@@nectarinedreams7208 that’s what makes them so good, all three are transitional albums for the band and “Obscured By Clouds” is a soundtrack, so it shows ideas that they had to come up with rather quickly to compliment the film, that’s what makes it so different too.
I’m with Anthony and Pete on this one . I like this album quite a bit . A large part of the reason is because of the raw , laid back feel of the songs . It’s a nice contrast to the rest of their catalog . Thanks !
I was really surprised on the negativity of this album . I love it .Free Four and Stay are gems in the Pink Floyd canon and the album is so atmospheric. If you want a bad Pink Floyd album you should start with the Endless River or Momentary Lapse of Boredom .
I'm with Anthony on this, it's a vibe record. I dig it... Just a cool relaxed Floyd vibe record. Not everything has to be perfectly produced, crafted and developed into a "Dark Side". To me, it sounds like a soundtrack, and some of my favorite albums are soundtracks... and most soundtracks are more vibe than song. Anyway, Free Four and Childhood's End got s loads of airplay on my local classic rock station in the 90s (upstate ny). Cool Pick.
Wow. I view this album as an underrated gem that I love a lot. I especially enjoyed seeing Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets play some of these tracks live.
Would love to see Pipers, Saucerful of secrets and Atom Heart Mother discussed too at a later stage. They are gems from the psychedelic era of the band and peeps in US are not so aware of this era of the band.
Each Floyd album has a different feel to it. As some of the panel noted, this one has a definite laid back atmosphere. Even the heavier songs seem relaxed. I like it a lot. "Wot`s Uh The Deal", "Free Four", "Stay". Some great songs here.
One of the more obscured “pun intended” Floyd albums but honestly one of my favourites I think this is the first album that really shows off a lot of rogers song writing and acts as a nice transition from the more space rocky stuff they where doing on meddle and other earlier albums.
I like the song "free Four". I remember getting it airplay on the radio back in the 70's. I also like this record because its not a conceptual album like their next 5 records and it wasn't overplayed on the radio like their next 4 albums.
I find myself putting this on a lot more often recently. Not sure if it's because I'm old, or because I didn't play it that much the last 45 years. But I truly love it now. I think it's the perfect bridge between Meddle and Dark Side.
A classic yet misunderstood psychedelic soundtrack album. Less is More on this one and I love it. Easily dismissed by tight analytics but I agree also, great vibe. Not every album by Floyd needs to be Animals or Dark Side to be enjoyed imo.
Burning Bridges, Agreed. Mudmen and Stay are all music by Wright. The 1st two are thematically related, like the cadence to Breathe, Breathe reprise and Any Colour You Like are also related and also written by Wright in the DSMOM and the music of Stay is like a more diatonic version of Us and Them" from the DSOTM, music ALSO written by Wright. OBC actually has a re occurring theme which became a trademark of their progressive albums to follow and it irks me that this is sadly usually ignored, and I think that's one of the reasons why this album is under appreciated.
@@Paolo8772 OBC is my most listened to Floyd album. It just strikes the right mood with me, especially Burning Bridges. I think it’s a perfect representation of their overall sound and the chord progressions are gorgeous. Rick Wright was such a killer composer. Mudmen is a great reprise of the song in 4/4 time with Bridges being in 6/8. The naysayers on this video seem to miss the point of the re occurring theme you point out. I love that about Floyd records. I’ll be controversial in saying that I like OBC more than Dark Side. That fact blows most Floyd fans’ minds which I don’t understand. Dark Side is great of course, (Us And Them the high point for me) but so damn overplayed. Everything pre-Dark Side is the essential Pink Floyd to me. Pete here even takes a little shot at Wots..Uh The Deal and A Pillow Of Winds from Meddle, another favorite of mine. I agree with Pete on a lot, but definitely not on those tunes. Check out The Early Years box set if you haven’t. Incredible stuff!
Obscured by Clouds is an underrated masterpiece. Umm Wots the Deal, Mudmen, Childhoods End……and my goodness Stay 😢 so beautiful. Then again, I love The Division Bell so my tastes may be different lol😢
Louis's comments was excellent. I think Obscured By Clouds album is compared to Dark Side of the Moon, which it can never be. Whereas Anthony is not comparing Obscured with any other Pink Floyd album, but views it based on the albums own content. But many of the criticisms of the album by the panel are valid points. I think Louis and Pete analyzed the album with a much more deeper understanding of what was going on with the band. Maybe they thought the songs were good enough to be presented to the public, because they knew that once Dark Side of the Moon came out, they would never be able to release these songs without major changes being done to the songs before they could released them to the public. In the end this was a very good discussion, so I too give Anthony kudos for bringing this album into the limelight.
Thank you Anthony! Obscured by Clouds is so much better than More it's one of their best rather than one of their worst albums. I said it before and I'll say it again: CRIMINALLY underrated Pink Floyd album. Haters expect it to be DSOTM and don't understand that Meddle was great not just because of Echoes.
@@Paolo8772 It was a very good choice for this kind of discussion. It was also enlightening for me to go back and hear this not as a teenager but as a middle-aged man. I would not characterize anyone as haters. One of the best part about being on SOT is that everyone loves music. We all hear things differently - they happened at different moments in our lives, and they thus have varying contexts. Cheers!
I'm making fun of myself for having a passionate opinion of this album, so the emotion might be overblown for effect, but the truth is: I LOVE this album as one of Floyd's top 4 releases. I hope that explains something for you. Thanks for caring enough to share and cheers! @@lahloonatic
I appreciate everyone’s analysis, but I lean more towards Anthony’s feelings on this lesser known Floyd gem. I actually listen to it quite often, and like it much more than “The Final Cut”, “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, “Ummagumma”,, and “The Final Cut” - I think “Childhood’s End” is one of the best tracks they ever did…Great show, as always :)
Gilmour as side man is the best quote I've heard for years. I'm a big early Floyd to wish you were here fan, and always thought the gilmour solo albums were simply rotten and he needed others to rein him in, yet work outside Floyd with others, Wings, The Orb etc is first class
Thanks to everyone for sharing their opinions and views of this album. Special kudos to Anthony for picking the album for this discussion. It does sound a bit more like a soundtrack album to my ears but that does not ruin any enjoyment since there are many soundtrack albums in the personal library that make for enjoyable listening. Thanks again, everyone, for another interesting time In The Prog Seat.
