Roger Waters Announces Solo Remake of Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ Releases a Whispered ‘Money’ as First Teaser
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Move over, Taylor Swift — Roger Waters has re-recorded the most famous of the albums he made with Pink Floyd in the 1970s for its 50th anniversary. The project, titled “The Dark Side of the Moon Redux,” comes out Oct. 6. The album’s first single, “Money,” a fresh take on the 1973 song that was the band’s biggest hit, was released today as an audio track and lyric video. Any similarities to Swift’s re-recordings end with the most basic concept, as Water says he does not mean the new version to supplant the old one, but to complement it as a more mature take on the material. As for the big question of who will replaced his estranged former partner David Gilmour’s lead vocal and guitar parts, the seven-and-a-half minute “Money” seems to at least partially answer that. Taking over Gilmour’s role on the mic in the song, Waters “sings” the song in a spoken whisper, and the guitar solo has been replaced by what seems to be a new, lengthy poem set in a metaphorical boxing-ring. The tune has been significantly transformed in other ways; it’s bluesier and less rocking, with no cash registers or random voices or other sound effects. Some of the first listeners to hear it after it came out in the wee hours compared it to a Leonard Cohen recitation.