Pink Floyd / Dark Side of the Moon

[Robin]

Artist / Title: Pink Floyd / Dark Side Of The Moon
Year of Release: 1992
Record Label: Capital Records
Genre: Rock


Golly, Where to begin… How about on the, “Dark Side Of The Moon”...

First, let me just say, I think this CD is Pink Floyd’s masterpiece. It is simply far-and-away, out-of-this-world, creative genius. I am always blown away by the musical quality and passion that the, “Dark Side Of The Moon” (DSOTM) conveys. I don’t know what inspired the creative energy to conceive of this masterwork, by Pink Floyd, and I don’t really care… I just love every song. It’s as simple as that. Recently, I had the opportunity to hear the song, “Time”, from DSOTM, played over five speakers (sorry - I can’t remember the manufacturer), which as I recall, were $50,000.00 a piece. Anyway, the sound engineer / instructor, at the sound dept. of, “Expression College”, in Emeryville, CA., said ‘he wanted us to hear something that was very special’. Then he played the song, “Time” at full volume. Needless to say, it made an impression, it was astounding and all, I could say was, “Wow”!!! The instructor told us, DSOTM was wonderfully and painstakingly engineered the old fashioned way, before digital engineering. Originally first recorded in 1973, by Pink Floyd and masterfully engineered by Alan Parsons, assisted by Peter James, and mixed by Chris Thomas. What a glorious accomplishment and lucky for us too, this CD was crafted so well. Pink Floyd’s multi-talented band consists of: David Gilmour on vocals, guitar, VCS3; Nick Mason on percussion, tape effects; Richard Wright on keyboards, vocals, VCS3; Roger Waters on bass guitar, vocals, VCS3, tape effects; Dick Parry, sax on “Us and Them” and “Money”; Clair Torry, vocals on “The Great Gig in the Sky”; Doris Troy, Leslie Duncan, Liza Strike and Barry St. John performing backing vocals.

The creative juices were definitely flowing over for DSOTM. Clair Torry’s sublime vocals on, “The Great Gig in the Sky”, comes seemingly, out of nowhere in a spiraling and thrilling aria, which is just fantastic...
Other songs, which tickled my fancy, are: “Time”, “Brain Damage” and “Eclipse”.

Gilmour, Mason, Wright and Waters, thanks and thank you to all the other wonderful performers and creative contributor’s to this remarkable Rock CD. DSOTM, was remastered for CD, in 1992, and it sounds fantastic on my ML’s…

Enjoy this Rock’n Roll treasure.

Cheers

-Robin

[magoo]

Robin, if you ever get the chance to hear it, the SACD release is well worth it. The stereo layer sounds noticably better than cd, but the surround mix works really well, and I say that as someone who generally chooses the stereo mix on either dvd-a or sacd. Fine album indeed thou, whatever format

[jjqiv]

Robin, if you ever get the chance to hear it, the SACD release is well worth it. The stereo layer sounds noticably better than cd, but the surround mix works really well, and I say that as someone who generally chooses the stereo mix on either dvd-a or sacd. Fine album indeed thou, whatever format

Its even better on vinyl!

[dyazdani]

I had it on Mobile Fidelity vinyl and still have the MOFI Gold UltraDisc version. Both are outstanding recordings of an already great production.

[Robin]

Its even better on vinyl!

jjqiv,

Yeah, several of my friends, in High School purchased this album on vinyl..., But they never had the systems, we have here on the ML Club, to play it on. I'll bet it sound wonderful on vinyl...

Cheers

-Robin

[ADRI26]

I had it on Mobile Fidelity vinyl and still have the MOFI Gold UltraDisc version. Both are outstanding recordings of an already great production.

I had gold cd MOFI and Japan mini vinilo version this 2 editions is wonderfull

[slowGEEZR]

I've got this on Mobile Fidelity ultradisc II gold CD, which I've had for a quite a while and I just recently purchased it on the Capitol SACD 30th anniversary edition. I've always loved the MoFi release, but I just wanted to hear it on SACD, as I really enjoy all my other SACDs. I can't tell you how disappointed I am with the sound from this SACD. Yes, I can hear things clearer on the SACD and I actually heard some sounds that I couldn't from the CD. However, the SACD sounds like it was recorded with a filter that took out all of the low frequencies! There was no foundation to the music. Also, the highs seemed to be over-equalized. Together, these sound qualities made the disk non-musical to my ears.

