Pink Floyd
More

March 1969

The Pink Floyd are tasked with quickly scoring the film "More" by Barbet Schroeder, focusing on the story of a drug-addicted couple on a trip to Ibiza.

The absence of Barrett was still felt but only up to a point, as David Gilmour's role was becoming crucial, and the rest of the band certainly did not hesitate to sprinkle psychedelic colors into the sound. In "More" a perfect cohesion between vocal and instrumental tracks is evident, suitable for highlighting particular moments of Schroeder's film. The bird song that opens "Cirrus Minor" evokes the love binding those two protagonists at sunrise, in a possibly isolated countryside; gradually, the melody takes shape, and Roger Waters guides us with his voice through echoing dark recesses, then leaves us with Richard Wright's organ gusts that indeed shine, like the dawn of a new day. Subsequently, the group's hardest piece ever arrives, a "The Nile Song" suspended between a deliberately over-the-top progression with an angry Gilmour who makes his guitar literally bleed. "Crying song" wants to return to the realms of "Cirrus Minor", only to end with a melancholic electric solo in pure Gilmour style. The instrumental "Up the Khyber" recalls the more dissonant part of the suite "A Saucerful Of Secrets" with those muted piano beatings that dissipate after 2 minutes, going backward. More bucolic atmospheres with "Green Is The Colour" followed by the splendid ballad "Cymbaline", truly atypical for the Floyd. The Main Theme could be the ideal follow-up to "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun", a spiritual ride towards sick minds.

"Ibiza Bar" could easily have been titled "The Nile Song-Part 2" and "More Blues" is a slow nocturnal Blues hastily interrupted by intrusive noises leading to the lysergic visions of the long "Quicksilver" (the best track, definitely to be listened to at night). A very peculiar Spanish-style intermezzo ("A Spanish Piece") anticipates the epilogue of the brief and flamboyant "Dramatic Theme".

Perhaps it's normal that the soundtrack of an unknown cult gains less importance than "A Saucerful Of Secrets" or "Atom Heart Mother", but that doesn't mean it should necessarily be forgotten.

PS: consider it as a 3.5, I want to be generous because giving it a 3 seemed a bit wasted.