This Week in Rock n Roll History (1973) - Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon enters the Billboard Album Charts for the very first time. It is the eighth studio album by the English progressive rock band, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the bands earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterized their earlier work. The Dark Side of the Moons themes include conflict, greed, the passage of time, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Barretts deteriorating mental state. Developed during live performances, an early version of the suite was premiered several months before studio recording began; new material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at Abbey Road Studios in London. The group used some of the most advanced recording techniques of the time, including multitrack recording and tape loops. Analogue synthesizers were given prominence in several tracks, and a series of recorded interviews with the bands road crew and others provided the philosophical quotations used throughout. Engineer Alan Parsons was directly responsible for some of the most notable sonic aspects of the album as well as the recruitment of non-lexical performer Clare Torry. The albums iconic sleeve, designed by Storm Thorgerson, features a prism that represents the bands stage lighting, the records lyrical themes, and keyboardist Richard Wrights request for a simple and bold design. The Dark Side of the Moon was an immediate success, topping the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart for one week. It subsequently remained in the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. With an estimated 50 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyds most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. It has twice been re-mastered and re-released, and has been covered in its entirety by several other acts. It spawned two singles, Money and Time. In addition to its commercial success, The Dark Side of the Moon is one of Pink Floyds most popular albums among fans and critics, and is frequently ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 14:15:39 +0000
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