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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Dec 18, 2019 22:54:03 GMT
I don't own the album, but I really like "One Of These Days", though I never got the meaning of the song title. What happened to song titles like "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Astronomy Domine"? Apparently, the "One of these days I'm going to cut your into little pieces" was aimed at a BBC DJ for whom Floyd didn't care. Oh.
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Post by kds on Dec 19, 2019 13:13:17 GMT
Apparently, the "One of these days I'm going to cut your into little pieces" was aimed at a BBC DJ for whom Floyd didn't care. Oh. While I have no information to back this up, I assume that violent lyric was Roger's idea.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Dec 22, 2019 13:54:42 GMT
Unfortunately, I'm behind in this thread. Hopefully I'll have some time to catch up soon.
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Post by kds on Dec 26, 2019 14:46:20 GMT
OBSCURED BY CLOUDS (1972)
Another Pink Floyd soundtrack project. However, unlike More or even Zabriskie Point, this album actually feels like an actual album made by an actual band, as there's very little in way of music recorded for the background of a "head" piece.
The exceptions are probably the opening duo of instrumentals - the title track which segues into When You're In. Both short instrumentals pretty much set the stage for the album, but don't really go too far musically. However, both are short, and well played, the title track in particular when some nice Gilmour guitar notes. Also, the closing Absolutely Curtains, starts off with an atmospheric, tension building instrumental which gives way to World music esque chants just around the two minute mark. The two minutes of build up are great, but the chants make for a strange and unsatisfying ending.
Sandwiched between these pieces are seven very good to great songs, showing Floyd building on the momentum started on Meddle. Although, more efficiently. There are no side long epics here, and nothing on the album goes past the six minute mark.
Burning Bridges, featuring alternating lead vocals from Gilmour and Wright, could've been a Floyd classic had it appeared on a more notable album. Mudmen, a mostly guitar driven instrumental, is a brilliant reprise of Burning Bridges.
I have a theory that some of the awkward song titles on this album didn't help the song's statures. The Gold It's In the........ is a rare straight forward rocker for the band. Not quite as aggressive as The Nile Song three years prior, it's more in tune with something The Doobie Brothers might have released at the time. Wut's....Uh the Deal? is, like Fearless, a beloved by Floyd fans acoustic ballad, and probably the highlight of the album. Sadly, it was never played live until Gilmour played it at a few solo gigs around 2006.
Childhood's End is notable for being the final Floyd song during Roger Waters's tenure which doesn't feature a songwriting credit from the bassist, as it was written solely by Gilmour. A mid paced track, which revisits the theme of leaving childhood beyond, which pops up quite a bit throughout their catalog. Sung by Gilmour, who is really hitting his stride both as a singer and guitarist in the early 70s. And the track also perhaps provided a template for Time, which would appear on the next album.
Free Four is a Waters sung piece, which features the first lyrical reference to Waters's father who died in WWII. The band on this track, and a few others, sounds about as loose as they would ever sound, likely due to the time constraints, but it really works in the album's favor IMO.
Stay, at first, sounds like a tender love song, but there's a twist in the second verse, revealing that the song is about an encounter with a one night stand or perhaps a groupee. Sung by Wright, with lyrics similar to Summer '68. This would unfortunately be the final song where all of the lead vocals are sung by Wright, whose vocals I always thought were underused.
This album wasn't even really promoted by the band themselves. Instead, the band spent all of 1972 performing a song cycle in concert called Eclipse. It's a pity as the album has been overshadowed by Floyd's other 70s albums. It really deserves a better fate.
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Post by jk on Dec 27, 2019 20:31:40 GMT
kds, I'm listening to it now. I can only recall from previous listens the ominous opening track and the chant at the end. To be continued.
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Post by jk on Dec 28, 2019 13:34:01 GMT
Lovely album! Even the wacky stuff is great for a change. Not a bad track anywhere. Even the chant at the end sounds right to me. I'd forgotten just how good this album is. If this were a poll I'd give it ten.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Jan 3, 2020 14:27:37 GMT
Okay, I’m not fully caught up yet, but I have been able to listen to Meddle a few times now and I’m enjoying it very much, for the most part. I’m not sure how to sum up my impressions on the whole, but I enjoy the variability of it. I like all but one of the songs (Seamus… meh).
