This album was the first release by Pink Floyd where they had both written and toured the material before going into the studio; the original title for the album was "Eclipse".
The album sleeve states that the recording process started in June 72 and finished in January 73 at the Abbey Road Studios, it didn't take six months to record. The reality was 38 days of recording was squeezed in around tours of Britain, Japan, and North America as well as a soundtrack for the Barbet Schroeder film "La Vallée (Obscured by Clouds) and work on a French ballet with input from the film director Roman Polanski and the late Rudolph Nureyev.
This album began life in a West Hampstead rehearsal studio in the November of 1971, the band had come back from America and where sick of playing touring. The keyboard player Rick Wright was ever more worried about the possibility of a plane or train crash. The album "Meddle" had just come out and the epic "head-music" the band had defined on the second side of that album called "Echoes" excited everyone.
Over the next 7 weeks in the Rehearsal studio the band wrote feverously, with the Bass layer Rodger Waters paying particular attention to morality and the mental collapse of original band member Syd Barrett. (See the book "Crazy Diamond" by Mike Watkinson & Pete Anderson ISN number 0 - 7119 - 8835 - 8 for further reading on Syd Barrett)
The sound engineer Alan Parsons, who had become famous for his work on the Beatles album "Abbey Road", engineered this album working both night and day using not one but two
16 track decks. In an interview Parsons recalled using all the tape machines at Abbey Road to create the effects that had him trailing tape in the corridors, each first generation recording was non- Dolby but the then new process of Dolby A was added to the second generation 16 track with all the effects added and what effects the band used everything they could think of.
The track "On the Run" contains a benchmark use of the VCS3 synthesiser, a suitcase model known as the EMS Synthi AKS, which had an on board sequencer. Using this keyboard David Gilmour had come up with an eight note sequence which Waters changed to a seven note sequence sep up to give the familiar burbling effect Although some of the sounds on the track are library sound effects, the train sound is guitar feedback and Parsons in Abbey Road and on London underground recorded the sound of footsteps. On the track "Time" David Gilmour's guitar is full of distortion and phasing, and is automatically double tracked. The album is full of slide guitar pieces these Gilmour played with his Fender Stratocaster on his lap. On the piece called "Money" Gilmour plays two guitars with different effects, the seven note Bass here is accompanied by paper/money/cash register sounds cut into the take by Waters from tape lengths recorded on a Revox tape machine in his wife's potting shed. The echoes on the track "Us and Them" came from tape running at 7.5 ips (inches per second) vari-speeded by 1.5 seconds. The section of the album called "Any Colour You Like contains an amazing Hendrix-like guitar solo by David Gilmour, shimmering organ and VCS3 keyboard solos by Wright and a stunning echo repeat tone from the VCS3 synth. David Gilmour got the weird guitar sounds on "Breathe", "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse" by playing through the revolving Leslie cone on Wright's Hammond organ, a trick borrowed from Eric Clapton. Throughout this album Wright Hammond playing is superb along with his playing of Wurlitzer electric piano, acoustic piano and backing vocals, some of the style used by him come from the jazz masterpiece by Miles Davis called "Kind of Blue". (Another personal favourite of mine) Nick Mason the drummer in the band was strong on all the extraneous noises and is supposed to have retuned his Roto-Toms for every key change on "Time". The voice parts of the album the most famous being "I don't know I was really drunk at the time" and "I've always been mad" come parts recorded by Waters the first voice is wings guitarist "Henry McCullough" and the second is the doorman at Abbey Road studios called Jerry Driscoll. Clare Torry's screams on "Great Gig in the sky" were done in one take on a Sunday night in January 1973. To finish the album the group created a sound collage called "Speak to Me" this track contains elements from "Time", "Money" and "Great Gig in the sky" the oscillating machine sound is from the VCS3 synth Round about the middle of January 73 the producer Chris Thomas was brought in as a neutral pair of ears for three weeks to oversee the mix of the album, Waters wanted the sound dry and Gilmour wanted it wet, in the end Thomas added a echo-laden wet mix which was his contribution to the album and this mix would benefit all subsequent format mixers. The production of this album sounds basic compared today's standards, but some how does not sound primitive indeed there are some later Floyd album which sound more dated, this probably due to luck than design. I think this album must be listened too complete and not in parts like singles the track "Money" was released in the U.S. and got to number 13 in the billboard charts and the album itself was on the billboard album chart for 14 years.
Originally released on March 24th 1973 catalogue number SHVL 804 this album has gone through various changes over the years from the first version released on vinyl to the 21st centuary version which is a hybrid disc with dual layers of data, one with a new 5.1 surround mix and the other layer of data which has a clearer stereo version. In between the release of these there have been other incarnations ranging from a quadraphonic mix released in December 1973 with a slightly different cover design (blue outline prism) with the catalogue number Q4 SHVL 804, to a Mini disc version in 1992 catalogue number EMI 8 29752 8, I found there in all there have been 13 versions released in the U.K (I am sure someone will tell me different.) I found that in America there where 19 versions which include a picture disc in 1978 catalogue number Capitol SEAX - 11902 to a the first of two Gold versions first of these has the catalogue number MFSL UDCD 517 which came out in 1988 the second came out in 1993 catalogue number MFSL UDCD 517 9 the difference between those two is one the year and the process of ultra disc 2 on the more up to date pressing. (Again I am sure someone out there will know of more) A real nightmare if you are a collector of this band, I personally have the 20th Anniversary version in a box with 6 postcards and the bang up to date 30th anniversary SACD issue, which is a real dream to listen too compared to the boxed version it sounds warmer and creates a real sound landscape to relish, catalogue number for this issue is EMI 7243 and the vinyl issue the number EMI 7243582136 1 for all the purists out here.
Just sit back press play and let this new pressing wash over you, I haven't heard the SACD mix of this album but can't help but feel curious about what it sounds like.
In closing I think the future of this particular album is assured as every generation discovers this masterwork it's re-invented for their consumption.
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Fantastic album best appreciated in a darkened room with quality earphones! Used to listen to this in bed and always fell asleep during 'Time' only to be awoken again at the end of the song when all the alarms go off! Scary stuff.
longdog 21.05.2006 16:48
Great review,I'll never forget rthe Floyd's full length performance at Earl's Court, brilliant band, brilliant album
paisleyman 30.04.2006 15:35
This album had a real impact on me. Those were the days when I was a young man and this takes me back. The Great Gig In The Sky is my track. Fantastic. Very good review
One of the most famous albums of all time,Dark Side Of The Moonsold 25 million copies in ... more
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 w...
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Advantages: A musical watershed; Your CD player will biodegrade before these tracks become yesterday's noise... Disadvantages: Hazardous to listen to if you're prone to contemplating suicide...
Advantages: A musical watershed; Your CD player will biodegrade before these tracks become yesterday's noise... Disadvantages: Hazardous to listen to if you're prone to contemplating suicide...
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