over from previous things. We were there
for a little while, writing pieces of music
and jamming. It was a very dark room.’
With Nick Mason adding, ‘We started
with the idea of what the album was
going to be about: the stresses and strains
on our lives’.
Nick Mason was actually one of
the only members of Pink Floyd to
have expressed dissatisfaction with the
development process of Dark Side of the
Moon, as when he was interviewed for
Sounds magazine in 1972, he stated, ‘I
think the thing that bothers me more
than anything
is that we seem
to get stuck
into a slow four
tempo for nearly
everything we
do. Like the
speed of Meddle
is the speed of
nearly everything
we’ve done for
too long. That
has something to
do with it, that
penchant for slow tempos. But again, I
think, in some ways things are becoming
more aggressive. There’s more aggression
in the way we do Careful with That Axe,
Eugene on stage now than there ever was
when we first recorded it. Our original
recordings of that were extremely mild,
jog along stuff. Even if it doesn’t always
come off, there’s meant to be a lot of very
heavy vibes coming off the stage during
Dark Side of the Moon. We’re well into
putting on a lot of effect in order to make
the whole thing heavy, really, in the true
sense of the word. I’m not expressing thatvery well, but I don’t think it’s getting any
lighter, and I don’t think the intention
is to make it light, either. It’s all a bit
abstract, really.’
Despite this apparent trepidation
from Mason, Dark Side of the Moon was
moulded and refined over the course
of 1972, and Pink Floyd have since
suggested that the band’s packed touring
schedule was the catalyst for the success
of Dark Side of the Moon as it gave them
a, hitherto unparalleled, sounding ground
for the album. Whilst touring in 1972,
Pink Floyd performed their new material
in the order it
would later appear
on the Dark Side
of the Moon. This
gave the band the
chance to make
improvements to
the performance
and composition
of their pieces each
night, and to gauge
the audience’s
reaction. Whilst
discussing this
process Nick Mason remarked, ‘It was a
hell of a good way to develop a record.
You really get familiar with it; you learn
the pieces you like and what you don’t
like. And it’s quite interesting for the
audience to hear a piece developed. If
people saw it four times it would have
been very different each time.’
Although the band have spoken of the
unit’s solidity whilst developing Dark
Side of the Moon, the album was actually
the first Pink Floyd record to feature
Roger Waters as the sole lyricist. At the
time Waters felt that he wanted Pink“That’s not to say that the
potential for the sun to
shine doesn’t exist. Walk
down the path towards
the light rather than into
the darkness.”Roger Waters
Richard Wright in 1971.Whilst the musical content of The
Dark Side of the Moon has cemented
the album as one of greatest of all
time, the artwork is equally iconic.
The cover design was the work
of London based design group
Hipgnosis – founded by Storm
Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell.
From their conception Hipgnosis
were closely aligned with Pink Floyd
- the studio’s first commission was
the band’s second album A Saucerful
of Secrets. Hipgnosis would go on
to create many more iconic covers
for the band including Atom Heart
Mother and Obscured by Clouds.
Hipgnosis’ abstract designs proved
unpopular with Pink Floyd’s label
EMI, who were concerned with
the lack of wording on the covers,
fearing fans would not be able to
identify the releases. The band
members, however, were delighted
with Hipgnosis’ output and enlisted
them to create the artwork for The
Dark Side of the Moon. Rick Wright
tasked Hipgnosis with developing a
concept that was ‘smarter, neater –
more classy’ than previous releases.
The artwork itself was created by
designer George Hardie. Hardie
came across the prism motif in a
book, and presented the design as
one of seven potential ideas to Pink
Floyd. The band’s decision was
unanimous, and the iconic cover
was born. Interestingly the light
band emanating from the prism
seen on the iconic cover only has six
colours, rather than the traditional
seven. Indigo has been omitted from
traditional division of the spectrum.
Storm Thorgerson has since stated
that the inspiration behind the prism
idea was the ambitious light shows
that Pink Floyd were creating at the
time: ‘They hadn’t really celebrated
their light show. That was one thing.
The other thing was the triangle. I
think the triangle, which is a symbol
of thought and ambition, was very
much a subject of Roger’s lyrics.’