Thanks John for listening and taking our critique of the album as intended, our subjective opinions. And, Anthony did get props for picking this album, it’s always enjoyable to revisit those lesser known releases
I think Anthony and Louis explain it well. This is a vibe album. If you dissect it, it’s like dissecting an animal. You can’t do it without killing it. Dissecting Obscured kills the vibe. I love the guitar, I love Wright’s involvement and I kind of like the lack of Water’s vocals. That said, I really like “Free Four.”
I listened through Luis' comments and had heard enough to get the gist of where this was going. I listened to this album for the first time in the last year and noted I thought the album was largely very good from start to finish. I'm often on the same page musically with Anthony so more album studies or picks by him are more than welcome; I'll just first grab a football helmet and pads.
Love Obscured By Clouds. I was fortunate to see them do this album live in concert, before they had become big music stars after Dark Side. "Meddle & Obscured" are my favorite Floyd albums. They even played a few tracks from it on the "Dark Side Of The Moon" concert in 73, and they fit perfectly. Strongly disagree with the guy who doesn't like the album. He needs to develop an ear for melody and lyrics. He seems to have missed something? Much of it was very beautiful, laid back, an interesting journey that was very rewarding. In concert they did many of the tracks back to back, and even threw in a couple of early "Dark Side" tracks. They all seemed to be coming from the same place. Hard to listen to him say over and over that it is not coming from the same place as "Dark Side", when Obscured was the connecting piece that led to it.
Well, I enjoy Obscured by Clouds and Rush's Hold Your Fire. For some reason, one implies the other for me in my memory of listening patterns of my youth. Great pick, Anthony! (I think the overall vibe aspect of the album is an important point. There were certain albums that I used to play just for the consistency of the music, especially more mellow material. I would have dug Brian Eno, if someone would have made me aware of his work back then.)
Big props to Anthony for presenting this forgotten gem in Pink Floyd's discography. IMO, Obscured By Clouds and The Division Bell are Pink Floyd's most underrated albums. Obscured By Clouds and The Division Bell are similar in that both records contain only 1 bad track (e.g., OBC last track, TDB first track) which automatically places those albums above any of the pre-Meddle Pink Floyd albums. I knew that Anthony would get some pushback from panel members, but I was surprised at the level of disdain for this album by some of the Prog Seat crew. Luis then ramped the hate up to 11 by doing his sock puppet impression of Roger Waters which includes calling David Gilmour, "a controversial figure," someone that, "in the last 20 years at least, prove it, he's a guy with a whole bunch of nothing to say," and that, "he's a great side guy, but that's it." Luis clearly doesn't understand that Waters is the quintessential "controversial figure," that in regards to creating NEW music, Gilmour has had more to say than Waters in the past 40 years, and that Gilmour was far more than a side guy in Pink Floyd as evidenced by the FACT that Gilmour/Wright were the melodic heartbeat of Pink Floyd. I'll let the late, great Richard Wright and legendary guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour expand upon this latter narrative. WRIGHT: Roger, had by this time had become the lyricist...David and me would write some music and Roger would say ok, I'm going to go home and write some lyrics for this and come back tomorrow. GILMOUR: My musical taste and abilities had just as much actually, if not more to do with it all than Roger, and that if I allowed this dictatorship to become real and total, then our music would suffer, as I didn't think that uh, I still don't, that that is really Roger's main forte.
Your two favorite albums are not the two worst, but close. As far as Gilmour…. Best I can say is that his most recent albums are a decent way to combat insomnia. Fortunately for him, his wife can write his lyrics for him.
@@Leo-ci9kc Same here. The remix of A Momentary Lapse Of Reason blows away The Final Cut, Gilmour/Wright/Mason/Pratt hit it out of the park with The Division Bell, and Gilmour's 4 solo albums will appeal to those who place an emphasis on strong vocals and melody.
I had never listened to this before. I went onto UA-cam and listened to the 2011 remaster. I like it! Nice guitar and keyboards on this. I just ordered the Discovery box set. First 14 Pink Floyd CD's all remastered in 2011 in one box set. I had already ordered it, but ended up with a fake version. Luckily, I was able to return it. Ordered it again and this one appears to be authentic. I will see...I got word that it was shipped out today. The only CD not on Discovery is "The Endless River" because it wasn't out yet in 2011 when Discovery was released. But I own "The Endless River" anyway. I just picked up the 1972 live show CD "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" that was recently released and it is fantastic.
@@terrencesclassicrockcorner Yes, I saw this same live set available on CD with a totally different title. But I went with "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" because it was released just recently.
I like Luis' theory of 3 distinct eras of Pink Floyd. For me, it is 1) Syd era, 2) Band era and then 3) Roger era. Obscured was the last Band era album they did. Roger took over at that point and the subsequent albums were really his vision with the rest of the members taking a backseat. Many love the Roger albums, but the dark side, pun intended, was the sacrifice of the band as a unit itself.
Obscured is the album that I most often go to these days in terms of putting something from Floyd on the record player. I gotta say, I'm a bit burnt-out on Dark Side & The Wall (and to a slightly lesser extent, Animals & WYWH). All four of those are obviously masterpieces, but I have just heard them too many times. Obscured just ALWAYS sounds good to me.
This album was to me...the foundations that blossomed into Dark Side....you can hear the cogs churning towards what came after so its sooooo important to the pink floyd story and had to happen for what came next to burst onto our turntables...love it for what it is and what it stands for in the big picture!
