Pink Floyd and The Great Gig in The Sky

The Great Gig In The Sky

an alternate take on Dark Side Of The Moon

for Rick 1943-2008

The Dark Side Of The Moon - A Brief History

The Dark Side Of The Moon, like most of Pink Floyd's 70s works, underwent a lot of transormations from its initial inception as a concept album early in 1972. After initially laying down demos for their future masterwork the band set out for their first British tour of 72 in January and February. Fans were treated to the first unveiling of Dark Side with the opening night at Brighton Dome on January 20 heralding the debut performance of the album. Dark Side in those days was much more of a bluesy concept than the lush, layered career defining work that it became and as the tour progressed solos changed and the piece began to be knocked into shape. The press were invited down to the first of four consecutive nights at the Rainbow on February 17 and a world buzz began that the Floyd were working on an epic. 

The band continued to tour in Spring playing dates in Japan, Australia, America, and Europe before going back into the studio in the summer to record the bulk of the album with the final recording being completed in January 73. What we have assembled on the disc your are now holding is a hybrid of the album in its embryonic state, from the earliest demos to the legendary and until now never circulated One Side Of The Moontape which has only ever been heard by a handful of Floyd devotees. Legend has it that when the album was remastered in the 90s the engineers broke for lunch leaving with the tape on. He had only 30 minutes but ran off a copy of side 2 with all the faders pushed to the max to leave an unedited version complete with instrumental passages, second guitars and sax solos that had been removed from the final version. It is startlingly different in places and one can only surmise what the first side would have sounded like before being edited. We had demos for most of the songs on side one with the exception of "Breathe" and "The Great Gig In The Sky". To fill in the gaps we used a version of "Breathe" from one of the Rainbow concerts in February 72 and from the same gig The Great Gig In The Sky's predecessor The Mortality Sequence. There are gaps between the songs but I'm sure fans will accept this stunning new version for its rarity value. We've completed the discs with some more Dark Side demos. Now turn down the lights, light up a big one and enjoy. (http://www.bootlegzone.com/album.php?name=SSR41925&section=24)...

The Great Gig in The Sky

(Thanks Peter Hammil)

Pink Floyd at Valvulado