CLASSIC ALBUMS: THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

This is a really good dvd. It gives you an insight into how it was made, the story behind the concept and writing. How each song was approached, how all the effects and voices were put in, etc. Alan Parsons takes the viewer through different layers of recording on the album and there are interviews with the band and other people. The DVD also has some exlcusive movie footage, like a story that they made for each track which is really cool, but it would have been great to see them in full.

The whole band (Roger and Dave both present) are reunited here and they even perform some of the songs. This an essential DVD for all you floydians out there as well as you dsotm-heads. A great companion to the album, released 30 years after the original alongside the SACD blue album cover version (which isn't very good unfortunately). I also recommend that you get Live at Pompeii Directors Cut as it has a lot of extra dark side recording footage. Brilliant stuff.

"Dark Side of the Moon was an expression of political, philosophical and humanitarian empathy that was desperate to get out."

"We still had a common goal, which was to become rich and famous."

And so Roger Waters lays out PINK FLOYD's two primary motivations for creating arguably one of progressive rock's greatest masterpieces, The Dark Side of the Moon. It is THE album where underground, progressive music went mainstream. And the music itself is still something that can take you places in a darkened room.

Released by Pink Floyd Music Limited as part of the "Classic Albums" series in conjunction with Dark Side's 30th anniversary, this 84 minute production is split up into a main 50 minute documentary and a 34 minute section full of 'bonus features'. (Try not to laugh at some of the other albums included in this "Classic Album" series by the likes of Meat Loaf, Phil Collins or Steely Dan)

The documentary however is quite good, and features candid interviews with all four primary band members, as well as with artistic designer Storm Thorgerson and producer/engineer extraordinaire Alan Parsons, amongst others. The various protagonists discuss their views on the meaning and significance of the album and walk the viewer through the 'secrets' and 'tricks of the trade' that were used to create "Dark Side" from the use of some of the first examples of sampling, to using tape loops and sonic experimentation. To say that this album was "carefully constructed and engineered" is an extreme understatement. However do not think that this music is in any way contrived, it is pure passion.

The DVD has lengthy philosophical discourses by Waters (in which he actually comes across as quite humane and thoughtful) interspersed with plentiful doses of Gilmour playing multiple pieces from the album. These fit well chronologically with the original videos clips of 'Time', 'Money', 'Us & Them' and the other classics as well as contemporary footage of the band recording the album in 1972/73.

Insightful, intimate and informative, this DVD documentary is a welcome addition to any Floydian's collection or for anyone who loves "Dark Side of the Moon" and wants to learn more behind the concept, its production and the band's interpretation of this classic prog album.

I do not realize that I have already reviewed this DVD. I post it anyway (11/2/2006) for comparison how different time may have different or probably same views:

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

This is one of the best editions from this serie. It's very thrilling to hear and to see Pink Floyd working on their legendary album "Dark side of the moon": the explanations from Rick Wright (incrdible that Waters send him away, this man is so talented and such a warm personality), the stories from the band members and especially the way how "On the run" was made, what a very exciting explanation about the VCS3 synthesizer (without a keyboard, only knobs). I got goose bumps when the band showed how this excellent and unique piece was build up by simply turning some knobs, Pink Floyd was far ahead of many bands how to use technical equipment!

HIGLHLY RECOMMENDED TO EVERY FLOYD FREAK!

How to make a legendary album in one easy lesson

Recorded as part of the BBC's recent classic albums series, this is an utterly compelling making of documentary featuring this legendary album.

The "Classic albums" series has covered a wide range of releases, but the quality of the programmes has invariably been superb. The fact that "Dark side of the moon" was such a ground-breaking album only serves to emphasise the essential nature of this DVD for anyone with an interest in the history of music, prog or otherwise.

What strikes me straight away when watching this particular programme, is the astonishing amount of archive footage available from around the time the album was made. All the band members contribute to the programme, plus noted producer Sir George Martin. Each track is effectively taken apart in turn, and reconstructed using the multi-tracked master tapes to demonstrate how the final results were put together. Studio demos are also used, along with impromptu performances by the band members, to meticulously demonstrate how an idea is developed, stripped back, redeveloped, and refined into the final product.

Watching this fascinating documentary, you quickly realise that "Dark Side of the Moon" could have been quite an ordinary album, had the band chosen to simply record the songs they had prepared and release them in that format. Instead, they spent months working on them both live and in the studio, adding effects, embellishing instrumental passages, and generally refining the product. Clearly around this time, all four band members had the Midas touch; every idea they had for the album was an inspired one, every change they made was an improvement.

The documentary itself is made with as much passion and attention to detail as the album was. This is an essential companion to a landmark release.

The DVD Extras section contains some interesting outtakes where the band members go into greater detail about specific tracks, and undertake additional demo performances.

One obvious, but significant word of warning. Do not expect to hear the original album in full here. This is a documentary about the making of "Dark side of the moon", and about its place in the history of music.

