1973 marks the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side of the Moon from Pink Floyd (Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright, Nick Mason), the group’s eighth album. Earlier this year a variety of releases came out to commemorate the anniversary. Those who wanted to purchase a 50th anniversary reissue of the vinyl album had to buy the deluxe box (now out of print). Recently, a standalone vinyl reissue has been released. The reissue has all of the original packaging, including a gatefold, two posters and two stickers, with the album pressed on heavyweight 180-gram vinyl and coming in a poly-lined sleeve.
While it is a beautiful package, the sound is not quite as good as the original or some reissues. There is a striking clarity in spots and thankfully there have been no attempts to freshen up or modernize the mix, but it is a bit muddy, lacks some of the spacey atmospheric feel of the original vinyl, and suffers from poor midrange. It appears this reissue is mastered from a digital source and not the original analog tapes.
Of course, many fans of this album have amassed multiple copies from a multitude of countries, in various formats and from different time periods over the years, making this yet another to collect and compare. Original vinyl UK, Quadrophonic, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs and other non-US releases are often the most sought after and tend to sound the best. Musically, the album holds up remarkably well and unfortunately, lyrically it is even more prescient and relevant than ever.
For those who would like a beautifully packaged, 50th anniversary reissue to either replace an old worn copy, upgrade from CD or streaming to vinyl or give as a nice gift, this is an ideal release. For the hardcore audiophile, however, this release may not be a first choice.
A new release that re-records, re-interprets, or even re-imagines a musical work is not unusual. Sometimes, even the originating artist will tackle the idea. It’s rare, however, when an artist takes on a work considered a classic and maybe one of the best albums of all time.
That is just the case, however, with The Dark Side of the Moon Redux from Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd. While doing this is near heresy and Waters, who has become a controversial figure and is estranged from and in a long bitter battle with his ex-Floyd mate David Gilmour, the album is actually quite good. Although it in no way eclipses the original work, there is much to dig into here.
The album lyrically has a very self-referential tone and partly uses the time that has elapsed (50 years) and Waters’s age (80) as a reflective prism to look at a man’s life, the still unfortunate state of world conflicts (war) and how modern life affects mankind.
The album was issued in many configurations, including as a double-vinyl set. The reworking of the original album is spread out over the first three sides and side four is untitled. The music here is very moody, atmospheric, and funereal. Waters sings the songs in a whispery, breathy quiet way and even sneers some of the lyrics in a sinister growl. One could almost call the sound futuristic prog noir.
The album begins with a spoken intro that in some ways explains why Waters decided to do the album. There is quite a lot of spoken word throughout. In some instances, Waters altered the original lyrics. Occasionally, the way that Waters uses the music as a backdrop for his spoken-sung singing might remind one of latter-day Leonard Cohen albums. There is also a little bit of a Flaming Lips feel on some tracks. The fourth side is a somewhat random, riffing sound collage, that while quite interesting, is not as good as the rest of the album.
The band consists of an eclectic supergroup of such artists as Gus Seyffert, formerly of the Black Keys, esteemed producers/ musicians Joey Waronker and Jonathan Wilson, Azniv Korkejian (Bedouine), and Jon Carin, who has played with Pink Floyd and members of the group for decades.
This is a challenging, thoughtful and ultimately successful re-working of one of the greatest albums of all time and makes for a fascinating companion to the original album.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary
B
Roger Waters, The Dark Side of the Moon Redux
B
