The Dark Side Of The Moon

From Pink Floyd

Title: The Dark Side Of The Moon
Artist: Pink Floyd
Released: March 24, 1973
Total Length: 42:59
Label: Harvest, EMI(UK), Harvest/Capitol (US)

Contents 1 Track Listing 2 Review 3 Credits 4 Info

[edit] Track Listing

1. Speak To Me (1:30)
2. Breathe (2:43)
3. On The Run (3:30)
4. Time / Breathe (Reprise) (6:53)
5. The Great Gig In The Sky (4:15)
6. Money (6:30)
7. Us And Them (7:34)
8. Any Colour You Like (3:24)
9. Brain Damage (3:50)
10. Eclipse (1:45)

[edit] Review

• Song Rating: 5 / 5
• Overall Rating: 5 / 5
• Best Song: Us And Them

[edit] Credits

• David Gilmour — Vocals, Guitar, VCS 3 Synthesizer, Keyboards
• Roger Waters — Bass Guitar, Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer, Tape Effects
• Richard Wright — Keyboards, Vocals, VCS 3 Synthesizer
• Nick Mason — Drums, Percussion, Tape Effects
• Pink Floyd — producers

with

• Lesley Duncan — Vocals (background)
• Doris Troy — Vocals (background)
• Barry St. John — Vocals (background)
• Liza Strike — Vocals (background)
• Clare Torry — Vocals (on "The Great Gig in the Sky")
• Dick Parry — Saxophone
• Alan Parsons — Engineer
• Peter James — Assistant Engineer
• Chris Thomas (record producer) — Mixing consultant
• Hipgnosis — Design, Photography
• Storm Thorgerson — 20th and 30th Anniversary Edition Designs
• George Hardie — Illustrations, Sleeve Art
• Jill Furmanosky — Photography
• David Sinclair — Liner Notes in CD re-release

[edit] Info

• Originally, Pink Floyd planned on renaming the album 'Eclipse: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics' because the band Medicine Head had recently released an album, also titled 'Dark Side of the Moon.' However, since the Medicine Head album did very poorly, Pink Floyd changed the name back to Dark Side of the Moon"
• Some more recent editions of the album (including those in the Shine On box set and the live version on initial pressings of P*U*L*S*E) have slightly different songwriting credits: they add Roger Waters' name to "Speak To Me" and "The Great Gig In The Sky", and Richard Wright's name to "On the Run". These credits reverted to their original form by the time of the SACD release in 2003. Subsequent releases may include Clare Torry's name next to Wright's, in recognition of her contributions to "The Great Gig In The Sky" (the aftermath of a court settlement).
• Although now, with the advent of computers, the song "On The Run" could feasibly be played by one person or with one touch of the play button, in the 1970s the song actually required every member of the band on the equipment, adjusting specific knobs at specific times.
• Because the original LP record had two sides, there was a break between "The Great Gig In The Sky" and "Money", which did not exist in live performances. Alan Parsons added a small crossfade between these two tracks for the digitally remastered CD. The remastering was supervised by James Guthrie and Doug Sax.
• Before the album was officially released, the band had been playing a more traditional version of the song "On The Run" (without the use of synthesizers and other electronic instruments) called "The Travel Section." A short clip of this is played on the DVD "Classic Albums: The Making of Dark Side of the Moon" and can also be found on all downloadable versions of Pink Floyd playing the album live in 1972.
• On most CD pressings, a barely-audible orchestral version of The Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" is audible after "Eclipse", playing very faintly over the heartbeats that close the album. It is unknown why this was included, but it was probably the consequence of a mastering error. The bootleg recording A Tree Full of Secrets includes an amplified, re-processed version of this oddity, which allows it to be heard clearly.
• In 2003, VH1 named the album cover of Dark Side of the Moon the 4th greatest of all time. The network's "Classic Albums" series presented an in-depth programme on The Dark Side of the Moon; it was later released on DVD and included interviews with Gilmour, Mason, Waters, Wright, Alan Parsons, Storm Thorgerson and Chris Thomas about the making of the album.
• Dark Side of the Moon was the first Pink Floyd album to have a custom picture label depicting a blue prism with black background with the credits in grey lettering but the US edition's lettering was in white.
• Although many artists have performed individual songs on Dark Side in cover versions, several have chosen to pay tribute to the album by performing it in its entirety. On November 2, 1998, legendary jam-band Phish covered the entire album at one of their smaller concerts before a very pleased crowd of 4,000 in Utah. Likewise jam-band moe. covered the entire album in 2000 at their halloween show in Philadelphia
• In 2000, The Squirrels released The Not So Bright Side of the Moon, their cover of the album. New York reggae label Easy Star All-Stars commissioned a reggae version of the album, entitled Dub Side of the Moon, which closely copied the original Dark Side but added additional material.
• Dream Theater went so far as to release a live DVD containing their cover; although it was not released officially, it is available through the web site YtseJam Records. They performed the show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London during 2005. Guest musicians appearing with the band for this performance included Norbert Satchel from Roger Waters' band and Theresa Thomason on vocals. A previous performance took place in Amsterdam, Holland, but this was not released.
• Humorous tributes to Pink Floyd's work are also common. In 2006, Richard Cheese released his greatest hits album, The Sunny Side of the Moon, which contained a cover version of "Another Brick in the Wall" (originally from the album The Wall). In the "Fairly OddParents" animated television program, Timmy Turner goes to his hippie teacher's yard sale, where he finds an album called Dark Side of the Smoof.
• In 2006, Alan Parsons' original quadrophonic mix of Dark Side appeared online as a download from the master tapes. Despite Parsons' misgivings about this version, which was made in much less time than the stereo mix and without input from the band, it has proved popular with fans.
• Roger Waters' 2006 tour, The Dark Side Of The Moon Live, consists of performances divided into two sets, the second of which constitutes The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety. Nick Mason has agreed to join him and play drums on Dark Side during the shows at Reykjavík, Iceland on June 12; at Cork, Ireland on June 29; at London, England on July 1; at Lucca, Italy on July 12, and at the Magny-Cours F1 Race Circuit in France on July 14.
• At the end of track 5 (or 4, depending on the edition), "The Great Gig in the Sky", with about 13 seconds left the track speeds up to save time. When this is done it puts the music slightly out of tune.
• In 1990, Australian radio listeners voted it the best album to make love to.
• At the Canadian Music Week conference in Toronto, Canada on March 3, 2006, during a Q&A with the audience, engineer Alan Parsons revealed that first-efforts to get a heartbeat sound on the track Eclipse involved Parsons, followed by various members of the band, holding a microphone up to their chests. Not having any success, they found a solution in recording a bass drum with some effects.
• The Neapolitan parody singer Tony Tammaro and his band released on June 2006: The Dark Side Of The Moonezz , where Moonnezz is a phonetic pun since it sounds like " Munnezz' ", the Neapolitan word for " Urban Wastes ", " Garbage ", " Trash ". Using a bittersweet and sophisticated humour, this concept album explores the flaws and merits of the Neapolitan society starting from the problem of garbage disposal ( Munnezz' ) and having a journey through Love, Childhood, cellphone addiction, Music piracy, Money, Goverment failures, Generational Conflicts and Annihilation of the individuals in the Mass. The Dark Side Of The Moonezz has several direct allusions and tributes to Pink Floyd's discography from the main themes of Dark Side Of The Moon to Wish You Were Here.