By Patrick J. Miller | Observer Contributor
“On the Run” could be one of the more uninteresting pieces of the Pink Floyd album “The Dark Side of the Moon.” Written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, it is a composition that was created by entering an 8-note sequence into an EMS Synthi AKS synthesizer and speeding it up with a white noise generator creating the “hi-hat” sound effects. Originally recorded in January, 1973, the song feels more like an experimental piece than an actual finished song. While I get the meaning of this song intending to be representative of travel pressures, as well as the fear of death at any point, I just kind of don’t get this song at all. At the very worst, it is just “there.” The overall composition feels a bit underwhelming overall, even considering what its original genesis was one year earlier.
The Travel Sequence is the early version of “On the Run.” As it was an earlier version of an eventually published song, The Travel Sequence was withdrawn for obvious reasons.
`What I actually like about this track was that it was an instrumental jam consisting of a lead guitar [Gilmour], bass [Waters], keyboard [Richard Wright] and drums [Nick Mason] doing a perfect job in both playing together and separating to do their own jams/solos while still falling back together perfectly right before the song ends fading out to another. This is mostly true with live performances, with the Brighton 1972.05 performance being the only version so far to be officially released, also on the “Dark Side of the Moon Immersion Boxset.”
With the Studio Version, recorded sometime before January 1973, it was a much tighter jam overall. Another major difference between this version and all live performances was that live versions tend to last around 4-5 minutes, just as frequently pushing past 6 minutes and even reaching 7 at rare occasions. The Studio Version lasts just 2 minutes, but it gets its point across in that short amount of time. The tight jam represents a much more “frantic” form of travel, with no real indication as to which mode it is trying to represent.
Composition wise, every instrument is up front, with the lead guitar dominating slightly over the bass, with the keyboards right behind them. Oddly, from the beginning until the band decides to end the song, drummer Nick Mason decided to constantly use one of the cymbals while just slamming on the drums at a much more constrained, but constant beat, giving off the “frantic” urgency this recording has, and I really like it.
Overall, this outtake is good. It represents the part in the “Dark Side of the Moon” album about traveling nicely, but as history dictated, it would later be replaced by “On the Run.” It is available as a Studio Outtake on the “Dark Side of the Moon Immersion Boxset” as well as the Brighton 1972.05 live recording, but other live recordings of this song have been confirmed to exist. [8/10]
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