Absolutely! It’s probably shares more in common with Dark Side than Meddle. In that sense, it’s a nice bridge. Everyone here, for instance, seems to dislike Free Four, but to me, despite its upbeat-ness, it’s an early example of what Roger does vocally, and more prominently, on albums to come. There are a lot of elements like that. Burning Bridges? Total “Breathe/Us and Them” vibe.
forgot to check back in after "Dark Side of the Mule" in Dallas on 8/9/23. The band was amazing, the light show was amazing; if this comes near you don't miss it. They didn't play as many songs as when I saw them do "Dark Side of the Mule" at Red Rocks in 2018, but it was still incredible. check out this setlist: 1. Thorazine Shuffle 2. Banks of the Deep End 3. Game Face 4. Peace I Need 5. Dreaming Out Loud 6. Same as It Ever Was 7. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) (Pink Floyd cover) 8. Have a Cigar (Pink Floyd cover) 9. Speak to Me (Pink Floyd cover) 10. Breathe (In the Air) (Pink Floyd cover) 11. On the Run (Pink Floyd cover) 12. Time (Pink Floyd cover) 13. Breathe (Reprise) (Pink Floyd cover) 14. The Great Gig in the Sky (Pink Floyd cover) 15. Money (Pink Floyd cover) 16. One of These Days (Pink Floyd cover) 17. Fearless (Pink Floyd cover) 18. Echoes, Part 1 (Pink Floyd cover) 19. Echoes, Part 2 (Pink Floyd cover) Encore: 20. Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover) Encore 2: 21. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd cover)
First heard on 8track in 72, my brother’s car… it sounded very fresh at the time… I remember i was 14-15, I always loved it…And yes I also think it differs from their work (the singing is superb, especially Rick Wright with David Gilmour) It was played so often then. I always liked it!!
Never had this one so I was interested to hear the lads' take. PS - I guess Luis and I are the only Final Cut fans. Great shows as always guys. Peace, MJ
I, for one, really enjoy this album. They did play ObC/WYi and Childhood's End on the 72 and 73 tours. These longer live versions are even better than the album versions. Great show as usual guys.
When I discovered Floyd as a teenager, I loved everything from Dark Side thru The Wall, discovered Final Cut later on from a friend who loved it and really liked it instantly...but the albums before, I love Meddle but everything else was hard to get in to..but as i got older and discovering the live material from 69-72, that stuff is incredible, blows the studio albums out of the water during that time period. They took the studio material and elevated greatly live..buying the Montreaux cd from Ken soon!
Obscured is the bridge between the jammy Floyd of 69-71 and the Darkside Floyd. Also they did perform 3 of these songs live on the 72 tour, not just the few that Gilmour did much later.
For me, Obscured By Clouds seems like a step backwards after Meddle, except in one way: the lyrics. The true-life, relatable lyrics about existential matters in “Childhood’s End” and “Free Four” do seem to me like a link between the first inklings of that kind of approach on “Echoes” and the complete embrace of it on Dark Side.
Love this album and it has one of my all-time favorite deep tracks in "Childhood's End". Interestingly enough that song is apparently the last PF song to not feature a writing credit by Roger Waters prior to his departure 12 yrs later. Gilmour is the only credited writer on "Childhood's End", adding fuel to the debate that it was DG's addition to the band that truly propelled them to that classic Floyd sound. Thanks, Pete (and the Boys).
It was many years before Obscured was even listed as part of the PF catalog. It was grouped with all the movie sound track albums. As a sound track album there really wouldn’t be any fully developed songs. Picture them looking at a screen and developing something that matches what is on the screen. When the scene changes so must the music. This is also a foreign film noir which also appeals to a smaller audience. Todays sound tracks seem to just pull pieces of well known songs so that when the “sound track” album is released it’s just a collection of the full songs creating essentially a “juke box” album. Approach it for what it is and the album is very enjoyable.
You guys are judging this thing as an album. which is fair cause it’s an album, but it’s really a soundtrack.. I stopped the show went and looked it up Wikipedia . Pink Floyd actually watch the film and tried to make songs to go to the movie. they also were very rushed to do the production. I put together visuals to go to music and perform them live with bands on tour. I could kind of see where Gilmore and Right were looking at a sequence in the film and trying to write the music to the sequence. They were told they were supposed to not have a lot of solos, but they had Solos anyway. If you’ve ever been to a film sound stage studio, you know there’s a place for an orchestra set up the musicians are facing giant screen and sometimes they actually play the music while the movies going. Record Company call it a album, but it was probably created to go to a film and certain soundtrack vibe .
At last. I was waiting for it. One of the Floyd albums I listen to at least once a month. The 2 opening tracks are my favourites , I have overplayed them . The title track could have been expanded. The ballad Stay really nice, Childhood 's end really groovy. A middle of the road album for the band, It has elements from More, Meddle and Atom heart mother. I return to it often. But this is really a personal connection I have with the album.
I very much enjoy this album. Thank you for discussing it. I bought it in the early 80's. I knew it was a soundtrack side project at the time, so I didn't have the expectations that this was going to be brilliant. I have to be in the right mood for it. When I listen to obscured by clouds I often choose this one next. I think Childhood's End is great song. To me the album is a good companion to Gilmour's first solo album. Listening to it always makes me wonder what would have happened if Wright didn't fade from the bands writing pool.
One of my fave Sunday morning albums, kinda feels like a Gilmour and Wright album. But, criticisms here, aren’t wrong, but it’s a nice mellow listen to my ears!
If you enjoyed the early Floyd records then this record makes sense. If you don't, then it doesn't make sense. That's my impression anyway. I went through the whole discography in my teens and decided every single album was essential. There are weaknesses here and there. There's also tons of experimentation and a building of the PF universe that you can hear threads of through their later albums. I enjoy this record but truthfully I don't play it that often. I have a lot of memories associated to it.
In my opinion it contains some of their most enjoyable music and has tremendous "replay" value even when you compare it their classic albums. This album is strong from start to finish. It has classics like Childhoods End and the instrumental Mudmen that shows David Gilmour at his very best. There is wide range of musical stylings from hard rockers to acoustic ballads and prog-rock on here. One could argue that Obscured by Clouds is a window to another dimension and I really like the view!
