CHEMISTRY_234_TEST

Chase Hernandez
CHEMISTRY
CHEMISTRY_234_TEST
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd,
released on 1 March 1973, by Harvest Records in the UK and Capitol Records in the
US.Developed during live performances before recording began, it was conceived as a
concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous
lifestyle, and also deal with the mental health problems of the former band member Syd
Barrett, who had departed the group in 1968.New material was recorded in two sessions in
1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London.The record builds on
ideas explored in Pink Floyd's earlier recordings and performances, while omitting the
extended instrumentals that characterised the band's earlier work.The group employed
multitrack recording, tape loops, and analogue synthesisers, including experimentation
with the EMS VCS 3 and a Synthi A.The engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many of
the sonic aspects of the recording, and for the recruitment of the session singer Clare Torry,
who appears on "The Great Gig in the Sky".The Dark Side of the Moon explores themes such
as conflict, greed, time, death, and mental illness.Snippets from interviews with the band's
road crew and others are featured alongside philosophical quotations.The sleeve, which
depicts a prismatic spectrum, was designed by Storm Thorgerson in response to the
keyboardist Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design which would represent
the band's lighting and the album's themes.The album was promoted with two singles:
"Money" and "Us and Them".The Dark Side of the Moon has received widespread critical
acclaim and is often featured in professional listings of the greatest albums of all time.It
brought Pink Floyd international fame, wealth and plaudits to all four band members.A
blockbuster release of the album era, it also propelled record sales throughout the music
industry during the 1970s.The Dark Side of the Moon is certified 14x platinum in the United
Kingdom, and topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, where it has charted for 990
weeks.By 2013, The Dark Side of the Moon had sold over 45 million copies worldwide,
making it the band's best-selling release, the best-selling album of the 1970s, and the
fourth-best-selling album in history.In 2012, the album was selected for preservation in the
United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally,
historically, or aesthetically significant".It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in
1999.== Background ==
Following Meddle in 1971, Pink Floyd assembled for a tour of Britain, Japan and the United
States that December.In a band meeting at the home of the drummer, Nick Mason, in North
London, the bassist, Roger Waters, proposed that a new album could form part of the
tour.Waters conceived an album that dealt with things that "make people mad", focusing on
the pressures associated with the band's arduous lifestyle, and dealing with the mental
health problems suffered by the former band member Syd Barrett.The band had explored a
similar idea with the 1969 concert suite The Man and The Journey.In an interview for
Rolling Stone, the guitarist, David Gilmour, said: "I think we all thought – and Roger
definitely thought – that a lot of the lyrics that we had been using were a little too
indirect.There was definitely a feeling that the words were going to be very clear and
specific."The band approved of Waters' concept for an album unified by a single theme, and
all the members participated in writing and producing material.Waters created demo tracks
in a small studio in a garden shed at his home in Islington.Parts of the album were taken
from previously unused material; the opening line of "Breathe" came from an earlier work
by Waters and Ron Geesin, written for the soundtrack of The Body, and the basic structure
of "Us and Them" was borrowed from an original composition, "The Violent Sequence", by
the keyboardist, Richard Wright, for Zabriskie Point.The band rehearsed at a warehouse in
London owned by the Rolling Stones and at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park,
London.They also purchased extra equipment, which included new speakers, a PA system, a
28-track mixing desk with a four channel quadraphonic output, and a custom-built lighting
rig.Nine tonnes of kit was transported in three lorries.This would be the first time the band
had taken an entire album on tour.The album had been given the provisional title of Dark
Side of the Moon (an allusion to lunacy, rather than astronomy).After discovering that title
had already been used by another band, Medicine Head, it was temporarily changed to
Eclipse.The new material was premiered at The Dome in Brighton, on 20 January 1972, and
after the commercial failure of Medicine Head's album the title was changed back to the
band's original preference.Dark Side of the Moon: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics, as it was
then known, was performed for an assembled press on 17 February 1972 at the Rainbow
Theatre, more than a year before its release, and was critically acclaimed.Michael Wale of
The Times described the piece as "bringing tears to the eyes.It was so completely
understanding and musically questioning."Derek Jewell of The Sunday Times wrote "The
ambition of the Floyd's artistic intention is now vast."

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Chase Hernandez

US.Developed during live performances before recording began, it was conceived as a

multitrack recording, tape loops, and analogue synthesisers, including experimentation

depicts a prismatic spectrum, was designed by Storm Thorgerson in response to the

ambition of the Floyd's artistic intention is now vast."

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