One of These Days has great tension and I like that they opened with a rock track. A Pillow of Winds is probably my favourite off the album, I love the breezy dreamscape. Fearless is another great song - it wasn’t until the third listen that I noticed the “echoes” of the crowd singing woven throughout the song. Once I caught that, it helped to balance out the ending a bit. The crowd singing is nice, but I find the chanting afterward goes on a bit longer than I like.
I really like the quaint, almost loungey San Tropez, another kind of breezy track.
Which brings us to Echoes (I’m skipping Seamus because as I said above, meh). There are so many things about Echoes that I love - tons of gorgeous moments. This is probably the first of Pink Floyd’s long songs that I’ve heard so far in which I didn’t feel like I had been abandoned at some point. That might be due to having read KDS’ review of it before listening and knowing what to expect, but regardless, I definitely felt more engaged with the song throughout the duration of it. The seagull section feels like there is a real point to it rather than just some stream of conscious ambient departure, and I agree that the way the song builds back up after that section is pretty glorious. I’m a big fan of that repeated descending riff - that’s probably my favourite motif in the song.
Good stuff. Looking forward to listening to Obscured by Clouds!
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Post by kds on Jan 3, 2020 15:10:50 GMT
I think I'll resume this thread early next week with Dark Side.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Jan 7, 2020 18:13:01 GMT
I quite like Obscured by Clouds. I’ve gotten used to hearing much longer songs so these ones all seem rather bite-sized. There are lot of high points on this one, so the list of standouts is pretty long…When You’re In, Burning Bridges, The Gold It’s In The…, Wot’s… Uh the Deal?, Mudmen and Free Four are probably my top tracks, and all have really wonderful elements in them.
A lot of the songs seem to thematically be about aging and mortality, which I assume must be related to the story in the film that they’re based on, but anyway, it’s an interesting theme. The melancholy lyrics to Free Four contrast with the upbeat sound of the song in a neat way.
While I love the song title Absolutely Curtains, it’s the only song on the album that I don’t get. I mean, the first 2/3 of it are nice and psychedelic, but then I find myself getting impatient with the chant in the final third. Perfect song title to end the album with though.
I also really like the album cover.
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Post by kds on Jan 7, 2020 18:59:13 GMT
While I love the song title Absolutely Curtains, it’s the only song on the album that I don’t get. I mean, the first 2/3 of it are nice and psychedelic, but then I find myself getting impatient with the chant in the final third. Perfect song title to end the album with though. I love the build up of Absolutely Curtains. I just wish the tension gave way to something other than the chant, which to me, ends the album on sort of a "Bull Session with Big Daddy" feel.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Jan 8, 2020 15:27:15 GMT
I love the build up of Absolutely Curtains. I just wish the tension gave way to something other than the chant, which to me, ends the album on sort of a "Bull Session with Big Daddy" feel. That's a good way of describing it, definitely like a bit of an abrupt let down to a great album.
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Post by jk on Jan 8, 2020 21:12:34 GMT
I love the build up of Absolutely Curtains. I just wish the tension gave way to something other than the chant, which to me, ends the album on sort of a "Bull Session with Big Daddy" feel. Aww. That chant belongs to a tribe featured in the film. I don't need to see the film (after my traumatic experiences with footage from More) and if the tribes's on the album I have a very good excuse not to. For reasons best known to my psychiatrist I associate this closing track with "Kreen-Akrore", the closing track on McCartney. Maybe it's the combination of solid instrumental music and "ethnic" sounds. (I remember seeing an unsettling documentary on the 1970 expedition mentioned on the wiki page.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panará
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Post by kds on Jan 9, 2020 13:36:46 GMT
I love the build up of Absolutely Curtains. I just wish the tension gave way to something other than the chant, which to me, ends the album on sort of a "Bull Session with Big Daddy" feel. Aww. That chant belongs to a tribe featured in the film. I don't need to see the film (after my traumatic experiences with footage from More) and if the tribes's on the album I have a very good excuse not to. For reasons best known to my psychiatrist I associate this closing track with "Kreen-Akrore", the closing track on McCartney. Maybe it's the combination of solid instrumental music and "ethnic" sounds. (I remember seeing an unsettling documentary on the 1970 expedition mentioned on the wiki page.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panará I kinda wish they'd have separated the Floyd portion of the track and the tribe portion.
