JAMAICAN OBSERVER
1/04/03
By HOWARD CAMPBELL

NOT many Jamaicans are familiar with the music of British art-rock band, Pink Floyd, but recently some of reggae's leading names got together to work on a tribute album to one of rock and roll's most creative and enduring bands.
The album is titled Dub Side Of The Moon, and pays homage to Pink Floyd's classic Dark Side Of The Moon album which was released in 1973, 30 years ago. To be released by New York City's Easy Star Records, Dub Side Of The Moon has a street date of February 16.
Dark Side Of The Moon heard Pink Floyd at the height of its creative powers and is one of pop music's best-selling albums, with sales of over 15 million units.
A release from Easy Star Records states that Dub Side Of The Moon was three years in the making. It was conceived by guitarist Michael "Michael G" Goldwasser and keyboardist Victor "Ticklaw" Axelrod, the label's in-house producers. They lead the Easy Star All Stars band (which includes Jamaican percussionist Larry McDonald) on the nine-track set.
Among the reggae performers on the album are singers Frankie Paul, who covers Us And Them and Any Colour You Like and Gary "Nesta" Pine of The Wailers who does vocals on the rework of Money. Veteran roots group, The Meditations, sing on Eclipse.
The other tracks and performers on Dub Side Of The Moon are Speak To Me/Breathe and On The Run (Sluggy Ranks), Time (Corey Harris and Ranking Joe), The Great Gig In The Sky (Kirsty Rock) and Brain Damage which is covered by Dr Israel.
Goldwasser, who co-founded Easy Star in 1996, and Axelrod reportedly came up with the idea to pay tribute to Dark Side Of The Moon three years ago. Last year, they gathered some top session musicians who have worked extensively in the contemporary Ska and jazz fields to work on Dub Side Of The Moon which follows on the heels of similar reggae albums in tribute to legendary rock outfits like The Greatful Dead.
Goldwasser said it was a challenge for he and Axelrod to do justice to the original.
"Since we were interpreting an already famous piece of music, 'Ticklah' and I had to really learn the original backwards and forward before writing the arrangements and recording and mixing," he told Throb, adding: "If we didn't interpret the Pink Floyd album well a lot of Pink Floyd fans would be disappointed."
Dark Side Of The Moon was one of the first batch of concept albums from British rock groups in the early 1970s. Other bands such as Genesis, Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull released soul-searching albums but they failed to match the commercial success of the Pink Floyd project.
Lyrics to all the songs on Dark Side Of The Moon were written by Roger Waters who went on to write Pink Floyd's signature hit, The Wall. Dark Side Of The Moon was still on the Billboard charts 13 years after its release and remains a major catalogue seller.
Goldwasser helped start Easy Star Records six years ago. The label's catalogue is built around the music of underground reggae stalwarts like Sugar Minott, Linval Thompson and Tristan Palmer. Over the years, Paul, Pine, The Meditations and roots deejay Sister Carol have recorded albums for the label.