The Dark Side Of The Moon

Gatefold:
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London between June 1972 and January 1973.
℗ 1973
E.M.I Records (The Gramophone Company Ltd) Hayes · Middlesex · England
Made and Printed in Great Britain
File under POPULAR : Pop Groups

Labels:
℗ 1973 The Gramophone Company Limited
Made in Gt. Britain

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This is the original form of the release, featuring vinyl labels with a solid light blue prism design and silver lettering (later versions have an empty prism). It comes in a gatefold sleeve, with several known variations of the cover opening described below. Originally delivered with 2 posters and 2 postcard-sized stickers.

There are 2 systems for track numbering on this release. Inside the gatefold cover, the tracks are divided into “Side One” and “Side Two” and listed with simple numbers from 1 to 5 for each side (a system that has been converted above in this submission into the standard A1 to B5 convention). The vinyl labels, however, number the tracks with lowercase letters from (a) to (i). The tracks “Speak to Me” and “Breathe” are the only ones to feature Roman numerals. In fact, since “Speak to Me” and “Breathe” blend seamlessly without interruption, the first track is listed with the letter (a) followed by the Roman numeral (I), while the second track is listed only with the Roman numeral (II). Probably the best way to indicate this would have been to assign the numbering (a) (II) to “Breathe” (see images).

The following is a guide to identifying the elements that make up the first pressing, but for a more comprehensive guide it is best to refer to the Pink Floyd Archives website

Huge numbers were pressed to meet advance orders and there are 88 documented runout variations. There are several variations of sleeves, posters and stickers, and as these were produced by different companies and delivered to the pressing plant at different times there are several combinations.

1. The label has a solid light blue prism. Subsequent pressings have a blue glowing inner edge prism with the centre black.
2. ‘The Gramophone Co.’ text starts at 10 o’clock on label.
3. A-2/B-2 matrix stamps appear in the runout area.
4. There is 1 ink variation used for printing sleeve blue/black.
5. There are 3 sleeve opening variations. 1. The right front opening of the gatefold cover is sealed with the two sides glued together. 2. The right front opening of the gatefold cover is sealed with a fold-over flap that is glued inside the opening. 3. The right front opening of the gatefold cover is not sealed.
6. Inner sleeve is a distinctive polythene lined die cut black semi-matte paper with white printed text stating 2 patent numbers bottom left [1125555/1072844] and ‘MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN’ bottom right.
7. Posters and stickers were printed on either matte or gloss paper.
8. Stickers may have printed backs with diagonal lines across them, and the words ‘Fasson’, ‘FasPrint’ and ‘Crack-Back’, or plain white backs with the word “Permanent”.
9. Some copies came with a small round sticker on the front cover stating “Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon” (confirmed for stampers GL/MO). Early cover stickers are a lighter, faded grey-purple/blueish colour and measure ~67mm diameter, later cover stickers are a darker black and measure ~62mm diameter.
10. Some early copies have a manufacturing defect on the track Money, where the song skips. This only appears to affect some records made with A2/B2 stampers.

This first edition was initially pressed by The Gramophone Co. Ltd., from July 1st, 1973 by its legal successor, EMI Records at the same plant.
International E.M.I. catalog number 1E 064 o 05249 appears in small font and parentheses on the cover rear.

Note on credits:
Though credited for the entire album, Barry St John, Doris Troy, Leslie Duncan, and Liza Strike perform backing vocals only on tracks A4, B2, B4, and B5.