Roger Waters, the former member of Pink Floyd, has re-recorded "The Dark Side of the Moon" without the participation of his former bandmates. In an interview with The Telegraph, he declared, "I wrote 'The Dark Side of the Moon.' Let's get rid of all this 'we' crap! Of course, we were a band and there were four of us who contributed". He continues "but it's my project and I wrote it." Officially, Waters is credited with writing the lyrics for the album, as well as composing three tracks and co-writing two others.
The rocker was not kind in his comments about the songwriting contributions of his former bandmates. Rogers states that Nick Mason never pretended to be a songwriter. That David Gilmour and Rick Wright couldn't write quality material, calling them "not artists."
Pink Floyd Merchandise
As the 50th anniversary of "The Dark Side of the Moon" approaches in March, Waters decided to re-record the album. The Telegraph writer Tristram Fane Saunders was given a preview and reported that "parts are very good indeed." He noted that "Time" sounds great with Waters' older voice and "Breathe" is wonderfully reimagined as a slow acoustic groove, while a country-tinged "Money" could be a late Johnny Cash cut with Waters growling charismatically.
Waters' most unexpected choice was to record spoken word poetry over the album's instrumental tracks. He claims that his goal was to better convey the central theme and "the voice of reason." He believed that not enough people recognized the album's meaning and what he was trying to say.
The release date for the updated version of "The Dark Side of the Moon" has not yet been announced. The Telegraph suggests it will be released in May. The news of the re-record comes as Waters and Gilmour are once again engaged in a public disagreement.