• PINK FLOYD THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (3CD/2DV/1BD)

Immersion Editions present the complete artistic experience.  Lavishly packaged in a sturdy 29cm square box, the sets contain remastered, previously unreleased and audio-visual material, plus much additional content – reproduced memorabilia, brand new graphics, art prints, collectors’ items, lavish booklets and more.

 

Product description:

Originally released in 1973, The Dark Side of The Moon became Pink Floyd’s first number 1 album in the US, remaining on the chart for 741 weeks between 1973 and 1988. One of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed albums of all time The Dark Side of The Moon also introduced The iconic album cover artwork by Hipgnosis featuring  a prism representing the band’s stage lighting, the record’s lyrics, and the request for a ‘simple and bold’ design. The Immersion version features the classic Studio album digitally remastered and presented as a limited edition high quality boxset featuring 6 discs of rare and unreleased audio and video material, plus a new 40 page oversized perfect-bound booklet, a book of original photographs edited by Jill Furmanovsky, exclusive merchandise and facsimile collectables.

 

DISC 1 – CD 1:

The Dark Side Of The Moon digitally remastered by James Guthrie 2011

 

DISC 2 – CD 2:

The Dark Side Of The Moon performed live at Wembley in 1974 (2011 Mix and previously unreleased)

 

DISC 3 – DVD 1, ALL AUDIO:

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, James Guthrie 2003 5.1 Surround Mix (previously released only on SACD) in standard resolution audio at 448 kbps

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, James Guthrie 2003 5.1 Surround Mix (previously released only on SACD) in high resolution audio at 640 kbps

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, LPCM Stereo mix (as disc 1)

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, Alan Parsons Quad Mix (previously released only on vinyl LP/8 track tape in 1973) in standard resolution audio at 448 kbps

- The Dark Side Of The Moon, Alan Parsons Quad Mix (previously released only on vinyl LP/8 track tape in 1973) in high resolution audio at 640 kbps

 

DISC 4 - DVD 2, ALL AUDIO VISUAL:         

-Live In Brighton 1972:

Careful With That Axe, Eugene (previously unreleased on DVD)

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (previously unreleased on DVD)

-The Dark Side Of The Moon, 2003 documentary (25 min EPK)

-Concert Screen Films (60 min total):

                British Tour 1974

                French Tour 1974

                North American Tour 1975

 

Screen films play in stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound        

               

DISC 5 – BLURAY, AUDIO+AUDIO VISUAL            

-AUDIO: The Dark Side Of The Moon, James Guthrie 2003 5.1 Surround Mix (previously released only on SACD) in high resolution audio at 96 kHz/24-bit

-AUDIO: The Dark Side Of The Moon, Original stereo mix (1973) mastered in high resolution audio at 96 kHz/24-bit

-AUDIO VISUAL: Live In Brighton 1972:

Careful With That Axe, Eugene (previously unreleased on DVD/BluRay)

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (previously unreleased on DVD/BluRay)

-AUDIO VISUAL: The Dark Side Of The Moon, 2003 documentary (EPK)

-AUDIO VISUAL: Concert Screen Films (5.1 Surround Mix):

                British Tour 1974

                French Tour 1974

                North American Tour 1975          

-AUDIO VISUAL: Concert Screen Films (High Resolution Stereo Mix):

                British Tour 1974

                French Tour 1974

                North American Tour 1975          

 

DISC 6  - CD3:

-The Dark Side Of The Moon 1972 Early Album Mix engineered by Alan Parsons (previously unreleased)

- The Hard Way (from ‘Household Objects’ project)

- Us And Them, Richard Wright Demo (previously unreleased)

- The Travel Sequence, live from Brighton June 1972 (previously unreleased)

- The Mortality Sequence, live from Brighton June 1972 (previously unreleased)

- Any Colour You Like, live from Brighton June 1972 (previously unreleased)

- The Travel Sequence, studio recording 1972 (previously unreleased)

- Money, Roger Waters’ demo (previously unreleased)

 

40 page 27cm x 27cm booklet designed by Storm Thorgerson

Exclusive photo book edited by Jill Furmanovsky

27cm x 27cm Exclusive Storm Thorgerson Art Print

5 x Collectors’ Cards featuring art and comments by Storm Thorgerson

Replica of The Dark Side Of The Moon Tour Ticket

Replica of The Dark Side Of The Moon Backstage Pass

Scarf

3 x Black marbles

9 x Coasters (unique to this box) featuring early Storm Thorgerson design sketches

