This portion of The Dark Side of the Rainbow is dedicated to homegrown philosophies and general comments concerning the DSOTR sync. For more exhaustive reading concerning "intent" (that is, that the sync is something that the Pink Floyd did purposefully), you may wish to read my article Planned or Coincidence? and listen to the accompanying MP3 sound files, for a compelling case against such theory.
Section A : Philosophical and/or General Observations on the DSOTR sync
I
stumbled across the 'Wizard of Oz/Dark Side of the Moon' sync idea whilst
browsing a book on the '100 greatest albums' in London today. I have long been a
Pink Floyd fan owning every album, and have recently discovered the old
fashioned charm of some of Judy Garland's early films.
Thus, the idea of syncing the two together seemed particularly novel. Afterall
both are emotionally stirring pieces of art, be it 'The Great Gig in the Sky' or
'Over the Rainbow'. What interested me is the way this links together two
completely antipodean mindsets.
Roger waters lyrics (in general) express the vacuosity of modern life; themes of
loneliness, emptiness, meaninglessness, etc. I sometimes wonder if this was his
personal reaction to Syd Barrett's childlike, and perhaps naive, approach to
life which ultimately damaged him.
In contrast, the Wizard of Oz travels in the opposite direction, eventually
reaching the same colourful, slightly surreal imagery that we see on 'Piper at
the Gates of Dawn'. But first we have the Waters-esque longing that perhaps life
could somehow be different expressed by Dorothy in 'Somehere over the Rainbow'.
Of course Garland's later life would become as troubled as Barrett's.
I suppose you could describe the sync process as blending the world's most
optimistic film with the world's most pessimistic album. Either way the idea is
intriguing in combining opposite and equally brilliant depictions of the human
experience.
Adam (AGC) from Kent, UK 21/02/04
Section B : The Cover Symbols of The Dark Side of the Moon
I'm not certain that you already know this, but the cover of the 30th anniversary re-issue of "Dark side the moon," the yellow parts of the spectrum are broken up, giving it a brick road quality. Jordan Brown, Liverpool, UK (drdofa@hotmail)
While this is true, at least the green and orange bars in the spectrum are likewise partitioned. Since I don't presently own the SACD, I must refer to an enlarged image of the cover to from Amazon.com, but I couldn't tell if any of the other bars were broken.
The "rainbow" might be considered to be on the cover because of the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in the movie, but instead, the cover should not be primarily noted for the rainbow (which is not really a rainbow since rainbows are arches) but should be noticed for the entire change in light, from white light to all of the visible spectrum changed through the prism. Since the white light enters (it does not exit since it reflects off of the surface) and leaves fully colored, the album cover should be instead indicative of the change in the movie's chrome from black and white (really sepia tones, but that matters little) to full color. I thought this might have been obvious once I got it, but it didn't come to me because of the bleariness caused by the obvious "Somewhere over the Rainbow" connection. The prism is thus entered via "The Great Gig in the Sky" and exited by "Money". Also because of the theme of insanity versus reality both in film and score, the Emily Dickenson poem might be referenced: "Much Madness is divinest Sense--/To a discerning Eye--/Much Sense--the starkest Madness--/'Tis the Majority/In this, as All, prevail--/Assent--and you are sane--/Demur--you're straightway dangerous--/And handled with a Chain." Pay attention to the first two lines. I include this poem only because it includes "Eye" which of course discerns chroma. At the beginning black and white, but within white are all the colors. Dorothy sees these colorful land of Oz and is considered mad. The song "Money" is played and the Munchkins dance to it, the majority madness. Anyhow. That's it. Dorothy stands above the Munchkins and beyond the Scarecrow in this land of color. Keep this in mind. Bryan Gatchell (bryang@austin.rr)
... While I was watching [DSOTR], it occurred to me
(my daily epiphany) that both the Wizard of Oz and The Dark Side of the Moon
use the "Bookend Method" - (also a really groovy song by Simon and Garfunkel)...
let me explain... Both the movie and the album "end" the same way they "began"...
The album begins with a Heartbeat and ends with a Heartbeat... the movie
begins in Black and White and ends in Black and White...
