Roger Waters Re-records “The Dark Side of the Moon

Roger Waters has quietly been re-recording ‘The Dark Side of the Moon,’ the 1973 album he and Pink Floyd released.

Waters discussed the re-recording in a profile for The Telegraph published yesterday (February 8). According to the newspaper, Waters has been working on his solo version of “The Dark Side of the Moon” for months without consulting or informing fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason. Waters is said to have re-recorded all ten songs “from scratch.”

The solo version is said to be the work of Waters’ longtime collaborator and tourmate Gus Seyffert and a “Baptist minister” who plays a Hammond organ. Seyffert’s rumoured new album is said to include Bedouine, the singer who also happens to be his girlfriend. “Because not enough people recognised what it’s about, what I was saying then,” Waters explained in explaining his decision to reissue “The Dark Side of the Moon.”

Because of Waters’ departure from Pink Floyd in 1985 and their contentious relationship since, the re-recording is expected to “prove a bit tricky,” according to The Telegraph. Because Waters has been “tinkering with the recordings,” the album’s original March release date has been moved to May.

Similarly, a launch concert has been rescheduled for May. Despite setbacks, such as a change in the location of the concert, representatives “assure[d] me the release is definitely happening,” according to Telegraph journalist Tristram Fane Saunders. Waters’ re-recording of “Moon” would be similar to the “2022 version” of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” that he released in November.

According to Saunders, who is one of only a “handful” of people who have heard the full solo version, the re-recording was “very good in some parts.” Waters’ new rendition of “Time” “sounds terrific with his old man’s timbre,” Saunders said, praising Waters’ singing. He also praised Waters’ cover of “Breathe,” describing it as a “wonderfully reimagined… slow, acoustic groove,” and compared “Money” to a “Johnny Cash cut” with “country-tinged” influences.

Waters’ only contribution is a “terrific bass solo” on “Us and Them.” In the re-recording, a “prose poem over ‘On The Run,'” allegedly spoken by Waters, was recorded over the instrumental tracks from the original album.

Waters told the Telegraph, anticipating criticism from his “Faux Floyd” bandmates, “I wrote ‘The Dark Side of the Moon. To hell with all this “we”-speak! We were a band, to be sure—there were four of us, and we all pitched in—but this was my project, and I wrote it. So monotonous!

Waters also talked about his upcoming album, The Bar, which is described as a “symbol for any place that welcomes open debate” in the profile. Waters has always been outspoken about his beliefs, most recently in a series of statements about the Ukraine-Russia conflict that led to Russia inviting him to speak at the UN Security Council yesterday.

Waters “condemn[s] the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms,” reiterating a position he has held for some time, during his UN appearance, that the conflict in Ukraine was caused by outside forces. Water concluded his speech by demanding an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, adding, “No ifs, no buts, no ands.” No more Ukrainian or Russian lives can be squandered; each is irreplaceable in our eyes.

Prior to that, Waters gave an interview to the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung (a translated version of which can be found on Waters’ website) in which he discussed the role of the US and President Joe Biden in the Ukraine conflict, calling the US “the main aggressor” and claiming that the war was “provoked beyond all measure.” Waters has also spoken out against Pink Floyd’s planned “Hey Hey Rise Up” charity single for Ukraine in 2022, claiming that it “encourages the continuation of the war.”

Pink Floyd lyricist and author Polly Samson, writing as David Gilmour’s wife, recently tweeted that Waters is a “Putin apologist” and a “lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac.” Later, with the caption “every word [is] demonstrably true,” Gilmour retweeted the original post.

Waters issued a statement in response to Samson’s remarks, saying he “completely refutes [them]” and calling them “incendiary and wildly inaccurate.” The musician has stated that he is “taking advice on his position” in light of Samson’s allegations. The NME has also reached out to Waters’ representatives for comment.

The band’s 1974 Wembley Stadium performance was included in the 50th anniversary reissue of “The Dark Side of the Moon,” which was announced last month and will be released on March 24.

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