OBSCURED BY CLOUDS

Obsured by Clouds is relatively unknown by many Pink Floyd fans. I've heard a number of people wrongly state that Meddle is the predessor to the Dark Side, which is a shame because ObC is such noteworthy predessor to the big one. Cooked up in about a week ObC doesn't suffer from a lack of studio polish or trickery (sound effects) implemented on most other Floyd albums. Although this album lacks a classic Floydian epic in the guise of Echoes or Shine On, ObC offers a number of execellent songs. 'Childhood's End', 'Free Four', and 'It's Gold' just plain rock mostly thanks to Gilmour's dazzling guitar playing. It's also worthy to note that Free Four is Waters first scathing attack on war, and the music industry, an indignation he would expand upon on later albums. Burning Bridges, Stay, and 'Wot's the Deal are fine ballads with a lyrical edge to them. Wot's the Deal is in particular quite beautiful and probably my favorite song on the album. Mudmen is a descent instrumential by Wright and Gilmour; however, it pales in comparision to most of the other instrumental pieces they've collaborated on through the years. The album's low point however is Absolutely Curtains a disappointing end to an otherwise excellent album. It opens with some soothing keyboard by Wright; however instead of seguing to a Gilmour guitar solo as one would hope for the Wright's keyboards unfortunately lead to some mundane tribal singing which probably was tacked on because the album was a sound track for a movie. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this neglected treasure to anyone whether you're a Floyd fan, a progressive music man, or a rockin roller.