Description
Since the early 1970s, which could be called the dawn of rock in Japan, many artists have come to Japan. At that time, when information was limited, there were many opportunities to see foreign artists who could only be known from books, and it was like a dream. Pink Floyd has performed in Japan three times so far. Their first visit was in 1971, and they performed again the following year in 1972. Surprisingly, they did not hold a concert in Tokyo during their first visit, and only performed three times in total, twice in Hakone and once in Osaka. Fans living in Tokyo probably saw Pink Floyd on stage for the first time during their second visit in 1972. Pink Floyd finished their tour for the release of “Meddle” in November 1971, and then spent time recording their next album again. The theme of their next album was to express “the madness hidden inside humans” through music. Such a complex theme and complex structure were refined many times and finally came to fruition as “The Dark Side of the Moon”, but the release had to wait until March 1973. Moreover, tour dates were scheduled during that time, and Floyd chose to refine “The Dark Side of the Moon” through the tour. In fact, “The Dark Side of the Moon” was already performed on the UK tour that had already been scheduled and began at the beginning of 1972. Now, “The Dark Side of the Moon” has firmly established its position as a historical masterpiece, including chart action, but at the time it was performed as a pure new song by Pink Floyd. For most of the audience, who would have heard “The Dark Side of the Moon” for the first time, its worldview was already creating an atmosphere that was extraordinary, and the audience recordings from that time can be heard watching the fantastic scene unfolding on stage with bated breath. The 1972 Japan tour was an extension of this series. Here too, the unreleased “The Dark Side of the Moon” was already played throughout the entire show, from the opening. What is the stage for an artist? Paul McCartney reminisced, “Even in the Beatles era, songs like ‘She Loves You’ were more popular than new songs.” This testimony makes it clear that the audience was looking forward to hearing songs they had listened to so much on record that they wore them out, performed live at a concert venue. From the artists’ point of view, it may have been the intention of the artists to directly check the reaction to the songs by performing new songs. Tours were scheduled during the album production, and it seems that the intention was to reflect the reaction on stage in the recording process. This is also a phenomenon that occurs due to the time difference between recording and release, but it may have also been intended as a promotional purpose, such as having people buy the album to be released later in order to hear the new songs played on stage again. It is probably for this reason that Led Zeppelin actively performed songs from their new album that had already been recorded but was not yet released on stage. However, in the case of Pink Floyd, there seems to be another reason that does not belong to any of the above. On the 1972 stage, the whole of “The Dark Side of the Moon” was played from the opening, but they were playing the entire album, which was released more than a year ago. And while the skeleton of “The Dark Side of the Moon” that can be heard on this album and others is the same as the released version, it is hard to shake the impression that it is unfinished. Rather than being unfinished, it is a different version that feels like listening to a studio outtake. If “different version” is misleading, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it has not yet matured. Pink Floyd must have had a special awareness of “The Dark Side of the Moon”. I imagine that they had an unprecedented intention to improve their skills by playing it repeatedly throughout the tour and get closer to the perfect final form. When Fujiko Fujio, a student, first visited Osamu Tezuka’s home, he was astonished to learn that the original manuscript was 1,000 pages long, compared to the only 300 pages of “The World to Come,” and that the 700 pages that were cut out were what supported that dense work. It is easy to understand that the reason Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” is such a dense work with no gaps and no relaxation of tension from beginning to end is the result of maturing it on stage over a year. Future generations will only have the album “The Dark Side of the Moon”, but fans who were at the live show at the time are fortunate to know that such a long period of maturation is what supports that masterpiece. One part of that is the 1972 Japan performance recorded on this work. The 1972 Japan tour was a total of six performances, two in Tokyo, two in Osaka, and one in Kyoto and Sapporo. Even with today’s developed transportation network, it was a hard schedule, especially the five consecutive days from Tokyo to Kyoto. This work records the Sapporo performance on the first day, March 13, 1972. As mentioned above, “The Dark Side of the Moon” is played in full in the first half. What is interesting is the announcement made by Goro Itoi after the first half has ended. The song was originally introduced as “A Piece for Assorted Lunatics” on stage in January, but the title had already changed to “The Dark Side of the Moon” by this March. The Japanese title “Madness” does not yet exist. It is said that a lyric card with the title “The Dark Side of the Moon – A Piece for All sorts of Madmen” was distributed to the audience at the venue on the day. It was also introduced as a new song to be released in the UK in November. The release was scheduled for November, but it was delayed by four months to March of the following year, probably due to Pink Floyd’s insistence on perfection. The first half was the entirety of “Madness”, followed by an announcement and a break, and the second half was a lineup of songs that had already been released. “Blow Wind, Call Storm” was a song that symbolized Pink Floyd for Japanese fans at the time, and was also prominently advertised on the tour poster. The concert was closed with Eugene, Echoes, and Mystery. The second half of Disc 2 contains another source from the same day that was aired on the radio at the time. Perhaps realizing that this was a bad idea, the DJ joked after the broadcast, “I wonder what country this band is from?” This is also a vestige of a more carefree era. This is a complete recording of the first day of Pink Floyd’s 1972 Japan tour, March 13th in Sapporo. NAKAJIMA SPORTS CENTER SAPPORO March 13, 1972 DISC ONE 01. Speak To Me 02. Breathe 03. On The Run 04. Time 05. Breathe (Reprise) 06. The Great Gig In The Sky 07. Money 08. Us And Them 09. Any Colour You Like 10. Brain Damage 11. Eclipse DISC TWO 01. One Of These Days 02. Careful With That Axe, Eugene 03. Echoes 04. A Saucerful Of Secrets
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