This is definitely a vibe album as Anthony and Luis explained, but I also approach this album the same way Pete does. It's a soundtrack album (a 70s soundtrack at that) first, a Pink Floyd album second. Do I listen to it as much as DSOTM, Meddle, WYWH or Atom Heart Mother? Maybe. Do I listen to it more than the Wall and The Final Cut? Most definitely! I dig it and found it an excellent choice for discussion.
Amazing Album!!! It’s very underrated in my opinion. I’m surprised “Wots Uh the Deal” was never played live? Horrible song title for a great song 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I gave the album a re-listen on my morning commute today in order to get into this video afterwork (haven't watched it yet). I was surprised that I enjoyed it a lot more than I originally remember. It still doesn't feel entirely complete or cohesive as a whole, but there were more tracks that I enjoyed than the few I remember just from glancing at the titles. Still not one of my favourites, but goes to show it's always worth given things a re-listen to see how your own tastes have changed or even just mood while listening.
Obscure by clouds, puts wonderful music to the idea of setting off into adventure without a set plan , destination or return date... The movie, La Valleé (if memory serves...) is interesting at a philosophical level, even if it isn't very well done cinematography-wise
Obscured by Clouds is a great record! It's Pink Floyd doing short songs and experiments. Great atmospheric tunes... The guys who hated it are like those people who only like the big albums and wouldn't enjoy Piper, Saucerful, More, Ummagumma, AHM... This is not for the people who only like the more developed/commercial PF. PS - The guys were in the room together, working closely. The are numerous photos from these sessions.
I love Free Four. For a long time it was my favorite song of the pre-Dark Side Gilmour era (excluding Meddle which for the longest time I thought came before Meddle). I probably liked it because it has some energy. Lots of stuff from that era was too slow for me as a teen. I can enjoy it more now that I'm older.
I did some community service for an underage drinking offense and I spent the whole day in the monitor's office who was a major Elvis and Rush fan. Obscured By Clouds was the only Pink Floyd album he listened to. I don't listen to it much, I probably like the More soundtrack a little more for the weirder soundscaping, but its solid. The '70s sound is surfacing, they're on the precipice with the songwriting, but there's still a little bit of their laid back British countryside-ness they were kicking around then before Roger got them all serious.
I like OBC, particularly OBC-WYI and Childhood's End which were both fleshed out when played live in 72-73. I get the impression this was mostly jammed when they recorded it in the studio from late Feb-Early April 72. I think Dave possibly wrote Childhoods End post Meddle in the same timespan as the Eclipse suite was written but it didn't fit there. The comments about this being the end of the early era are interesting as the Dark Side album was mostly written in late 71 & performed before they recorded OBC
I like Obscured by Clouds better than both Animals and The Wall, not as good as DSOTM or WYWH but about as good as Meddle. In other words: OBC is a criminally underrated album. Like DSOTM it has LOTS of Richard Wright's music.
I will have to listen to the whole album. I only know two of the songs. As far as the soundtrack to "More." It is one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums, probably because I am burned out by Dark Side of the Moon, though I still listen to it. Some of the live versions from "More" on the Fillmore Concerts are interesting.
Obscured By Clouds music accompanies the movie, LaVall'ee. This lady goes on an adventure in New Guinea looking for a valley with exotic birds. If I remember correctly, shes wants feathers for hat manufacturing.
Funny how tastes vary, I love this album and the remix they did on the box set was perfect, while the album is not perfect I still love it. Childhoods End is a favorite.
I was under the impression that they recorded OBC in 3 weeks after spending almost a year on. DSOTM but because of release delays with dark side, OBC came out first
![Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds (1972) [Full Album]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Te_-nISxLVI/mqdefault.jpg)
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Atom Heart, Meddle and Obscured is my fave Floyd era.
Mine too.
Obscured has little in common with Meddle and even less in common with Atom Heart Mother
@@nectarinedreams7208 that’s what makes them so good, all three are transitional albums for the band and “Obscured By Clouds” is a soundtrack, so it shows ideas that they had to come up with rather quickly to compliment the film, that’s what makes it so different too.
Unlike Atom Heart Mother and Meddle, Obscured doesn't have that cringey track those other 2 have.
I’m with Anthony and Pete on this one .
I like this album quite a bit .
A large part of the reason is because of the raw , laid back feel of the songs .
It’s a nice contrast to the rest of their catalog .
Thanks !
I was really surprised on the negativity of this album . I love it .Free Four and Stay are gems in the Pink Floyd canon and the album is so atmospheric. If you want a bad Pink Floyd album you should start with the Endless River or Momentary Lapse of Boredom .
I agree with you there. This one is light years ahead in quality compared to those two.
I'm with Anthony on this, it's a vibe record. I dig it... Just a cool relaxed Floyd vibe record. Not everything has to be perfectly produced, crafted and developed into a "Dark Side". To me, it sounds like a soundtrack, and some of my favorite albums are soundtracks... and most soundtracks are more vibe than song. Anyway, Free Four and Childhood's End got s loads of airplay on my local classic rock station in the 90s (upstate ny). Cool Pick.
That's my favorite Pink Floyd album. I am used to it
Wow. I view this album as an underrated gem that I love a lot. I especially enjoyed seeing Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets play some of these tracks live.
I would actually love to see that. With m ore rehearsal and better conviction, these songs might actually sound very good.
@@lahloonaticthere's some UA-cam videos showcasing what they did
Always a fun episode. Anthony , you did a good job. Thanks sot 👍💯
Gary 👍
@@ericporter344 Have you heard where do we begin by Made in Sweden? Great fusion band with Pekka Pohjola and Jojje Wadenius!
Would love to see Pipers, Saucerful of secrets and Atom Heart Mother discussed too at a later stage. They are gems from the psychedelic era of the band and peeps in US are not so aware of this era of the band.
