Classic Albums – Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: B+ Main Documentary: B+
2003 has been yet another great year for the Pink Floyd
classic Dark Side of the Moon, now 30 years old. The biggest news, however controversial, has
been the new Super Audio CD of the album.
Though the album was originally engineered and produced by Alan Parsons,
current Floyd producer James Guthrie did the 5.1 remix, which has resulted in
music that is… er, mixed.
Just before that release, an entry about the album in the
long-running Classic Albums series was made, which celebrates and
details what went into the production of the landmark recording. For the program, all four members (all
surviving), including Roger Waters, are interviewed extensively. Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright,
Alan Parsons, music scholars and critics also contribute heavily. There is the original broadcast program that
runs around 50 minutes, then extras in a series of outtakes that doubles the
time. As is often the case in this
series, all of the extra material should have remained. You will especially like the innovative way
they went for new sounds for classics like Money, Great Gig in the Sky, On
The Run, Time, Us & Them, Breathe, Brain Damage and Eclipse.
Though not broadcast in the United States any more, the
show continues to be made for European TV and issued on DVD in the U.S. from
Eagle Vision. Veteran director Matthew
Longfellow delivers the goods in this very successful delving into both this
album and especially the band. Everyone
is as candid as possible and their recall is exemplary, which is a real treat
for music fans in general and Floyd hardcores in particular.
It also discusses how this particular worked changed their
careers and lives forever, and in the process, gives us a new angle of how the
Rock genre was growing and prospering in the 1970s. No album track goes deeply unexamined and you will wish it went
on even longer. The archival footage is
exceptionally rich and there are also plenty of stills in the mix.
The 16 X 9 (1.78 X 1) image is decent, though a touch
soft, but not with some of the problems that plagued previous titles in this
series. Nicer still, the Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo decodes nicely in Pro Logic surround for a change. Of course, that will never stand up to the
high definition DSD signal on a SACD, but these are the original mixes of the
songs, which accounts for something. We
will cover the remix controversy in future Floyd reviews.
This also plays very well, especially considering how poor
looking and sounding the Sony Music Video DVD release of The Wall
looks. When is Sony going to finally
issue that as a Superbit DVD? Either
way, even with several Floyd and Waters DVDs on the market, this is the best
Floyd DVD-Video on the market and is strongly recommended.
- Nicholas Sheffo
