Disco de Pink Floyd: “Dark Side of the Moon [20th Anniversary Limited Edition]”

Studies have been conducted on the success of Pink Floyd's classic, best-of-the-best "Dark Side of the Moon." Some results are as follows:

*One in every 20 people under the age of 50 in the United States owns a copy of this album *Dark Side remained on Billboard's 200 album chart for an amazing 15 years straight and then for another two when it was remastered back in 1994 *It is currently the most successful album ever with upwards of 40 million copies sold world-wide

Now the question... WHY? Why should one album by a band back in 1973 have such outstanding achievments and admiration even today? Perhaps because of the time period. Look at other albums released the same year by bands like Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, Rush, and the Doobie Brothers among several others. This was the year of rock perfection. Or maybe it was because of the rave for concept albums. Or the simple, yet unforgettable album cover.

More likely it was the band's chemistry and ability to make jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, thought-provoking music. This is Pink Floyd at its collective finest, with everyone contributing. Unlike the band in 6 years, Waters did NOT do everything. Gilmoure took a huge chunk of the music-writing, laying down the chord progressions on "Breathe," "Time," and "Any Colour You Like;" the singing on the album's best songs, Water's conceeding to David's far superior voice; and pumping out what would later be hailed as some of rock's most influential lead-guitar riffs on "Money" and "Brain Damage." Wright got in on much of the writing as well with his keyboard contributions on "Breathe," the symphonic "Great Gig in the Sky," "Us and Them," and the amazing keybpard licks and effects on "Colour." Mason, who rarely contributed, put in his efforts on "Speak to Me," "Time," and the Waters-less "Colour." Finally, Roger Waters put down most of the album's music, laid down all the bass-lines as usual, thought up the album's concept, and wrote all the lyrics. If that's not enough, he made himself heard on "Brain Damage," "Eclipse," and the chorus of "Time." Anyway you put it, THIS is the true Pink Floyd; all contributing, all acknowledged.

The band's titanic success was continued on later albums like 1975's "Wish You Were Here," 1977's "Animals," and 1979's "The Wall," although by that time the band had begun to fall apart from Waters' power obsession. By 1983, the band had slipped to a Water's-solo-project version of itself, with "The Final Cut," and finally a break-up. But never would the band see the success or experience the musical genious of "Dark Side of the Moon." So pop this in, take another listen, and remember- even if you don't believe the hype- after this album, music would never be the same....

So here it is... the Dark Side 'Immersion' set. This is the fifth version I've owned of the legendary album, and I would have been happy to own just the Blu-Ray disc alone here, but of course it is not available separately. That said, I'm happy to own Disc 6, the 'Extra Audio Tracks,' mainly for the Alan Parsons Mix. It's interesting to hear for historical value. The various ephemera, marbles and so on, are kinda fun, but I'm not the type of collector who looks for such items.

As for the music, the Quad Mix sounds entirely fantastic on the Blu-Ray disc. Regarding the central Dark Side version of this reissue, the James Guthrie 2011 remaster, I really cannot detect any difference between this and the 2003 remaster that was done for the 30th anniversary of Dark Side. Perhaps my listening mind is too taken up in the details of the amazing yet ultra-familiar album experience to notice any subtleties. The Wembley '74 live album, which I'm listening to as I write this, is a solid concert representation of the album. The sound quality is very good considering the age of the recording. The additional video concert footage is all relatively good, though some of it suffers a bit from poor camera angles and slightly muddy sound mix.

The documentary here is more of promotional vehicle, brief but moderately informative. The 'Classic Albums' story on Dark Side is really a much more thorough and interesting dissection of the album's creation and would have been a better addition to this set. I guess the business arrangements for that were too difficult or something.

Packaging-wise, this is not the most well organized box set, as opposed to something like the Pixies box. There are slots for Discs 1-4 built into the set, but everything else is just loose. Discs 5 & 6 (including the Blu-Ray disc, to me the most important item) are in cardboard sleeves, but there are no designated slots for them within the box. They're just dropped in with everything else.

I'm listening to Great Gig In They Sky - Disc 2 - and felt it necessary to put in my two cents. Disc One is the familiar studio version all nicely dressed up in a new remaster - it's got some sonic differences over past versions although I've never been unhappy with any copy of Dark Side Of The Moon be it vinyl or CD.

Soooo - my reason for writing is just to say how cool it is to hear a great sounding show from 1974 with the complete DSOTM. The version of Great Gig In The Sky is quite fantastic. The whole thing is great - a real treat! Don't pass it up!

