Aside from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from The Beatles in 1967, Dark Side of the Moon from Pink Floyd may be the most important and iconic album of the rock era. The album has been issued and reissued countless times over the years since its debut in 1973. There have been various formats released of the album and endless configuration reissues.
For such an important album, the various recent 50th anniversary releases, while not entirely disappointing, perhaps could have been done differently. This is surprising in that Pink Floyd, like The Beatles (sorry to make that comparison again), has been at the forefront of reissuing not only its music, but also visual material and audio in the latest advanced formats. While Pink Floyd has sometimes fallen short in releasing their music in the best analog way on vinyl, sound and packaging design is something it always excels at.
One of the most welcome aspects of this new reissue series is the vinyl reissue of The Dark Side Of The Moon – Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974. This concert, widely bootlegged, was officially released on CD as part of the 2011 Dark Side of the Moon Immersion box set released in 2010 and now long out of print. It is now available as part of the deluxe box set and as a standalone release. This is a captivating listening experience, as the group’s playing the album in its entirety, with slight unique touches, and makes for a fresh listen of an album we’ve all heard countless times.
Moments of jazzy improvisation by keyboardist Rick Wright and a more pronounced gospel feel on the backing vocals in particular stand out. The entire live recording has a more organic feel and seems to literally breathe and pulse. The original studio album may be the pinnacle of ’70s rock studio-craft, so to be able to have a live experience this good, and now on vinyl, is truly a revelation.
The vinyl album comes in a gatefold sleeve. There are two new posters included designed by Ian Emes and Gerald Scarfe. Scarfe did the design for the group’s 1979 double album The Wall. The new cover, playing off the original studio album artwork, was designed by Aubrey “Po” Powell of Hipgnosis and Peter Curzon of Storm Studios. This cover features the original 1973 line-drawn cover artwork by George Hardie. The CD includes a 12-page booklet.
This is the first time Dark Side of the Moon has been available on Blu-ray as an Atmos mix. Again, not to beat a dead horse, but, Pink Floyd (as a group and solo), along with The Beatles, has been at the forefront of the Atmos format. This new Dolby Atmos mix is superb. The music has a widescreen, cinematic quality. There are nuances that are subtlety brought out, particularly the spoken word and cosmic giggles segments. The sound of the bass, played by Roger Waters, has a thunderous majestic presence that redefines the depth of the album. A fun extra is the trippy disc menu, which is also filled with lots of great technical text and audio setup diagram instructions for audiophiles and surround sound geeks.
The CD of the newly mixed album, the Blu-ray of the new Dolby Atmos mix and the Blu-ray of the 5.1 mix are currently only available in the box set. The 5.1 mix available on Blu-ray is the original mix that has been previously released. The new mix of the album on vinyl is only available in the box. It’s hard to figure out why this new vinyl remaster is not available as a standalone release. Perhaps this will be rectified down the road.
Another must-have item that comes in the box set but that can be purchased separately is the companion Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary book. The package is a beautiful, album-sized hardcover book, with a dust-jacket, published by one of the premier publishers of bespoke coffee-table books, Thames & Hudson.
The book is primarily comprised of the intimate, black & white photographs by Jill Furmanovsky of the group on tour in 1972, with the entire book designed by the esteemed Hipgnosis design team of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell. Almost all the photos are of the band before, during and after concerts from the tour, with many family, friends and their team also included. There are a tour itinerary, newspaper clippings, and a replication of the original album design and poster.
There are many who already have the Immersion box set version of the album, and they will have to consider if the new box set contains enough new material to warrant purchasing this new set, or even any of the standalone material. Those not purchasing the full new box and who either have or don’t have the Immersion box, are encouraged to buy the Thames & Hudson book and the vinyl edition of Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974, or, if they prefer the CD format.
There have been additional standalone issues of material from recent Pink Floyd box sets, so those hoping for the new vinyl remaster of the album, or the Dolby Atmos mix on Blu-ray, will hopefully have an opportunity to purchase those discs at a later date and time.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
Pink Floyd, The Dark Side Of The Moon – Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974
B+
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon Atmos Blu-ray
B+
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon 5.1 Blu-ray
B
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon CD
B
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary Book
A
