Obscured by Clouds | 
| Creators: Pink Floyd, Bulle Ogier, Michael Gothard, Jerome Beauvarlet, Monique Giraudy, Valerie Lagrange, Barbet Schroeder, Jean-pierre Kalfon
Label: Capitol
Category: Music
List Price: $17.98
Buy New: $6.96
You Save: $11.02 (61%)
New (40) Used (30) Collectible (3) from $6.24
Rating:  160 reviews
Sales Rank: 3847
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 46385
UPC: 077774638524
EAN: 0077774638524
ASIN: B000002UA2
Release Date: September 3, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Obscured by Clouds [Instrumental] | | • | When You're In | | • | Burning Bridges | | • | Gold It's in The... | | • | Wot's...Uh the Deal | | • | Mudmen [Instrumental] | | • | Childhood's End | | • | Free Four | | • | Stay | | • | Absolutely Curtains [Instrumental] |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Commissioned as the soundtrack for Barbet Schroeder's 1972 film The Valley, Obscured By Clouds actually holds up rather well on its own terms. The title track is a trippy, cinematic instrumental that features some searing guitar work from David Gilmour, but full-fledged songs like "Free Four" (which sounds like a morbid inversion of Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky"), and the folksy "Wot's...Uh the Deal" are the real highlights of the set. Essentially a transitional work, Obscured By Clouds has long been dwarfed by Dark Side of the Moon, the album which came immediately after it. In fact, the funky "Childhood's End" and the ethereal "Burning Bridges" could well be dry runs for the Dark Side tracks "Time" and "Breathe," respectively. In all, it's a priceless snapshot of a band on the verge of immortality. --Dan Epstein
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| Customer Reviews: Read 155 more reviews...
 A Must For Any Pink Floyd Collection June 16, 2000
Reviewer
69 out of 72 found this review helpful
One of the more obscure of the Pink Floyd albums, "Obscured By Clouds" was written as a soundtrack for Barbet Schroeder's film, "La Vallee," about a group of hippies seeking enlightenment in a lost valley in New Guinea. The album opens with two instrumentals, the synthesizer-driven "Obscured By Clouds," followed by the guitar-heavy "When You're In." A ballad, written by Roger Waters and Rick Wright, "Burning Bridges," has a certain quality, a sound, that seems to be a harbinger of "Dark Side Of The Moon." Another cut, with the unlikely title of "Wot's...Uh, The Deal," is a terrific song, somewhat wistful and introspective, and is the highlight of the album; it's right up there with any of Floyd's best songs. Another Waters-Wright composition is the somewhat melancholy "Stay," which has a sense of quiet intensity about it. Then there's the rollicking "Free Four," which is tremendously upbeat, especially when you consider the dark content of the lyrics; it's one of the first instances in which Roger Waters deals (musically) with the death of his father, which would become a recurring theme later on, especially in "The Wall," and on "The Final Cut." The last track on the album is "Absolutely Curtains," which ends with the chanting of the Mapuga Tribe of New Guinea, which was recorded on location in New Guinea; an interesting cut, to say the least. Though one of the lesser-known pieces of the Pink Floyd canon, "Obscured By Clouds" is, nevertheless, a remarkable album in it's own right; and it definitely must be included in any Pink Floyd collection.
Underrated November 14, 2001
P. Nicholas Keppler (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United States)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
1972's Obscured by Clouds is the most unjustly overlooked album in Pink Floyd's catalogue. Its instrumentals, the title track; "When You're In;" "Absolutely Curtains" and especially "Mudmen," are some of the finest wavy, lavalamp psychedelica I have ever heard. "Childhood's End;" "Free Four" (the first song in which Roger Waters, deals with the death of his father in WW2) and "Stay," (sung seamlessly in keyboardist, Richard Wright's dry hum) feature on a new, humanistic approach to the band's songwriting. The clear, trancelike sound and down-to-earth subject matter are fine precursors to the style employed on Floyd's legendary works, Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here. If you love those albums, Obscured by Clouds is certainly well worth considering.
 Very atmospheric soundtrack with some heavier moments June 10, 2006
Jeffrey J.Park (Massachusetts, USA)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
This 1972 soundtrack for the Barbet Schroeder film "La Vallee" was recorded during two, one-week sessions, between which a tour of Japan was sandwiched. Interestingly, the album works as a cohesive whole, in spite of the short recording time, and the "dry" production (especially on Nick Mason's drums) lends the album a very tight feel. It has been written that Obscured by Clouds is the last true group effort and I pretty much agree. The album also finds the band poised on the cusp of massive, global superstardom, which would become fully realized with the mega-smash, mega-million selling album The Dark Side of the Moon (1973).
Lyrically, Roger Waters begins to reflect on issues that he would develop further, including his war-victim father (Free Four) and Dave Gilmour refers to science fiction with Childhoods End, which is the title of Arthur C. Clarke's classic from the genre. I guess it is worth noting that Childhood's End was recorded without the final verse and that Roger would write all lyrics for the group following this album, thus "relieving" Dave of this responsibility. Dave's vocals are also excellent and he really comes across as a confident singer. His guitar playing is also in top flight too. In addition to tracks with lyrics, there are quite a few instrumentals as well.
