Pink Floyd: Classic Albums - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Pink Floyd: Classic Albums - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 21, 2013

Pink Floyd: The Dark Side Of The Moon Immersion Box Set was a hefty though pretty expensive trip through one of the most legendary albums of the seventies. That set included a retrospective documentary about the genesis of Dark Side of the Moon, and while those who already bought that set may therefore not find that much new material in this new documentary release, true Floyd aficionados will probably want to pick it up, as it features more in-depth interviews and occasionally interesting tidbits that the Immersion Box Set either only mentioned in passing or didn’t divulge at all. The fact that this release is much more budget friendly may in fact be more than enough to interest fans who didn't have the stack of cash necessary to spring for the Immersion Box Set.

It’s interesting to note that with the release of this Making Of documentary, those who did spring for the two Pink Floyd Immersion Box Sets now have a little “stocking stuffer” to include with their haul. Eagle Rock previously released Pink Floyd: The Story of Wish You Were Here which made for a perfect addition to Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here Immersion Box Set. The Dark Side documentary follows much the same path as the other release, taking a track by track look at how the album was written and recorded. Great archival footage is mixed with some equally fantastic contemporary interview segments (several which seem to have perhaps been from the same sit downs that became part of the Immersion Box Set retrospective documentary).

Pink Floyd: Classic Albums - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Eagle Rock is to be commended for being completely up front about its upscaled Blu-ray releases, having taken the perhaps bold step of marketing them as "SD Blu-rays". This release therefore features an upscaled 1080i transfer delivered via the AVC codec in 1.78:1. The contemporary interview sequences actually look amazing good for upscaled material, with decent detail and an at least reasonably crisp looking image. The archival footage doesn't fare quite so well, but of course the source elements are in much worse shape to begin with. There are some fairly evident combing artifacts in some of the older material which may bother the more eagle eyed videophile.

Pink Floyd: Classic Albums - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Some audiophiles may initially be disappointed that this release only features an LPCM 2.0 mix, but the fact is this is a documentary, not a music video, and therefore a lot of this is given over to talking heads segments, where the stereo mix does just fine. The music also sounds great, though it should be noted very little is presented here uninterrupted. The music serves as a kind of springboard for the band members and other associated folks to talk about various elements.

Pink Floyd: Classic Albums - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Interviews (1080i; 36:16) includes longer and/or unedited versions of several interviews that are included in the documentary.

Pink Floyd: Classic Albums - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you already have the Immersion Box Set, there's not a ton here that you won't know already (either because you're a rabid fan, or because you got the information from that set's documentary). But for those who didn't spring for that set and who have an abiding interest in this phenomenally influential album, this Blu-ray comes Highly recommended.