which band recorded the successful 1973 album the dark side of the moon
The Dark Side of the Moon The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth album by English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. The album built on ideas explored in earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their earlier work. Its themes explore conflict, greed, the passage of time, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by the deteriorating mental state of founding member and principal contributor, Syd Barrett.
The Dark Side of the Moon Generally, all four members agreed that Waters' album concept unified by a single theme was a good idea.[5] Waters, Gilmour, Mason and keyboardist Richard Wright participated in the writing and production of the new material, and Waters created the early demo tracks at his Islington home in a small studio built in his garden shed.[6] Parts of the new 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,[7] and the basic structure of "Us and Them" borrowed from an original composition by Wright for Zabriskie Point.[8] The band rehearsed at a warehouse in London owned by The Rolling Stones, and then 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 four quadraphonic outputs, 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, but allowed improvement and refinery nonetheless,[9][10] which by then had been given the provisional title of Dark Side of the Moon (an allusion to lunacy, rather than astronomy).[11] However, after discovering that that title had already been used by another band, Medicine Head, it was temporarily changed to Eclipse. The new material premiÃ¨red at The Dome in Brighton, on 20 January 1972,[12] and after the commercial failure of Medicine Head's album the title was changed back to the band's original preference.[13][14][nb 1]