12 page credits booklet

*One in every 20 people under the age of 50 in the United States owns a copy of this album *Dark Side remained on Billboard's 200 album chart for an amazing 15 years straight and then for another two when it was remastered back in 1994 *It is currently the most successful album ever with upwards of 40 million copies sold world-wide

Now the question... WHY? Why should one album by a band back in 1973 have such outstanding achievments and admiration even today? Perhaps because of the time period. Look at other albums released the same year by bands like Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, Rush, and the Doobie Brothers among several others. This was the year of rock perfection. Or maybe it was because of the rave for concept albums. Or the simple, yet unforgettable album cover.

More likely it was the band's chemistry and ability to make jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, thought-provoking music. This is Pink Floyd at its collective finest, with everyone contributing. Unlike the band in 6 years, Waters did NOT do everything. Gilmoure took a huge chunk of the music-writing, laying down the chord progressions on "Breathe," "Time," and "Any Colour You Like;" the singing on the album's best songs, Water's conceeding to David's far superior voice; and pumping out what would later be hailed as some of rock's most influential lead-guitar riffs on "Money" and "Brain Damage." Wright got in on much of the writing as well with his keyboard contributions on "Breathe," the symphonic "Great Gig in the Sky," "Us and Them," and the amazing keybpard licks and effects on "Colour." Mason, who rarely contributed, put in his efforts on "Speak to Me," "Time," and the Waters-less "Colour." Finally, Roger Waters put down most of the album's music, laid down all the bass-lines as usual, thought up the album's concept, and wrote all the lyrics. If that's not enough, he made himself heard on "Brain Damage," "Eclipse," and the chorus of "Time." Anyway you put it, THIS is the true Pink Floyd; all contributing, all acknowledged.

The band's titanic success was continued on later albums like 1975's "Wish You Were Here," 1977's "Animals," and 1979's "The Wall," although by that time the band had begun to fall apart from Waters' power obsession. By 1983, the band had slipped to a Water's-solo-project version of itself, with "The Final Cut," and finally a break-up. But never would the band see the success or experience the musical genious of "Dark Side of the Moon." So pop this in, take another listen, and remember- even if you don't believe the hype- after this album, music would never be the same....

91 of 97 found the following review helpful:


An object of desire  Sep 27, 2011 By William Merrill "eclecticist"
So here it is... the Dark Side 'Immersion' set. This is the fifth version I've owned of the legendary album, and I would have been happy to own just the Blu-Ray disc alone here, but of course it is not available separately. That said, I'm happy to own Disc 6, the 'Extra Audio Tracks,' mainly for the Alan Parsons Mix. It's interesting to hear for historical value. The various ephemera, marbles and so on, are kinda fun, but I'm not the type of collector who looks for such items.

As for the music, the Quad Mix sounds entirely fantastic on the Blu-Ray disc. Regarding the central Dark Side version of this reissue, the James Guthrie 2011 remaster, I really cannot detect any difference between this and the 2003 remaster that was done for the 30th anniversary of Dark Side. Perhaps my listening mind is too taken up in the details of the amazing yet ultra-familiar album experience to notice any subtleties. The Wembley '74 live album, which I'm listening to as I write this, is a solid concert representation of the album. The sound quality is very good considering the age of the recording. The additional video concert footage is all relatively good, though some of it suffers a bit from poor camera angles and slightly muddy sound mix.

The documentary here is more of promotional vehicle, brief but moderately informative. The 'Classic Albums' story on Dark Side is really a much more thorough and interesting dissection of the album's creation and would have been a better addition to this set. I guess the business arrangements for that were too difficult or something.

Packaging-wise, this is not the most well organized box set, as opposed to something like the Pixies box. There are slots for Discs 1-4 built into the set, but everything else is just loose. Discs 5 & 6 (including the Blu-Ray disc, to me the most important item) are in cardboard sleeves, but there are no designated slots for them within the box. They're just dropped in with everything else.

