Customer Reviews

Obscured By Clouds

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"Obscured by Clouds" was quietly released in 1972 by Harvest Records without much in the way of promotion, so even at the time a lot of rock music fans either missed it or were only dimly aware of it. This is a pity, as it's more than just good, and has stood the test of time well.

The reason for this album's relative obscurity could be that the tracks were composed and recorded by the band as the soundtrack to Barbet Schroeder's film "La Vallee", about Bulle Ogier's expedition to a remote stone-age tribe in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The album's title comes from the fact that due to the remoteness of the Papua New Guinea Highland location in the 1960s no-one had mapped it: maps simply showed a blank over the mountainous region and said "Obscured by Clouds." In the same way the remote inaccessible landscape was so described, this very good soundtrack album has been obscured by Floyd's more popular releases.

The music comprises ten separate pieces, four (including the two driving full-on rock openers) instrumental and the remainder with poignant, even poetic and whimsical lyrics. These are real songs, with sing-able tunes and sometimes with that quirky, trademark Floyd humour. It's surprising some of these numbers have not been covered more by other artists. "Free Four" stands out in particular as an upbeat rocker in a similar vein to "Money" on DSOTM, the band's next album release less than a year after OBC. The powerful "Childhood's End" showcases David Gilmour's palette of exceptional compositional, vocal and guitar-playing talent at its very best and sends a chill down the spine every time I hear it. The closer, "Absolutely Curtains", features a chorus of tribal people from the New Guinea highlands singing in their native tongue: I have no idea what they're singing about (if any reader knows, please enlighten us), but it gives the album a very distinctive conclusion.

So although it's less known and less played than some of Floyd's big-selling albums, give OBC a listen, and maybe you'll discover this little gem for yourself.

The lavishly illustrated booklet offered with the CD version, wherein all the lyrics of the songs are printed, is a good addition to the package missing from the original vinyl record release.

As a soundtrack album for a bizarre movie about hippies, I wasn't expecting this album to be as good as the albums before and after it (Meddle and The Dark Side of the Moon). I was surprised at just how many good songs are on this, including some real classics.

"Childhood's End" is one of the very few songs during the Roger era that is written entirely by David Gilmour, and it's also one of his best. "Free Four" is a great song by Roger with lyrics that will soon echo throughout most of his later work (the death of his father.) "Wot's..Uh the Deal" is a very nice acoustic ballad that could easily stand next to "Wish You Were Here." David Gilmour still plays this one in his solo shows. "The Gold It's In the..." is an up-tempo rocker that sounds completely out of place from the rest of the album, but it works. Even the instrumentals are pretty good here; Mudmen, When You're In, and the title track all sound like they could have been outtakes from Meddle or Dark Side of the Moon.

"Absoulutely Curtains" ends the album with a "WTF?" moment. This is a good song to play very loud in the middle of the night to freak your neighbors out. It is arguably one of Floyd's worst songs. Overall, though, a very good, solid album.

When I heard this anew I was shocked to hear how terribly dated this recording is, as in 'The pink panther' movies-dated or Manson-trial dated.
Nevertheless this album is arguably PF's finest release to date, and, sadly, their last worthwhile attempt. All successors well, kinda sucked. DSOTM, WYWH, Animals, Wall are arguably worst in a lifetime acheavements.
This would arguably deserve a huge 5 stars, but I have to give it 4 for being so terribly dated.