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Classic Albums - Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of Moon

Classic Albums - Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of Moon

List Price: $20.98
Your Price: $15.74
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great insight into classic album
Review: This DVD is stunningly good (it hit the shops here on Aug. 23 even when the official release date was Aug. 26). It features interviews with all 4 band members that recorded the album. I particularly like the bits where they single out certain tracks on the mixing desk, so you hear just the vocals or just a certain guitar part etc.
Great picture quality and the bonus material is wonderful too.
A must have for any Pink Floyd fan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a must to have
Review: This album is a must to fans of Pink Floyd.
The greatest album of PF

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great look & listen behind the "Dark Side"
Review: The "Classic Albums" series, which began as a program on VH-1, takes one popular rock record and - using demo tapes, separated recorded tracks, archival footage and interviews with artists, producers and engineers - tells the story of its creation by dissecting it, song by song. The series previously took engaging looks into The Grateful Dead's "American Beauty" and Steely Dan's "Aja," among others, but "Classic Albums: Dark Side of the Moon" may be its best volume yet.

Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" LP is the 1973 "space rock" aural masterpiece that catapulted the group into the big leagues; the record spent a mind-boggling 741 weeks within the Billboard Top 100 and still remains a cultural and musical touchstone.

Through conversations with band members Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Rick Wright, Nick Mason, engineer Alan Parsons and various critics and artists, the documentary reveals how the group did it, how they created such a unique and innovative soundscape in an era before personal computers, sampling and modern synthesizers (short answer: with talent, hard work and lots and lots of tape machines).

After years of the bickering and legal brawling between Waters and Gilmour, it's nice to see them happily chatting in agreement on at least one thing: that, together, they made one of the greatest rock albums ever.

The documentary also gives a face to the lesser-known voices on the album, including the amazing singer Clare Torry, as well as the random people who supplied the album's strange, background conversations (one of whom was a doorman at Abbey Road Studios).

But the most interesting revelation the film provides is that, behind all its sound effects and echo chambers and searing guitars and concept-album subtexts, "Dark Side" is really just an album about singing the blues.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superb document on a classic album
Review: Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon had a well deserved 30th anniversary. First was the SACD issue and then came this DVD documentary which looks at how the album was made. All four members of the band's classic lineup Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright are featured in new and exclusive interviews. Roger, David and Richard play songs and demonstrate themes from the album. Rick demonstrated on Breathe how he came up with that weird chord to go to E minor after hearing Miles Davis. David's hilarious demonstration of the On the Run synth loop and Roger's funny country twang version of Money. Original engineer Alan Parsons sifts through the original multi-track tapes isolating some parts of songs. Also, rare concert footage from 1972 and pictures and interviews with Chris Thomas(mixer), David Fricke(Rolling Stone and life long Floyd fan), Storm Thorgerson and many others flesh out this great docunentary. There are also extra features with more demonstrations from Dave on guitar parts, unplugged versions of Brain Damage and Breathe and more interviews. I got this DVD the day it came out and had to buy another as my first copy cracked after awhile. Highly recommended!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The workings of the Floyd and more...
Review: This is one of the best "Classic Albums" series on video. I think for people just discovering the band and picking up the SACD CD, it's a nice way to see how they made the album and what it took (lots of teamwork behind the console as well as in the studio). The video has the original made for TV part, but the best parts are in the extras, which are about as long.

It's unfortunate that the band never filmed the "Dark Side" tour, and resorted to using a "Set the Controls" promo from the same time period, even though there is 8MM footage out there. Thankfully, some of the "Live at Pompeii" film showed the making of at the time, which they used to great effect, and then showed them in the present day. It's too bad PF neglected to film any of their shows from DSOTM to Animals... there's probably some "lost" footage floating around somewhere that they never knew about. But a lot of the "video" footage they used for the screen during the shows is also shown throughout the show, hopefully one day can be used as part of a video collection (supposedly, Nick Mason is putting one together).

