Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon Test Pressing of UNRELEASED 1999 issue

$

995

Offered for sale is one of the rarest albums by Pink Floyd you will ever see, a test pressing for a planned, but never released, 1999 180 gram heavy vinyl reissue of their seminal 1973 LP, Dark Side of the Moon.

Dark Side of the Moon was a landmark album for the British Band that finally made them famous worldwide after nearly a decade of relative obscurity.  Although the album never hit number one on the American album charts, it did remain in the Billboard top 200 for nearly fifteen years, a record that still stands.  Dark Side of the Moon is one of the biggest selling albums of all time, with some estimates suggesting that it has sold as many as 45 million copies since its initial release in 1973.

In 1999, Capitol planned to issue the album in a high-quality pressing on heavy, 180 gram virgin vinyl.  The acetates were cut by legendary mastering engineer Doug Sax, and a handful of test pressings were made.  For whatever reason, Capitol decided NOT to release this version of the album, and the few test pressings in the hands of collectors are the only known examples of this planned, but never issued release of this classic album.

While a few copies of the test pressings have turned up over the years, this particular copy is possibly unique, as it also includes a prototype cover.  Covers for this particular pressing of Dark Side of the Moon were NOT mass produced, but a small quantity of test, or prototype covers were made.

Test pressings are pre-production issues intended for in-house use only to test the integrity of the stampers and to make sure that the finished product will sound as intended.  Typically, only a handful of test pressings of any record are manufactured, strictly for record company employees' use in evaluating what will become the finished product.  While it is impossible to know how many copies of a test pressing of such albums exist, it wouldn't be unreasonable to guess that the quantity is less than 20.

While we have seen two or three copies of the test pressing for sale over the years, we have never seen another copy offered with the correct finished prototype cover. 

THE RECORD

The record is a beautiful, heavy, M-, 180 gram pressing, manufactured by RTI.  It has likely been played no more than once or twice.  There is a single spindle mark on side two; other than that, the record is virtually perfect.

The side one label is a standard RTI Test Pressing label, with the date August 5, 1999 stamped on it, along with matrix numbers 72435-2169016 ARE2  BRE2.  The side two label is blank.  The disk comes in a plain white cover, as issued with the above date and matrix number stamped in the upper right hand corner.  The matrix numbers above are hand etched into the dead wax, with  72435-2169016 ARE2  on side one and  72435-2169016  BRE2 on side two.

This record is the original (and only) pressing of this unreleased album, and was manufactured only as a test pressing.  Stock copies of this particular pressing of Dark Side of the Moon are NOT known to exist.

The record is pressed on heavy weight, 180 gram, audiophile-grade virgin vinyl.

This record is not a counterfeit, reproduction, or import; it is an original American pressing.

The recording is an analog recording, and this particular pressing sounds incredible. 

THE COVER

The cover is a beautiful M- example of what may be the only known finished cover for this unreleased album.  It's a gatefold cover much like those that have accompanied all other releases of Dark Side of the Moon since 1973, with two exceptions:

1. On the inside of the cover, just below the line All lyrics by ROGER WATERS, is printed:

Remastered: June 1999 by Doug Sax and James Guthrie
The Mastering Lab  Hollywood, CA

Below that is the copyright date:

© 1973,1999 the copyright in this sound recording is owned by EMI Records Ltd.

2. The UPC on the back cover, with the number 7 2435-21690-1 6

Aside from the tiniest of white specs on a couple of the corners of the album, which is common for Dark Side covers due to their being black, the cover is nearly perfect.

There are:

No split seams
No ring wear
No cut-out (drill) holes.
No cut-out corners
No saw-marks or indents
No dirt/dust rubbing stains (friction marks caused by rubbing against other covers)
No wrinkles or creases
No yellowing from aging
No writing
No stamps
No tearing: no chips, dents or nicks on the seams
No peel-off marks
No stains
No mold or mildew spots
No stickers or labels
No water damage
No razor marks, scratches, pressure marks, lines, streaks, or  cuts.
No warping
No wax, glue, paint or liquid drops on the cover
No glue traces or wax residue.
No bar codes
No RIAA stamps or stickers. 

Also included are two paper inserts - one on Capitol letterhead talking about the 20th anniversary of the album, and another one with facts about the album.  No other inserts are known to have been produced for this unreleased version of the album.

This LP is listed at the PinkFloydArchives Website; the copy shown there is this one.

It doesn't matter how long you've been collecting Pink Floyd or how big your collection may be; there's a 100% chance that you don't have a copy of this record.  It's that rare.

This test pressing with cover may be the only complete copy of this unreleased edition of Dark Side of the moon in existence, and represents one of the rarest Pink Floyd albums ever offered for sale.  It will, of course, be packed well for shipping.