Of course, no matter what the media, it is the mastering and mixing and engineering that determines the sound quality. So, I won't quickly purchase another Capitol SACD until I listen to it first. Now, if only MoFi would come out with a SACD of it. -Steve

[ovature]

I've got this on Mobile Fidelity ultradisc II gold CD, which I've had for a quite a while and I just recently purchased it on the Capitol SACD 30th anniversary edition. I've always loved the MoFi release, but I just wanted to hear it on SACD, as I really enjoy all my other SACDs. I can't tell you how disappointed I am with the sound from this SACD. Yes, I can hear things clearer on the SACD and I actually heard some sounds that I couldn't from the CD. However, the SACD sounds like it was recorded with a filter that took out all of the low frequencies! There was no foundation to the music. Also, the highs seemed to be over-equalized. Together, these sound qualities made the disk non-musical to my ears.

Of course, no matter what the media, it is the mastering and mixing and engineering that determines the sound quality. So, I won't quickly purchase another Capitol SACD until I listen to it first. Now, if only MoFi would come out with a SACD of it. -Steve

I AGREE. The SACD sucks...........much worse than the MOFI gold I have. I think the album is overrated anyway. I think it's a bit dated and overplayed.............enough already!!

[tsd2005]

The album also featured the invention of the loop playback machine. Originally Waters created it with broomsticks and other pieces of machinery he had in his shed. He created it for the Money sound effects.

The idea behind the album was simple. Waters wrote questionaires for people to fill out about what made them crazy. Then he went around with a recorder and asked the same things to the people hanging around Abbey Road Studios. Then he went and wrote songs about the answers.

Alan Parsons (later of the Parsons Project) would later state that Waters did most of the mastering, and that he would find him or Gilmour in the studio messing with his work at 2am in the morning.

Clearly a brilliant album. Waters is currently touring Europe and then the States playing a live version of DSOTM. Nick Mason is joining him for one show in Europe, and possibly the American tour. David Gilmour said he might join the last half of the American tour. In which case I'm sure it would stop being a Roger Waters tour and become a Pink Floyd tour.

It is easily one of the 5 best CDs to use for demo use of what to expect from a great system. Interestingly Roger Waters' solo album Amused to Death is by far the best demo disc you can use. It is recorded in QSound which is a technology Waters helped pay for.

[Robin]

It is easily one of the 5 best CDs to use for demo use of what to expect from a great system. Interestingly Roger Waters' solo album Amused to Death is by far the best demo disc you can use. It is recorded in QSound which is a technology Waters helped pay for.

tsd2005,

I totally agree. I wonder have you heard Roger Waters new solo CD "Amused to Death"? If so..., is it great? I it worth it? If so and you can recommend it? I would encourage you to offically recommend it, with a review - here on the the ML Club... Recommendations are wonderful most of the time, especially if the reviewer has similar musical teastes as me... I find it very helpful as well.

[JohnA]

I don't know why you guys have bass-less version of the DSOTM SACD, but the one I've got kicks ass! Could it be that the European version is different?

I've also got it in various vinyl and CD flavours, but none of them is a patch on the SACD.

Currently this is the best-sounding of my surround SACDs.

[aerius007]

The idea behind the album was simple. Waters wrote questionaires for people to fill out about what made them crazy. Then he went around with a recorder and asked the same things to the people hanging around Abbey Road Studios. Then he went and wrote songs about the answers.

Guess what speakers Abbey Road Studio uses... B&W 801

[silver98]

I believe I went through 3 albums, one 8 track, have the mobile sound fidelity album and the MSF CD. Its the standard I use for every component purchase and the first I grab to determine if the latest tweak is a keeper or returned to sender! I have all too many CD's at this point, covering about all genre'. DSOTM is still my favorite, and I tip my hat and thank my lucky stars that Nick, Roger, Dave, Richard and the late Syd got together!

[kurtmelancon]

I listened to the regular cd and the sacd and I thought it was a pretty dramatic difference. Definitely worth grabbing on sacd in my opinion.

[SundayNiagara]

tsd2005,

I totally agree. I wonder have you heard Roger Waters new solo CD "Amused to Death"? If so..., is it great? I it worth it? If so and you can recommend it? I would encourage you to offically recommend it, with a review - here on the the ML Club... Recommendations are wonderful most of the time, especially if the reviewer has similar musical teastes as me... I find it very helpful as well.

The LP is what you should hear, if you can find it. Definitely a candidate for re-mastering.