PINK FLOYD レコード& CD

Review: Legendary prog rock icons Pink Floyd performed live at the KB Hallen, Copenhagen on November 10 ,1972 and this is a digitally remastered recording of that night. It's a great bit of musical history, capturing the band across two CDs that feature many highlights, not least the epic 24-minute rendition of 'Echoes' which is about as prog as prog can get. As well as that, the album takes in the entirety of The Dark Side Of The Moon plus extra tracks 'One Of These Days' and 'Careful With That Axe Eugene,' all of which make it a superb addition to the collection of any fan.

Review: Given that it is the fourth biggest selling artist album of all time, with some 45 million copies in circulation, you'd be forgiven for questioning the point of this 50th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd's most celebrated work. Yet, like the various Beatles albums that have been remastered and remixed in recent years, there is certainly a point to polishing the sound using modern technology. Put simply, 'Dark Side of the Moon', an album that's famously sonically detailed and was painstakingly recorded at the time, has never sounded better. With its mix of ambling progressive rock epics and memorable songs, it has always lent itself to listening on headphones; now, thanks to a sparkling and stunning 2023 mix, it's a more immersive and enveloping listening experience than ever (and that's before we get to the separately available surround sound and Dolby Atmos versions).

Review: In music, they say be careful what you wish for. We think it's also important to be careful what you accomplish. Presumably Pink Floyd understand this only too well, with Dark Side of the Moon catalysing a step up for the progressive rock noblemen in terms of status, but also a shift in fan base demographics as "play the hits" ticket holders gradually replaced deep dive listeners. Conceived as a suite of music that would switch up what the band saw as a live show going a little stale, Dark Side of the Moon: A Piece for Assorted Lunatics first hit public ears in January 1972 when excerpts were incorporated into a gig at Brighton Dome. Representing not the namesake album itself, but rather a version of its contents organised in two long medley arrangements, seamlessly melding psychedelic rock into one grand overture, if anything this is how the music was actually intended to be heard.

Review: Recorded at Altes Casino, Montreux, Switzerland on 22nd November, Pink Floyd's Another Night In Montreux album has become a rather well-regarded and collectible treasure. It's a great document of a band at the peak of their powers that now gets reissued by Room On Fire on nice heavyweight vinyl. The record features the Atom Heart Mother suite and a 13-minute version of 'Embryo' that very much embodies the prog rock ideal as it lavishly unfolds at an unhurried pace.

Review: Animals was the tenth studio album by English rock legends Pink Floyd. It arrived on 21 January 1977 and was produced entirely at their own Britannia Row Studios in London throughout the preceding year. This is the first time the album has been made available in 5.1 Surround Sound on this Deluxe Edition. The record marked a departure from the usual style and was a concept album, focusing on the social-political conditions of mid-1970s Britain. It took inspiration from George Orwell's Animal Farm and depicts people as the same classes as in the book with pigs, sheep and dogs in that order.

Review: Prolific Pink Floyd record producer and engineer James Guthrie once again has his 2018 remix album for the band's 'Animals' reissued, this time on limited LP wax. A five-piece meditation on Floyd's penchant for animalism, Guthrie's reinterpretation yanks the Orwellian structure and themes of the original album and hurls them back into an electronic prog rock prayer, with many of the new versions impressively breaching 10 minutes. In true Floyd fashion, this is window-closed, record-sleeves-on-the-floor, bong-hitting stuff, but with an extra Guthriean darkness lended to it. Clock the pig oinks littering the mix too.

Review: Hi-def mono reissue of Floyd's classic 1967 album, remastered in 2017 from the original analog tapes. Known for its rough, crunchy psych sound that predated the band's later, boundless space rock sensibilities, this is the wall-breakers at their most primordial, and their least beat-around-the-bush. This one's been given an anniversary reissue a whopping three times in a row; of course, we should endeavour not to overlook the more perfunctory, audiophiles' rarities such as this. Make sure you add it to your 'Gates Of Dawn' collection while you can.

Review: Pink Floyd's seminal album A Momentary Lapse Of Reason was originally released in 1987 but later record an update and remix by David Gilmour and Andy Jackson for The Later Years Box Set. Some of the original keyboard parts were put back in and new drum tracks were recorded for the project and thus it is said that the band's original creative balance was restored. This version was mixed in 2019 from original master tapes and has been pressed to heavyweight 180g vinyl at half speed. A new 28-page booklet is also included to make this an absolute must for collectors.

Notes: In the annals of Pink Floyd history, Pulse is the release which best typifies the grandiose ideals of the progressive titans. Released in 1995 at the vanguard of digital music technology, Pulse sought to capture the band as a live spectacle in exacting detail as they played through a polished set of classics headed up by the entirety of Dark Side Of The Moon. The visual companion of the monolithic stadium show was just as vital in the presentation, and so now comes a high-definition Blu-Ray edition, specially restored to ensure every breathtaking moment of music and theatrics looks and sounds the best it possibly can.