Customer Reviews

Obscured By Clouds

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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.

1972's Obscured by Clouds is the most unjustly overlooked album in Pink Floyd's catalogue. Its instrumentals, the title track; "When You're In;" "Absolutely Curtains" and especially "Mudmen," are some of the finest wavy, lavalamp psychedelica I have ever heard. "Childhood's End;" "Free Four" (the first song in which Roger Waters, deals with the death of his father in WW2) and "Stay," (sung seamlessly in keyboardist, Richard Wright's dry hum) feature on a new, humanistic approach to the band's songwriting. The clear, trancelike sound and down-to-earth subject matter are fine precursors to the style employed on Floyd's legendary works, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. If you love those albums, Obscured by Clouds is certainly well worth considering.

This 1972 soundtrack for the Barbet Schroeder film "La Vallee" was recorded during two, one-week sessions, between which a tour of Japan was sandwiched. Interestingly, the album works as a cohesive whole, in spite of the short recording time, and the "dry" production (especially on Nick Mason's drums) lends the album a very tight feel. It has been written that Obscured by Clouds is the last true group effort and I pretty much agree. The album also finds the band poised on the cusp of massive, global superstardom, which would become fully realized with the mega-smash, mega-million selling album The Dark Side of the Moon (1973).

Lyrically, Roger Waters begins to reflect on issues that he would develop further, including his war-victim father (Free Four) and Dave Gilmour refers to science fiction with Childhoods End, which is the title of Arthur C. Clarke's classic from the genre. I guess it is worth noting that Childhood's End was recorded without the final verse and that Roger would write all lyrics for the group following this album, thus "relieving" Dave of this responsibility. Dave's vocals are also excellent and he really comes across as a confident singer. His guitar playing is also in top flight too. In addition to tracks with lyrics, there are quite a few instrumentals as well.

Musically, I think Pink Floyd was in fine form on this album. My favorite cuts include the atmospheric, VCS3 synthesizer heavy instrumental tracks Obscured by Clouds, Mudmen, and Absolutely Curtains (loads of Rick Wright's sustained Hammond organ), along with the heavy instrumental When You're In. Burning Bridges, Wot's...uh the Deal, and Stay are also superb and feature the trademark drifting and spacey Floyd sound. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the thunderous The Gold It's in the..., which reminds me somewhat of the bone-crushing Nile Song (from More, 1969). Free Four is the only bouncy and lighthearted track on the album, which stands in stark contrast with Water's dark subject matter - the ruminations of someone on their deathbed.

With respect to this 1994 remaster it is just OK and features good sound quality, images from the film, and all lyrics.

All in all, this excellent album is a personal favorite and is very highly recommended along with Atom Heart Mother (1970), Meddle (1971), Wish You Were Here (1975), and Animals (1977).

*** THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2011 VERSION ***

30 seconds into this 2011 remaster of Pink Floyd's "Obscured By Clouds" and little will prepare fans for the sonic assault that will hit them - it's incredible. Where has this sound quality been for the last 40 years? But I wish I could say the same of the truly naff and skimpy packaging. Still - to the details first...

Released 3 June 1972 in the UK on Harvest Records SHSP 4020 and 15 June 1972 on Harvest Records ST-11078 in the USA - original UK copies of the vinyl LP came in a round-cornered textured sleeve with a sticker on the front advising that it was "Music From La Vallee". The movie by French filmmaker Barbet Schroeder is about a group of young people seeking a mythical valley in Papua New Guinea which on maps is "...obscured by clouds". This 26 September 2011 version (27 Sep 2011 in the USA) on EMI 50999 028943 2 4 is a straightforward 10-track remaster of that Soundtrack album and comes in a gatefold card sleeve with an 8-page colour inlay inside (total playing time 40:34 minutes).

Mastered by JAMES GUTHRIE and JOEL PLANTE at Das Boot Recording Studios in Tahoe in California in 2011 - the original 1st generation master tapes have been given a thorough going over (Guthrie is a Sound Engineer associated with the band since 1978). In fact - each song feels like these experts have spent a staggering amount of time worrying over every single nuance - because the audio result is truly impressive.

