| Pink Floyd - The Heart Of The Moon (PRRP 056) |
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| Notes |
| Recorded at the Auditorium Theater, Chicago, IL, USA. Great audience recordng. From the info files: Eclipse? The spring of 1972 was a busy time for the band Pink Floyd. After the success of their movie soundtrack More, the band was approached by film maker Barbet Schroeder to produce the music for his next film, La Vallee. The work was recorded and completed in March of 1972 and was eventually released as the Pink Floyd album Obscured By Clouds. None of this work was immediately included in the live Pink Floyd performances but songs such as ‘Childhood’s End’ and ‘Wot’s…Uh, The Deal’ were eventually performed, even as recently as David Gilmour’s 2006 solo tour. Once this project was completed they could return to the development of the new stage show. Their most recent album at the time, Meddle, had been released in the fall of the previous year and the band were incorporating songs from that album into the live performances. ‘Echoes’, now an established favorite among Floyd fans began as a piece called ‘Return of the Sons of Nothing’ and debuted on April 22, 1971. Starting as a collection of independent musical concepts, this song was recorded in a series of sessions, finally ending on July 2nd of that year. The other frequently performed track from this album was ‘One of these Days’. Beginning as an experiment with the bass guitar and a Binson echo tape system, this song eventually became one of their most unusual pieces, even incorporating the melody of the famous Dr. Who television series. In January of 1972 Circus magazine concluded that Meddle was “Another masterpiece from a masterful group”. Sadly, the other songs from the album were not included in the live sets. By this time, Roger Waters admitted that older material was being phased out, “…but there are still a couple of them that are fun to play. The two that spring to mind are ‘Set the Controls’ and ‘Careful with that Ax’”. So, during the spring of 1972, these four songs were used as the second set of many live performances, including this show. In 1972, the newest material was presented during the first half of the show. Originally called Eclipse, this set would eventually evolve into the epic we now know as The Dark Side of the Moon. This was the first tour in which Pink Floyd would play an entire album, from start to finish, in a single set. As heard at the end of the first set of this restored April 28th, performance recording, Roger states that the 48 minute piece just completed is a new song called Eclipse. The band wanted to use the title, Dark Side of the Moon but initially had problems with this title because another band at the time called Medicine Head had an album by the same name. Differences from the well known final version of this epic were evident during performances of the time. For example, the section eventually called ‘On the Run’ only attained its final form after Pink Floyd acquired a Synthi-A synthesizer needed to produce the song’s special sound. In the spring of 1972, this new equipment was not available so the segment was just a keyboard and guitar jam originally called ‘The Travel Sequence’. The section now known as ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’ was also much different in early 1972. Known as ‘The Mortality Sequence’, this section was to convey the potentially detrimental aspects of organized religion. At the time, the section included the reading of Bible passages and statements from British religious icon Malcolm Muggridge. This was eventually considered too controversial and re-worked into the ‘Great Gig’ we know today. Finally, the section called ‘Any Colour You Like’ was called ‘Dave’s Scat Section’. This part of the Dark Side epic was intentionally left as an instrumental interlude to allow the band some free-form jam time since much of the rest of the piece relied on precise timing and coordination of sound effect tapes. The final title for the segment came from a phrase commonly used by a Pink Floyd roadie named Chris Adams. Originally conceived during a meeting in Nick Mason’s kitchen in 1971, The Dark Side of the Moon was intended to achieve two purposes. First, the band agreed to write a concept album addressing the many ways that people can go mad. Fear of getting old, fear of poverty or the insanity of wealth, religious influences on life and death, all factored into the story they wanted to write. The second goal –for Roger Waters in particular- was to write material with more understandable lyrics that would not be misinterpreted. As he says, “And in concept, it’s more literal, not as abstract as the things we’ve done before. It is more mental. We’ve gone Mental.” (Sounds, 1971). Roger set out to write the lyrics while the others focused on the music development. An initial version of the piece was originally performed in London at the Rainbow