157 of 173 found the following review helpful:


Still weird, but Pink Floyd streamlines their songwriting and find amazing critical & commercial success with this album  Oct 06, 2007 By Mike London "MAC"
The problem with some albums (most of The Beatles' catalogue, Zeppelin, Radiohead, etc) is so much has been written about them there's not a lot new to say. For DARK SIDE OF THE MOON I figured I'd examine the record more in the context of their catalogue overall, as this is not very often examined in Amazon reviws.

As I've said in other reviews, Pink Floyd has always been a weird band. There's a reason why they're considered the ultimate space-rock band. And while there are other albums in their catalogue that are even spacier and more strange than the perennial favorite DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (ATOM HEART MOTHER and PIPER AT THE GATES OF DOWN, to name but two), it is here, on this album, that the band trimmed back their wild experiments to manageable songs. And once the general public figured out what Pink Floyd was capable of, they bought the record in droves.

Pink Floyd has a sizeable catalogue that dates before DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. While the Pink Floyd Faithful know these albums, a lot of fans don't know these records, and if they go looking for another DARK SIDE, they are often puzzled at the music they do find. There's a reason for that.

Pre-1973, Pink Floyd was very much on the outer edges of rock music. Like The Grateful Dead, they played by their own rules, and invented and subverted their own musical forms into something druggy, ethereal, and far beyond the scope of any normal popsong. Listening to early Pink Floyd records is like an audio-acid trip, and it's surprising that not only did they get to release such experimental music, with no real chance of getting radioplay or singles, but they got to release so many albums of it. With today's market and expectations and pro-tools mentality of the quest for the perfect popsong that will be the next big hit, the early PF records would never have been released.

All this changed in 1972, when Pink Floyd released their criminally underrated soundtrack OBSCURED BY CLOUDS. The true precursor to DARK SIDE, OBSCURED was recorded just as the initial sessions for DARK SIDE began. Moving away from the side-long suites and long winding instrumentals, OBSCURED features 10 songs, only four of which are instrumentals, with the other six songs being very akin to the DARK SIDE songs. It is with OBSCURED that Pink Floyd began writing music that would be much more accessible to the general record-buying public.

Pink Floyd continued in the direction they began with OBSCURED BY CLOUDS. Streamlining their music, Pink Floyd forwent the rather bizarre experiments that made up the bulk of their previous work. But don't think they sold out. Everything in DARK SIDE has precedent in their previous work.

While there's nothing that truly sounded like DARK SIDE in 1973, the music sounds very much like a culmination of all their previous experimentation (not counting Barret's PIPER) dating from 1968 to 1972. But rather than let their audio love of sound effects get away with them ("Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast"), or draw their often fascinating instrumental music to gargantuan proportions ("Echoes", "Atom Heart Mother") that only prog fans will wade through, the band took the elements of their overall sound, streamlined it, and used much more accessible songwriting, but still being true to their artistic vision.

And it is a vision and a sound that a lot of people love. DARK SIDE epitomizes what the band was capable of. Filled with sound effects, spacey music, turbocharged [turbocharted] instrumentals, DARK SIDE takes elements from all of the band's previous albums and utilizes them here. A lot of the sound effect work is rather famous, especially the interview snippits that engineer Alan Parsons and the band sprinkled throughout the album. Paul McCartney was interviewed, but seasoned by years of media coverage, the band felt his answers were too guarded and not as off-the-cuff as they wanted. The "I'm drunk" line was by Henry McCullough. There's also a barely audible orchestral version of The Beatles "Ticket To Ride" that can be briefly heard at the end of "Eclipse".

Pink Floyd always had the potential to be not only great musicians and rock artists but also commercially. But let's not kid ourselves. Without DARK SIDE, they would not be the commercial juggernauts that they have become today. Had they broke up with OBSCURED, today Pink Floyd would be one of those cult bands that a lot of people haven't heard of, but that those who do know them find them very interesting.

And that is why DARK SIDE is their definitive album, and one of the biggest selling albums ever. It is here on DARK SIDE that Pink Floyd went from being beyond a cult band with some rather esoteric, rather impenetrable music, to being a very successful band with the same sonic identity, but more streamlined and much more accessible to the general pubic.

(As far s the whole Dark Side of the Rainbow phenomena goes, where Wizard of Oz and the album syncs, apparently it is unintentional, or so the band claims. Pretty bizaare how well they sync if indeed it is unintentional).

