#DARK SIDE OF THE MOOM SERIES#

I can’t remember the ones in between, except for: We would scour Abbey Road Studios for willing guinea pigs, bring them to the studio, sit them down, roll tape and then ask them to respond to each card in order.Īs I recall the first card was something irrelevant and innocuous, like “What’s your favourite colour?” and the last was the more enigmatic “What do you think of The Dark Side Of The Moon?” The cards would be in a stack on a conductors stand in front of a mike.

#DARK SIDE OF THE MOOM SERIES#

Rather than interviewing people I came up with the idea of writing a series of questions on cards.

I was trying to gather audio snippets to mix into segues on Dark Side. “People often ask me about the voices on Dark Side. This is the handwritten explanation by Roger Waters, from the Immersion set, 2011: Roger’s description of the question cards Who was asked helps date the questions – we can’t be sure of date but it was likely after the middle Sunday, otherwise Clare Torry would probably have been asked I’m uncertain if Chris Thomas was. Wings led by Paul McCartney were using Studio 2 to put finishing touches to Red Rose Speedway (having recorded the tracks in the previous October): Paul and Linda McCartney were both interviewed, but their responses were deemed too polished and were not chosen, though famously their recently joined guitarist Henry McCullough’s (I don’t know I was really drunk at the time” did make it in. “They provided essential colour for the record” Roger Waters (2003)Īnyone and everyone present in Abbey Road that day were asked: band crew, roadies, studio staff. The voices were initially planned as bridges or segues between the songs, later becoming a vital touching layer above the music. Roger was after ‘spontaneous’ words and phrases to add a natural human touch to the record.

The questioning process, and obviously stilted responses, are likely to have been a trigger for a ‘better way’ to solicit responses. It was questioning that was to be mirrored in Water’s cue cards days later. Interestingly some of Adrian’s questions focus on the potential tension and problems of being in a band – given their perceived longevity having been together for 5 years. The conversation goes on to range from Nick Mason’s preference for “apple pie without the crust” to the ‘nationality of oysters’, in some of the most intimate footage ever of the band. Roger Waters, being interviewed by Adrian Maben. “Well, do you think it’s interesting?” Maben Adrian wanted to show the creative process, the band’s humour, and interplay between band members, including the banter sparking off each other:

He recorded footage of the band playing in Studio 3 – staged footage, as the instruments and music tracks had been taped by then, though it is possible the scenes of Roger working at the VCS3 are ‘real working shots’ – and talking in the canteen. Roger Waters had been flying fishing with Adrian Maben earlier that January in ’73, and suggested Adrian visit the band at Abbey Road in order to record extra footage, to extend the Live At Pompeii film. Abbey Road Studio 3 was booked intermittently through January ’73 with the band needing to agree the final mix – but there was something missing, with one of the last additions being the voices and laughter.Ī last minute addition to the album, the voices were recorded during informal interviews, as responses to questions written on cue cards shown to any and all individuals present in Abbey Road at the time, while the band were finishing mix. Up to December 1972, Dark Side had progressed to a near final state, in clear phases of development: as a pretty tight musical set from a year on the road along with visits to Abbey Road to lay down the bulk of the material. 40 years ago today… The now infamous voices were added to the final mix of the album, this week, from 22nd January 1973.

Dark side of the moom