“Well, I don’t know whether I’m allowed to say what we’re doing—but I certainly think we’ll do something. It would be silly not to.” That’s Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, responding somewhat cheekily to my inevitable question regarding the then-impending 50th anniversary of The Dark Side of the Moon during a September 2022 Zoom call.
Fact is, it’s not hard to understand Mason’s caginess in that moment, given the Pink Floyd camp rarely lays down any cards that far ahead of any concrete confirmation of their full-court-press anniversary-release announcements. Besides, Mason knows (as do we all, really) that The Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most listened to, most analyzed, most discussed, longest charting, and best-selling recordings of the rock era—and it’s also been well acknowledged as a decades-long audiophile-favorite recording in regard to the aural content of both its two-channel representation on vinyl and its multichannel mixes on SACD and Blu-ray.
Released 50 years ago on March 1, 1973 by Harvest it the UK and Capitol in the U.S., The Dark Side of the Moon not only ushered in a more precise, prog-rock-centric sonic template for what the psychedelically inclined music of Pink Floyd ultimately evolved into for the balance of the ensuing decade—but it also coalesced all the necessary elements required for creating the most perfect concept album, from the very first heartbeat fade-in heard at the outset of the Side 1 opener “Speak to Me” to the final heartbeat fade-out at the end of the Side 2 closer, “Eclipse.”
And now, 50 years on, Pink Floyd have gone all-in—well, all-in, but I’ll explain that in a moment—on ’s golden jubilee celebration with a physically hefty and indeed quite pricey 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Deluxe box set from Pink Floyd Records/Sony Music. For those who are wondering—no, this new box set does house the comparable bonus audio, video, and/or marbled/scarved componentry that was part of the September 2011 box set. What this new box set include are 2CDs and 2LPs with parallel content (i.e., the remastered original studio on the first CD and LP, and the 1974 live on the second CD and LP); 1BD including Dolby Atmos and 24-bit/192kHz stereo (uncompressed), and DTS-HD MA stereo mixes of the core album; 1BD with 24/96 5.1 (uncompressed), than most other Pink Floyd box sets to date. In terms of the box set’s visual-design details, the 2023 creative director is Aubrey Powell/Hipgnosis (who, along with the late great Storm Thorgerson, were responsible for most of Pink Floyd’s innovative art direction over the years), with design and art direction by Peter Curzon/StormStudios, and the overall 50th anniversary concept and design by Pentagram. The box’s SRP is indeed a steep $300—the typical going rate for comparable historical Pink Floyd boxes with this kind of heft to them.
