Dark Side Of The Moon 50th Anniversary

[Tony L]

I may as get a monetised link for this one in early! A very lavish and expensive box set is on the way: Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon 50th Anniversary Box Set. 2xLP, 2xCD, DVD, blu-ray 7” singles, book, posters, stuff etc etc.

The thing that really surprises me is arguably the interesting bit, The Dark Side Of The Moon Live At Wembley 1974, is available at a very reasonable pre-order price outside the box. I’m really puzzled by that one as everyone who likes Dark Side Of The Moon should have at least one nice copy of it already, so what is the motivation for the (currently £250) box? I’d also expect the new mastering to be available before long as the standard retail issue in time too.

PS Does anyone know the Wembley 74 gig? I remember having a bootleg LP as a teenager of a ‘72 gig which was fascinating as a lot of stuff hadn’t been nailed down at all, e.g. Great Gig In The Sky was unrecognisable and had recordings of ranting US fundamentalist preachers in it as I recall. I assume by ‘74 they were just playing the album pretty straight.

 

[mikechadwick]

I'm impressed by your memory Tony! I saw them in Manchester where the show was played in surround sound but I can't remember anything about the show itself! I'm even confused by the dates -I thought it was 1974 at the Free Trade Hall but that FTH show was December 1972 so maybe it was the Palace Theatre in '74 - who knows . To compound it all - I don't even like the album.

 

[JTC]

Ordered (the live LP, not the box). Presumably they'll release the 50th anniversary on vinyl separately too. I have the last release, which sounds pretty good to me, but haven't heard DSOTM live so that was a (comparatively inexpensive as these things go) no-brainer.... enjoy the commission, sir

 

[Tony L]

I'm impressed by your memory Tony!

I’ve just gone for a google and my memory is a bit off. I’m pretty certain the boot I had was ‘Best Of Tour 72’ (Discogs), and I’ve found it on YouTube, but being a bootleg I don’t want to link to it. It is how I remember, but the religious stuff is Irish not American!

PS I took a punt on the live 74 album too. Seems rude not to at the price.

 

[essgee]

The "Live" Nov '74 DSOTM disc was part of previous releases, such as the "Discovery" version. Similarly was there was a Disc 2 Live with same version of WYWH. Now, when will someone authorise the remix and release of the Wembley Arena Nov '74 live concerts as a stand alone CD set, that would be much more interesting!

 

[matt j]

I've a very nice Japanese pressing but I might be tempted with the live LP. Although I'm supposed to be keeping my hands in my pockets for a while so we'll see, I might wait until it comes out and see what the consensus is.

 

[Seeker_UK]

I may as get a monetised link for this one in early! A very lavish and expensive box set is on the way: Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon 50th Anniversary Box Set. 2xLP, 2xCD, DVD, blu-ray 7” singles, book, posters, stuff etc etc.

The thing that really surprises me is arguably the interesting bit, The Dark Side Of The Moon Live At Wembley 1974, is available at a very reasonable pre-order price outside the box. I’m really puzzled by that one as everyone who likes Dark Side Of The Moon should have at least one nice copy of it already, so what is the motivation for the (currently £250) box? I’d also expect the new mastering to be available before long as the standard retail issue in time too.

PS Does anyone know the Wembley 74 gig? I remember having a bootleg LP as a teenager of a ‘72 gig which was fascinating as a lot of stuff hadn’t been nailed down at all, e.g. Great Gig In The Sky was unrecognisable and had recordings of ranting US fundamentalist preachers in it as I recall. I assume by ‘74 they were just playing the album pretty straight.

Nothing in that set that's not in the immersion set, so not sure £215 is worth it for a new master and two books and two singles that never got a release in the UK!

The 74 performance is OK, a bit polished and, as you say, not far from the album version. Even the encore "Echoes" (Early Years box / Conitnuation set) is too polished. They also performed "Shine On", "Raving and Drooling" and "You Gotta Be Crazy" (which appeared on the WYWH 2xCD set and Immersion), It pretty much marks, IMHO, the end of the interesting PF and into the well oiled, but disfunctional machine telling the world how awful it was to be a rock star and in particular to be the bass player...

There is also a fairly decent recording of the 15 Nov 74 performance (the box set is the 16 Nov 74 which was recorded by the BBC, I think). SQ is worse but the performance is pretty similar.

The 72 set also featured a different "On the Run" as well, which was a guitar-based jam, "The Travel Sequence"; it did get recorded in the studio an early version of DSOTM. The organ / preacher track was originally called "The Mortality Sequence".

 

[Chris Tarling]

Thanks for the heads-up. I have pre-ordered the live LP.
The full set is way beyond my means...

 

[Suffolk Tony]

Pass...I've got the Immersion box set, the 30th & 40th anniversary LPs, the original CD, Alan Parsons 4.1 mix. Pals have brought over the MFSL, Japanese copy etc., to play on my system, but none come close to my old vinyl copy wot I bought a couple of days after the original release.

 

[sideshowbob]

Is it really only 50 years? It seems much longer, especially while it's playing.

 

[antinchip]

I saw Floyd at Wembley Arena in '77 (I think) on the Animals tour. They did extracts of Dark Side and Wish You Were here in part 1 of the show and all of Animals in part 2. I recall it being somewhat unemotional with the band seeming very detached from the audience, hardly a word spoken. It was like listening to the LP's.

I've gone for the live LP out of curiosity (although I do have Pulse on CD). Thanks Tony.

 

[mikeyb]

£250!

As much as I love the album, I think I'll give this a miss, I'll stick to my old 2nd issue vinyl. Just a pity some thieving junkie gits broke in and stole my original copy along with the rest of my record collection years ago.

