Well, you didn’t think I would escape without talking about this one, did you? Lately, I have been covering mostly unofficial releases, so maybe this will be a bit of fresh air. The intention of this site was never to cover only boot stuff, but if I waited around for only worthy official releases to come out, I would have like four updates a year. Maybe. So anyway, here it is… This is the brand new (sold out in most places) issue of DSOTM, printed on two 180-gram, single sided LP’s, complete with UV printed artwork on clear vinyl. It comes in a gatefold sleeve inside a slipcase with an all-new poster, and I believe this is the first time that DSOTM has ever been issued with different cover art.
When I first saw this come up for pre-order on the official Pink Floyd website, I noticed that it said “limited edition”. I also noticed that these things looked like picture discs of some kind to me, since I had never heard of the UV printing process before. With all that in mind, I assumed that this would probably be a novelty record at best, even though the site description said that the artwork wouldn’t interfere with the fidelity of the recording. Since I usually buy most stuff Pink Floyd puts out, and because I was happy with the sound of the 50th anniversary release, I decided to pre-order. Looking back on it, turns out this was a good move.
A few months went by, and I totally forgot about it until it showed up in the mail one day. As soon as I opened it, I was pretty impressed by the packaging. It was nice and heavy, and the slipcover did look nice with the new rainbow artwork. I opened it up, cleaned the records and didn’t notice any visible issues with the pressing. The artwork on the actual discs does look very cool and was printed on the discs in an interesting way. Essentially, since the discs are single sided and clear, the ink is laid on the bottom of the disc and dried with a UV light. When you flip the disc over to the playable side, the artwork shows through without compromising the integrity of the grooved playing surface the way a picture disc would.
While I was adding the record to my collection on Discogs, I noticed that there was already some hype surrounding this release, and that people were saying it actually sounded pretty good. When I went to check on the Pink Floyd web store, I was surprised to find it was listed as sold out, and that maybe it actually was a limited edition. I’ve got to say that with some of their releases lately, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Their Early Years and Later Years box sets, as well as the DSOTM 50th box set sold out quickly and were only available in very limited numbers considering the popularity of an album like this. Intrigued, I decided to turn on the system and hear this thing for myself.
Right away, I was very surprised at how silent the vinyl was. There is a lot of open space in DSOTM, and if a record is dirty or a not-so-great pressing, you can hear it plainly. I’ll cut to the chase and just tell you; this is a really great pressing of this classic album. I don’t mean it’s a great pressing considering what it is (an artwork heavy, picture disc-like release), but actually a great pressing in general. As near as I can tell, this is the same mastering that you will find on the 50th anniversary version that came out last year. Unless for some strange reason you didn’t like that, I think you’ll also be really happy with this. The soundstage is well defined and up to the world class standards of all the official mastering that’s been done for this album over the years. No official versions are bad, it just really comes down to your preference.
If you are new to Pink Floyd or new to collecting records, I don’t think there is any reason that this shouldn’t be your main copy of the album if you want it to be. There is no doubt that it looks amazing, but it also sounds great too. Will this be my main copy of the album? No. Firstly, I don’t think I’m ready to give up some of my other pressings that I do personally like better. Second, having to deal with two discs instead of just one is kind of annoying if you like to listen to an album a lot and there is no real advantage (besides visual) or necessity to get out a two-disc version. For a casual listener or collector, or someone who doesn’t mind dealing with the second LP, this version is a great choice.
All around, I liked The Dark Side of the Moon Clear UV Edition so much that I picked up another copy to leave sealed. Not content with getting another one just like I had, and being a collector of such things anyway, I decided to go with the Japanese version. There is also a European version, but I probably won’t bother picking that one up. Usually, the main draw to Japanese vinyl, at least for me, is that it tends to be better made and can sound a lot better than stuff pressed in other counties. In this case, it needs to be said that Pink Floyd pressed all of these discs (as well as their other modern releases) at a plant in the Netherlands. In other words, aside from an Obi strip and some Japanese writing, there is no difference between any of the three pressings. If for some reason you want to collect them all, do so knowing that except for minor details on the hype sticker and packaging, they are all the same. Excellent quality, but essentially identical. The record itself is identical.
As I already mentioned, at the time of this writing, almost all retailers are sold out of copies of this thing. Luckily, there are plenty of them available on the secondary market if you are still looking for one. They are obviously more than the retail price was, but honestly the cost isn’t too bad. I think with shipping, I originally paid around 50.00 US from the Pink Floyd website. You can pick up a copy from a flipper for between 65.00 and 75.00 US before shipping, which I think is still reasonable, considering what you are getting. If you like what this version looks like in the pictures, you won’t be disappointed with it once you have a copy in your hands. If it really does stay limited and isn’t restocked, I could see the price going up even further. Probably not much, but I don’t think you’ll be finding these too much cheaper than what they are going for now. As always, if you want one, get on it.