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Post by kds on Jan 9, 2020 18:09:43 GMT
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (1973)
After a bit of a break, we come to Pink Floyd's most iconic album, rightfully regarded as one of the most iconic albums of all time. From the legendary cover art, to the music itself, this album can only be described as perfect. This is the first of five straight concept albums that the Floyd would release with Roger Waters as the sole lyricist (and nine straight Waters concept albums if you include his solo career).
Floyd had spent a year fine tuning the piece on stage before the album was released in 1973. Practice makes perfect. The album's concept is madness, and things which drive humans mad. The songs focus on work, busy schedules, classes, money, death, and madness itself. The album is held together with the precise use of recorded dialog from people who were asked a series of questions at Abbey Road. People from roadies to the doorman to Paul McCartney (whose contribution was deemed unsuitable for the album) were interviewed to provide the dialog about such subjects that appear throughout the album. Other ambient sounds of heartbeats, clocks, and cash registers also fill out the album.
Dark Side is also the first Floyd album to extensively feature musicians outside of the band. Female vocalists and saxophone player Dick Parry were added to augment Gilmour, Wright, Waters, and Mason.
The songs themselves. The album opens with a bit of an overture, featuring several voices that would be heard through the course of the record over a heartbeat, in a piece called Speak to Me, which give way to Breathe. Gilmour provided lead vocal, lead guitar, and slide guitar. This would be the last album where Gilmour handles the bulk of the lead vocals.
On a Run is an instrument created with the help of a synthesizer called a VSC3. Possibly a precursor to electronic music (even though I hate to pin the blame on that on my favorite band), the sounds combined with running footsteps create an atmosphere of urgency which leads perfectly into.....
Time, with the opening collage of clocks, followed by an instrumental build up before Mason's drums fiercely introduce the vocal section, with leads shared by Gilmour and Wright. The song features another example of a Gilmour solo that would make him a guitar hero. There is a reprise of Breathe at the song's conclusion.
The Great Gig in the Sky follows with wordless, almost orgasmic, vocals from Clare Torry. Depending on your point of view, these vocals are either nails on a chalkboard or hauntingly beautiful underneath Wright's piano and Hammond organ playing.
Money was Floyd's big breakthrough into the mainstream, and remains a classic rock staple. One of the most accessible and popular songs of their career, so much so that some Floyd fans have developed a bit of a love / hate relationship with it. Overplayed, sure, but I think it's a great rock song.
More laid back is Us and Them, a Richard Wright musical composition that dates back to Zabriskie Point. Flipping the script, Gilmour handles the softer verses while Wright sings the more aggressive chorus. It would be 21 years before Wright would sing another lead. Dick Parry contrasts his bombastic sax solo from Money with more gentle playing.
Any Colour You Like is more of a bridging the gap instrumental. Featuring keyboard washes from Wright, and some funky guitar from Gilmour reminiscent of Echoes, it's a fairly short jammy piece that wraps up with a brief Breathe reprise before transitioning to Brain Damage. The first lead by Waters, featuring lyrical references to Syd ("and if the band you're in starts playing different tunes") and a guitar riff similar to The Beatles' Dear Prudence on the verses.
The album is then wrapped up by the short Eclipse, one of Water's "list" lyrics that pretty much sums up the themes of the album. The music fades, and we return to the heartbeat from the album's beginning.
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Post by jk on Jan 9, 2020 18:31:42 GMT
Beautiful post, sir. I must think of a response worthy of it.
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