I used to tricked people by having them listen The nile song and asking them their point of view. Most of them agreed this song was new. But I must make it clear that they didn't listen Pink Floyd before, or at least this album.
Green is the colour and Cymbaline are beautiful songs, but I also like Cirrus Minor because I found this song confortable.
More has been one of my favourite albums since my teen years in the 80's (my high school rock band used to play an instrumental version of Cirrus Minor). I think it's a very underrated album. It's certainly a key album in the development of Pink Floyd's early psychedelic sound, but it also foreshadows many of the developments both musically and lyrically that would come in the 70's with classic albums like DSOTM and The Wall. It's still the PF album I listen to the most. Here's a breakdown of my thoughts on each track on the album.
Cirrus Minor: an early pastoral classic as well as a lush trip into outerspace. It makes a connection between nature and space, as it bridges the gap between STCFTHOTS and Grantchester Meadows, which came later the same year. This song also, perhaps more than any other, exemplified Rick Wright's contribution to the early Floyd sound.
The Nile Song: The Floyd tries their hand at a heavy psych sound, replete with mystical, druggy lyrics. Although this style is not the direction Floyd would take, other bands certainly would in the 70's, and even Floyd themselves would return to a heavier, albeit less psychedelic sound on The Wall with Young Lust.
Crying Song: A melancholy, jazz tinged number in which Roger makes his first use of the image of The Stone, to signify the weight of life, an image he would return to at various points in his career, most notably on Animals.
Up the Khyber: A nifty little experimental jazz piece concocted by Mason and Wright (the only Mason/Wright collaboration in the band's discography). Shows Rick's interest in jazz, which would also come into play in the chord progressions he used in his compositions for DSOTM. Also an early indication of Nick's interest in jazz, something that would come into play later in his collaborations with musicians such as Carla Bley and Michael Mantler.
Green Is the Colour: one of Roger's most beautiful folk numbers, with a plaintive Ibizan flute adding to it's simple, mellow, and pastoral nature. The pastoral ballad would become a hallmark of the Floyd sound over the next few years. This is also the first song where Waters uses the images of the sun and the moon as a metaphor for the light and dark sides of the human psyche, a metaphor that would take centre stage on DSOTM.
Cymbaline: A definite PF classic, this is the earliest example of a theme that would continue to obsess Waters for years, namely that of the pressures of fame, and the cutthroat nature of the music industry. This theme, of course, would come into full fruition 10 years later, on "The Wall".
Party Sequence: A cool little psychedelic coda to the first side of the vinyl version of the album, this is also the only whisper that survived onto the album of the song Seabirds, as the flute in Party Sequence plays the melody from that song over the trippy, tribal drumming.
Main Theme: A great example of Floydian psychedelic improvising. Rick's organ work is quite unique on this track, very different in style for him. It has a more staccato flavour to it, rather than the usual meandering spaciness he evokes on other early songs.
Ibiza Bar: Often dismissed as merely a redux of The Nile Song, it actually uses a different chord progression and different key altogether (The Nile Song actually changes keys, whereas Ibiza Bar does not, and of course, it has different lyrics. Where The Nile Song is a flight of psychedelic fantasy, Ibiza Bar is the harshness of reality. The two songs mirror each other because they are different sides of the same coin. In the context of the movie, The Nile Song is the high experienced when taking heroin, Ibiza Bar is the hard reality after the come down. The last line of The Nile Song hints at what lies ahead in Ibiza Bar..."She is bound to drag me down, drag me down." Also, other differences: Gilmour uses more echo on his guitar (perhaps to symbolize the emptiness the song is describing), and Rick Wright plays piano and organ, whereas he does not play on The Nile Song.
More Blues: This one is an interesting one, a low-key blues instrumental, one of the few blues tunes the band recorded. I like the way Nick's drumming starts and stops and starts...the band exploring a few dynamics.
Quicksilver: Of course these days, ambient experimental music is everywhere, but in 1969, this was truly groundbreaking stuff. Unusual use of instruments and some incredible and creative studio trickery realizes a haunting and disorienting sonic environment.
A Spanish Piece: If there is a throwaway track on the album, it would be Gilmour's A Spanish Piece. It's pretty short though, and kind of amusing, and Gilmour's vocalizations sound more Mexican than Spanish, especially when he asks for a Tequila, which is not a drink from Spain.
Dramatic Theme: This is a short reprise of the Main Theme, relying more on Gilmour's spacey guitar than on Rick's keyboards. I think it makes a nice end to the album, tying it together thematically.
what are the lyrics to spanish piece anyway? a friend who speaks fluent spanish told me it says something about loving cocaine hahaha im not sure i trust him though =p
Duckboy wrote:what are the lyrics to spanish piece anyway? a friend who speaks fluent spanish told me it says something about loving cocaine hahaha im not sure i trust him though =p
This seems roughly what is agreed upon by several internet sources...
A Spanish Piece
(Gilmour)
Pass the tequila, Manuel
(glug, snort)
Listen, gringo, laugh at my lisp and I kill you
I think
Ahh, this Spanish music
It sets my soul on fire
Lovely senorita
Your eyes are like stars
Your teeth are like pearls
Your ruby lips
This album turned 40 last week. It probably sounds stupid, but I discovered that it's interesting to follow the path of Pink Floyd 40 years late. You notice how much happened in a short time in their early career, and it's interesting to see your own life in a similar time span.
Thinking like this I met my wife when they signed the contract with EMI, we went on a car trip up to northern Norway by the release of Piper, we got married by Saucerful and More was a rainy summer with her mom visiting us (she's from Brazil). They are probably finishing Ummagumma by now for release in October. Hoping that I'm a father in time for Dark Side, but who knows
Wondering if More got much attention at all at the time or if it was quite anonymously drowning between other albums in the shops.
More is a great album.
Cymbaline is great. I have a live version of this song and about half way through the band just stop playing and a sound effect of people walking and opening and shutting doors is heard along with a girl giggling coquettishly. Then a door opens rather creakingly and the rest of the song is played. really weird.
I heard something about The Nile Song; that the drums were miked differently and thats why they seem to explode in your face
Not sure if David played on the track a Spanish Piece, but he definitley is doing the "talking".
GREAT ALBUM..... listen to this all the time. $ guys all partaking in it. Cirrus Minor w/ Wright's Keyboards, Up the Khyber w/ Mason's drumming, etc. Ibiza Bar & the Nile Song are 2 of Floyd's hard rocking songs. A definite "Mood" album. EXCELLENT!!!