I love this album and for a long time, it was my post-concert-drive-home-from-the-gig album. Wot’s…Uh, The Deal being my favorite.
Each Floyd album has a different feel to it. As some of the panel noted, this one has a definite laid back atmosphere. Even the heavier songs seem relaxed. I like it a lot. "Wot`s Uh The Deal", "Free Four", "Stay". Some great songs here.
Love this record especially Rick Wright's stuff
One of the more obscured “pun intended” Floyd albums but honestly one of my favourites I think this is the first album that really shows off a lot of rogers song writing and acts as a nice transition from the more space rocky stuff they where doing on meddle and other earlier albums.
This is good Floyd LP. Unfortunately a number of guys don't know much about Floyd soundtracks.
I like the song "free Four". I remember getting it airplay on the radio back in the 70's. I also like this record because its not a conceptual album like their next 5 records and it wasn't overplayed on the radio like their next 4 albums.
I find myself putting this on a lot more often recently. Not sure if it's because I'm old, or because I didn't play it that much the last 45 years. But I truly love it now. I think it's the perfect bridge between Meddle and Dark Side.
A classic yet misunderstood psychedelic soundtrack album. Less is More on this one and I love it. Easily dismissed by tight analytics but I agree also, great vibe. Not every album by Floyd needs to be Animals or Dark Side to be enjoyed imo.
100% with you Anthony. One of my favorite Floyd álbums. Oh . What the Deal. A Masterpiece.
“Burning Bridges” is quintessential Floyd. Killer album all the way through.
Music by Richard Right. 1st verse sung by Gilmour, the others sung by wright.
Yes. I always thought Burning Bridges and Narrow Way Part III could have been classics on the right albums.
Burning Bridges, Agreed. Mudmen and Stay are all music by Wright. The 1st two are thematically related, like the cadence to Breathe, Breathe reprise and Any Colour You Like are also related and also written by Wright in the DSMOM and the music of Stay is like a more diatonic version of Us and Them" from the DSOTM, music ALSO written by Wright. OBC actually has a re occurring theme which became a trademark of their progressive albums to follow and it irks me that this is sadly usually ignored, and I think that's one of the reasons why this album is under appreciated.
@@Paolo8772 OBC is my most listened to Floyd album. It just strikes the right mood with me, especially Burning Bridges. I think it’s a perfect representation of their overall sound and the chord progressions are gorgeous. Rick Wright was such a killer composer. Mudmen is a great reprise of the song in 4/4 time with Bridges being in 6/8. The naysayers on this video seem to miss the point of the re occurring theme you point out. I love that about Floyd records.
I’ll be controversial in saying that I like OBC more than Dark Side. That fact blows most Floyd fans’ minds which I don’t understand. Dark Side is great of course, (Us And Them the high point for me) but so damn overplayed. Everything pre-Dark Side is the essential Pink Floyd to me. Pete here even takes a little shot at Wots..Uh The Deal and A Pillow Of Winds from Meddle, another favorite of mine. I agree with Pete on a lot, but definitely not on those tunes.
Check out The Early Years box set if you haven’t. Incredible stuff!
A Pillow of Winds is alos one of my favourite Floyd songs after Us and Them, Stay is my favourite from OBC. I also Love Wots Uh The Deal. @@RSH1972
Obscured by Clouds is an underrated masterpiece. Umm Wots the Deal, Mudmen, Childhoods End……and my goodness Stay 😢 so beautiful. Then again, I love The Division Bell so my tastes may be different lol😢
😅😅😅😮
The Division Bell is excellent. I'm right there with you.
I love this album. Free Four is awesome, ding to it all the time. More is a massive underrated classic
Louis's comments was excellent. I think Obscured By Clouds album is compared to Dark Side of the Moon, which it can never be. Whereas Anthony is not comparing Obscured with any other Pink Floyd album, but views it based on the albums own content. But many of the criticisms of the album by the panel are valid points.
I think Louis and Pete analyzed the album with a much more deeper understanding of what was going on with the band. Maybe they thought the songs were good enough to be presented to the public, because they knew that once Dark Side of the Moon came out, they would never be able to release these songs without major changes being done to the songs before they could released them to the public. In the end this was a very good discussion, so I too give Anthony kudos for bringing this album into the limelight.
Thank you Anthony! Obscured by Clouds is so much better than More it's one of their best rather than one of their worst albums. I said it before and I'll say it again: CRIMINALLY underrated Pink Floyd album. Haters expect it to be DSOTM and don't understand that Meddle was great not just because of Echoes.
It was a very inspired choice.
@@Paolo8772 It was a very good choice for this kind of discussion. It was also enlightening for me to go back and hear this not as a teenager but as a middle-aged man. I would not characterize anyone as haters. One of the best part about being on SOT is that everyone loves music. We all hear things differently - they happened at different moments in our lives, and they thus have varying contexts. Cheers!
I'm making fun of myself for having a passionate opinion of this album, so the emotion might be overblown for effect, but the truth is: I LOVE this album as one of Floyd's top 4 releases. I hope that explains something for you. Thanks for caring enough to share and cheers! @@lahloonatic
I appreciate everyone’s analysis, but I lean more towards Anthony’s feelings on this lesser known Floyd gem. I actually listen to it quite often, and like it much more than “The Final Cut”, “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, “Ummagumma”,, and “The Final Cut” - I think “Childhood’s End” is one of the best tracks they ever did…Great show, as always :)
Gilmour as side man is the best quote I've heard for years. I'm a big early Floyd to wish you were here fan, and always thought the gilmour solo albums were simply rotten and he needed others to rein him in, yet work outside Floyd with others, Wings, The Orb etc is first class
This and More are two of my favorite albums.
Another great one from everyone. So glad Luis was able to join because as usual his thoughts and analysis are enlightening! 😊
Thanks to everyone for sharing their opinions and views of this album. Special kudos to Anthony for picking the album for this discussion. It does sound a bit more like a soundtrack album to my ears but that does not ruin any enjoyment since there are many soundtrack albums in the personal library that make for enjoyable listening. Thanks again, everyone, for another interesting time In The Prog Seat.
