Watch the 15-minute documentary accompanying Pink Floyd’s 50th anniversary reissue of ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’
Pink Floyd’s 50th Anniversary of “The Dark Side of the Moon” has been commemorated with a deluxe box set on 24th March 2023. This iconic album, one of the best-selling records of all time, has sold over 50 million copies worldwide.
The new box set includes a CD and gatefold vinyl of the 2023 remastered studio album, Blu-Ray and DVD audio featuring the original 5.1 mix and remastered stereo versions, an additional Blu-ray disc of Atmos mix, and CD and LP of “The Dark Side Of The Moon – Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974”. That live album was also released seperately.
A 50th Anniversary book, “Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon: 50th Anniversary” has been released by Thames & Hudson as well. The LP-sized volume, curated by photographer Jill Furmanovsky and art directed by Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey Powell, showcases rare and previously unseen photographs from the album’s tours.
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. Developed during live performances before recording began, it was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and also deal with the mental health problems of former band member Syd Barrett, who departed the group in 1968.
In a 2013 interview with BBC’s HARDtalk, Waters discussed the departure of Syd Barrett from the band: “Syd was a very sweet guy, but he was the first casualty. The rest of us had to get on with it. We had to survive, and the only way to survive was to work.”
New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London.
15-minute documentary
The below 15-minute documentary accompanying Pink Floyd’s 50th anniversary reissue of “Dark Side Of The Moon” offers a welcome break from the ongoing drama surrounding former member Roger Waters’ upcoming re-recording of the 1973 album. Archive footage features Waters, the late Rick Wright, and other significant figures, providing a nostalgic insight into the band’s history.
Roger Waters records own version for a 2023 release
In early 2023, Waters announced that he had recorded a new version of “The Dark Side of the Moon”, set for release later in the year. This rendition features spoken-word sections and excludes guitar solos to “bring out the heart and soul of the album musically and spiritually”. In a Daily Telegraph interview, Waters maintained that although other Pink Floyd members contributed to the original album, it was ultimately his project, stating, “It’s my project and I wrote it… Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ nonsense!” He went on to claim that the other members were not capable of writing songs, had “nothing to say”, and were “not artists”.
Weird, at least Gilmour was artistically involved according to a 2013 interview by Roger Waters with The Guardian: “When we were doing Dark Side, we’d work together in the evenings, and then during the day, everyone would go away and do their own thing. I would sit in a room with a 12-string guitar and write, and Dave [Gilmour] would be in another room working on a solo.”
In a 2017 interview with The Guardian, Waters again discussed the collaborative effort behind Pink Floyd’s music and then said this: “We were all involved in the writing of the music at that time, and that’s what made it so special. It was a collaborative effort, and that’s what made it great.”
But let’s wait and see what Waters will come up with.
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