Musically, I think Pink Floyd was in fine form on this album. My favorite cuts include the atmospheric, VCS3 synthesizer heavy instrumental tracks Obscured by Clouds, Mudmen, and Absolutely Curtains (loads of Rick Wright's sustained Hammond organ), along with the heavy instrumental When You're In. Burning Bridges, Wot's...uh the Deal, and Stay are also superb and feature the trademark drifting and spacey Floyd sound. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the thunderous The Gold It's in the..., which reminds me somewhat of the bone-crushing Nile Song (from More, 1969). Free Four is the only bouncy and lighthearted track on the album, which stands in stark contrast with Water's dark subject matter - the ruminations of someone on their deathbed.
With respect to this 1994 remaster it is just OK and features good sound quality, images from the film, and all lyrics.
All in all, this excellent album is a personal favorite and is very highly recommended along with Atom Heart Mother (1970), Meddle (1971), Wish You Were Here (1975), and Animals (1977).
Extremely Underrated August 30, 2002
Would-RVM245 (Grafton, MA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
In this hastily thrown-together soundtrack to the rare French movie "La Vallee" Pink Floyd stayed with the sound they finally perfected on Meddle and would later evolve into Dark Side of the Moon. Without the lofty lyrical themes of their later albums, Obscured By Clouds is different than most Floyd albums in the sense that the sound is most definitely typical Floyd, but this is a disc that you can throw in your 5 disc player on shuffle without losing any effect. Starting with two guitar filled instrumentals, the album then turns into a great example of Pink Floyd's ability to write a variety of different sounding songs. The slow, piano tinged "Burning Bridges" and "Stay" are two of Rick Wright's finest moments, while the hard, driving guitars of "The Gold its in the..." is almost alternative-sounding. The beautiful acoustic ballad "Wots..Uh the Deal" is probably the highlight of the disc while "Childhood's End" and the instrumental "Mudmen" shine the spotlight on David Gilmour's guitar. "Free Four" is another highlight as Roger Waters takes a happy, upbeat chord progression and taints it with some pretty depressing lyrics about life and death, themes he would later elaborate on. The strange thing is, it works, and gives a nice hint of the themes that would follow. "Absolutely Curtains" is basically pointless, but I'm sure it makes more sense in the movie. Overall, this is a great album that Floyd fans will love. It is also probably the best album for the Floyd fan who can't follow the concepts of DSOTM, WYWH, Animals, and The Wall. You won't hear any of these songs on the radio, but that doesn't mean this album isn't worth your time and money. After all, it's Floyd!
Far More Than Just a Soundtrack January 16, 2005
Philip Snyder (Amherst, New York United States)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Wedged between Meddle and Dark Side Of The Moon lies the almost-forgotten Obscured By Clouds. Because this was the Floyd's second outing as composers for a Barbet Schroeder film and not an actual Pink Floyd-intended project, Obscured By Clouds can't really be considered the true follow-up to Meddle. However, despite its "soundtrack status", it is a vital chunk of the Pink Floyd catalog.
The entire album was written and recorded in a two week blitz at the Chateau d'Herouville just outside of Paris. This time around (the recording of More being the first), the band insisted that director Schroeder's influence (interference?) over the sessions be severely limited. This gave them a full two weeks of freedom to treat the state-of-the-art 16 track studio as their own musical laboratory. The results are surprisingly good for such a short amount of time.
A mood is immediately established with the combination of Obscured By Clouds and When You're In, two mesmerizing instrumentals that start things off. The former is heavily synth driven (embellished nicely with Gilmour's trademark slide guitar), while the second (almost an Obscured By Clouds Part II) is propelled more by power chords and Mason's drums. Burning Bridges is a ballad immersed in the beautiful vocal exchanges and harmonies of Dave and Rick and contrasts nicely with The Gold It's In The..., an uptempo rocker that shows the band just having fun. Wot's...Uh The Deal follows, complete with Dave's angelic vocal harmonies and a sensitive piano solo by Rick. Mudmen (one of the highpoints of the album) is an instrumental once again spotlighting both Wright and Gilmour. Rick's languid keyboards paint a dreamy backdrop before Mason's drums usher in Dave's Floating fuzz-toned guitar. The keyboards and guitar intermingle in a glorious fashion, further cementing the dream-like feel. This is followed by Childhood's End, a Gilmour composition, which is arguably the best song on the album. It has a driving rhythm, great vocals, and of course a load of tasty stinging guitar licks. Free Four is next, an upbeat stomp-along song, boasting lyrics that hint at subjects Waters would obsess over in years to come. Unfortunately, though some of the lyrics ARE quite good, they are rendered slightly impotent by the song's bouncy, jovial atmosphere. After a somewhat disjointed Gilmour guitar solo fades out, Stay (another album highlight) starts up. This gorgeous ballad, with a wonderful lilting chorus, is a great showcase for Wright's piano and vocal talents. It also contains some magnificent wah wah guitar by Gilmour, who all but steals the show. With nothing but a toned down Stratocaster and a crybaby, he manipulates the pedal in conjunction with bends and vibrato to give his guitar an extremely expressive, vocal-like quality. Finally, the album closes with Absolutely Curtains, a predominantly synthesizer-based composition colored slightly with percussion. It has a calming but dramatic feel to it, and ends the album quite nicely (though somewhat strangely, as a New Guinea tribal sing-along fades in as the actual song fades out).
Obscured By Clouds may not contain any powerfully sublime moments, but it's floating stark beauty - a harbinger of things to come - is certainly worth the price. Don't let the fact that this is a soundtrack to a dated French film hold you back. Each song is a well-crafted and terrifically executed piece of music capable of standing on its own. Fans of Meddle, Dark Side Of The Moon, and Wish You Were Here will especially love it. This is truly a fantastic album.
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