4. The original live arrangement of “On the Run” bore little resemblance to the electronic freakout on the record.
Of all the Dark Side songs played live by the band in 1972, “On the Run” was the one that was most radically transformed in the studio. Originally known as “The Travel Sequence,” the instrumental was originally a guitar-driven jam – but it received a massive electronic makeover in the studio, thanks to a portable modular analog synthesizer known as the EMS Synthi AKS. The synth, which featured a built-in keyboard and sequencer contained in a suitcase (appropriately ironic, since the piece was originally inspired by Wright’s fear of flying), was also used on the album’s “Any Colour You Like.” “There were endless, interesting possibilities for that little device,” Gilmour told Rolling Stone. “We’d always considered ourselves as being a bit electronic. I always had an obsession with finding sounds that would turn something into 3D.”

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