One of classic rock’s most acclaimed albums, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023. And though the official announcement of an expanded audio edition to mark the occasion wasn’t made official until Jan. 19, the publisher of an official commemorative book first leaked the news of a “luxury box set” weeks’ earlier. The book, Pink Floyd: The Dark Side Of The Moon: The Official 50th Anniversary Book, arrived March 24, via publisher Thames & Hudson. Its authors are listed as Pink Floyd, photographer Jill Furmanovsky and longtime Floyd art director Aubrey Powell. Order it here.
Related: Full details on the deluxe edition of TDSOTM album
From the publisher’s announcement: The album-sized package features rare and unseen backstage and onstage photography and reveals the visual conception of the original iconic album artwork. Designed by Pentagram to high specifications, this official book commemorates the band and the album.
The big news of the new audio edition was made in a somewhat “oh, by the way” sentence in the book announcement: “[The March] date will also see the launch of a luxury box set containing a re-release of the album together with numerous related music items.”
Two days after this story first appeared on Jan. 3, Pink Floyd began the industry’s longest teaser campaign with video posts on their Facebook, Instagram pages and YouTube pages.
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And a second, two days later, on Jan. 7.
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And a third on Jan. 12.
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The final one (?) appeared on Jan. 14.
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Another teaser arrived on Jan. 17…
And yet another on Jan. 18.
The album was recorded at EMI Studios (since renamed Abbey Road Studios) in 1972 and 1973.
One week. That was it. Pink Floyd‘s landmark album, released in March 1973, hit the top of the U.S. sales chart on Billboard on April 28, never to return again to #1. (It peaked at #2 in the U.K., where it has reportedly become the seventh-best-selling album of all time.) Pretty ironic for one of the best-selling albums ever, with worldwide sales of some 45 million copies.
Related: More details on its original 1973 release
More about the book: This luxurious book presents rare and unseen backstage and onstage photography of the band during the album tours of 1972 to 1975. 129 candid black-and-white photographs by Storm Thorgerson, Furmanovsky, Powell, and Peter Christopherson document the sound checks, the shows and the after shows. A review of the October 1972 Wembley gig, originally published in Melody Maker, provides insight into one of the Floyd’s most celebrated performances, and there is a complete listing of the tour dates.
The book also reveals the visual conception of the iconic album artwork. Order the book via the links below:
Furmanovsky has photographed some of the world’s biggest recording artists, including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Oasis. She made her name as Pink Floyd’s official photographer during the recording of The Dark Side Of The Moon and during the U.K. album tour. Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell co-founded the design agency Hipgnosis with Storm Thorgerson in 1968, creating over the next 15 years some of the most iconic record covers for artists such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney and Genesis. Powell is currently art director for Pink Floyd, responsible for designing and curating the record-breaking exhibition, “Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains,” which premiered for five months in 2017 at the V&A in London. The exhibit is in Montreal through April, 2 2023.
Related: Listings for 100s of classic rock tours
1 Comment
That 45 million sales figure for DSOTM has been doing the rounds for the last fifteen years or so.