Pink Floyd- Obscured by Clouds

In 1972, Pink Floyd had already begun work on their follow up to their 1971 album Meddle. In the middle of their writing, though, they were approached by French film maker Barbet Schroeder to score his film La Vallée (The Valley in English), which follows a woman and a group of explorers who search through a forest to find a paradise which is marked "Obscured by Clouds" on a map (this is where the album gets the title). The band was experienced with scoring movies as they had done the soundtrack to the film, also by Schroeder, More in 1969 and a few other songs for the film Zabriskie Point.

Their soundtrack to the film, entitled Obscured by Clouds, was released in June, a month before the movie was released. The album spawned a somewhat successful single, "Free Four", which was the first Floyd song that got much airplay in the US. Even with the success of that single, though, the whole album and prior years of their career would be eclipsed by their following album which they were already working on and performing regularly live.

The album opens with the first of four instrumental tracks on the album, the title track "Obscured by Clouds". The song opens with one synthesizer note that acts like a persistent drone followed by a steady drum beat. The rest of the song features guitarist David Gilmour playing a solo over the drums and synthesizer. This eventually fades out and segues right into the next track, "When You're In", another instrumental. This one is a bit faster than the title cut and is also more jammy sounding. Gilmour plays lead over a steady drum beat and bass line. Occasionally, Rick Wright's organ plays a fill when the guitar  takes a break. This whole sequence is repeated until the end of the song which fades out over a long period of time. I feel that these two tracks would have been better if they were extended, but then again, they had to fit in certain time spans for the film.

The third track "Burning Bridges" is the first song with the appearance of vocals on this record, and if you are only listening for the lyrics, you'll easily realize that it is worth the wait for the vocals as Gilmour and Wright harmonize beautifully on song's lyrics written by bassist Roger Waters.. Their voices create a certain magical tone to whatever they sing together, as they do in "Echoes"from Meddle. Rick Wright's organ is very prominent, creating the melody.  The beat is nice and slow, similar again to "Echoes. As a side note, I enjoy the drum line by Nick Mason as it adds a new texture to the song. The beat is a standard 6/8, but Mason plays the snare on the third beat instead of the usual fourth beat which creates a seemingly odd time signature as there is 5 beats in between each snare hit. I find these small things interesting, being a drummer and all.

This is followed by a faster song "The Gold It's In The..." which has a boogie feel to it and guitar sounds and soloing similar to the style of Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. There is no Rick Wright on the track, which is okay on this track because I think it is aiming to be more like a standard rock song without organ. Gilmour sings the lyrics as a typical rock singer would, but adds his own charm to it which gives the song more feeling.

The fifth track is titled "Wot's... Uh the Deal" and features words written, unsurprisingly, Roger Waters. David Gilmour plays a folky sounding guitar riff which is a nice contrast to the previous, heavier track. Gilmour's vocals are beautiful as normal and sound even better as he harmonizes himself via double tracking. During a bridge section, Rick Wright gets a piano solo, the first appearance of piano on the track, followed by a slide guitar solo by Gilmour. This piece feels like one of the most cohesive and well put together tracks on the album, with the whole band joining in, a good length, and the signature sound of Floyd in general. This is followed by the side close instrumental "Mudmen". The song reprises the theme "Burning Bridges", but plays it in a 4/4 beat, which is a lot different than how it was played on "Burning Bridges". The song is a lot more dynamic than that track and I think of it as similar to "Great Gig in the Sky" from Dark Side of the Moon. As it transfers from soft sounding to loud very quickly and easily. I enjoy the piece because it gets a good balance of guitar and organ along with the other instruments, as the bass carries the rhythm section along well with Nick Mason on drums.

The next side opens with the Gilmour written tune "Childhood's End". The song follows a blues style structure after a fade in intro similar to the first track "Obscured by Clouds", but with a softer edge in the synthesizer sound. Gilmour's guitar sound on the track is similar to "Breathe" and "Time" from Dark Side, which I enjoy quite a bit. The sound is also very similar to Gilmour's solo albums of the future. The tune is quite like "Time", but with a different edge and more prominent organ. Mason keeps a steady 4/4 beat on the drums which locks into a groove. The guitar solo fits very well into the song, maintaining the blues rock sound. This is another very memorable track on the album, although I think that, along with most of the album, the track could have been better if extended a bit. The track ends with a short segment of the synth from the beginning repeated.

The eighth track is the Roger Water's written single "Free Four". It is the only track that he sings on the album, and, even with a poppy tune, the lyrics are rather dark and depressing, dealing with death and reflecting on the deeds in one's life at an old age. The song has a single note on the synthesizer that occurs every couple of bars which I love a lot as it makes the song stand out. Unlike the rest of the songs on the album, I find that this one seems to go on for too long, as it just repeats the same verse structure multiple times and features the same change in key for a guitar solo twice. The song was a small hit in the US and, although it is not my favorite track on the album, it's not too bad. The next track, though is definitely a standout. The Water's written "Stay" is a slow ballad wonderfully sung by Rick Wright. The verses have a somewhat major tune whereas the choruses have a minor tune to them. Gilmour's guitar is prominent and features a wah peddle effect on it. I feel like this is the better tune of the "Free Four" single even though it was only featured as the b-side. I know that "Free Four" was more single sounding, but the loveliness of "Stay" just blows my mind, especially as it is not a well know song.

The closing track "Absolutely Curtains" is one of the most experimental songs on the record and the longest, at 6 minutes long (which is weird for a band used to doing 23 minute epics). The song opens with some soft piano and synthesizer notes as cymbals crash in, creating a dramatic effect. There is no definite tune, but rather just a free floating melody on the keyboards. Eventually, the instrumental fades out as a chant from the tribe in the film comes in. It is a very odd ending to the album, but gives a sense of completeness.

This album is not nearly my favorite album, but does include a few memorable tracks. My major gripe about this album is how short the tracks are. As I said earlier, I know that they had to fit within certain time limits of the scenes in the film, but the short time limits don't give the tunes much room to breathe, which makes things very repetitious and uninteresting at times. I give Obscured by Clouds a 7 out of 10.

The track "Stay" from this album: