The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 1 March 1973, by Capitol Records in the US and on 16 March 1973, by Harvest Records in the UK.

Developed during live performances before recording began, it was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and also deal with the mental health problems of the former band member Syd Barrett, who had departed the group in 1968.

New material was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London.

The record builds on ideas explored in Pink Floyd’s earlier recordings and performances, while omitting the extended instrumentals that characterised the band’s earlier work.

The group employed multitrack recording, tape loops, and analogue synthesisers, including experimentation with the EMS VCS 3 and a Synthi A. The engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many aspects of the recording, and for the recruitment of the session singer Clare Torry, who appears on “The Great Gig in the Sky“.