OBSCURED BY CLOUDS

A superb concept album. The concept here is the western man's quintessential dilemma: to embark on the adventure or to live an ordinary life. The risks are great, isolation or death are possibilities but what if you choose not to go? And, as fate would have it, this is the album just prior to the Floyd embarking on their journey into superstardom with Dark Side. Somehow this makes the album resonate all the more. Of course it's the Floyd so we do get to go on the journey and it's not to a happy ending. But what an ending! Absolutely Curtains is one of their finest and most ominous moments, Wright's sizzling keyboards fading out to otherworldy tribal chanting from New Guinea. On the way the Floyd effortlessly pull together some of their best tunes, especially from a song- writing angle. It's very 1972 too. You can hear echoes of the Byrds and much acoustic instrumentation is in evidence, especially for this most exerimental of bands. For me this album captures that beautiful big but very soft sound of the Pink Floyd live.

Of course the scenario is laid down by the movie (which this reviewer bought on the strength of the album) but the album communicates the story better than the screenplay. It's hard to believe that the Floyd didn't actually go on a big tropical adventure to write the record, so convincing is its atmosphere. The film looks nice in parts but the Floyd are somewhat brutalised by being played over car stereos or tent-side transistor radios. An ignominious treatment for the best band in the world. It works well to listen to the album on your stereo while watching the movie.

For me, this and Wish You Were Here are their best albums, both are postcards sent from someone who is lost and confused. Both albums have the imprimatur of Richard Wright all over them. Those strange (in rock's narrow canon) jazzy chord progressions which touch the music with such deep melancholy are in evidence here too, even though the album was quickly put together.

A must-have, especially for true Floyd fans, because there simply is no other album quite like this one; warm, compassionate, nostalgic and mysterious all at once. And, once again, beautifully summed up in the Hipgnosis visuals on the cover; one of their best too.