Track Listing

1. Speak To Me
2. Breathe
3. On The Run
4. Time
5. Great Gig In The Sky
6. Money
7. Us And Them
8. Any Colour You Like
9. Brain Damage
10. Eclipse

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #648 in Music
• Released on: 2003-03-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Hybrid SACD, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, SACD
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the most famous albums of all time, Dark Side of the Moon sold 25 million copies in its first 25 years of release. Dark Side of the Moon was the first album that Pink Floyd decided to break in live before attempting to record, with the debut performance of what they then called Eclipse just over a year before the final release date. When they finally retired to Abbey Road Studios with top sound engineer Alan Parsons, state-of-the-art 16-track recording equipment and the new Dolby technology to hand, it was to produce one of the great pieces of studio art. Covering a range of styles, this was the last album (prior to Roger Waters' departure in the early 1980s) to whose writing the other members of Pink Floyd contributed significantly.

Nevertheless, it remains a stunningly coherent package, bound together by surreal fragments of speech (mostly gleaned from asking questions of the doorman at the studio) and Waters' bold and bleak lyrics. Often reputed to be about former member Syd Barrett's decline into schizophrenia, in fact Waters has said the lyrics "were a lot about ordinariness" and dealt with people's responses to the increasing insanity of the pressures of everyday life. Some of the extraordinary sound effects used came from the most unlikely sources--the coins at the start of "Money" from Waters tossing handfuls of change into an industrial food-mixer that his wife, a potter, used to mix clay. Whatever the medium, a new standard for attention to detail and production values had been set and the world of studio recording would never be the same again. --James Swift

CD Description
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON was a benchmark record. It turned themusical world on its ear with a hitherto unseen combinationof sounds, and changed things considerably for Pink Floyd. For this project, Pink Floyd resurrected older and unfinished numbers, some of which came from the multitude of soundtracks the band members had previously worked on. The film ZABRISKIE POINT, a study of American materialism from a foreigner's perspective, provided "Us And Them" (originally titled "The Violence Sequence"). Waters rewrote "Breathe" after its appearance on his and avant-garde composer Ron Geesin's score for THE BODY, a surreal medical documentary.
Floyd and their long-time engineer, Alan Parsons, used a multitude of sound effects--from stereophonically projected footsteps andplanes flying overhead ("On The Run") to a roomful of ringing clocks ("Time"). Further adding to the record's mystique,barely audible spoken passages were sprinkled throughout--aresult of hours interviewing random Abbey Road occupants about their views on insanity, violence, and death. Floyd musthave struck a nerve: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON remained on Billboard's albums chart for an astounding 14 years. It made Pink Floyd a household name, elevating them to the level of theRolling Stones and The Who in the rock pantheon.

Customer Reviews

.......matter of fact it's all dark!
Fans of Pink Floyd know DSOTM like the back of their hand; they can recite the lyrics, hum the melodies and play air guitar like pros. The question is, can this SACD version make it sound any better? Put simply, yes it does....and then some.
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...

Dark Side Revealed !
Like a true Floydian I collect all PF and Roger Waters' albums. I recently received the newly released SACD-version of DSOTM. The remix did wonders for the album and the sound is amazing. As the sound is now decently distributed on a 5.1 surround amplifier, you not only hear new sounds but it's also much clearer than the normal stereo version - especially on tracks such as "Time" and "Money". The long wait was definitely worth it. For any fan of Pink Floyd or Roger Waters, this SACD is an absolute MUST have. Can they now please release SACD versions of the other albums as well.

What else would you expect from Floyd?
Over the years I have bought all the different formats of this album, LP, Cassette, CD and now SACD. As you would expect from Pink Floyd, this is a masterpiece of audio engineering and well worth owning. From the opening bars of Speak to me to the end of Eclipse the 5.1 surround sound engulfs the listener with music and sound effects like only Floyd know how. The clarity and depth of Dick Parry's saxaphone playing on "Us and them" is magnificent. To take an album first recorded in 1972 and change it so much is nothing short of magical. Trust me, Buy it!