Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon [180g, Gatefold, 50th Anniversary] (LP) Vinyl

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Capitol Records in the United States and on 16 March 1973 by Harvest Records in the United Kingdom. Conceived as a concept album built around the pressures of the band's touring life and the mental health problems of former member Syd Barrett, it explores themes of conflict, greed, time, death and mental illness. It remains the band's best selling release and one of the defining records of the album era.

The Album

New material was recorded in two sessions across 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios in London, now Abbey Road Studios, and the album was signed off on 9 February 1973. The band produced the record themselves, with Alan Parsons as engineer and mixing supervised by Chris Thomas. Pink Floyd built the album from multitrack recording, tape loops and analogue synthesisers, including the EMS VCS 3 and a Synthi A, while reining in the extended instrumental passages of their earlier work. Parsons recruited the session singer Clare Torry for "The Great Gig in the Sky", and the saxophonist Dick Parry was booked to play on "Us and Them" and "Money". Confident in the strength of Roger Waters's words, the band printed the lyrics on the sleeve for the first time.

Artwork

The gatefold sleeve was designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie, the prism image answering Richard Wright's request for something simple and bold that would stand for the band's lighting and the album's themes. The band of light emerging from the prism carries six colours rather than the usual seven, indigo being left out, and the back cover shows a second prism recombining the spectrum so that sleeves could be laid out end to end in record shops. Two posters and two pyramid themed stickers were included inside the sleeve: one poster carries concert photographs of the band overlaid with scattered letters spelling PINK FLOYD, the other an infrared photograph of the Great Pyramids of Giza.

Reception

The album reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and topped the US Billboard 200, where it has since charted for 996 weeks. It is certified 14 times platinum in the United Kingdom by the BPI, and by 2013 had sold more than 45 million copies worldwide, making it the best selling album of the 1970s and the fourth best selling album in history. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress in 2012. Rolling Stone placed it at number 43 in its 2003 and 2012 lists of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and at number 55 in the 2020 edition, the band's highest placement.

This Pressing

This is the 50th anniversary edition on a single 180g black vinyl LP, presented in a gatefold sleeve with the two posters and two stickers of the original release. It was mastered by James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Bernie Grundman, with the lacquers cut by Bernie Grundman. The pressing carries Columbia and Sony Music labels under catalogue number 19658720271, was pressed by Record Industry and is made in the EU.

Tracklist

Side One

1. Speak to Me (1:30)
2. Breathe (In the Air) (2:43)
3. On the Run (3:30)
4. Time (6:53)
5. The Great Gig in the Sky (4:15)

Side Two

1. Money (6:30)
2. Us and Them (7:51)
3. Any Colour You Like (3:24)
4. Brain Damage (3:50)
5. Eclipse (1:45)