Thanks John for listening and taking our critique of the album as intended, our subjective opinions.
And, Anthony did get props for picking this album, it’s always enjoyable to revisit those lesser known releases
I think Anthony and Louis explain it well. This is a vibe album. If you dissect it, it’s like dissecting an animal. You can’t do it without killing it. Dissecting Obscured kills the vibe. I love the guitar, I love Wright’s involvement and I kind of like the lack of Water’s vocals.
That said, I really like “Free Four.”
I really like “Free Four” too, I love the play on words in the lyrics.
Great discussion with opposing opinions . There are just too many videos of "great everything" these days. Thanks to all for their honest takes.
Thank you for watching and getting both sides!
I love Obscured by Clouds. To me , I’ll throw it on way before Piper or saucerful of secrets.
Always my favourite Pink Floyd album.
I listened through Luis' comments and had heard enough to get the gist of where this was going. I listened to this album for the first time in the last year and noted I thought the album was largely very good from start to finish. I'm often on the same page musically with Anthony so more album studies or picks by him are more than welcome; I'll just first grab a football helmet and pads.
it is nice to see the love for this record in the comments!
i love Childhood's End and the more moody pieces, but it has just too much mellow stuff. Love the sound.
Love Obscured By Clouds. I was fortunate to see them do this album live in concert, before they had become big music stars after Dark Side. "Meddle & Obscured" are my favorite Floyd albums. They even played a few tracks from it on the "Dark Side Of The Moon" concert in 73, and they fit perfectly. Strongly disagree with the guy who doesn't like the album. He needs to develop an ear for melody and lyrics. He seems to have missed something? Much of it was very beautiful, laid back, an interesting journey that was very rewarding. In concert they did many of the tracks back to back, and even threw in a couple of early "Dark Side" tracks. They all seemed to be coming from the same place. Hard to listen to him say over and over that it is not coming from the same place as "Dark Side", when Obscured was the connecting piece that led to it.
I like it. A courageous and worthy choice Anthony.
Well, I enjoy Obscured by Clouds and Rush's Hold Your Fire. For some reason, one implies the other for me in my memory of listening patterns of my youth. Great pick, Anthony! (I think the overall vibe aspect of the album is an important point. There were certain albums that I used to play just for the consistency of the music, especially more mellow material. I would have dug Brian Eno, if someone would have made me aware of his work back then.)
That is an interesting musical correlation
Obscured by clouds is in my top 5 Floyd albums.
Big props to Anthony for presenting this forgotten gem in Pink Floyd's discography. IMO, Obscured By Clouds and The Division Bell are Pink Floyd's most underrated albums. Obscured By Clouds and The Division Bell are similar in that both records contain only 1 bad track (e.g., OBC last track, TDB first track) which automatically places those albums above any of the pre-Meddle Pink Floyd albums. I knew that Anthony would get some pushback from panel members, but I was surprised at the level of disdain for this album by some of the Prog Seat crew. Luis then ramped the hate up to 11 by doing his sock puppet impression of Roger Waters which includes calling David Gilmour, "a controversial figure," someone that, "in the last 20 years at least, prove it, he's a guy with a whole bunch of nothing to say," and that, "he's a great side guy, but that's it."
Luis clearly doesn't understand that Waters is the quintessential "controversial figure," that in regards to creating NEW music, Gilmour has had more to say than Waters in the past 40 years, and that Gilmour was far more than a side guy in Pink Floyd as evidenced by the FACT that Gilmour/Wright were the melodic heartbeat of Pink Floyd. I'll let the late, great Richard Wright and legendary guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour expand upon this latter narrative.
WRIGHT: Roger, had by this time had become the lyricist...David and me would write some music and Roger would say ok, I'm going to go home and write some lyrics for this and come back tomorrow.
GILMOUR: My musical taste and abilities had just as much actually, if not more to do with it all than Roger, and that if I allowed this dictatorship to become real and total, then our music would suffer, as I didn't think that uh, I still don't, that that is really Roger's main forte.
Your two favorite albums are not the two worst, but close. As far as Gilmour…. Best I can say is that his most recent albums are a decent way to combat insomnia. Fortunately for him, his wife can write his lyrics for him.
Love the Gilmour floyd and solo stuff
@@Leo-ci9kc Same here. The remix of A Momentary Lapse Of Reason blows away The Final Cut, Gilmour/Wright/Mason/Pratt hit it out of the park with The Division Bell, and Gilmour's 4 solo albums will appeal to those who place an emphasis on strong vocals and melody.
I didn't like this album back on the 70s but have grown to really like it over the years. Very underrated. Thanks Anthony!
Criminally underrated.
In my Floyd top 5, easily.
Final Cut is an excellent album with some of the best lyrics by the band.
Should be a good one with Anthony of Sunhillow making the pick this week.
Childhoods end/ 7️⃣2️⃣. A top 15 PF. Song from me. 👍💯
good principal's office music..ha ha ha
@@gregoryg3256 / lol. A good 👍 one
I had never listened to this before. I went onto UA-cam and listened to the 2011 remaster. I like it! Nice guitar and keyboards on this. I just ordered the Discovery box set. First 14 Pink Floyd CD's all remastered in 2011 in one box set. I had already ordered it, but ended up with a fake version. Luckily, I was able to return it. Ordered it again and this one appears to be authentic. I will see...I got word that it was shipped out today. The only CD not on Discovery is "The Endless River" because it wasn't out yet in 2011 when Discovery was released. But I own "The Endless River" anyway. I just picked up the 1972 live show CD "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" that was recently released and it is fantastic.
@@terrencesclassicrockcorner Yes, I saw this same live set available on CD with a totally different title. But I went with "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" because it was released just recently.
To me its their most underrated album.
