OBSCURED BY CLOUDS

Considered to be a 'filler' album in between Meddle and The Dark Side of the Moon, Obscured by Clouds is often forgotten in the grand discography of Pink Floyd. Though it is not one of heir best albums, it is far from one of their worst.

The opening intrumentals, Obscured by Clouds and When You're In, are a grea opening for the album. Powerfull and thriving, they evoke the memory of One of These Days from the previous album Meddle.

It almost seems to have become routine for Pink Floyd to add a very slow song early on in their albums to somewhat stop the excitement of the listener and remind him or her that they're there to make them relax. Burning Bridges is that song for this album. A slow piano-guitar combo, the song once again suceeds in slowing down the album to snail- like speeds.

This slowness, however, is completely eradicated by the following song, The Gold It's In the... can be summmarized as a 3 minute song with a 2 minute guitar solo. Fast and powerfull, the song pick the pace of the album back up to full.

BUT... the album slowns down again with Wot's Uh the Deal. Not that I'm complaining, as Rick Wright rules this song with his piano. Not one but TWO solos proves he was nearing the top of his game, which would be prominently displayed on Wish You Were Here and Animals.

Mudmen is basically just an instrumental version of Burning Bridges, though quite a thing to bring back an old song and replay it in a different way... I wonder if they would do this again?

Just as More had the 1-2 punch of Green is the Colour and Cymbaline, Obscured by Clouds has the 1-2 punch of Childhood's End and Free Four. The first, a David Gilmour guitar freak-out, the second, and upbeat Roger Waters psych- out.

Stay and Absolutely Curtains are decent tracks, yet very forgettable. This album is a decent addtiton the Floyd collection, yet it is nothing compared to the five next albums.