Once in a while, a rock band or other musical entity puts out an album that, quite simply, changes the face of music history. And yet, Pink Floyd was a rather unlikely group of musical innovators: An excellent singer/guitarist(David Gilmour) who was, until the release of this album, best known merely as "Syd Barrett's replacement," (Barrett, still regarded by many fans as the band's true musical genius, had recently taken leave of his senses and was apparently holed up somewhere watching the floor relate to the walls); a fine bassist/writer/singer/perfectionist (Roger Waters) still tortured by his fatherless upbringing; a low-key keyboardist and rather good singer and writer (Rick Wright) who stayed in the background as much as possible; and finally, a rather thoughtful percussionist and sound-effects wizard (Nick Mason), whose most lasting claim to fame would be as the man who vocalized the chilling spoken word threat in the band's classic "One Of These Days". An unlikely band of innovators, to be sure. And yet, Pink Floyd was properly positioned in the right place at the right time with the right sound. The year was 1973, the musical revolution started in the sixties was still in full swing, FM radio was in it's infancy (Recently taken over by hippie-types who longed for hours and hours of nice, spacy, commercial-free programming). In a word, rock music was the touchstone of our generation, just as television had been the touchstone of our parent's generation, and computers would be to our childen's generation. Those of us in high school or college spent hours every night and weekend, gathered around the stereo in someone's apartment or room, getting high, drunk, or just daydreaming, pondering such important questions as "What makes Teflon stick to the pan?" (Thank you, Gallagher!) In many of these listening spaces, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon was the album of choice, sometimes listened to over and over again. The mad mutterings of "Speak to Me," the celestial swirl of "Breathe", the jet-propulsive paranoia of "On the Run," and "Time," a favorite subject of young questers everywhere (along with madness, death, and pizza), "The Great Gig in the Sky" (with Claire Torry's incredible vocal-cries of universal anguish, "Money", first-rate blues rock, "Us and Them", hypnotic yet thought-provoking, "Any Colour You Like," sheer beauty, "Brain Damage", the madman inside all of us, and "Eclipse," the perfect thematic coda. All received by us, the grateful listeners, in our various states of consciousness (altered or otherwise), and then purchased, time and again, from music stores. Dark Side of the Moon was the ONE ALBUM that every rock fan (and many wouldn't otherwise be caught dead listening to rock music) had to own. Why??? After thirty years, I can offer only a tentative answer: Most people cannot stand to ruminate for long about ourselves and our place in the universe, yet every human being on the face of this earth will at sometime wonder: Why are we here??? The Pink Floyd, through this classic masterwork, holds no answers for us, yet it is as if they are offering to accompany us as we journey toward self-discovery, making the transition easier, soothing the pain, quieting the hurt even as they force us to see inside ourselves. Thanks, guys, from all of your fellow voyagers. I think I can safely speak for many when I say the road to self-awareness would have been much bumpier if I had not traveled it in your celestial vehicle. I say once, and I say again, SHINE ON, YOU CRAZY DIAMONDS and rock on, even unto the darkest part of the dark side of the moon.

Well, as always, your mileage may vary...

It is quite possible for someone to hear this version of the album and hate it. When I first put it on, I wasn;t too happy myself. Then I switched my receiver to direct input mode, bypassing all of the processing that the receiver does and, well, wow.

The sound of this album on the SACD tracks is a revelation. First, let's deal with the stereo mix.

This is clearly the original stereo mix, with all the little bits of hiss and the tiny sound of some big band playing the beatles barely audible at the tail end of the album. No noise reduction, just really good, clean mastering with all the punch this recording needs. The roto-toms in "Time" pop out of the speakers, the opening guitars in "Breathe" shimmer", and, well, everything is just right.

Then we get to the surround mix. This is very well done, reflects the orignal stereo mix exactly in volume of instruments, reverb, and tone, surrounds the listener well, and has absolutely no hiss whatsoever. Amazing. Simply amazing.

The cd layer is merely adequate. I agree with other reviewers, something went amiss with the cd layer. But I bought this for the SACD content, and that is simply awesome. To the "engineer" who said that he wouldn't consider buying a SACD player after hearing the cd layer of this cd, let me offer you an analogy of what you are saying:

I have a 1978 VW bus that I drive occasionally. It shares many common engine parts with some Porshes made at the same time. Your saying that the cd convinces you to ignore the SACD is like me saying that I don't like Porshes because my VW bus doesn't go 100 mph. Sharing parts doesn't make my car a Porshe, and just because the disc is round and shiny doesn't mean that SACD isn't any good.

Enjoy!