Poll: How do you rate Pink Floyd's "Obscured by Clouds" album?

While I'm sure most Floyd fans have Roger Waters's new album on their minds, it's time for our next poll!

As usual, the rules: this poll is designed for people familiar with the album in question and with at least some familiarity with some of their other catalog (for comparison purposes). If the poll doesn't interest you, please kindly move on to a thread that does. Please simply consider how YOU would rate the album in question, in comparison with the rest of the Floyd's discography! And as always, a shout-out to member mrjinks for creating all the groundwork for this series.

So, how do YOU rate this album?

Album history: "Obscured by Clouds is the seventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, based on their soundtrack for the French film La Vallée, by Barbet Schroeder. It was released in the United Kingdom on 2 June 1972, and a few weeks later in the United States, by Harvest Records, reaching number 6 and number 46 respectively. A single, "Free Four", was issued in the US only.

The album was something of a stopgap for the band, who had already started work on The Dark Side of the Moon, and was recorded in two sessions in France between touring, with three days for mixing. The original plan was to just record small sections of music, but they ultimately created enough songs for a complete album. The resulting work has been overlooked in the Pink Floyd canon because of the huge commercial success of later albums, but still has a positive reaction from fans and critics."


Tracklist:
1. Obscured By Clouds 3:03
2. When You're In 2:18
3. Burning Bridges 3:29
4. The Gold It's In The... 3:07
5. Wot's... Uh The Deal? 5:08
6. Mudmen 4:20
7. Childhood's End 4:31
8. Free Four 4:15
9. Stay 4:05
10. Absolutely Curtains 5:52




Previous polls:
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Currently 466 people have voted, with an average of 4.26.
Ummagumma. Currently 338 people have voted, with an average of 3.04.
The Wall. Currently 748 people have voted, with an average of 3.98.
Pulse. Currently 216 people have voted, with an average of 3.36.

 

One of their best albums (I'm gonna answer the same for most of the albums, I warn you all).

 

top 5, easy. love it!

 

It is my favorite Pink Floyd album!

 

I find myself playing this one more often than most other titles these days. It isn't their best work but it is my personal favorite at the moment.

 

Right up there with their better ones.

 

One of their best for my tastes.

 

My favorite release.

 

Me too. Between Wot's...uh the deal, Childhood's End, Stay, Bridges Burning it's got a better vibe and stronger songs than anything that came before and after.

 

Song for song, it may be their best. It's a perfect 'sister' to Meddle.

 

I recall buying it in the mid-70s and it never made much of an impression on me. I eventually sold it. I think I bought the CD a few years ago but haven't played it all that much.

So I voted for option 4.

 

Voted - A pretty solid effort - worth recommending.. But that's only because I've only owned Album about a Week and played 3>4 times...

 

In my top 5 along with More, Meddle, WYWH, DSOTM.

 

Essential, and probably the most essential of the wilderness years of Pink Floyd.

This is the album with many of the most strong and concise songs, the most rockin' energy, the most humor, and the warmest heart. The twin tracks "Burning Bridges" and "Mudmen" comprise the most beautiful melodies in the Floyd catalog. "The Gold It's In The..." is a pleasant, optimistic rocker with no peer in the catalog. "Wot's... Uh The Deal" just skirts syrup, but pleasantly so. "Childhood's End" is quite simply Gilmour's best song ever. "Stay" is the last of the great Rick Wright Floyd songs (as opposed to Great Gig which is not really a song per se), and I believe it was even a single. And "Free Four" betrays a sardonic grin that is all too often absent from Roger Waters' pessimistic musings and rants. The fact that they threw this together in a couple weeks during the recording of DSOTM makes it all the more impressive. They shoulda cut loose like this more often.

 

It's okay, but certainly my least-played of Floyd's early albums. There's really almost none of the psychedelic or avant-garde elements here and they seem to be consciously trying to mimic their contemporaries. Much of it seems to be an effort to sound more like Grand Funk Railroad or Deep Purple to me.

It's an above-average mainstream rock album but a below-average Floyd album.

 

One of my favorites.

 

One of their best. A very solid record. Not burdened with heavy-handed concept, nor an overabundance of Roger Waters usual grumpy pants business. Just a great, refreshing listen from start to finish. Bouncy, rockin', and fun.

 

my wife's favorite pink floyd album.

 

A solid effort for me. I can't rate it as one of their best when there are tunes like Free Four and Absolutely Curtains on there. However it does also contain some of their best tunes, e.g. Wot's... Uh the Deal and Childhood's End.

 

Although most of you here swear it's one of their best albums, I've never much liked OBC, and to this day I only own it on cassette. So I voted "Not bad - some good/great moments, but overall so-so". It's hard to think that I'd rate an album released between Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon (two of my all-time favs) so low, but I guess it is a soundtrack. Side 1 of the album is pretty good; all of the songs have some merit, and I always enjoy them thoroughly while listening, but I can never remember them when I've finished, which isn't a good sign! "Wots... Uh The Deal" is the only real standout on the whole album for me - it's a beautiful song, really great. Side 2 is where things fall apart for an otherwise pretty good album. "Childhood's End" and "Free Four" obviously foreshadow their work the next year, but the next album would really make that vein of music work, while this sure doesn't, imo. "Free Four" is especially grating. Both have pretty good guitar though. "Stay" is pretty good, but it's never been a favorite. "Absolutely Curtains" is an absolute waste of time - the curtain should have come down before this song. The last 2:30 in particular is awful.

All in all, a very middling effort with a pretty good side one with a standout song, and a really bad side two.

 

I listened to it this week. I didn't think it was great. Some nice moments, but fairly dull overall.

 

I used to like it more, but there are a lot of songs I either find tedious or just dislike. "Childhoods End," "What's the Deal," and "The Gold its in the..." are all great, but I'm not overly fond of the rest.

 

One of their best. I have to have Wot's... Uh the Deal?

 

I've revisited this one lately and it's a pretty sweet record, definitely a highlight of the wilderness years

 

This is kind of the last one before the "adult" Floyd would take over. Bolder universal themes & better production would result in their most artistically & commercially successful albums. But after some of those became over-hyped & overplayed, a revisit to Meddle & especially Clouds can suggest more of the identity of the band. The songs have a great off-the-cuff & non-labored element to them, if somewhat rushed or unfinished. But their vibe is strong - grunge Kinks or something. Great moody pop on an album that's definitely overlooked.