Nguyên Lê - Celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon (2014) [Hi-Res]

March, 1973... A quartet known for its psychedelic inclinations delivered a fortress of an album: 'The Dark Side of The Moon' was a musical UFO featuring the most advanced technology of the period, a stratospheric record which mirrored society and our errant human ways. Pink Floyd was about to write an essential chapter in Rock history and enjoy planetary fame; even today, their album is still one of the greatest sellers of all time.

The idea behind a new reading of it came from ACT-director Siggi Loch and NDR producers Stefan Gerdes and Axel Dürr, whose radio Big Band is no secret for Jazz fans. Their idea may have been a bold initiative, but the project implied an orchestra capable of linking tradition with today, and it looked to have every chance of succeeding because it would involve not only Michael Gibbs - composer, arranger, old friend, but also, joining forces with them, Nguyên Lê, a guitarist known for jumping stylistic borders. The whole idea, finally, seemed a very good one indeed.

'Celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon' demonstrates that the imagination of Nguyên Lê has indeed risen to power; it guides us down other, more personal paths, and is inhabited by that musical 'brotherhood' which has never left him all these years. It's as if the ecumenism of song was part of his creative DNA.

'Celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon' is no simple tribute to a record which made history. It fervently expresses the re-creation – exempt from all imitation – of a score which you can hear in filigree. This is a palimpsest. The writing can still be (re)read, with warm hues forged by respect for the original matrix and the multiple expressions of its identity. Like a principle of life.

Nguyên Lê, electric guitar, electronics
Youn Sun Nah, vocals
Gary Husband, drums
Jürgen Attig, electric fretless bass
NDR Bigband
Jörg Achim Keller, conductor

Recorded at NDR Bigband studio by Michael Ploetz and Wolfgang Dierks, Hamburg, from December 2 - 6, 2013
Youn Sun Nah recorded by Nguyên Lê
Recording Producer: Walter Quintus
Produced and mixed by Nguyên Lê at Louxor studios, Paris Barbès, March & April 2014
Mastered by Bruno Gruel at Elektra Mastering, France
Produced by Nguyên Lê
Executive Producers: Axel Dürr & Stefan Gerdes