c. 1983 (third-issue packaging with late Winchester metal) · Harvest SMAS-11163 · Stereo · US (Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Winchester, Virginia) · LP, gatefold · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
Label
Harvest
Catalogue number
SMAS-11163
Year
c. 1983 (third-issue packaging with late Winchester metal)
Mono / Stereo
Stereo
Country
US (Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Winchester, Virginia)
Format
LP, gatefold
Speed
33 1/3 RPM
Genre
Rock - Progressive Rock
Producer
Pink Floyd
Musicians
Roger Waters (bass, vocals, VCS3 synthesizer, tape effects), David Gilmour (guitars, vocals, VCS3 synthesizer), Richard Wright (keyboards, synthesizers, vocals), Nick Mason (drums, percussion, tape effects), Dick Parry (tenor and baritone saxophone on Money and Us And Them), Clare Torry (wordless lead vocal on The Great Gig In The Sky; uncredited on this label), Doris Troy, Lesley Duncan, Liza Strike, Barry St. John (backing vocals), Gerry O'Driscoll, Chris Adamson, Roger Manifold, Peter Watts, Patricia Watts and other interviewed associates (spoken voices, largely uncredited)
Matrix / Runout
Side A: SMAS-1-11163
G 99 MASTERED BY CAPITOL ER
TRIANGLE SYMBOL WITH LINE FROM TOP
Side B: SMAS-1-11163
G 79 MASTERED BY CAPITOL ER
TRIANGLE SYMBOL WITH LINE FROM TOP
Condition
Cover
EX in shrink/EX in shrink
Vinyl
G
Variant chronology
1973 - US first issue, Harvest black prism label, short Capitol Records, Inc. rim text with U.S. Pat. No. 2,631,859
1974 - US second issue, Harvest prism label, revised short rim text, patent number retained
1975 - US third issue, Harvest prism label, long Capitol Industries-EMI rim text, no patent number, no barcode <- this copy
c. 1980-81 - US fourth issue, Harvest prism label, barcode added to back cover
1983 - US fifth issue, Capitol black rainbow label replaces Harvest, barcode
This Pressing
Late US Harvest-label repress in third-issue packaging (stereo, c. 1983) - long Capitol Industries-EMI rim text, no barcode, Winchester ─◁ mark, Capitol ER G-99/G-79 cuts; probable undocumented double-Side-One mispress.
The Album
Pink Floyd developed The Dark Side Of The Moon as a complete live work during 1972 before recording it at Abbey Road between June 1972 and January 1973 with engineer Alan Parsons. Roger Waters deliberately moved the band away from a loose instrumental suite toward a unified song cycle about the pressures that distort human life: time, money, work, conflict, death and mental collapse. The breakdown of former member Syd Barrett shadowed the project, giving its examination of madness a personal rather than merely abstract dimension. Clocks, cash registers, tape loops, synthesizer sequences and interview fragments were integrated into the music as structural elements rather than decorative effects. Clare Torry improvised the celebrated vocal for The Great Gig In The Sky in only a few takes, initially believing that little of her performance would be usable. The album transformed Pink Floyd from a respected underground band into a global act and demonstrated that progressive rock could be conceptually ambitious while remaining concise and immediate. Its critical stature has continued to grow, and it remains a defining example of the album as an immersive, continuous artistic statement.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. Speak To Me
2. Breathe
3. On The Run
4. Time
5. The Great Gig In The Sky
Side 2
1. Speak To Me
2. Breathe
3. On The Run
4. Time
5. The Great Gig In The Sky
The Label
This copy carries the US black Harvest prism label with white lettering, boxed Harvest logo, and the long 'Mfd. by Capitol Records, Inc., a subsidiary of Capitol Industries-EMI, Inc.' rim text with the 'All Rights Reserved / Unauthorized duplication' warning and no U.S. Pat. No. 2,631,859 - the third-issue design introduced in September 1975 when Capitol updated its corporate credit. The matching back cover prints SMAS 11163 at top center with no barcode, confirming third-issue packaging rather than the barcode-bearing fourth (c. 1980-81) or rainbow-label fifth (July 1983) issues. However, the typed runouts pair G-99 with G-79 ER cuts, and pinkfloydarchives.com documents G-79 Winchester metal in July 1983 groupings, so this is a late pressing assembled from old-stock third-issue labels and jacket - consistent with the transitional 1983 Winchester Harvest-label variant documented on Discogs. Both side labels print SIDE ONE with the identical track listing, an apparent factory labeling error that the two SMAS-1- matrix transcriptions reinforce.
Fidelity
The G-99/G-79 ER cuts are late Capitol Mastering lacquers, not the sought-after 1973 F-series Wally Traugott, Ken Perry or Gene Thompson cuts; the ER attribution remains unresolved and should not be equated with Eddy Schreyer's documented E/ES mark. Winchester pressings of this era are generally quiet and serviceable, but collector consensus ranks later US Capitol cuts below the UK Harvest SHVL 804 original and the best early US pressings. In the broader fidelity hierarchy, the 1979 Mobile Fidelity Stan Ricker half-speed, the 2003 Doug Sax/Kevin Gray edition, the 2016 Bernie Grundman remaster and the 2023 Analogue Productions UHQR all sit well above this routine Capitol repress. This copy's G-grade surface wear will overwhelm subtler mastering differences, and if both faces contain Side One it cannot serve as a complete listening copy.
Notes
US Harvest SMAS-11163 late repress, not a 1973 first pressing. The long Capitol Industries-EMI rim text without the patent number and the no-barcode back cover identify third-issue packaging, while the typed ─◁ Winchester mark, MASTERED BY CAPITOL stamp and G-99/G-79 ER cuts match metalwork documented in July 1983 groupings - so old-stock third-issue packaging was used with late Winchester metal. Both supplied label photos print SIDE ONE and both typed runouts begin SMAS-1, indicating a probable undocumented double-Side-One mispress; play-testing is required to establish whether Side One is repeated in the grooves.