112 of 124 found the following review helpful:


Uncompressed audio is fantastic, the collectibles are a waste  Sep 28, 2011 By Stephen M. Lerch
When I saw TDSotM was being released yet again I rolled my eyes. How many times do albums need to be re-released these days? Evidently a lot. The record industry is grasping at the edge of the quick sand pit in an attempt to remain relevant and with no less than 15 $150 +/- box sets, based on a SINGLE album being released this year alone, one has to wonder what they are thinking. These releases are excellent, sure, but who has money to burn on so many single album box sets? In terms of relevancy, high quality packaged media (CDs/DVD/BD in this case) will be great additions to anyone's library for some time, yet they treat these releases as if they HAVE to get them out this year or it will never happen.

I am not a huge Floyd fan. I can't tell you what riff comes from what song, what vocal echoes where but I can tell you I enjoy their music immensely. When I saw that this release was coming I was going to take a wait and see approach but when I saw there was a Blu Ray included, which would be an uncompressed version of the Guthrie 5.1 mix, uncompressed original stereo, uncompressed original quad mix and an uncompressed version of the '73 stereo set as well, I jumped on it. Also included are the little films that played during the live shows in '74 and '75 which are nice additions. My only complaint there is that you can only listen to the 5.1 mix or the 2011 during the video clips.

The uncompressed audio is as close to, or better than, vinyl in terms of quality without the scratch of the needle or possibility of skips.

In terms of video quality on the videos (both DVD and Blu Ray), I think it was all originally recorded on 16mm film, which means you will see a ton of grain. This is normal and not really something that can be corrected without losing detail. You see pristine quality 16mm film representation on the video, which is awesome. The grain isn't AS apparent on the DVD, but it is there.

One question I've heard is "have they blown the mix out with over zealous use of dynamic range compression?" The answer I have come up with based on listening tests is that the only thing they've done between this release and the original CD release is bump the volume and not really done much to tweak the dynamics too much. They have retained the dynamics so highs are high and lows are lows. They've also only bumped the volume enough to give it a volume closer to today's releases WITHOUT taking it above the line and causing distortion. There is no distortion on these albums due to dynamic range compression.

For those of you wanting actual numbers, if you've seen Pleasurize Music's dynamic range tool (use your favorite Internet search to find them), here's how it breaks down on the CDs themselves:

CD1 - DR10
CD2 - DR9
CD6 - DR11

For the record, as CD1 is the album remastered (2011 remaster) we can compare the numbers for the Dynamic Range to the numbers for the original 1983 release, the SACD release, the 2003 remaster CD and 1993 remaster. According to the unofficial DR database, they break down like this:

1983 - DR10
1993 - DR10
2003 - DR9
2003 SACD via stereo downmix - DR11

So what about those "really cool" collectibles? They are, in a single word, a waste. Do NOT buy this set for the marbles, the scarf or the other collectibles. They are nice but not worth the price of admission. The two books, as another reviewer stated, should have just been dropped into a single book.

The CD packaging is poor at best. The way they set it up is that only 4 of the 6 discs have hubs on the base of the box. The other two discs, Disc 5 and 6, have their own cardboard sleeves. My biggest issue is that the CD locking mechanisms on the box are chintzy. They are difficult to release the CD, but they also didn't do a good job of keeping the discs on the hub during shipping! Makes no sense. I'm doing with this what I did with my Derek and the Dominoes box, I'm taking the discs out and putting them in slim jewel cases completely.

Why would someone want to own this? The only reason I wanted it was the uncompressed Blu Ray. Does that alone make it worth $110? NO. I bought it because I REALLY had to have the Blu Ray, but if you can live with just the SACD release (which contains the 5.1 mix and remastered (2003) stereo), then don't bother with this. Doing a comparison during listening to the SACD, the 5.1 mix on the BD doesn't really seem to have more clarity in actual listening tests than the SACD. Of course, if you don't have SACD capability but have a Blu Ray player and a good surround setup, you might find the $110 worthwhile.

You might also wish to own this for the rare tracks on disc 6, which are really interesting but still, with this disc and the Blu Ray disc it probably isn't really something that anyone other than a hardcore Floyd fan should try to save up for. The Experience Edition has CD1 and CD2 included, which is the best buy for most people, unless you already own the live show, in which case neither edition holds any value for you.