I like Luis' theory of 3 distinct eras of Pink Floyd. For me, it is 1) Syd era, 2) Band era and then 3) Roger era. Obscured was the last Band era album they did. Roger took over at that point and the subsequent albums were really his vision with the rest of the members taking a backseat. Many love the Roger albums, but the dark side, pun intended, was the sacrifice of the band as a unit itself.
Obscured is the album that I most often go to these days in terms of putting something from Floyd on the record player. I gotta say, I'm a bit burnt-out on Dark Side & The Wall (and to a slightly lesser extent, Animals & WYWH). All four of those are obviously masterpieces, but I have just heard them too many times. Obscured just ALWAYS sounds good to me.
I'm with Anthony! Love this album!
This album was to me...the foundations that blossomed into Dark Side....you can hear the cogs churning towards what came after so its sooooo important to the pink floyd story and had to happen for what came next to burst onto our turntables...love it for what it is and what it stands for in the big picture!
Absolutely! It’s probably shares more in common with Dark Side than Meddle. In that sense, it’s a nice bridge. Everyone here, for instance, seems to dislike Free Four, but to me, despite its upbeat-ness, it’s an early example of what Roger does vocally, and more prominently, on albums to come. There are a lot of elements like that. Burning Bridges? Total “Breathe/Us and Them” vibe.
forgot to check back in after "Dark Side of the Mule" in Dallas on 8/9/23. The band was amazing, the light show was amazing; if this comes near you don't miss it. They didn't play as many songs as when I saw them do "Dark Side of the Mule" at Red Rocks in 2018, but it was still incredible. check out this setlist:
1. Thorazine Shuffle
2. Banks of the Deep End
3. Game Face
4. Peace I Need
5. Dreaming Out Loud
6. Same as It Ever Was
7. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) (Pink Floyd cover)
8. Have a Cigar (Pink Floyd cover)
9. Speak to Me (Pink Floyd cover)
10. Breathe (In the Air) (Pink Floyd cover)
11. On the Run (Pink Floyd cover)
12. Time (Pink Floyd cover)
13. Breathe (Reprise) (Pink Floyd cover)
14. The Great Gig in the Sky (Pink Floyd cover)
15. Money (Pink Floyd cover)
16. One of These Days (Pink Floyd cover)
17. Fearless (Pink Floyd cover)
18. Echoes, Part 1 (Pink Floyd cover)
19. Echoes, Part 2 (Pink Floyd cover)
Encore:
20. Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover)
Encore 2:
21. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd cover)
Damn Old Man Prog went full George Lamie. 😂
First heard on 8track in 72, my brother’s car… it sounded very fresh at the time… I remember i was 14-15, I always loved it…And yes I also think it differs from their work (the singing is superb, especially Rick Wright with David Gilmour)
It was played so often then. I always liked it!!
Never had this one so I was interested to hear the lads' take. PS - I guess Luis and I are the only Final Cut fans. Great shows as always guys. Peace, MJ
Love this LP.
I, for one, really enjoy this album. They did play ObC/WYi and Childhood's End on the 72 and 73 tours. These longer live versions are even better than the album versions.
Great show as usual guys.
I love Obscured By Clouds, it is my fav pre- Dark Side album.
When I discovered Floyd as a teenager, I loved everything from Dark Side thru The Wall, discovered Final Cut later on from a friend who loved it and really liked it instantly...but the albums before, I love Meddle but everything else was hard to get in to..but as i got older and discovering the live material from 69-72, that stuff is incredible, blows the studio albums out of the water during that time period. They took the studio material and elevated greatly live..buying the Montreaux cd from Ken soon!
Obscured is the bridge between the jammy Floyd of 69-71 and the Darkside Floyd. Also they did perform 3 of these songs live on the 72 tour, not just the few that Gilmour did much later.
For me, Obscured By Clouds seems like a step backwards after Meddle, except in one way: the lyrics. The true-life, relatable lyrics about existential matters in “Childhood’s End” and “Free Four” do seem to me like a link between the first inklings of that kind of approach on “Echoes” and the complete embrace of it on Dark Side.
I've always liked this album! Pink Floyd as a garage band!
I loved the Inasser freeze frame.
Love this album and it has one of my all-time favorite deep tracks in "Childhood's End". Interestingly enough that song is apparently the last PF song to not feature a writing credit by Roger Waters prior to his departure 12 yrs later. Gilmour is the only credited writer on "Childhood's End", adding fuel to the debate that it was DG's addition to the band that truly propelled them to that classic Floyd sound. Thanks, Pete (and the Boys).
It was many years before Obscured was even listed as part of the PF catalog. It was grouped with all the movie sound track albums. As a sound track album there really wouldn’t be any fully developed songs. Picture them looking at a screen and developing something that matches what is on the screen. When the scene changes so must the music. This is also a foreign film noir which also appeals to a smaller audience. Todays sound tracks seem to just pull pieces of well known songs so that when the “sound track” album is released it’s just a collection of the full songs creating essentially a “juke box” album. Approach it for what it is and the album is very enjoyable.
I recently listened to Obscured by Clouds and it's definitely a good album and quite underrated.
You guys are judging this thing as an album. which is fair cause it’s an album, but it’s really a soundtrack.. I stopped the show went and looked it up Wikipedia . Pink Floyd actually watch the film and tried to make songs to go to the movie. they also were very rushed to do the production. I put together visuals to go to music and perform them live with bands on tour. I could kind of see where Gilmore and Right were looking at a sequence in the film and trying to write the music to the sequence. They were told they were supposed to not have a lot of solos, but they had Solos anyway. If you’ve ever been to a film sound stage studio, you know there’s a place for an orchestra set up the musicians are facing giant screen and sometimes they actually play the music while the movies going. Record Company call it a album, but it was probably created to go to a film and certain soundtrack vibe .
At last. I was waiting for it. One of the Floyd albums I listen to at least once a month. The 2 opening tracks are my favourites , I have overplayed them . The title track could have been expanded. The ballad Stay really nice, Childhood 's end really groovy. A middle of the road album for the band, It has elements from More, Meddle and Atom heart mother. I return to it often. But this is really a personal connection I have with the album.
