Obscured by Clouds

by

Pink Floyd

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One of the more obscure of the Pink Floyd albums, "Obscured By Clouds" was written as a soundtrack for Barbet Schroeder's film, "La Vallee," about a group of hippies seeking enlightenment in a lost valley in New Guinea. The album opens with two instrumentals, the synthesizer-driven "Obscured By Clouds," followed by the guitar-heavy "When You're In." A ballad, written by Roger Waters and Rick Wright, "Burning Bridges," has a certain quality, a sound, that seems to be a harbinger of "Dark Side Of The Moon." Another cut, with the unlikely title of "Wot's...Uh, The Deal," is a terrific song, somewhat wistful and introspective, and is the highlight of the album; it's right up there with any of Floyd's best songs. Another Waters-Wright composition is the somewhat melancholy "Stay," which has a sense of quiet intensity about it. Then there's the rollicking "Free Four," which is tremendously upbeat, especially when you consider the dark content of the lyrics; it's one of the first instances in which Roger Waters deals (musically) with the death of his father, which would become a recurring theme later on, especially in "The Wall," and on "The Final Cut." The last track on the album is "Absolutely Curtains," which ends with the chanting of the Mapuga Tribe of New Guinea, which was recorded on location in New Guinea; an interesting cut, to say the least. Though one of the lesser-known pieces of the Pink Floyd canon, "Obscured By Clouds" is, nevertheless, a remarkable album in it's own right; and it definitely must be included in any Pink Floyd collection.

Most of the more thoughtful reviews pretty much capture my overall impression of this album...less 'psychedelic', more 'formulistic', 'post Syd recovery', 'pre-DSOTM', no 'space-jams'. Please indulge me here, but I probably pre-date most of the PF viewers (and listeners), having seen PF in 1969 (Saucer Full of Secrets tour), 1970 (Ummagumma tour), 1975? (DSOTM). The first two at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia and the last in Pittsburgh, Pa (Arena). I have to admit fully that I am in the Syd, early Floyd camp...and feel that DSOTM was akin to a commercial sell out. The album's success created a physical barrier between myself and a band I really identified with. I simply lost the ability to enjoy them any longer. The size of the performing venues changed dramatically from intimate halls populated by a mellow, spaced out audience to one in which you were surrounded by 20,000 headbangers on qualudes. At that point, around 1975, I gave up and moved on.

Looking back on the years, I none-the less fully recognize the brilliance of PF through-out its varied history. I enjoy them immensely even today (in my home - far away in space and time from the headbangers). In fact, I am trying to get my 15 year old son to stop listening to pop radio long enough to give them a critical listen.

But back to the album...OBC is certainly not one of PF's finest albums...it always seemd rushed to me and as I said, formulistic. A few gems like Wot's...Mudmen and Stay are worth the price of admission, however the album does not read as a cohesive whole, but more as a soundtrack...hey, it *is* a soundtrack...seemingly made up of discarded relics from PF's unused material bin. It should, none-the-less, be part of any PF fans collection (which is why I just bought it...not having heard it for 30+ years!) if only to capture the moment of Floyd's last year of relative obscurity when they were the ultimate cult band to one which became infused with hyper egos, super stardom, huge stage presentations and listened to by a less discerning world audience. In spite of it all, PF is and was a positively unique and wonderful band, able to capture so much of the cultural pulse of the times through out its very long and brilliant history.