VARIOUS ARTISTS -- The Moon Revisited: Another Perspective on The Dark Side of the Moon (Magna Carta)

This is an interesting CD. Not just because its a tribute to Pink Floyd's classic Dark Side of the Moon, but for several other reasons. Most of the artists on The Moon Revisited appear on the label's other tribute CDs (as well as their own). On this one, though, the folks at Magna Carta had to do some extra production work. Given the way the songs on the original album all seque into each other, they had to do something similar on the tribute to make it work. Each band recorded their tracks separately, striving to retain the nuances of the original songs. Once the individual tracks were completed, producers Peter Morticelli and Mike Varney assembled them into one cohesive project.

Most of the artists remained true to the original tracks. As is the case with most tribute albums, some artists are more successful than others in their interpretations. Cairo turns in a fine rendition of "Speak to Me / Breathe", as does Rob LaVaque with his version of "On the Run" (performed live in the studio). Shadow Gallery's cover of "Time" is OK, although the vocals tend to sound too much like Queensryche. Joan Burton and Terry Hand-Smith do an excellent job reproducing Clare Torry's vocal on "The Great Gig in the Sky" - better than the singers on the last Pink Floyd tour did.

Moving to the second half, we come to the low point of the CD - Magellan's overproduced cover of "Money". Trent Gardner's vocals never attain the level of angst that David Gilmour's had, and come across as just being lame. On a positive note, this is one of the few cuts where the bands do anything different with the arrangements. Enchant's version of "Us and Them" has a slightly different intro, then faithfully covers the original. The only bad part here is the vocals, they're too sweet. World Trade serves up an excellent version of "Any Colour You Like", with a few different guitar licks thrown in. Robert Berry's solo rendition of "Brain Damage" is quite good too.

The track that really ties everything together on this CD is "Eclipse". Rather than having a single artist perform this one, the song features vocals from each of the bands on the CD over Robert Berry's instrumentation. It makes for an excellent finale. The Moon Revisited is an interesting tribute to the classic 1973 album. There's never a point where its better than the original, but there are several that come close.

In case you can't find The Moon Revisited in your local record store, write to Magna Carta Records at 208 East 51st St., #1820, New York, NY 10022

© 1996 Steve Marshall