Dark Side of the Moon Redux Album Review - Roger Achieves the Unthinkable
Roger Waters returns to his most famous work with a 2023 reimagining that trades wizardry for intimacy. Dark Side of the Moon Redux is not an attempt to remake a classic but a, more contemplative companion to an album that has shaped generations.
A Different Way to Revisit a Pink Floyd Classic
When Roger Waters announced The Dark Side of the Moon Redux, I was not sure what to expect. The original album has been with me my entire life. It is a landmark that never felt in need of a revival or reworking. Yet within a few minutes of hearing the opening of Speak to Me, I realised this project sits somewhere else entirely. It is still recognisably Dark Side, but reshaped through the eyes of a seventy-nine-year-old man looking back at the twenty-nine-year-old who helped create it.
Waters has spoken clearly about why he chose to revisit this music. During the stripped-back Lockdown Sessions, he noticed the fiftieth anniversary of the original album approaching and wondered if it could be an opportunity to honour the record while revisiting its emotional and political shadows. After discussing the idea with Gus Seyffert and Sean Evans, he decided to take it on. He has described Redux not as a replacement but as a way of paying respect to something irreplaceable while adding the perspective of age, loss and experience.
New vs Old back covers for the Dark Side of the Moon LP
“With The Dark Side of the Moon Redux is a fantastic solo album Roger has achieved the unthinkable. He has updated this classic album without tarnishing all that is great about the original album. You can enjoy both for different reasons - any colour you like!”
How the Redux Actually Sounds
This is not a recreation of the classic album. There is no attempt to mirror the opening clocks of Time or the groove of Money. There is no attempt to echo David Gilmour’s guitar lines, or Clare Torry’s astonishing performance on The Great Gig in the Sky. Instead, Waters lets the familiar themes drift in and out while he speaks, whispers or half-sings the lyrics. At times he steps aside completely and talks about memory, loss and old friends. At the start of Brain Damage, Waters even jokes, “Why don’t we re-record Dark Side of the Moon,” as if acknowledging the sheer madness of attempting such a project.
It is surprisingly intimate. With On the Run he talks over the track, sharing a story rather than filling the space with synthesisers. Time feels like a letter to his younger self. Money carries more weight when spoken than when sung. And on Brain Damage he gently mocks the idea of re-recording the entire album, joking that he must have gone mad to attempt it.
The question I had going in was simple. How is he going to approach The Great Gig in the Sky without a vocalist trying to emulate Clare Torry. The answer is that he refuses to try. The melody plays on, carried by a Theremin, while Waters talks about his friend, the writer Donald Hall. It becomes a completely different moment, not a showcase of voice but a reflection on friendship, age and the inevitability of time.
As with his recent live shows, the arrangements here are reinterpretations rather than re-enactments. The character and the pulse of the original remain, but the delivery is quieter, more spoken, and more personal.
Listening to the Album Today
I keep returning to this version. Not because it replaces the original but because it sits beside it. Unlike the Animals Remix Redux is not an attempt to compete with its younger self, and it does not try to imitate the chemistry of a band that no longer exists. Instead it feels like a companion piece, a long reflection on themes that have only grown sharper with age.
The original album explored fear, madness, conflict and time. The Redux album looks at those same themes from a completely different vantage point. You can enjoy both for different reasons.
DSOM Redux Questions Answered
What is a Redux album?
A Redux is not a remaster or a remix. It is a full re-recording that revisits the original work from a new perspective. In film terms it is closer to a director returning to an old script with a lifetime of experience behind them. It does not aim to replace the original. It sits alongside it.
Who was Donald Hall?
Donald Hall was an American poet, essayist and former US Poet Laureate. He was a close friend of Roger Waters. Hall wrote frequently about memory, ageing and grief. His influence appears throughout Redux, particularly during The Great Gig in the Sky where Waters recalls him with warmth.
What is the meaning of “All roads lead to Zagreb”?
It is a line Hall used when referring to the unexpected paths life takes. The phrase suggests that, no matter how far we travel or how many diversions we take, certain moments or truths draw us back to themselves. Waters uses it to reflect on the way memory links the past and present, even when the journey feels scattered.
When was DSOM Redux recorded and where?
Recording took place during 2022 and early 2023 across Sargent Recorders, Mantis Studios, Strongroom, EastWest Studios in Los Angeles, and Fivestarstudios.
When was DSOM Redux released?
The album was released on 6 October 2023.