The Dark Side of the Moon Redux | Questionable testamentary work

In the wake of the celebration of the album’s fiftieth anniversary The Dark Side of the Moon, Roger Waters has decided to reclaim the monumental work he helped create while a member of Pink Floyd. He therefore returned to the studio to give new life to the pieces written in 1973, which can be heard on The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, launched Friday. Is this relevant? The question is valid.

From the outset, Roger Waters declared in an interview that The Dark Side of the Moon was his creation. “Leave me alone with this bullshit,” the bassist told Telegraph last winter, when he revealed he had re-recorded the songs. “Of course we were a group, there were four of us and we all contributed – but it was my project and I wrote it. »

Important contribution

Roger Waters actually wrote the lyrics for all the pieces, but Nick Mason, Richard Wright and David Gilmour were all involved in the composition of several pieces. This is without taking into account the very particular sound signature of Pink Floyd, impossible without the contribution of the four members – we can add to the cocktail the clairvoyant work of Alan Parsons, sound engineer of the album.

Roger Waters simplified the musical arrangements by adding narrated passages in the instrumental pieces, some more trivial, others certainly more emotional. ” It is from Dark Side of the Moon that Roger Waters will reveal himself as a creator, recalls Mr. Trottier. Through this rereading, he has the desire to remove what belongs less to him, such as David Gilmour’s guitar solos. »

Gone are the guitarist’s solos and bottleneck accents, which defined the sound of Pink Floyd from the early 1970s.

Gérald Côté, ethnomusicologist from Laval University, does not mince his words when it comes to qualifying Roger Waters’ exercise.

“It’s sad… In his version of Money, you have the impression of listening to music without soul, it’s painfully limp, he says. Waters is an absolutely brilliant songwriter, but this isn’t up to par. We cannot separate the musical depth of Pink Floyd from its main architect; to separate the two is to impoverish Pink Floyd. This is why I have difficulty believing that this is not an expression of the conflict that has persisted for 30 years. »

Internal quarrel

Indeed, it is difficult not to make a connection with the quarrel which led to the departure of Roger Waters in 1984 and which still persists to this day. As proof, David Gilmour shared the publication of the documentary on Thursday The Dark Side of Roger Watersa production by BBC journalist John Ware which tends to demonstrate the anti-Semitic behavior of Roger Waters.

Last February, it was Gilmour’s wife, the writer Polly Samson, who accused the bassist of being anti-Semitic, in addition to being an “apologist for [Vladimir] Putin is a lying, thief, hypocrite, misogynist megalomaniac, a tax evader and a sickly envious person.” This was just days after Waters told a Berlin daily that he would be reviewing the record The Dark Side of the Moonan interview in which he did not fail to fuel the controversy relating to his ambiguous position in relation to the Russian leader.

Far from wanting to show contrition, Waters immediately attacked his former colleagues:

“Gilmour and Rick [Wright] “They can’t write songs, they don’t have anything to say, they’re not artists,” Waters told the Telegraph, without any filter. They have no ideas […] They’ve never had one, and it drives them crazy. » It should be noted here that Richard Wright died in 2008…

Yet, The Dark Side of the Moon was the band’s work, much more so in fact than Pink Floyd’s subsequent albums. “The original record is a collective work and all that is erased with Waters’ rereading,” maintains Danick Trottier. He still demonstrates how big his ego is. But he also has a very classic conception of music, according to which a work can be improved over time; It’s something we’ve always seen in classical music. Often, there can be several versions of the same work. »

“In this sense, Waters makes Redux a very personal work, almost testamentary, continues the researcher. The latest projects from music greats always have a very personal touch; if we take our rereading from this angle, we can better appreciate the project. »

Danick Trottier admits, however, that offering a new version of an old album can appear to be a path of compromise that may seem easy. Some could certainly see this as an opportunistic approach. “The album is 50 years old, all of this is part of the celebrations,” says Gérald Côté. It’s certainly a great opportunity to create the event and benefit from it. »

Rock

The Dark Side of the Moon Redux

Roger Waters

SGB