Features Disc of the day
Pink Floyd
Obscured By Clouds
(Harvest/EMI, 1972)
Overlooked Floyd gem delivers desolate, wintry soundscapes...
For the Holiday fortnight, every Disc Of The Day will be a “winter warmer”, revelling in sonic/existential chill or offering fireside comfort.
What, might you ask, has a soundtrack to a film set in the exotic climes of New Guinea have to do with the icy chill of winter? Head outside with your headphones in place, cue up the title cut from the Floyd’s third movie soundtrack and witness the ominous synth throb of Obscured By Clouds chime in perfect unison with the stark cold weather. There is your answer. Writer/director Barbet Schroeder’s La Vallée may feature the mysterious tropics of Oceania, but for this writer, OBC has always conjured images of endless antarctic plains, winter rays of sun and an overwhelming sense of isolation. The record has often been derided – in some instances by the band themselves – as a hodgepodge of songs rather than a coherent album. Committed to tape during a speedy two week burst in an 18th Century château on the outskirts of Paris, …Clouds acts as a bridging point between the lengthy experimentations of 1971’s Meddle and the crowning soundscapes of their 1973 masterpiece, The Dark Side Of The Moon. Indeed, the record was made during a break from the Dark Side…sessions and it’s Obscured By Clouds’ mish-mash of styles that makes it one of Floyd’s most endearing works. At its core is the groan of Rick Wright’s VCS3 synthesiser – a then-new piece of kit which, alongside David Gilmour’s reverb-heavy guitar figures, gives the album its sense of horizon-chasing expanse. But for every moment of celestial wandering (the title track, Absolute Curtains, Mudmen), there’s a somewhat uncharacteristic diversion into American flavoured country, blues and folk. Through it all, that sense of crisp, cool air and bright mornings remains inescapable. Even the reverb on Nick Mason’s snare drum sounds like he’s chopping his way through a thick layer of frost. “So let me in from the cold / Cause there's a chill wind blowing in my soul,” sings Gilmour on Wot’s…Uh The Deal. Hell, not even the band can find a way into the warm.
Ross Bennett
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 29/12/2008
Further Listening
Pink Floyd - Meddle (Harvest/EMI, 1971)
Yes - Close To The Edge (Atlantic, 1972)
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon (Harvest/EMI, 1973)
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6:00 AM GMT 09/03/2010
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