This one was late to the party in terms of my collecting Pink Floyd’s albums.
As part of the remastered re-releases, it does sound really lovely. Good separation and crystal clear.
Nice start with the guitars. Looping guitar riffs ahoy! Richard Wright’s keyboards start to seep through. Fade out.. That’s what we get at the start of Obscured by Clouds.
Makes sense when you realize this is actually recorded as a soundtrack for Barbet Schroeder’s La Vallée. Make no mistakes though, this is still a studio album (their seventh, and the one that precedes Dark Side of the Moon).
The next track actually contains vocals and is closer to what we expect from a Floyd song of the era. ‘Lazy’ or haunting vocals, acoustic guitars and keyboards floating across your soundscape.
Burning Bridges is one from Richard Wright and reminds me of a psychedelic The Who song! I could see this on the Quadrophenia soundtrack (although this does have less angst).
The rest of side A is quite run-of-the-mill Pink Floyd. You know what you are getting with this stuff, but it’s not going to quite elevate you like DSOTM, Wish you were Here or The Wall will.
Side B starts with a nice combination of Gilmour’s guitar work, Waters’ vocals (written by Dave Gilmour) and Wright’s keyboarding. Of course Nick Mason is providing a steady beat on the drums. Not the most exciting, but Childhood’s End is a solid Pink Floyd song.
Free Four, the second track, has a great sound to it. Sounds upbeat, but in true Roger Waters fashion, it is actually quite depressing.
You’re starting to hear some of the guitar sounds you’ll be hearing on Dark Side of the Moon on the third track Stay. The vocals also lend themselves to what is to come in future albums, but don’t quite have the power and conviction. Familiarity is starting to take hold though. Where their previous album, Meddle, had Echoes which was a preview to the epic stuff that was to come, this track, Stay, gives me a preview to other types of tracks on the next two albums.
The last track Absolutely Curtains feels like a continuation of Echoes, in it’s synth work, rising percussion, and haunting sounds. We segue way into tribal chanting in line with the movie that this is the soundtrack to.
In all, not a bad album at all, it is pretty solid, but is fairly forgettable. Good to have on in the background but it probably won’t be stirring you much.