Just two months later, publisher Thames & Hudson brings us the rather similarly titled yet quite different-in-content Pink Floyd- The Dark Side of the Moon: 50th Anniversary. There's no author because there's no history and precious little text aside from repros of some period newspaper clippings and a list of tour dates. Instead there's a wealth of black and white photos of the fellows on the road in support of their magnum opus.
The neat thing about this book is that it humanizes Pink Floyd in a way that their classic record about the human condition doesn't. As it turns out, the guys who laid down all those superhumanly smooth harmonies, spacey rhythms, outlandish sound effects, celestial synths, blips, and bloops are, indeed, a bunch of guys. Dave Gilmour tunes his guitar in a grimly unadorned backstage space. Nick Mason plays with a plastic cup and a couple of giggling kids. Roger Waters and Dave play backgammon. Back-up singers Carlena Williams and Venetta Fields put on makeup. Williams rolls a joint. Then band and audience alike get lost in the music when it's showtime.
The snaps range from candid to artful and flaunt the quality one would expect from big names like Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey Powell, and Jill Furmanovsky. There are also some concept materials documenting the creation of Thorgerson and George Hardie's iconic LP cover art in this LP-sized hardcover.
