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Track Listings
| 1. Speak to Me |
| 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
Review
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
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Customer Reviews
Disc 1 : is the original disc,remastered by James Guthrie again,his '94 remaster was perfect as far as i could tell and truth be told i cant really detect any noticeable difference,sometimes with these 'new' remasters i think you will convince yourself to hear something different.initially on first play i thought possibly a little clearer,the background voices slightly more audible,after a couple of listens with the headphones and comparing to the prev disc im not too sure.Whats not in dispute is this is a fantastic piece of music that has stood the test of time,beautifully arranged.played and recorded nearly 40 years ago,its hard to believe there will be a first time buyer,so i guess most will know already what their buying.
Disc 2 : now i've never heard any live 70's recordings of 'dark side...' so this was my principle reason for buying and its well worth it,clocking in at around 12 mins more than its studio counterpart there a couple of moments were the band add in a little extra,nothing too much to change the overall feeling and what a performance,all four members on fire and a sound quality that frankly stunned me,i thought a recording 37 years old may suffer but this is absolute quality and worth the purchase price alone.
The sound quality on the remaster is excellent so no worries there,the packaging ,well that a different story.the 2 discs are housed in a tri fold digi pak which the seams are already tearing,the housing for the discs quite tight,so beware when taking in/out,the booklet is very average,no improvement on the '94 remaster,just the lyrics and photos already available previously,all housed in a flimsy slipcase,if it wasnt such a superb musical release i would have been tempted to dock a star.
The rhetorical question of course is why not just release a live set from wembley '74? answers on a ten pound note to EMI.
Ultimately its the music that counts and this is a 10/10 on both cd's,a truly wonderful album with outstanding live bonus disc.
Floyd's music has always lent itself to cutting edge audio technology and the 5.1 SACD mix is proof of this. Using an SACD player and a 5.1 system you get true surround sound. Now this means that the voices in "Speak to Me" swirl around the listener, clocks chime as if their in your room and coins jangle about you. But more than this, now that there are 5.1 channels of sound the music is clearer and better defined. It has more presence, placing the listener in the centre of the music. It provides a full audio experiance.
Yet it it incredibly subtle. Now instruments are intricately placed to enhance the listening experiance; there are no gimmicks here. In "Time" the rototoms sound as if they are in the centre of the room, as if they are directly in front of you. The sax in "Us and Them" comes solely from the centre speaker given it far more clarity than before (the sax used to get lost in the mix before, I felt). Subtle effects, yet hugely effective.
All in all such near studio-like quality in the sound (this depends on how good your system is) adds to the music, sharpens it, makes a thirty year old album seem new.
For any Floyd fan DSOTM is an essential purchase and this SACD is just as neccessary. Get it whilst you can...
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