Highlights include the opening track "Obscured By Clouds" (the first of four instrumentals) which fades in with a synth and drum beat - and when it turns on the power at about 23 seconds - the audio is like a punch in the face - clear, warm and swirling around your speakers with amazing presence. "When You're In" is the same though this time with Gilmour's guitar to the fore. "Burning Bridges" sums up the languid feel to so many of the lyric songs - it feels like someone relaxing with a nice bottle of wine in rural France (lyrics above). The acoustic guitars of "Wot's ...Uh The Deal" are gorgeous while the clarity of "Childhood's End" has made me hear instruments I missed before (Gilmour's solo in particular comes at you with an energy it's never had before). "Mudmen" and "Absolutely Curtains" are the other two excellent instrumentals and even the hissy (but lovely) "Stay" hasn't had the air sucked out of it by some no-noise techniques - the two engineers have let it breath. It's all impressive stuff, it really is...

I wish I could say the same for the staggeringly unimaginative packaging. The 'Pink Floyd' logo you see in all the photos advertising these new reissues turns out to be a sticker on the outer shrink-wrap that gets lost the second you unpeel it. The card sleeves are like The Beatles 09/09/09 EMI reissues - glossy and flimsy - so they smudge with finger prints the second you open them and are easy to bend and crease. The CD itself has new generic artwork that's repeated in different colour variations throughout the series - a garish Red and Pink for "Obscured By Clouds", a sort of Turquoise and Pale Green for "Meddle" etc... It has no relevance to the original albums whatsoever (where's the original Harvest label they've used on other reissues or the colourful inner bag?) but also has no protective gauze sleeve so it will scuff on repeated plays.

The front artwork of the original LP is a soft-focus blurred picture of a man in a tree in the rain with the EMI/Harvest logo in the top left hand corner. This new variant drops the logo and has a darker looking picture that to my mind completely looses the aesthetic feel of the original. It just looks wrong somehow. In its favour - when opened the new gatefold shows a beautiful colour still of men on horses being greeted by natives and some other film shots background the lyrics (lead actress Bulle Ogier is on Page 3). But the skimpy booklet is a huge disappointment. Although it has the lyrics (like this is a major improvement), it has no history on the album, pictures of the band etc... The album produced 7" singles in the USA ("Free Four" b/w "Stay") as well as a myriad of European and Worldwide picture sleeves - but again no show. Ok - it does look nice and does the job adequately - but that's all. It's a lazy-assed approach on behalf of EMI and undermines the sterling work done on the sound front. I hate to come across like some nick-picking fan boy here, but it would have been nice to actually 'discover' something on this so-called 'Discovery' version. And there's no outtakes either/no DVD of the film...

To sum up - five-star sound with 3-star presentation - but with an opening salvo price of less than a tenner in most stores - and the truly beautiful sonic upgrade thrown in - the casual listener is advised to dig in, rediscover and enjoy.

Die-hard fans however might want to wait for the Japanese Editions that will inevitably arrive in 2012 on the far superior SHM-CD format (a better make of CD playable on all players). With their faithfully reproduced artwork and audiophile reproduction - they may give your bank manager a cold sweat - but they will absolutely be the ones to get if the best is all you'll accept.

"Obscured By Clouds" seems to have always been the runt of the Floyd litter and I've never understood this - it's a cohesive work and contains some of their most musical compositions. Hopefully this flawed reissue will draw many newcomers in...

I've just listened to "Meddle" too and it's even more astonishing. Onwards and upwards folks...

Recommended.

In this hastily thrown-together soundtrack to the rare French movie "La Vallee" Pink Floyd stayed with the sound they finally perfected on Meddle and would later evolve into Dark Side of the Moon. Without the lofty lyrical themes of their later albums, Obscured By Clouds is different than most Floyd albums in the sense that the sound is most definitely typical Floyd, but this is a disc that you can throw in your 5 disc player on shuffle without losing any effect. Starting with two guitar filled instrumentals, the album then turns into a great example of Pink Floyd's ability to write a variety of different sounding songs. The slow, piano tinged "Burning Bridges" and "Stay" are two of Rick Wright's finest moments, while the hard, driving guitars of "The Gold its in the..." is almost alternative-sounding. The beautiful acoustic ballad "Wots..Uh the Deal" is probably the highlight of the disc while "Childhood's End" and the instrumental "Mudmen" shine the spotlight on David Gilmour's guitar. "Free Four" is another highlight as Roger Waters takes a happy, upbeat chord progression and taints it with some pretty depressing lyrics about life and death, themes he would later elaborate on. The strange thing is, it works, and gives a nice hint of the themes that would follow. "Absolutely Curtains" is basically pointless, but I'm sure it makes more sense in the movie. Overall, this is a great album that Floyd fans will love. It is also probably the best album for the Floyd fan who can't follow the concepts of DSOTM, WYWH, Animals, and The Wall. You won't hear any of these songs on the radio, but that doesn't mean this album isn't worth your time and money. After all, it's Floyd!

