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Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds CD (album) cover

OBSCURED BY CLOUDS

Pink Floyd

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

3.37 | 1780 ratings

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Gustavo Froes
3 stars I've constantly heard people saying that Pink Floyd is soundtrackish music.Anyone who says that obviously happen to find the band highly overrated.Honestly I couldn't care less to this kind of commentary,but something is undeniable:Pink Floyd has an instantly recognizable style that sets them apart from the progressive rock movement.And the most important element of this style is almost surreal and surely ironic:simplicity.

Yes,the band can write 20 minute instrumental tour de forces,but a good share of their success was not granted by thechnical sophistication.It's more about innovation and the music itself,wherever that leads.

Here we have Floyd's soundtrack for some hippie movie,and as much as one can possibly look for it,there's hardly any evidence of prog in the album.So I'll do my best to review it as a simple rock n' roll workout,having in mind that the band was never restricted to such rotulations.

And I'll say in advance,this is a soundtrack.It would be the perfect album to be heard in background while you're distracted with something else.Then again,it threatens to become slightly heavier and more complex at times,so you can take it as a bit uncertain at times.Some parts do require your attention,while others don't.

During the first minutes,one can take a good guess and figure out this is going to be a great album.Obsucred By Cloud's/When You're In is an amazing introduction.Starts as a misterious bass pulsing section which sustains a crying distorted guitar,and after a few minutes of this,the band kicks in in a very cool jam.And you get that feeling:'alright,this is Pink Floyd,indeed'.A piece of music to which anyone can aprecciate,not too demanding,but surely not 'soundtrackish'.But after that brief start,the music follows a different direction.

Undecise tracks such as the decent Burning Bridges(a mid-tempo ballad which one could take at first as a transitional song)and Free Four grant the album an 'O.K.' tag,but nothing too special.The instrumental Mudmen is a vehicle for whatever's happening in the screen at that point,but to a listener it's maybe just plain boring.There are more rocking moments,indeed,and good songs they are.

The big mistery lies in the closing track,Absolutely Curtains.It's basically some sort of recorded ritual by a group of natives(holding an obvious relation to the film),but it's quiter intriguing,and may I say,sinister.

After all,this is a good collection of simple Pink Floyd tunes,some more rocking,others less,none of the progressive,and all of them undecided(this is probably the album's main fault).Obscured by Clouds is also the band's most rewarding soundtrack recording,given the fact that it's simplicity makes it very pleasent to be heard at times,wether you're paying attention to it or not.

Gustavo Froes | 3/5 |

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