"Wot's uh the deal" is a beuatiful song, one of my favourite Floyd tracks, even Gilmour played it in his 2006 tour!
Fantastic album. Great feel to it.
I very much enjoy this album. Thank you for discussing it. I bought it in the early 80's. I knew it was a soundtrack side project at the time, so I didn't have the expectations that this was going to be brilliant. I have to be in the right mood for it. When I listen to obscured by clouds I often choose this one next. I think Childhood's End is great song. To me the album is a good companion to Gilmour's first solo album. Listening to it always makes me wonder what would have happened if Wright didn't fade from the bands writing pool.
One of my fave Sunday morning albums, kinda feels like a Gilmour and Wright album. But, criticisms here, aren’t wrong, but it’s a nice mellow listen to my ears!
If you enjoyed the early Floyd records then this record makes sense. If you don't, then it doesn't make sense. That's my impression anyway. I went through the whole discography in my teens and decided every single album was essential. There are weaknesses here and there. There's also tons of experimentation and a building of the PF universe that you can hear threads of through their later albums.
I enjoy this record but truthfully I don't play it that often. I have a lot of memories associated to it.
Great album, a night time album. Wots the Deal is beautiful.
In my opinion it contains some of their most enjoyable music and has tremendous "replay" value even when you compare it their classic albums. This album is strong from start to finish. It has classics like Childhoods End and the instrumental Mudmen that shows David Gilmour at his very best. There is wide range of musical stylings from hard rockers to acoustic ballads and prog-rock on here. One could argue that Obscured by Clouds is a window to another dimension and I really like the view!
I love Childhood's End, Mudmen and Free Four
This is definitely a vibe album as Anthony and Luis explained, but I also approach this album the same way Pete does. It's a soundtrack album (a 70s soundtrack at that) first, a Pink Floyd album second. Do I listen to it as much as DSOTM, Meddle, WYWH or Atom Heart Mother? Maybe. Do I listen to it more than the Wall and The Final Cut? Most definitely! I dig it and found it an excellent choice for discussion.
Amazing Album!!! It’s very underrated in my opinion. I’m surprised “Wots Uh the Deal” was never played live? Horrible song title for a great song 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I really like this LP
I gave the album a re-listen on my morning commute today in order to get into this video afterwork (haven't watched it yet). I was surprised that I enjoyed it a lot more than I originally remember. It still doesn't feel entirely complete or cohesive as a whole, but there were more tracks that I enjoyed than the few I remember just from glancing at the titles. Still not one of my favourites, but goes to show it's always worth given things a re-listen to see how your own tastes have changed or even just mood while listening.
I totally agree with Anthony's comment at 37:15 after everyone trashes the record between Meddle and Darkside of the Moon hahaha
Wow, the hate for this album is surprising. It's a fantastic album and feels like a logical prelude to DSOTM. "Wots Uh The Deal" is stellar.
Obscure by clouds, puts wonderful music to the idea of setting off into adventure without a set plan , destination or return date...
The movie, La Valleé (if memory serves...) is interesting at a philosophical level, even if it isn't very well done cinematography-wise
Go to chill out album. Love it!
Obscured by Clouds is a great record! It's Pink Floyd doing short songs and experiments. Great atmospheric tunes... The guys who hated it are like those people who only like the big albums and wouldn't enjoy Piper, Saucerful, More, Ummagumma, AHM... This is not for the people who only like the more developed/commercial PF. PS - The guys were in the room together, working closely. The are numerous photos from these sessions.
I love Free Four. For a long time it was my favorite song of the pre-Dark Side Gilmour era (excluding Meddle which for the longest time I thought came before Meddle). I probably liked it because it has some energy. Lots of stuff from that era was too slow for me as a teen. I can enjoy it more now that I'm older.
I did some community service for an underage drinking offense and I spent the whole day in the monitor's office who was a major Elvis and Rush fan. Obscured By Clouds was the only Pink Floyd album he listened to. I don't listen to it much, I probably like the More soundtrack a little more for the weirder soundscaping, but its solid. The '70s sound is surfacing, they're on the precipice with the songwriting, but there's still a little bit of their laid back British countryside-ness they were kicking around then before Roger got them all serious.
I like OBC, particularly OBC-WYI and Childhood's End which were both fleshed out when played live in 72-73. I get the impression this was mostly jammed when they recorded it in the studio from late Feb-Early April 72. I think Dave possibly wrote Childhoods End post Meddle in the same timespan as the Eclipse suite was written but it didn't fit there.
The comments about this being the end of the early era are interesting as the Dark Side album was mostly written in late 71 & performed before they recorded OBC
Thank you Gentlmen.
I like Obscured by Clouds better than both Animals and The Wall, not as good as DSOTM or WYWH but about as good as Meddle. In other words: OBC is a criminally underrated album. Like DSOTM it has LOTS of Richard Wright's music.
Totally agree with Ken.
I will have to listen to the whole album. I only know two of the songs. As far as the soundtrack to "More." It is one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums, probably because I am burned out by Dark Side of the Moon, though I still listen to it. Some of the live versions from "More" on the Fillmore Concerts are interesting.
Would like to have an Echolyn album study. Maybe their 2012 self titled release. Eric? 😀
Obscured By Clouds music accompanies the movie, LaVall'ee. This lady goes on an adventure in New Guinea looking for a valley with exotic birds. If I remember correctly, shes wants feathers for hat manufacturing.
I agree, it’s mostly a sleeper for me and a disjunct collection of tracks, not even track listed well.
I love that album.
Funny how tastes vary, I love this album and the remix they did on the box set was perfect, while the album is not perfect I still love it. Childhoods End is a favorite.
up pops Luis !
I agree with Luis.
Slight correction: Zabriskie Point was directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, not Barbet Schroeder
I was under the impression that they recorded OBC in 3 weeks after spending almost a year on. DSOTM but because of release delays with dark side, OBC came out first
Childhood's End definitely contains elements of what would become DSOTM.