The Dark Side of the Moon: The Making of the Pink Floyd Masterpiece [Hardcover]

John Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2005

Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) is one of the most beloved albums of all time. A sonically stunning exploration into dark themes of madness, death, anxiety, and alienation, it has sold a staggering 30 million copies worldwide, and continues to sell 250,000 copies a year. Besides being perhaps the most fully realized and elegant concept album ever recorded, The Dark Side of the Moon was also one of the most technically advanced LPs of its day. It has aged remarkably well and still sounds as contemporary and cutting edge as it did on the day it was released. A perfect blend of studio wizardry and fearless innovation, The Dark Side of the Moon is illuminated by John Harris's exploration of the band's fractured history, his narrative skill, and his deft exploration of the album's legacy, such as its massive influence on bands like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. Drawing on original, new interviews with every member of the band-bassist and chief songwriter Roger Waters, guitarist Dave Gilmour, keyboardist Rick Wright, and drummer Nick Mason-The Dark Side of the Moon is a must-have for the millions of devoted fans who desire to know more about one of the most timeless, compelling, commercially successful, and mysterious albums ever made.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Harris (Britpop!) provides a meticulous if rather circumscribed account of the talented people behind an enigmatic album that has sold so many copies (30 million) that, Harris notes, one British magazine speculated it was "virtually impossible that a moment went by without it being played somewhere on the planet." The author triumphs at using research and interviews with the Pink Floyd members to bring to life the dilemmas they faced while making the 1973 album, including the incapacitating mental illness of original leader Syd Barrett and the arrival of new member David Gilmour. Given Pink Floyd's dramatic, often challenging music and its undeniable air of mystery, the book also excels in humanizing the musicians through candid portrayals of their everyday highs and lows while The Dark Side of the Moon evolved. But for all the wealth of perspective from those in and around the band regarding the album's creation, the book doesn't explain why Dark Side has endured. With the album's poignant exploration of themes like insanity, human divisiveness and greed set to innovative sounds, Dark Side's staggering (and continuing) sales are fascinating. As it stands, the book is richly detailed but hardly revelatory. 50 b&w photos. (Nov. 15)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Pink Floyd's 1973 signature album, Dark Side of the Moon, receives book-length appreciation in Harris' retrospective. He newly interviewed the quartet who delivered the goods--Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Rick Wright, and Nick Mason--but starts with a chapter about long-lost lead Floyd and purported acid casualty Syd Barrett. No longer in the band when Dark Side was made, Barrett is widely rumored to have partaken in the composition and performance, corporeally or not. Dark Side is an evergreen album, and much of the book's appeal stems from having so much about the album in one convenient place, glazed with the patina of comprehensiveness conferred by Harris' new interviews. Hardware details, niceties of song structure, and obscure personal tidbits (Waters: "Syd's mother blamed me entirely for his illness") abound. Effective as a band history linked firmly to the times in which Pink Floyd flourished and as an appreciation of a classic record, Harris' book seems to be thorough. It probably won't be the last word on Dark Side, though. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306813424
• ISBN-13: 978-0306813429
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,181 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK for the diehard Fan, but this Band and this Complex Concept Album Deserves Better, December 31, 2005

By 

Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dark Side of the Moon: The Making of the Pink Floyd Masterpiece (Hardcover)

Like most kids of the latter 1960s and early 1970s I grew up listening to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and others when I wanted to be "cool." That was more often than I like to admit now, however; and I also went to the concerts, got stoned there (if only from the second-hand smoke wafting through the halls), and tried to act like I understood what the bands were trying to communicate. On the other hand, I was never as much of a fan of these groups and their style of music as some of my friends, but I had all of their albums and listened to them regularly, including "The Dark Side of the Moon." This book tells about the making of this extraordinary album and a little about its significance since its release more than three decades ago.

Of course, the remarkable thing about "The Dark Side of the Moon" is its popularity over such a long time, since it is a complex concept album dealing with greed and insanity and very much anchored to its time and place. I haven't listened to it in years, but had to do so after reading this book. That may be the greatest compliment I can pay to this book, for John Harris's work, unfortunately, is very much once over lightly and both Pink Floyd as a band and their classic album deserve better. There are some fascinating interviews that interlace the book, a good biographical appendix of what happened to the people associated with the album, and a set of photos that are interesting, but as a whole this is a book for fans of the album. As such it is worthwhile. For those seeking a serious consideration of the place of "The Dark Side of the Moon" in American culture they will want to read "Speak To Me: The Legacy Of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon," edited by Russell Reising, released in March 2006 from Ashgate Publishing.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing New Here, October 29, 2005

By 

R. Herbert (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Dark Side of the Moon: The Making of the Pink Floyd Masterpiece (Hardcover)

Taken from the premise that this book will likely just be picked up by fans who already know much of the Floyd story, I'm puzzled about what the author was trying to achieve. There's no real revelations here, nothing that hasn't been said or published before. In fact, looking at the sources he draws from, it's primarily a collection of previously published works and even a few DVD's! My - what strenuous research Mr. Harris must have done.

Unless you're completely new to the material, this book will do very little to help further your knowledge of the subject. It appears the author just cobbled together a bunch of already known facts and anicdotes in an attempt to make a few bucks off a great creative work that has stood the test of time. Save your money.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Floyd book to date, October 31, 2005

By 

A Reader (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Side of the Moon: The Making of the Pink Floyd Masterpiece (Hardcover)

I'm very baffled by the negative reviews below. One fellow seems irritated that Harris doesn't like certain albums as much as he does, and another mistakedly states that there's nothing new in this book, which couldn't be further from the truth. John Harris' "Dark Side.." is bursting with previously unpublished photos, and the bulk of the quotes from the band are exclusive to the book, from interviews conducted in 2003. Further, it's the most clear and succinct account of the creation of this album I've ever read, and I've read every book about Floyd. Harris places the album in context with the band's orgins expertly, and I left with an even clearer understanding of how it all fits together. Any Floydian will dig this.