Obscured By Clouds (1972)
1. Obscured By Clouds
2. When You're In
3. Burning Bridges
4. The Gold it's in the...
5. Wots...Uh the Deal
6. Mudment
7. Childhood's End
8. Free Four
9. Stay
10.Absolutely Curtains
 
Not really known for much, other than
the other Pink Floyd soundtrack album. Like the first one, More, this one seems to have mostly simple tunes
from a movie that most people have never heard of (I think the movie was
called "La Vallee", or something). Unlike their first soundtrack album,
this one sounds a little bit more focused, the playing is a bit better
and the finished product sounds much more accessible.
That's not necessarily the equivalent of good, nor even
memorable. After all, this is a soundtrack album, and like many
soundtrack albums, there's only a certain level of quality one can come
to expect when the tunes must be catered to specific moods and/or themes
of a movie. While the whole album sounds sort of "normal" (without a
lot of the trademark Pink Floyd characteristics), they do break out of
the mold from time to time, and even when they don't, they manage to
produce some nice, well crafted songs.
Songs such as Wot's...Uh The Deal and The Gold It's in
the... sound very pleasant. The latter rocks a bit more, but these
are the most straight forward tunes these guys ever recorded. But then
we must remember that "straight forward" is not necessarily a compliment
when talking about the music of Pink Floyd. It was their ethereal,
atmospheric, off the wall, different sounding music that endeared
them to fan's hearts.
They do manage to pull of a couple of numbers in this fashion, however,
and it's a shame that these songs have been "forgotten" due to their
inclusion on such an album. Mudmen has traces of Floyd
brilliance, especially in the David Gilmour area. The best of the lot
is the last song Absolutely Curtains that sounds as though it
would be better at home had it been included on the previous Meddle album. It's a shame they never
"resurrected" this piece during the latter days of their touring.
So there are some nuggets scattered about. There a bit too scarce to
justify repeated listens of the whole album, but it was nice to see that
the boys finally had a good, steady groove going.
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