More (1969)
1. Cirrus Minor
2. The Nile Song
3. Crying Song
4. Up the Khyber
5. Green is the Color
6. Cymbaline
7. Party Sequence
8. Main Theme
9. Ibiza Bar
10.More Blues
11.Quicksilver
12.A Spanish Piece
13.Dramatic Theme
 
Quite often, when a band evolves, they
have to take a few steps backwards before they can charge forwards. Syd
Barrett was now officially gone, and you could say the same thing was
true about the early style of acid-rock that this band played so
brilliantly. With the band nowhere near the label "famous", they
probably jumped at the opportunity to make a (very) small amount of cash
in providing music for a French film that most people never have heard
of. If anything, maybe this gave the guys an opportunity to explore new
sounds and new directions.
Also, we must consider the fact that the band may have been limited in
terms of creativity. They may have been told what kind of music they
could, or could not produce to make sure it "ties in" with whatever the
movie was about (I haven't seen it, but I've heard it described as a
French Hippie movie where a lot of drugs are ingested. Well, it
was 1969). This may be the reason why this record sounds very
cautious, and sadly, nothing really stands out. I can only imagine
people buying this record because they already have all of the "good"
stuff by this group, and want to round out their collection. It does sound
like Pink Floyd, but it sounds like a typical first album of a
band, which to be fair, in many cases that's exactly what this was now that Syd
Barrett was gone.
The music, for the most part, is very sedated. Apart from a couple of
songs like Ibizah Bar and The Nile Song, there's very
little elements of rock and roll here. The music rather focuses on
dreamy atmospheric tunes with lots of Richard Wrights eerie organ and
keyboard work supplementing David Gilmour's whispy voice as if they're
trying very hard to soothe people and put them to sleep. In many cases,
they sound like they're trying to replicate some of their awesomeness of
the past. Quicksilver actually sounds a bit like the song A
Saucer Full of Secrets from the album of the same name, and Main
Theme comes across as strikingly similar to Set the Controls for
the Heart of the Sun. The problem with these new songs is that the
band pulls back too much and doesn't quite have the same feel or
atmosphere that made those former songs so special. It must be stated
again, though, that this might have been the group's intention all
along.
They don't embarrass themselves. All the songs probably sound exactly
as how they were intending. There just isn't anything here that stands
out, nor is part of the collection of the great songs, or themes that
made this band famous. Maybe, if anything, it was just a good thing that the
guys stayed together after so much turmoil early on in their career.
Go back to the main page
Go To Next Review