CLASSIC ALBUMS: THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

Latest (11/2/2006):

Some of you might have known that for me music is emotion. Talking about emotion, one might explore further on "the making of" thing that has stirred their emotion. So is the case if you reckon the music of "The Dark Side of The Moon" by Pink Floyd is something that stirs your emotion, you might want to know how the album was made and the context how the album was taking shape. For me personally, TDSotM is something important to my life as I was growing up with this album and "Time" was once I used as an alarm for wake up call when I was studying engineering at Bandung.

Having known the album very well, complete with all of its textures and soundscapes, have helped me a lot to take benefit of this documentary DVD. There are cuts from album tracks played by individual member of the band with his instrument and then continued with full music. For example David Gilmour plays his own guitar in "Breathe" as if he is playing with other members of the band. Interviews with each member of the band are quite good. I just knew through this DVD that actually Rick Wright loves jazz (who has become his inspiration). What also surprises me is that the guitar solo when David Gilmour play without others I don't recognize it until the music flows with "Time" as the name of the track. Awesome. What I also like is the original version of Money which sounds more bluesy and also the acoustic guitar solo and singing by Roger Waters.

The interviews were also made with Alan Parsons as The Dark Side of The Moon's engineer and also with Senior Editor of Rolling Stones Magazine, David Fricke and also Robert Sandall (Journalist) plus other sources. That has made the documentary right balance with variety of views / opinions.

Overall, this is an excellent documentary that anyone who wants to explore progressive rock must own this DVD. Don't miss it! You would not regret it at all. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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ORIGINAL REVIEW (8/11/2005)

An Excellent Documentary of a PHENOMENAL album

More than 29 million copies of Dark Side Of The Moon have been sold worldwide. That's the sales statistics before their reunion at Hyde Park during Live 8 because the event created a significant impact on the sale of five Pink Floyd albums including DSOTM. It's phenomenal. Writing an unbiased review of DSOTM at this point in history is nearly impossible. To me, this is one of the top twenty albums of all time. With 741 consecutive weeks on Billboard's Top 200 list, this record by far has spent more time on the charts by far than any other record released and is considered by many audiophiles to be one of the most important albums in history. That's the fact that we have known about the album. But actually, do we know how the album was made? This DVD explains it clearly and wonderfully .

It starts off with Roger Waters explaining his view of what the record means to him politically and socially, and how the band got to where they were in 1972. Right after Syd Barrett left the band in the 1968, Pink Floyd was left without its leader, its main songwriter, and the creative force behind such psychedelic classics. For the next three years, the band put a concerted effort and created soundscapes the likes of which pushed the boundary of rock'n'roll music industry as it had never been made before. Waters talks about this shortcoming in creating the hits during some concert footage of the Floyd in 1968 playing "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun." However, they have strengths, musically.

I was amazed when I watched this DVD as everything seemed like flowing easily in the making of the album. But I'm sure that it was not that easy as it required a lot of creative ideas from the band members. Interviews with Alan Parsons and Chris Thomas show how the recording was handled, along with Roger Waters and David Gilmour explanation in studio that demonstrate how the sound effects and soundscapes were created. Remember that it was a pre-digital era so that all the sounds that were recorded had to be done completely "manual," a very hands-on approach to sound engineering and mixing. I like the part that describes how "On the Run" was created in the studio, the infamous synthesizer makes an appearance, with Gilmour showing how the riff was created.

Alan Parsons demonstrates how he made the recording of clock sounds in "Time". Rick Wright talks about all the hand signals that needed to be used for the making of this album. Throughout the DVD, we see how Gilmour, Wright and Waters all playing segments of the album by themselves acoustically and recorded excellently and give a bit different take from what we've all heard previously in the album. Unfortunately there is no part with Nick Mason playing his drums in the studio.It seems like he was not member of the band.

The Extras

The extras contains interesting footages. Waters goes into greater depth discussing several songs on the record and how they were made. Waters plays acoustic guitar while singing "Brain Damage" with no cut at all - wow! It's fantastic! There's also some commentary on his part on the state of the world and music. Then Gilmour takes over, discussing his guitar parts for several songs. It's interesting to see how they did to make the music loop for "Maoney". Gilmour performs wonderful solo acoustic performance for "Breathe". It's really excellent.

Summary

It's a highly recommended DVD any Pink Floyd fan should own it. It's suitable only for those who already knew Dark Side of The Moon album to get a complete picture how the music sounds and how it was made. It's not recommended for those who never listen to the music of this album. If this is the case, how come? Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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