•
Rating:
Perhaps the least known album of Pink Floyd, overshadowed by the colossal success of "The Dark Side of The Moon" the following year, is "Obscured By Clouds" from '72.
The Pink Floyd return to collaborating with the German director Barbet Schroeder three years after creating the soundtrack for "More." This time, the film in question is "La Vallée," to whose title the name of the album is added for obvious commercial reasons.
The most interesting thing is that here Pink Floyd engage for the first time with the simple song format: the resulting album is not as polished as the subsequent "Dark Side," it does not concern itself with delving into deep thematic layers like the previous "Meddle," but presents us with a humble, vaguely bucolic group, at ease in the pursuit of a lyric-driven pop typical of British tradition, with refined melodies and relaxing atmospheric passages, indulging in few psychedelic and experimental whims.
More than a transitional album, it's evidently a separate moment in Pink Floyd's artistic journey, useful especially for exploring the inner side of the musicians, in a context distant from the psychedelic lights and smokes of success. Whether one likes it or not, the approach to a certain pop dimension, moving away from a more experimental search, is nonetheless fundamental for the future of the band, just listen carefully to the melodic side of "Dark Side" or some of the later acoustic ballads.
Returning to the album, it's evident that the instrumental passages are by far the most successful: we realize it immediately, with the pre-apocalyptic intro of the title track and the transition with When you're in which at the end, with that something of minimalism, makes it clear how a couple of simple riffs are worth more than a thousand-note solo...
I will stop here, you undoubtedly understand that this is an album absolutely to listen to and re-evaluate.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Burning Bridges (03:29)
Bridges burning gladly
Merging with the shadows,
Flickering between the lines.
Stolen moments floating softly on the air,
Borne on wings of fire and climbing higher.
Ancient bonds are breaking,
Moving on and changing sides.
Dreaming of a new day,
Cast aside the other way.
Magic visions stirring,
Kindled by and burning flames rise in her eyes.
The doorway stands ajar,
The walls that once were high.
Beyond the gilded cage,
Beyond the reach of ties.
The moment is at hand.
She breaks the golden band.
04 The Gold It's in The... (03:07)
Come on, my friends,
Let's make for the hills.
They say there's gold but I'm looking for thrills.
You can get your hands on whatever we find,
Because I'm only coming along for the ride.
Well, you go your way,
I'll go mine.
I don't care if we get there on time.
Everybody's searching for something, they say.
I'll get my kicks on the way.
Over the mountains, across the seas
Who knows what will be waiting for me?
I could sail forever to strange sounding names.
Faces of people and places don't change.
All I have to do is just close my eyes
To see the seagulls wheeling on those far distant skies.
All I want to tell you, all I want to say
Is count me in on the journey.
Don't expect me to stay.
05 Wot's... Uh the Deal (05:07)
Heaven sent the promised land
Looks alright from where I stand
Cause I'm the man on the outside looking in
Waiting on the first step
Show where the key is kept
Point me down the right line because it's time
To let me in from the cold
Turn my lead into gold
Cause there's chill wind blowing in my soul
And I think I'm growing old
Flash the readies
Wot's...uh the deal?
Got to make it to the next meal
Try to keep up with the turning of the wheel.
Mile after mile
Stone after stone
You turn to speak but you're alone
A million miles from home you're on your own
So let me in from the cold
Turn my lead into gold
Cause there's chill wind blowing in my soul
And I think I'm growing old
Fire bright by candlelight
And her by my side
And if she prefers we will never stir again
Someone sent the promised land
And I grabbed it with both hands
Now I'm the man on the inside looking out
Hear me shout "Come on in,
What's the news and where you been?"
Cause there's no wind left in my soul
And I've grown old
07 Childhood's End (04:31)
You shout in your sleep.
Perhaps the price is just too steep.
Is your conscience at rest
If one's put to the test?
You awake with a start
To just the beating of your heart.
Just one man beneath the sky,
Just two ears, just two eyes.
You set sail across the sea
Of long past thoughts and memories.
Childhood's end, your fantasies
Merge with harsh realities.
And then as the sail is hoist,
You find your eyes are growing moist.
And though the fear is never voiced
Still you have to make your final choice.
Who are you and who am I?
To say we know the reason why?
Some are born, some men die
Beneath one infinite sky.
There'll be war, there'll be peace.
But everything one day will cease.
All the iron turned to rust,
All the proud men turned to dust.
And so all things, time will mend.
So this song will end.
08 Free Four (04:15)
(One, Two, Free, Four...)
The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime.
You shuffle in gloom of the sickroom
And talk to yourself as you die.
Life is a short, warm moment
And death is a long cold rest.
You get your chance to try in the twinkling of an eye:
Eighty years, with luck, or even less.
So all aboard for the American tour,
And maybe you'll make it to the top.
And mind how you go, and I can tell you, 'cause I know
You may find it hard to get off.
You are the angel of death
And I am the dead man's son.
And he was buried like a mole in a fox hole.
And everyone is still in the run.
And who is the master of fox hounds?
And who says the hunt has begun?
And who calls the tune in the courtroom?
And who beats the funeral drum?
The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime.
You shuffle in gloom in the sickroom
And talk to yourself till you die.
09 Stay (04:05)
Stay and help me to end the day.
And if you don't mind,
We'll break a bottle of wine.
Stick around and maybe we'll put one down,
Because I wanna find what lies behind those eyes.
Midnight blue burning gold.
A yellow moon is growing cold.
I rise, looking through my morning eyes,
Surprised to find you by my side.
Rack my brain to try to remember your name
To find the words to tell you good-bye.
Morning dues.
Newborn day.
Midnight blue turned to gray.
Midnight blue burning gold.
A yellow moon is growing cold.
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By Eneathedevil
"Obscured by Clouds is perhaps the least known long-playing of the English group, the most bland work of the early Floyd production, a work in the shadows."
"Free Four… an unsettling product forced to overshadow all the others due to the strident contrast between musical danceability and lexical harshness."
By zaireeka
"It's terrible the moment you realize you're on that shadow line that separates the truest part of you from the age of compromises."
"Many of the ideas of Dark Side (but also of Wish You Were Here) are already present here."
