. You can tell the difference between CDs as the original followed the original vinyl cover with its' hollow prism and painted spectrum as opposed to the real photo with the intruding laser. For me the original vinyl package with its gatefold sleeve, posters and stickers was only bettered by Wish You Were Here (Floyd's '75 release) in the history of album sleeves. I'm showing my age here. The reason to make a fuss of the cover is that it has been described as "'The World's second most famous record sleeve". Presumably The Beatles 'Sgt Pepper...' is the first. The album is a superb Floyd juxtaposition with melancholy lyrics set to great bouncy or big (as in colossal sounding) tunes. I guess if I had to say that the Floyd had a trademark then that would be it. Anyway 30 million depressed customers can't be wrong! If you like DSOTM then checkout Floyd's Obscured By Clouds (1972) which was recorded and released between DSOTM sessions and Wish You Were Here. Thanx for reading.
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