This is a documentary that picks apart one of the most well beloved albums of all time and gets into the nitty gritty details of the songwriting, art design, and other odds and ends. Several people involved in the making of the album from Hipgnosis man Storm Thorgeson to the producers and engineers to the record executives to all four band members, plus a few journalists for bonus flavour. It's a very nice little trinket for the fans of DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, but I personally prefer listening to the finished product. It's actually interesting to hear ''On the Run'' as a mere guitar jam.

The series was great but this was the best album they covered in my opinion. Very interesting to watch and a great insight into the band's way of thinking when they first stepped into Abbey Road to record 'Dark Side'. I've never reviewed a documentary before but I guess the things one would want from such a programme would be: insightful interviews, informative narration, previously unknown facts, plenty of music/images, and perhaps some rare [unseen] footage. Well this dvd has all of those things, it's just a little short. If you want to know just SOME of the great stories behind such a mind-blowing record, this has them all well-documented. Of course it can probably be found on youtube as well...

The making of "Dark Side of the Moon" shows the bright side of recording

I could not think of a better document than to see how this pinnacle of prog success was created. There are some great interviews with the original members on this with timeless quotes; Waters: "it expresses my feelings about things very simply, the music to some extent is driven by that emotional commitment."

There are great insights into the chord structures; Wright mentions he grabbed the 'Breathe' chords from Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue". The Classic Albums series is fascinating when the mixer is used from the original masters listening to individual parts and vocals. The sequencer creation is recreated for 'On the Run'. "They were giving you a preview of the sound pictures of the future", a critic observes. The clocks of time are discussed, the singing "girls", the "spacey, crystalline, almost ethereal" lead solos and themes.

'The Great Gig in the Sky' is analysed as engineer Allan Parson knew Clare Torry ; "we directed her to think about death, horror and just sing. She went out in the studio and did it very quickly and came back very embarrassed and we thought it was brilliant. It is incredibly moving." We hear Torry sing sans music and it is raw and emotional. The album cover is discussed, "the prism is the logo that defines the record"; Storm Thorgersen, explains, it "represents the light show, ambition and greed... Simple, bold and dramatic."

'Money' is theorised about as a single played in 7/8. The demo is played, a crass version, but it is fascinating how this bluesy thing developed, it had "a very transatlantic bluesy twang to it", says Waters after playing it on acoustic to us. Parts of the infamous promo to the song are played. The sax solo is discussed. Wright likes how the song changes, "it just happened, it does change time signatures".

The sudden rise of fame is discussed by Gilmour. The use of "Zabriskie Point" music which became 'Us and Them' is explored. Gilmour: "It was waiting to be reborn with this album." The track is played without the echoes and it sounds "kind of strange" as Parsons puts it. The emptiness of the song to leave gaps and the simplicity of the songs are talked about; "it was always about leaving space," says Waters.

A lot of the recording scenes are the same that appeared in the "Live at Pompeii" film. The voices on the film are fascinating when we hear them without the music, yet they are now familiar. As Waters asked questions such as "What's your favourite colour, or food, when was the last time you were violent, were you in the right?" Roger the Hat was the one who came across most strongly and was primarily used, "if you give 'em a short, sharp shock, they'll never do it again, dig it?"

'Eclipse' is looked at with the apocalyptic explosive scenes from "Zabriskie Point" finale, and scenes from the political footage used in concerts. Waters: "The fundamental question that's facing us all is whether we are capable of dealing with the feelings between us and them".

The band give an overall impression of the album in these interviews, and I will leave this review with their words; Wright: "It was a happy, creative, enjoyable time"; Gilmour: "I'd love to have been the person to listen to it with his headphones on for the very first time"; Waters: "Its driven by emotion, there's nothing plastic, or contrived about it and I think that's one of the things that's given it it's longevity."

This is a very good documentary about the making of PINK FLOYD`s "The Dark Side of the Moon" album. This is another official video like the one the band did for their "Wish You Were Here" album. It has interviews done with David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, Roger Waters, Storm Thorgerson, Alan Parsons and others. It shows an almost track by track (the two exceptions are "Speak to Me" and "Any Colour You Like") description and explanation of how the songs were conceived, and sometimes Waters (the lyricist and the main creator of the concept of the album) gives some explanations about the meaning of the lyrics. It is also a good video because despite the split with Waters in 1985, each member of the band has very good memories about the making of the album, saying that the band was really working as a band and as a team while recording the album, and there are even some good commentaries about each other member`s talents (Gilmour says that the main force behind the album was Waters; Waters praises Wright`s keyboard parts and compositions particularly in "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Us and Them"; Waters praises the combination of Gilmour and Wright`s vocals; Mason says that the band worked then very well together...). Recording engineer Alan Parsons (why the band did not carry on working with him after this album? This is one of their best recorded albums, in my opinion) is also praised for his work in the album, and he also explains some technical things about the recording of the album. Storm Thorgerson explains how he designed the album`s cover. Waters says that the band still worked very well for this album because they still had the same goals ("to become rich and famous"). As a whole, the interviews are very entertaining, showing personal harmony between the four musicians despite their old legal disputes which derived from the split of Waters in 1985. And this documentary really shows why this album is still very respected since being released in 1973. It still is very relevant despite the passing of time.