Wedged between Meddle and Dark Side Of The Moon lies the almost-forgotten Obscured By Clouds. Because this was the Floyd's second outing as composers for a Barbet Schroeder film and not an actual Pink Floyd-intended project, Obscured By Clouds can't really be considered the true follow-up to Meddle. However, despite its "soundtrack status", it is a vital chunk of the Pink Floyd catalog.

The entire album was written and recorded in a two week blitz at the Chateau d'Herouville just outside of Paris. This time around (the recording of More being the first), the band insisted that director Schroeder's influence (interference?) over the sessions be severely limited. This gave them a full two weeks of freedom to treat the state-of-the-art 16 track studio as their own musical laboratory. The results are surprisingly good for such a short amount of time.

A mood is immediately established with the combination of Obscured By Clouds and When You're In, two mesmerizing instrumentals that start things off. The former is heavily synth driven (embellished nicely with Gilmour's trademark slide guitar), while the second (almost an Obscured By Clouds Part II) is propelled more by power chords and Mason's drums. Burning Bridges is a ballad immersed in the beautiful vocal exchanges and harmonies of Dave and Rick and contrasts nicely with The Gold It's In The..., an uptempo rocker that shows the band just having fun. Wot's...Uh The Deal follows, complete with Dave's angelic vocal harmonies and a sensitive piano solo by Rick. Mudmen (one of the highpoints of the album) is an instrumental once again spotlighting both Wright and Gilmour. Rick's languid keyboards paint a dreamy backdrop before Mason's drums usher in Dave's Floating fuzz-toned guitar. The keyboards and guitar intermingle in a glorious fashion, further cementing the dream-like feel. This is followed by Childhood's End, a Gilmour composition, which is arguably the best song on the album. It has a driving rhythm, great vocals, and of course a load of tasty stinging guitar licks. Free Four is next, an upbeat stomp-along song, boasting lyrics that hint at subjects Waters would obsess over in years to come. Unfortunately, though some of the lyrics ARE quite good, they are rendered slightly impotent by the song's bouncy, jovial atmosphere. After a somewhat disjointed Gilmour guitar solo fades out, Stay (another album highlight) starts up. This gorgeous ballad, with a wonderful lilting chorus, is a great showcase for Wright's piano and vocal talents. It also contains some magnificent wah wah guitar by Gilmour, who all but steals the show. With nothing but a toned down Stratocaster and a crybaby, he manipulates the pedal in conjunction with bends and vibrato to give his guitar an extremely expressive, vocal-like quality. Finally, the album closes with Absolutely Curtains, a predominantly synthesizer-based composition colored slightly with percussion. It has a calming but dramatic feel to it, and ends the album quite nicely (though somewhat strangely, as a New Guinea tribal sing-along fades in as the actual song fades out).

Obscured By Clouds may not contain any powerfully sublime moments, but it's floating stark beauty - a harbinger of things to come - is certainly worth the price. Don't let the fact that this is a soundtrack to a dated French film hold you back. Each song is a well-crafted and terrifically executed piece of music capable of standing on its own. Fans of Meddle, Dark Side Of The Moon, and Wish You Were Here will especially love it. This is truly a fantastic album.

A near perfect lp. Every bit as diverse as the oft-praised Meddle, but without an extended piece, "Obscured by Clouds" is one of those great neglected lps that shows what a group was capable of, and hints at the directions they might've chosen to go and did not.

Though the instrumentals are successfully filmic, the vocal numbers are more memorable. It's these that find the group playing outside the lines. Wright and Waters in particular really stand out as highly capable and eclectic musicians, excelling in a variety of styles.

"the gold it's in the...." is a great power pop blow-out. It's almost unidentifiable as Pink Floyd, which, to me, is a fine indication of talent,playing and writing outside your main bag. It's a bit like Todd Rundgren meets Big Star meets, um, anyone from glam rock. Very nice. Nick Mason's marvelous Spinal Tap-style tom fills are sweet.

"wot's...uh the deal" is a gorgeous pop number. Very Beatley what with the acoustic guitar arpeggios and a tune somewhere between Harrison and McCartney. Guitars are very George Harrison in fact. Even Gilmour's signature slide electric manages to sound like the Beatles. Tasty piano by the always underrated Rick Wright, who really shines through the whole lp.

"Childhood's End" is the most typical of what would follow for the Floyd: doomier numbers in a middle tempo rock vein.

