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MUSIC FEATURE

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Year 1973

PINK FLOYD THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON In AlbumTales, Bryget Chrisfield hits you with some juicy nuggets of wisdom surrounding classic records. This month it’s the staggering opus from English prog-rockers Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon.

the then-EMI staff songwriter realised she’d made the cut.

ClareTorry makes The Great Gig in the Sky Clare Torry’s glorious vocal performance, a standout feature of The Great Gig in the Sky , replaced the Bible readings and speech by Malcolm Muggeridge (the controversial host of a BBC religious

The Great Gig in the Sky , Money and Us andThem rolling out in that specific sequence – take that! The wow-factor of Pink Floyd’s eighth album, which was recorded over 38 days spread across seven months, is undeniable. The Dark Side of the Moon is listed in the Guinness Book ofWorld Records as the longest-charting album in history. After topping the Billboard Top 200, Pink Floyd’s psychedelic meditation on insanity remained in the chart for 740 straight weeks – that’s around 14 years! As Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album, with estimated sales in excess of 45 million, The Dark Side of the Moon most definitely benefitted from being one of the definitive test records used to show off home hi-fi systems – in full stereo mode – around the time of release.

Splitting bills Money ’s cash register effects were created by Roger Waters, throwing coins and paper into his wife’s industrial

program) which had featured in Pink Floyd’s previous live renditions of this song. Torry has said of her outstanding contribution, “Somewhere in the back

food mixer. “My first wife [Judy Trim] was a potter, and she had a big industrial food mixer for mixing up clay,” he has said.

“I threw handfuls of coins and wads of torn-up paper into it.” Potential love-making soundtrack? In his 2004 memoir

of my mind it crossed quickly that perhaps I should pretend that I was an instrument.” Post-session, the

bandmembers gave Torry no indication as to whether

Inside Out , Nick Mason speculates on The Dark Side of the Moon ’s enduring appeal. Strong songwriting, solid musicianship, state-of-the-art production, the rise of hi-fi culture, eye-catching cover art and the record label throwing “every ounce of heavyweight marketing muscle they possessed behind it” are all listed as contributing factors, with Pink Floyd’s drummer cheekily concluding: “And last, but possibly not the least, one music critic commented that it was a great album to make love to.” Fun fact: In 1990, Australian radio listeners voted The Great Gig in the Sky the best song for this NSFW purpose. Macca’s voice on the cutting room floor Roger Waters decided it would be a rad idea to thread snippets from recorded interviews into The Dark Side of the Moon ‘s final mix, to add overall cohesion. Interviewees included Abbey Road staffers, road crew members, and Paul McCartney

they rated her work. It was only when she spied the album in her local record store – and clocked her name in the liner notes – that

Vocalist Clare Torry in the early ‘70s

Pink Floyd in 1973, L - R: Nick Mason, David Gilmour, RogerWaters, RichardWright

84 SEPTEMBER 2022

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