Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds

[Keith Jordan]

This thread is to discuss Pink Floyd's Obscured By Clouds and is linked to from the Pink Floyd Discography section.

Feel free to discuss the album!



01. Obscured By Clouds
02. When You're In
03. Burning Bridges
04. Gold It's In The...
05. Wot's... Uh The Deal
06. Mudmen
07. Childhood's End
08. Free Four
09. Stay
10. Absolutely Curtains

[Real Pink in the Inside]

I like it, but it certainly feels like a rushed soundtrack most of the time. Definitely a step back from Meddle, but still good.

[Eclipse]

I like it, not a fan of Free Four and Stay though.

[PublicImage]

It is not very good. Compare it to their other soundtrack, More, and it is incredibly underwhelming. The music, with the exceptions of Burning Bridges, Childhood's End and Mudmen, is very poor by Pink Floyd's standards, and definitely leaves the album undeserving of a particularly high rating. It was a recorded in a rush, but that is no excuse for poor quality. If they wanted to put out something great, they would have taken their time.

2/5.

[danielcaux]

I find this album interesting 'cause it shows the plain rocker side of the Floyds. An spontaneous and natural sounding album very loose and underproduced. The songs are not so great but Obscured by Clouds, Burning Bridges, Mudmen and to a lesser degree Childhood's End deserve to be included in the PF cannon.


4 Obscured By Clouds
3 When You're In
4 Burning Bridges
2 Gold It's In The...
2 Wot's... Uh The Deal
4 Mudmen
4 Childhood's End
3 Free Four
3 Stay
5 Absolutely Curtains
34/10= 3.4 = 3

Actually Gold, Wot's, Free Four and Stay all deserve like 2.5.

[Annoying Twit]

I'm surprised that people don't like Stay, one of the classic Floyd tracks IMHO.

[Hogtown]

Gold It's In The... really shocked me the first time I heard it. I really hope David performs it on his next tour.

[Massed Gadgets]

I like this album, though I would certainly not give it highest ratings. It has some great tracks (Burning Bridges, Wots...Uh the Deal, Mudmen, Childhood's End), but has some not so great tracks too. I find it a pleasant listen overall, a nice mix of rockers, ballads and experimental pieces, but nothing to blow me away. So, I give it a 3/5.

[David Smith]

Gold It's In The... really shocked me the first time I heard it. I really hope David performs it on his next tour.

There was a really rather nice stripped down acoustic version on one of the early NPF tribute CDs. I'd like to hear something similar from Dave, like a less bombastic version

[Sonic Destruction]

I gave it a four, but only because it pales when placed against classic Floyd. Taken on its own merits, I think it is an excellent album, with some killer tracks, sadly under-exposed in a live context.

The title track, "Childhood's End" (with Gilmour's best ever lyrics), "Stay", "The Gold", "The Deal", and "Mudmen" are all great tracks.

The only unfortunate moment is the extended chanting at the end of "Absolutely Curtains", which goes on rather longer than it should. I am inclined to take it off before that point.

Full credit to Dave for reviving "Wot's ... Uh, The Deal" for his latest tour (crap song title though, I will admit).

[danielcaux]

Absolutely Curtains is the best song on the album! ...at least for me, and wasn't Gilmour just basically ripping off Waters' DSoTM lyrics and ideas for Childhood Ends? specially Time?

[Vlad The Impaler]

Absolutely Curtains is the best song on the album! ...at least for me, and wasn't Gilmour just basically ripping off Waters' DSoTM lyrics and ideas for Childhood Ends? specially Time?

I'm guessing that since "Clouds" pre-dates "Dark-Side".......I'd say......no.

.

[danielcaux]

DSoTM was composed between November 1971 and January 1972, while Chilhood's End was composed around February-March 1972. I would say that, given the proximity in time of both composition processes, it's VERY likely that Gilmour was hugely influenced by DSoTM concept/lyrics when he wrote Childhood's End.

[Sonic Destruction]

DSoTM was composed between November 1971 and January 1972, while Chilhood's End was composed around February-March 1972. I would say that, given the proximity in time of both composition processes, it's VERY likely that Gilmour was hugely influenced by DSoTM concept/lyrics when he wrote Childhood's End.

Dave was probably influenced by Roger's "Dark Side" concepts, but I don't see any problem with this. Almost nothing comes out of a vacuum; everybody takes notice of what is happening around them and then has the choice of taking it on board or not.

I do like "Absolutely Curtains"; it's just that the chanting goes on way too long and gets a little irritating for me.

[J Ed]

I would guess the opposite is also true
Childhoods End has a similar energy and groove to the studio version of Time
but we can hear from 1972 shows, eg Best of Tour 72, that originally Time was a very sleepy number, sounding something like Space Oddity
so I think they decided to make Time sound a little more like Daves new song, which may also be why Childhoods End disappeared from the setlist so fast