Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds (1972) 24-bit/96kHz
Progressive Rock | 1988 UK re-press | Harvest SHSP 4020
Obscured by Clouds is the seventh studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, based on their soundtrack for the French film La Vallée, by Barbet Schroeder.
The cover of Obscured by Clouds is an out-of-focus film still of a man in a tree. The lyrics deal with a person going on a life changing journey and the reflections of life in a person's old age. The album was released in the UK on 2 June 1972, and a few weeks later in the US, by Harvest, reaching number 6 and number 46 respectively. A single, "Free Four" was released in the US only.
At this point in their career, the band had some experience in the production of music scores. They had already scored the films The Committee in 1968 and More and some of Zabriskie Point in 1969. Consequently, Barbet Schroeder contacted the band in order to make another soundtrack, which they had agreed to do after More had become a success. The band had already started working on The Dark Side of the Moon at this point, having done some basic recording and performed the piece live several times during this period, but work was interrupted when the band travelled to France on two separate trips, either side of a Japanese tour, to write and record music for the film. The album was then mixed from 4–6 April at Morgan Sound Studios in London.
As they had done on More, the band saw a rough cut of the film, and noted down certain timings for cues with a stopwatch. From this, they created a number of pieces that they felt could be cross-faded at various points in the final cut of the film. They weren't too worried about creating complete songs, feeling that any musical piece would be workable without the need for any solos, but nevertheless, under pressure to produce enough material, they managed to create a whole series of well-structured songs. Mason recalls that the sessions were very hurried, and the band spent most of the time in Paris locked away in the studio.
"Free Four" was the first Pink Floyd song to get significant airplay in the US, and the second (after "Corporal Clegg" from A Saucerful of Secrets) to deal with the death of Eric Fletcher Waters, Roger Waters' father. "Childhood's End" was the last song Pink Floyd released to have lyrics written by Gilmour while Waters was still in the band. "Absolutely Curtains", the closing instrumental on the album, ends with a recording of the Mapuga tribe, as seen in the film. Wikipedia.
Track listing:
01. Obscured by Clouds
02. When You're In
03. Burning Bridges
04. The Gold it's in the...
05. Wot's...uh the deal
06. Mudmen
07. Childhood's End
08. Free Four
09. Stay
10. Absolutely Curtains
Personnel:
David Gilmour – guitars, vocals, pedal steel guitar, VCS3
Nick Mason – drums, percussion, tape effects
Roger Waters – bass guitar, vocals, VCS3, tape effects
Richard Wright – keyboards, vocals, VCS3
Composed and Produced by Pink Floyd
Technicals:
Knosti RCM.
Michell GyroDec full version.
Funk Firm FXR II Tonearm.
Audio Technica AT33PTG/II MC Cartridge.
Harman Kardon HK990 Integrated Amplifier.
Gold Interconnects. E-MU 0204 Audio Interface.
Recording, split and manual de-click with Adobe Audition 3.0.1
Click Repair 3.9.1
Vinyl transfer by son-of-albion, April 2014.