It's too bad they weren't willing to be in the same room with each other during the filming of the show though. A lot of it is really interesting to see Roger, Rick, and Dave break down their songs. But I did think that Dave's voice is starting to show wear, which may be why he is reluctant to do a full Floyd tour and is doing the acoustic shows. Hopefully they can do one show together for posterity at least, covering all eras.

Overall, I don't know if this is something that will be played on the DVD player that often, but it's definitely worth watching at least once.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: And in the end, honesty.
Review: We are all fans of DSOTM, you know.

This symphonic rock concept album changed expectations of rock music forever. Roger Waters and the Floyd developed their theme in this album the way a great symphonist from the 18th Century develops one.

DSOTM transcends all other concept albums in this development. It is unique in Rock history.

This DVD, on of the Classic Album Series, is the story of this development. It is, by the way, the best of all the "Classic Albums" DVD's in my opinion.

Of course, the technical aspects are covered in detail ("just how did they synch all those clocks?") and looking over the mixing board and listening in on the original tapes is really fun.

Even better is how the artists each reproduce performances which are then synched with the album. Every time this happens, it's magical to watch.

But the best part of this DVD is how each artist in turn lays down his rancor and tells the story of how this magical album comes together. In the end, they are simple and honest, each realizing that the other contributed some part of this thing that became much greater than the whole.

Pink Floyd will likely never collaborate again; maybe they've said what they had to say. For sure, all the anger that flowed between them would be a giant ogre sitting on their shoulders. So it's really nice to see this DVD, where they pay homage to each other, and to the incredible thing they made decades ago.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Dark Side of OZ
Review: For those of you who are big Pink floyd fans you'll love the Dark Side of OZ, the Dark Side of the Moon synched to The Wizard of OZ. it is trip fantasic!
http://thedarksideofoz.com/

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Dark Side of Human Nature and the Making of a Classic...
Review: After watching this documentary on the making of the Dark Side of the Moon, one question kept popping into my mind: Why can't these two legendary musicians (Waters & Gilmour) put aside their differences and reconcile? It has been over 20 years since the bitter split of Pink Floyd, yet we, the fans are left with little to no hope of ever seeing this band reform and play their classic music just one last time. Alas, I digress, the DVD itself is a fascinating look into the making of the Dark Side of the Moon album, track by track. All four members are featured in extended interviews giving their memories of making what would become one of (if not THE) greatest rock albums ever recorded. Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright look like old men, wait a minute, they ARE old men; nevertheless it is shocking to see the then and now pictures of the band. Roger Waters has some very lucid memories concerning the meaning of his lyrics for Time, Brain Damage and Money. David Gilmour not only speaks of the recording and mixing of the album, but he also plugs in and plays some classic Dark Side tunes. Richard Wright, as well, plays some of The Great Gig in the Sky and Us and Them while opining about how he discovered the chord progressions that would become history. Nick Mason is scattered throughout the film but certainly states that this was the best that the band had ever gotten along. Was this the creative apex of Pink Floyd? It certainly was the most democratically made Pink Floyd album with all four members getting their ideas through, as opposed to the later years (The Wall and The Final Cut) where Waters basically ran the show. Some other points of interest include an extended interview with Alan Parsons who was the session engineer and mixed the album almost perfectly. Throughout the film, Waters speaks of the duality of man and of empathy and how the world is sorely lacking it today. Mr. Waters, why can't you show some empathy for your former band mates and legions of fans around the world and put the Floyd to bed properly? Highly Recommended to any classic rock fan, but an absolute must for Pink Floyd diehards.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Info, Not very Re-watchable
Review: I thought this DVD was a pretty good one to sit down and watch for the first time. It was very informative but the songs were mostly cut out by the documentary part of it. They rarely, if ever, played a full song without interruption and I guess I expected that a little bit.

I gave it three stars cause I think the info is very good and it shows how Dark Side was made pretty well.

On the other hand, you (I) will probably have to wait a while before you watch it again. I impulse bought it several months ago and haven't watched it since.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great
Review: Great show. Can't wait until "P.U.L.S.E." comes out on DVD (especially so I stop wearing out VHS versions!), but this is a good show in the meantime. Some interesting material not seen elsewhere. Good stuff.


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