OBSCURED BY CLOUDS

Technically, Obscured by Clouds should be viewed as a film soundtrack rather than a full-fledged studio album. It was written for Barbet Schroeder's La Vallée. So the immediate reaction for me is comparing it with the other soundtrack the band did for Schroeder's More. Although I have never seen this movie, what I find striking is that the material on this album seems to follow no storyline and in fact would probably hold up on its own as a studio release of unrelated songs. The songs are about as good as the material on More, sometimes much better.

Although I find Obscured by Clouds an enjoyable listen, I must admit that it pales in comparison to other albums in Pink Floyd's catalogue. The reason for this is that it's just a bunch of songs thrown together, some well done, some quite forgettable, whereas in preceding albums the group had created more interesting material, sometimes in "epic format," and in future albums the songs are tied together in some amazing conceptualization. What you finally end up with on Obscured by Clouds are unrelated short pieces reminiscent of the shorter material from Meddle and Atom Heart Mother, but not as interesting. Even though this sounds negative, I still enjoyed the album, but play it much less than other Pink Floyd albums.

Three starts for a good but unessential release. Start with their other masterpieces before obtaining this.