Obscured by Clouds

by Pink Floyd

Overview

Obscured by Clouds is the soundtrack to the Barbet Schroeder film La Vallee, and it plays that way. Of course, it's possible to make the argument that Pink Floyd's music of the early '70s usually played as mood music, similar to film music, but it had structure and a progression. Here, the instrumentals float pleasantly, filled with interesting textures, yet they never seem to have much of a purpose. Often, they seem quite tied to their time, either in their spaciness or in the pastoral folkiness, two qualities that are better brought out on the full-fledged songs interspersed throughout the record. Typified by "Burning Bridges" and "Wot's...uh the Deal," these songs explore some of the same musical ground as those on Atom Heart Mother and Meddle, yet they are more concise and have a stronger structure. But the real noteworthy numbers are the surprisingly heavy blues-rocker "The Gold It's in The...," which, as good as it is, is trumped by the stately, ominous "Childhood's End" and the jaunty pop tune "Free Four," two songs whose obsessions with life, death, and the past clearly point toward Dark Side of the Moon. ("Childhood's End" also suggests Dark Side in its tone and arrangement.) As startlingly advanced as these last two songs are, they're not enough to push the rest of Obscured by Clouds past seeming just like a soundtrack, yet these tunes, blended with the sensibility of Meddle, suggest what Pink Floyd was about to develop into. [Obscured by Clouds was re-released on CD in 2016.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	01/15/2016
Label:	Columbia
UPC:	0888751709027

Tracks

1. Obscured by Clouds
2. When You're In
3. Burning Bridges
4. The Gold It's in The...
5. Wot's...Uh the Deal
6. Mudmen
7. Childhood's End
8. Free Four
9. Stay
10. Absolutely Curtains

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Pink Floyd   Primary Artist
David Gilmour   VCS 3 Synthesizer,Guitar,Vocals,Synthesizer,Slide Guitar
Roger Waters   Bass,Vocals,Guitar (Bass)
Richard Wright   Vocals,Keyboards
Nick Mason   Drums,Vocals

Technical Credits

David Gilmour   Composer
Joel Plante   Mastering
Angus MacRay   Photography
James Guthrie   Mastering
Roger Waters   Composer
Richard Wright   Composer
Nick Mason   Composer
Pink Floyd   Composer,Producer