Well, that was my big astute observation..... he he
he =) ~Emily A.~ (Era8381@aol)
I have always not only thought that the change in light was signfigant, but the shape of the prism itself I feel is important. There are many ways you can look at it to make it look like a tornado, especially on the newer album cover. In the movie, a twister (tornado) changes the black and white world into multi-colored, and on the cover a twisted tornado does the same thing. I think the shape is signifigant, maybe im crazy...~RH (DrSeuss233@aol)
Within the walls of the Emerald City, as our heroes are being escorted in an horse-drawn carriage, the horse is changing colours -- a reference again to the rainbow as well as the light break-down from the prism on DSOTM cover? Adam (bboysnake@hotmail)
Section C: The Mystery Music at the end of DSOTM (Ticket to Ride)
the mystery music could
also be explained in "Brain Damage":
and if the cloud bursts thunder in your ear - in order to hear the music you
have to turn the volume way up, and the heart beats could really be loud unless
you turn the bass down. you shout, but no one seems to hear - the music's at the end, and its hard to
hear and if the band your in starts playing different tunes - pink floyd had the
Beatles song at the end of eclipse i'll see you on the dark side of the moon
- Angelo Santelli
(Makaveli949@aol)
I'm a recording engineer, and I think the [Ticket to Ride] phenomenon that's occurring is either crosstalk from another source or RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) being picked up somewhere that got printed to tape. Or to put it another way, accidental bleed through.
The EMI studios at Abbey Road house three studios proper, and a number of production suites (for editing, tape checking etc.) It's not uncommon for a session in one studio to sometimes "pick-up" something that is going on in another. Soundproofing is only so effective, and when wires are crossed or run close together, some bleed through is always possible if not a fait accompli . (It's a very common occurrence here where I work.) Also, bleed like that happened a lot when EMI had their live reverb chambers in operation.
It's quite possible at the same time Alan was either recording or mixing the "heartbeats" in one studio, another session in the building was recording or mixing that orchestral version of "Ticket To Ride" and through crossed wires, a shared patch bay or reverb chamber, wound up buried underneath what Alan was doing. (Orchestral/Muzak albums of Beatles tunes were so common back then.)
I don't think it was intentional. What I would like to know is when this happened. Is it in the original multi-track tapes? Or just on the original stereo mixdown. Does it show up on the quad mix made around 1974? How about the new surround mix? If it appears everywhere, that means as the heartbeats were being recorded, a little Lennon & McCartney came along for the ride. ;) Otherwise, maybe during mixing a tape machine or other piece of gear was picking up some stray RFI and a BBC radio station playing the song wound up going to tape.
In fact, I have to ask: Did Alan or PF even create the sound effect? Was it something Alan pulled from a sound effects disc and the tune was already on there? How did he create it if it did originate from him?
I don't for a minute believe the theory about reusing tape, as EMI made it a policy in the mid 60's to keep *everything*. Or at least as much as humanly possible. And no engineer worth his salt would ever use anything but virgin tape stock; especially for a project like this. (And Alan Parsons is one of the greats...) And if one -did- use a once-used tape, it would have been "bulk erased" on a huge electromagnet totally wiping off every last bit of anything that may have been on it.
The fact that it's a Beatles tune just adds another layer of coincidence to a subject that is just bursting with them.
What's amazing is that someone had a system with enough resolving power to pick up on it in the first place. It's so -buried- in the mix! I doubt Alan ever heard it while working on the album. (Electronics were so much noisier back then....) Good detective work!
Hope this sheds some good, sound, (sorry for the pun) theories on what we are hearing.
Thanks again for the great website!
Chip Cristarella
Audio Technician
The Museum of Television & Radio
25 West 52 Street, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10019
(212) 621-6600 X6315
ccristarella@mtr.org
More to come ...
If you have something you'd like to add; a snippet
of interesting, but insane (or bordering thereabout) thought about The Dark
Side of the Rainbow synchronicity, then submit it for this section via
email. Don't be disappointed if your suggestion doesn't make it on this new
list ... be surprised if you do make it. It's got to be interesting and a
bit twisted. But if you REALLY want to read some wild and fascinating
thoughts on the whole audio/video sync thing, then you will want to pay a
visit to The
Ultimate Pink Floyd Synchronicities site and read some of Baker's
articles. He's a truly talented story teller with a very vivid imagination,
and a rather nice fellow as well.
Tell him Stegokitty sent ya! (as if anybody really does that)