Theater in February, 1972 and not officially recorded until June through October of that year. Final changes were made to the piece during sessions in January of 1973 and the album was eventually released on March 24th, 1973. This April 1972 recording from Chicago provides an excellent opportunity to hear both the popular older songs of Pink Floyd and an early version of one of the most popular pieces of music of all time. It should also be said that these early Dark Side shows marked the end of an era for Pink Floyd as they would be the last where the four band members were the only performers on stage. After the release of the album in 1973, and for the rest of their live performing existence, the band would be accompanied by guest musicians or vocalists on stage. This was the end of the 'pure' Pink Floyd, and we are very fortunate to have such a high quality recording of an epic band at such an important point of transition in their career. PRRP Staff Notes from the Re-Master There are numerous versions on this great recording available but many are incomplete or contain flaws. We began with a DAT copy of the master tape. The tape has been digitized and made available at least twice. The first was in 2001 and a DAT copy of this tape was torrented in 2008 by Beastmaster. A second digitizing was made and is available as ‘the fireman’s tape’. Both contain the same material. The only difference is the 2001 version is digitized at a higher volume. Many gaps and small missing parts of the recording were found on these versions and needed repair or replacement. Now, the recording is essentially complete. Because of the location of the cuts found in the recording it seems that multiple cassettes were used that night to record the show. As is common, the tapes used had different characteristics. In particular, the tapes must have had different resistances to movement because each tape segment had a different speed error. By correcting the speed of each segment separately there is now a more consistent speed to the running of the show. Hiss and other noises were also different, tape to tape. In addition to complete gaps, many single channel dropouts were found and repaired. Most were in the left channel, which also contributed many clicks and pops that needed removal. Other noise reduction techniques were used to minimize the recording’s imperfections. Tone was adjusted where necessary; including segments where it seems the microphones may have been moved or temporarily obscured. Dynamics were adjusted to enhance the music and diminish the influence of automatic recording level circuitry that might have been used that night. Some tape segments were also recorded at a lower volume and these segments were amplified so that they were consistent with the rest of the show. Balance was also an issue. Phase correction was employed to correct a strong lean of the music to one channel. This was not a simple balance asymmetry. The correction was significant suggesting that during recording, one microphone may have been pointed away from the stage. Finally, the set order was corrected. Multiple sources suggest that ‘Set The Controls’ was performed last, as an encore. This is also consistent with the fact that Roger says, “thank you all for coming” just before introducing the song. After putting the second set in the proper order the gaps between songs were repaired to reproduce a complete set of music for each half of the show. PRRP Staff --- Pink Floyd April 28, 1072 The Auditorium Theater, Chicago, Illinois Master Aud. Cass.>DAT2x>Delta DI/O 2496 soundcard>Soundforge 7.0>CD Wave Editor>Flac This show has been widely bootlegged and traded in various levels of quality. Back in 2001, (someone who shall remain nameless) digitaized the cassette masters for the first time. It was briefly tree'd on The Well in CD form but it never seemed to make it into general circulation. I have one of the few DAT clones made from the original DAT. For some of you that already have this show, it should be an upgrade. If you have never heard this show, hang on to your hat! No equalizing or remastering is ever done to any shows I seed. Here it is, as it was recorded that night back in 1972. Enjoy! Seeded by The Beastmaster Disc 1 1. Speak To Me 1:58 2. Breathe 3:15 3. The Traveler's Sequence 5:17 4. Time 5:41 5. Breathe (reprise) 1:04 6. The Mortality Sequence 4:19 7. Money 6:51 8. Us & Them 7:37 9. Dave's Scat Section 6:19 10. Brain Damage 3:51 11. Eclipse 2:01 Total Time 48:13 Disc 2 1. One of these Days 9:06 2. Careful what Axe, Eugene 13:08 3. Echoes 24:28 4. Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun 13:19 Total Time 60:01 Remaster 1, Phase correct to center sound. 2. Speed corrected. 3. Tone adjusted. 4. Balance corrected. 5. Tape flip/change gaps repaired. 6. Clicks, Pops and Hiss reduced. 7. Set order corrected. 8. Dynamics Enhanced. 9. Dropouts repaired. 10 Restore missing section at beginning. |