"Free Four": some reviewers have expressed displeasure at this number. I find it delightful black humour. The themes of death and futility dominate all of Waters' work from Dark Side on out in a too heavy way for this reviewer to take. Where's the fun? But here we have hilarious synth stings, up front hand claps, a faux-Cockney count-in, and boisterously strummed acoustic guitars. Much fun to hear. Wish there was more like it.

"Stay": I can't believe this song wasn't an international #1 hit single. It is one of the best pop ballads of the decade. The lyrics perfectly illustrate the "one night stand" zeitgeist of the 70's. Fabulous tune and arrangement. Can't say enough positive about it.

To fully experience this great music be sure to get yourself the edition with "Digital Re-masters 1995" in fine print on the back cover (bar code: 7777-46385-2). Older editions are still floating around. I bought and returned one from the 80's. Ick. This 1995 remaster is certainly superlative.

Pink Floyd must be played as loud as possible so as not to miss one beautiful, soaring note. The music must fill your lungs with every breath and seep into your soul. This album is quite simply....BEAUTIFUL. Its more "rock" Floyd than alot of their other stuff, but you can hear the trippy, hallucinogenic jam band seeping through on most of the tracks. What a group of fantastically talented musicians. I like to just let this album play and veg out to it. The music encapsulates you, and you become a part of the album. There is no better musical group ever. And there will never be another one that reach the stratosphere of talent that Floyd acheived. I thoroughly enjoy all the songs on here, not a bad one to be found. My favorite song is 'Wot's....Uh, The Deal' which is actually one of my ALL TIME favorite Floyd songs. "Obscured By Clouds" is a must have for any Floyd devotee. A must have for any MUSIC fan!!!!!!

This is, without a doubt, one of the most underrated albums in the history of music.
This is Pink Floyd at their absolute best. This is an album that deserves to be regarded as being on the same level as The Wall, Wish you were here, or Dark Side of the Moon.
For some reason, it's not nearly as famous. Perhaps because it was rush-recorded in a weeks' time, sandwiched in between tours and sessions for Dark Side. A few months in the studio to iron out the rough edges might have been the difference.
But I still say it's right up there.
The album begins with majestically with soaring Gilmour guitar in Obscured by Clouds, which leads into When you're in. The stage is set for what's to come..
And that is Burning Bridges, which contains some of the most beautiful moments Gilmour and Wright were to have together on record, definitely more so than the following years' Time.
Then a fantastic rocker : The Gold it's in the..., followed by the pure magic of Wots...Uh the Deal. Wow. I can't even find the words to describe the atmosphere created in this song. And what about Mudmen, then... I read another review mentioning that this could have been the perfect candidate for an extended jam, a la Shine on...
You couldn't be more right. Put it down to the limited time they had to get this baby done.
Again, I'm at a loss for words when it comes to the brilliance of Childhood's End. Geez, what was Gilmour on during these sessions...the sheer fire and intensity of this song is second to none....I guess it was just the pure adrenaline of being in one the best bands that exist and about to conquer the world at that...Whatever it was, this stuff is just incredible!
Then finally...here he is...Roger! Free Four was his first dabble into the topics of insanity, life and death (most notably the death of his father in WWII - mentioned for the first time here), and rock 'n roll excess, among oh so many other things.
Then we find Richard Wright reaching his personal zenith with the gorgeous Stay. Aaaaaaaah, man. What can I say, you just gotta listen to it. It might not grab you the first time. Give it another listen. And another.
Oh yeah, and the album ends with a track as weird as anything Floyd has ever recorded in Absolutely Curtains. If anyone can tell me where that final singalong clip comes from I'll be eternally grateful.

Happy listening and enjoy the magic!

I just finished listening to Obscured for the firt time and wish I'd bought it sooner. Though not all of it has that Floyd sound most newer fans know, it showcases why Floyd fans are Floyd fans. Listen to the instrumental mudmen and the equally adept wot's...uh the deal and you'll be instantly drawn in. Like the earlier Meddle and Saucerful of Secrets they prove their musicianship in lyric and music witing. A friend of mine gave me Pulse a few years ago but I wasn't really into Floyd. In the last 13 months I've bought eleven Floyd albums including Saucerful, Ummagumma, Meddle and their more well known WYWH, Animals & the Wall. I won't get into the Waters/Gilmour controversey except to say that if you don't listen to each album on its own then you'll never get what Floyd is. Try them all and become a true Pink Floyd fan.