MusicThe album in which Pink Floyd echoes their anxiety, according to Nick MasonDisco was not exactly difficult to make, but it took time and had a different production process than usual for the bandtoday at 08:00

The discography of Pink Floyd is full of historic moments, including very personal work for some of the members. But according to the drummer Nick Masonthere is one album in particular that portrays the anguish and anxieties of all the members at the time.

In an interview with Consequence, Mason revealed that the classic The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) was conceived in a slightly different way than previous albums. The main change was an alignment of expectations before work actually began.

The musician explained:

Unlike almost every other album we’ve made, the great thing about Dark Side is that we actually got together and talked about what we thought this record would be about. And there was this kind of idea that we would take the things that made us most anxious about ourselves, which had to do with money and mortality and so on.”

The production process itself was also discussed. Nick explained the differences between playing “live” and recording separate parts in the studio, as is more common.

There was a real plan there from the beginning. We rehearse in a way, playing live, which is a very good way of working. The problem with going to a studio is that you tend to feel more or less like you got it right when you play properly. You don’t need to develop that much. You just want to get it right, and when you get it right, you move on.”

The Dark Side of the Moon and its importance for Pink Floyd

The Dark Side of the Moon stands next to The Wall (1979) as the most important and best-selling works in the Pink Floyd. Despite its lyrical complexity, the 1973 album was made without any major difficulties — something that did not always happen in the British group’s career.

Nick Mason confirmed this and also cited an example of an album with a more complicated process. He says:

It was definitely enjoyable and not particularly difficult. It took a while to make, but in some ways, it wasn’t as difficult as the next album, Wish You Were Here (1975), where we really got stuck for a long time to sort of figure out the starting point. We were relatively young and kind of innocent, and appropriately eager to get on with it all.”

Roger Waters’ version

In 2023, The Dark Side of the Moon completed 50 years of its launch and received several honors. Roger Waters decided to re-record the album in his own way, using the title The Dark Side of the Moon Redux — which divided opinions. Mason listened to the work and expressed his opinion about it:

I heard a rumor that Roger was working on his own version. There was this suggestion that it would be rubbish and that Roger would clash with the original version, and all that. He sent me a copy of what he was working on and I wrote to him and said ‘annoyingly, it’s absolutely brilliant!’. It was and is. It’s nothing that ruins the original, it’s an interesting addition.”

In The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, Waters focuses more on the lyrics than on the musical part, worked at slower rhythms. The release reached number one in the UK, Portugal and Belgium charts.

Collaborated: André Luiz Fernandes.