 

[Darren L]

Thanks, I've ordered the live LP, hopefully it's decent.
Like a few others here I already have an original copy of the LP and a fancy remaster (40 th Anniversary?) on CD so really don't feel the need for another and for me personally £250 is too expensive for an 'album'.
@antinchip any time I've seen either Pink Floyd or Roger Waters whether in person or filmed there's never been any 'patter' , it's always been , music, lights, video screens and the 'special effects' ,flying pigs, etc, with the 'players' almost shrouded in darkness.
Roger Waters DOTM anniversary tour they played the whole album start to finish in the second half, probably one of the best gigs I've been too both for the musical performance and the visual spectacular.

 

[Tony L]

As much as I love the album, I think I'll give this a miss, I'll stick to my old 2nd issue vinyl.

If you’ve got a nice 1970s UK copy, any matrix, you have it as good as it can be IMHO. It kills the MoFi, kills the 30th, kills the SACD. I have compared my current copy (I think it is an A9/B8) to an A2/B2 solid triangle copy fairly recently and whilst the latter edged it there isn’t that much in it at all. The MoFi or 30th Anniversary may as well be a different album, they really sound ‘off’ to me. I’m hoping this box set flushes a few nice mid ’70s copies out into the market as I’d like to upgrade mine, which isn’t bad at all now after a couple of upgrades, but it could still be improved (long story, basically I sold my own copy to fulfil an order I’d screwed up about 20 years ago thinking I could replace it easily, and I still haven’t got there). I’d really like a NM/NM example, but I’m not prepared to pay the current rate! Hopefully ‘the one’ will come in a collection one day…

PS If looking for a digital copy the first mastering released as the first issue ‘non TO’ Japanese ‘black triangle’ and Japan for UK ‘black face’ (Discogs). The former is total LOLprice, one of the most valuable CDs, the second which is the exact same master, is definitely still out there if you hunt. I found one for £2.50 in the second hand racks a few weeks ago. A very quiet mastering, but it is the only one that really sounds like the original vinyl to me. I’d be far beyond amazed if the new masters alter this ranking even though the 30th SACD is pretty good (SACD layer, the CD layer is awful).

 

[mikeyb]

"If you’ve got a nice 1970s UK copy, any matrix, you have it as good as it can be IMHO."

That was my thoughts too, I have a couple of other versions that I'll need to have a listen to and compare now my turntable is back up and running. Funny how you end up with multiple copies over the years, forgetfulness isn't just an age thing

Edit: I've just looked at my Discogs collection and I have 4 copies

1973 UK 2nd
1973 Canadian
1979 Dutch
1997 UK

How the hell did that happen

 

[Darren L]

If you’ve got a nice 1970s UK copy, any matrix, you have it as good as it can be IMHO. It kills the MoFi, kills the 30th, kills the SACD. I have compared my current copy (I think it is an A9/B8) to an A2/B2 solid triangle copy fairly recently and whilst the latter edged it there isn’t that much in it at all. The MoFi or 30th Anniversary may as well be a different album, they really sound ‘off’ to me. I’m hoping this box set flushes a few nice mid ’70s copies out into the market as I’d like to upgrade mine, which isn’t bad at all now after a couple of upgrades, but it could still be improved (long story, basically I sold my own copy to fulfil an order I’d screwed up about 20 years ago thinking I could replace it easily, and I still haven’t got there). I’d really like a NM/NM example, but I’m not prepared to pay the current rate! Hopefully ‘the one’ will come in a collection one day…

PS If looking for a digital copy the first mastering released as the first issue ‘non TO’ Japanese ‘black triangle’ and Japan for UK ‘black face’ (Discogs). The former is total LOLprice, one of the most valuable CDs, the second which is the exact same master, is definitely still out there if you hunt. I found one for £2.50 in the second hand racks a few weeks ago. A very quiet mastering, but it is the only one that really sounds like the original vinyl to me. I’d be far beyond amazed if the new masters alter this ranking even though the 30th SACD is pretty good (SACD layer, the CD layer is awful).

that's interesting Tony, I'm pretty sure I have the 'black triangle ' CD of DOTM and Wish you were here.

 

[onlyconnect]

Odd how seldom these boxes give us what we actually want.

Tim

 

[onlyconnect]

A very quiet mastering, but it is the only one that really sounds like the original vinyl to me.

Also has pre-emphasis so beware if you rip the CD!

Tim

 

[Tony L]

that's interesting Tony, I'm pretty sure I have the 'black triangle ' CD of DOTM and Wish you were here.

With the Japanese ‘black triangle’ DSOTM you need to read the matrix on the inner silver label next to the label, if the letters ‘TO’ are there it is a later issue and has a totally different mastering (same as the black text on silver disk UK issue). I have one of these and it’s only worth £30 or so. It is not a great mastering (rather bright).

PS I’m pretty sure there isn’t a ‘black triangle’ of WYWH. The early Japanese copies were CBS and a 35dp catalogue so black disk with a silver left side. I found the J for EU ‘black face’ of WYWH next to the DSOTM I mentioned above and that is another truly superb sounding CD. It is why my Analogue Productions SACD is in the pfm shop right now!

 

[Seeker_UK]

Thanks, I've ordered the live LP, hopefully it's decent.

It was recorded for the BBC, so is very good for a live recording that wasn't made specifically for an official release. It is as good a live recording of DSOTM, from the line-up that actually recorded and composed it, as you will get. It's clearly recorded in a large venue (Empire Pool was never a good sounding venue, quite reverberant) and so not as 'close up' and clear as the recordings made in 70 / 71 in smaller theatres.

I've just listened to my copy of the performance from the night before (15 Nov) and it's not badly recorded either. Not as good as the recording that's getting a release (there's some stretch on the source tape), but not as bad as I remebered.