MORE (OST)

The first band I had completed an official discography for (back in the days when I did that kind of thing) was Pink Floyd. The reason for this is that this is really the first band that so intrigued me that I needed to scoop up everything they had produced. I must admit, it has been a number of years since I've listened to "More". The reasons for this are many. To sum it up, here are a few of the reasons: As a soundtrack, unless there is a continuous stream of music in the background (a rarity in movies of that era), the musical pieces serve as incidental embellishments. The result, then, of listening to musical works of this nature out of context to the movie is that the listener is left with a sense of disjointedness, and the pieces present themselves as nonsequitur musical Swiss cheese. Secondly, with few exceptions, the creation of the soundtrack need not involve the composer's visual stimulus to evoke a musical response (accompaniment). Frequently, the process goes something like this: "I have such and such kind of a scene in the movie that lasts for such and such amount of time. Give me something musically that lends an atmosphere or a mood consistent with this." Sometimes that process works and sometimes it doesn't. Because of the frequent use of this process, the results are often literally "uninspired" by the work which they were intended to compliment. I frankly don't know historically if Pink Floyd had the opportunity to see the movie scenes as they were composing this work, and, to be completely honest, I have never seen this movie myself. Despite this, over the years, and after dozens of listenings to this recording that still register quite well in my memory, I have formulated a number of opinions on this work. Here goes:

1. Cirrus Minor- a slow, uninspired minor chord piece with lethargic vocals, plodding, repetitive undeveloped descending chromatic vocal line, shapeless and personality-devoid one chord strumming by Gilmour and equally bland organ play by Wright- it is as if the entire band decided to see the local neurosurgeon for frontal lobotomies and then took a couple of barbiturates for good measure so as to stifle any creative impulse or life in this recording.

2. Nile Song: if you can forgive the really asinine lyrics, this is interestingly the closest Pink Floyd ever got to creating a heavy metal song. Replete with power chords, a howling vocal entry and raucous singing, my only regret is that the song fades at the end right as Gilmour sounds as if a terrific guitar solo is about to start. For all of his character, Nick Mason's percussion talents have always been modest, but they are about as good or better on this song as they are on anything he ever did for Pink Floyd, with the exception of Time on Dark Side of the Moon, or on some of the tracks on Meddle.

3. Crying Song- again, a rather undeveloped, repetitive melody line but Waters' voice on this tune is probably the sweetest I've ever heard it this side of Grantchester Meadows. Gilmour's guitar on the track really does sound like it's crying; not bawling crying, but sobbing. It is a neat effect. Wright's play on this piece is rather subdued and rudimentary but adds fine texture.

4. Up the Khyber- for this interviewer, probably the most musically interesting piece on the record, it features fine percussive but somewhat repetitive jazz piano figures (remotely reminiscent of Thelonius Monk or Horace Silver) and some eery organ (both) by Richard Wright and some dynamic drum work by Mason. This piece is probably the closest the band ever got to a jazz cut.

5. Green is the Colour- a sweet little melodious ballad though the singing is a bit thin, and Wright's restrained but tasteful piano is distinctive and a decided plus on this piece. The song hard qualifies as rock, much less progressive rock and I am not really sure how to classify it stylistically, but it is lovely.

6. Cymbaline- atmospheric and mellow melody which is pleasant enough, but again with uninspired musical play by the band as a whole. The most interesting aspects of the piece are some of Wright's rudimentary textural embellishments and the poorly done 'scat' at the end of the cut.

7. Party Sequence- filler garbage. Nothing else to say about it.

8. Main Theme- intriguing synthesizer/keyboard-driven piece with an unusual rhythm that unfortunately becomes repetitive. Gilmour adds some colorful albeit brief guitar embeliishments during the piece that lend a helpful support role.

9. Ibiza Bar- structurally, this piece is the opening of the Nile Song on LSD. Despite the fact that it is (yet again) a repetitive theme, Gilmour's guitar play is psychedelic splendor and Waters' bass and Mason's drum work on this cut create a rhythmic framework on which Gilmour's floating guitar can rest.

10. More Blues-quirky, little blues piece featuring Gilmour and some studio effects worth a couple of listens, but hardly a significant contribution to one's musical library.

11. Quicksilver- can I please get the 7 minutes and 13 seconds of my life back?

12. Spanish Piece-lackluster and flat Spanish-inspired acoustic guitar and not much else.

13. Dramatic Theme- more atmospheric filler.

Summary: A uneven recording with a number of good musical moments, More is also disjointed and is frequently uninspired. Quite a number of tracks are memorable for both good and bad reasons, which, for this long time Pink Floyd fan, makes this recording of interest primarily to collectors and to folks already familiar with the band. It rates only two stars because of its multiple flaws.