The way this actually should have been released is in a set with JUST the discs and a nice book and it should have been no more than MSRP $70 tops. The marbles are stupid, the scarf isn't much of a scarf, though the photos and books are nice, they could have been condensed for sure.

I'm happy I bought it, as I love the uncompressed versions, but at the same time anyone who has the SACD version has a pretty close representation of what's on the Blu Ray disc in that regard.

EDIT 10/2/2011- I've found one thing I am disappointed in with regards to the Blu Ray version of the album. In order for you to listen to these mixes you HAVE to turn on your TV. Unlike just dropping the CD into the player, if you just drop the Blu Ray into your player you will just hear the same audio loop endlessly. If I wanted to watch the video clips and such, fine, no problem I need the TV on. But to listen to just the music you still have to turn the TV to be able to choose what it is you will be listening to. I didn't drop any stars for it, but as I'm annoyed by it I thought I would mention it here for other potential buyers.

230 of 261 found the following review helpful:


Rising Of The Moon!!!  Mar 28, 2004 By chris meesey Food Czar
Once in a while, a rock band or other musical entity puts out an album that, quite simply, changes the face of music history. And yet, Pink Floyd was a rather unlikely group of musical innovators: An excellent singer/guitarist(David Gilmour) who was, until the release of this album, best known merely as "Syd Barrett's replacement," (Barrett, still regarded by many fans as the band's true musical genius, had recently taken leave of his senses and was apparently holed up somewhere watching the floor relate to the walls); a fine bassist/writer/singer/perfectionist (Roger Waters) still tortured by his fatherless upbringing; a low-key keyboardist and rather good singer and writer (Rick Wright) who stayed in the background as much as possible; and finally, a rather thoughtful percussionist and sound-effects wizard (Nick Mason), whose most lasting claim to fame would be as the man who vocalized the chilling spoken word threat in the band's classic "One Of These Days". An unlikely band of innovators, to be sure. And yet, Pink Floyd was properly positioned in the right place at the right time with the right sound. The year was 1973, the musical revolution started in the sixties was still in full swing, FM radio was in it's infancy (Recently taken over by hippie-types who longed for hours and hours of nice, spacy, commercial-free programming). In a word, rock music was the touchstone of our generation, just as television had been the touchstone of our parent's generation, and computers would be to our childen's generation. Those of us in high school or college spent hours every night and weekend, gathered around the stereo in someone's apartment or room, getting high, drunk, or just daydreaming, pondering such important questions as "What makes Teflon stick to the pan?" (Thank you, Gallagher!) In many of these listening spaces, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon was the album of choice, sometimes listened to over and over again. The mad mutterings of "Speak to Me," the celestial swirl of "Breathe", the jet-propulsive paranoia of "On the Run," and "Time," a favorite subject of young questers everywhere (along with madness, death, and pizza), "The Great Gig in the Sky" (with Claire Torry's incredible vocal-cries of universal anguish, "Money", first-rate blues rock, "Us and Them", hypnotic yet thought-provoking, "Any Colour You Like," sheer beauty, "Brain Damage", the madman inside all of us, and "Eclipse," the perfect thematic coda. All received by us, the grateful listeners, in our various states of consciousness (altered or otherwise), and then purchased, time and again, from music stores. Dark Side of the Moon was the ONE ALBUM that every rock fan (and many wouldn't otherwise be caught dead listening to rock music) had to own. Why??? After thirty years, I can offer only a tentative answer: Most people cannot stand to ruminate for long about ourselves and our place in the universe, yet every human being on the face of this earth will at sometime wonder: Why are we here??? The Pink Floyd, through this classic masterwork, holds no answers for us, yet it is as if they are offering to accompany us as we journey toward self-discovery, making the transition easier, soothing the pain, quieting the hurt even as they force us to see inside ourselves. Thanks, guys, from all of your fellow voyagers. I think I can safely speak for many when I say the road to self-awareness would have been much bumpier if I had not traveled it in your celestial vehicle. I say once, and I say again, SHINE ON, YOU CRAZY DIAMONDS and rock on, even unto the darkest part of the dark side of the moon.

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