King Crimson: Starless & Bible Black

Starless and Bible Black

Best song: The Mincer? maybe?

Worst song: one of the first three or the title track. I’ll say The Great Deceiver

Overall grade: 4

After finally, finally living up to their original potential with the release of ‘Lark’s Tongues’, the mighty Crim were right back in the studio recording the followup. Unfortunately, they only had about 20 minutes worth of material. Not the kind of people to let that minor problem deter them from their goal of releasing wildly inconsistent records every year, they set to work playing random improvisations until they hit on a few that they thought would polarise opinions enough to be put on an album.

I don’t like the first couple of minutes of ‘Great Deceiver’ – the melody seems forced and awkward, but it picks up in energy as it moves on. In the same way, ‘Lament’ takes quite a long time to get going, and the slow beginning part doesn’t capture my attention at all (this incarnation of King Crimson is good at LOUD AND INTENSE. On this album they’re often neither of those things, which works occasionally, eg. Trio, and fails often, eg. here.)

‘We’ll Let You Know’ is a pretty short instrumental and probably interests me the least out of all of them. It’s played very staccato all the way through and there’s a lot of beats that are just silence, an effect that’s used to extremes and causes none of the piece to really flow, so it’s not a particularly satisfying listen. In fact, it’s not until ‘The Night Watch’ that a track I really like appears; the quietly deranged vocal of that song an album highlight and its guitar solo noteworthy despite being fairly conventional.

Another really awesome track is ‘Trio’. It’s an improvised instrumental which might be about trying to find your way while lost in the jungle, or that might just be my interpretation, who knows. Funny anecdote about this song: Bill Bruford has a writing credit on it, which doesn’t seem strange at all until you realise there is no percussion. Apparently, his spontaneous decision not to add any was a really integral part of the song – and I completely agree. It must take a lot of restraint to not start playing when everyone else is jamming away, but I think he made the right decision, because I can’t imagine drums improving the track in any way. The mellotron and violin based piece doesn’t sound like most of this Crimson incarnation, but it’s nevertheless quite stunning.

‘The Mincer’ is menacing and brilliant. Its dissonance and general atmosphere mean I never feel quite safe while listening to it; it’s anything but background music – it’s the kind of thing that if it was played in a film, you’d be paranoid and on edge and you wouldn’t quite know why. It moves through a few different genres including a jazzy section and a more rocking one and includes a searing and unique John Wetton bassline. It ends not with a true ending, but at the point where the tape ran out during recording, and though that finish always throws me, I’m very glad they didn’t throw it out and start again.

Of the two long-form improvisations on the second side, I, like most people, prefer ‘Fracture’. I hear I’m in good company – Robert Fripp likes that one too. And why shouldn’t he? His guitar playing is literally on fire. I mean, it’s a really technical song, and I don’t think it’s meant to bring a tear to your eye unless you’re trying to play it and failing miserably, but damn can Fripp play, and I don’t mind him basically ripping off the structure of ‘Lark’s Tongues, pt.2’ if he keeps using those crazy time signatures and insanely fast chord switches. There’s absolutely no way he made this up on the spot. At over eleven minutes it doesn’t leave me breathless throughout, but there are enough sections that do to make it worthwhile.

The title track is more what you’d expect from an improvisation, with everybody playing well but nobody coming up with any ideas that really make you go ‘wow!’ In the words of Steven Wilson when he put out an album composed entirely of studio jams; “file under self-indulgent”.

I don’t think there’s a single song on this album that I could ever love unconditionally, but I have a LOT of respect for all these guys as instrumentalists and songwriters, and sometimes they earn that respect. Still, I mostly see this as a stopgap to prevent the band from releasing two classic albums in a row, which obviously just wouldn’t do. 

Jarvis Cocker: Jarvis

The Jarvis Cocker Record

Best song: I Will Kill Again

Worst song: Heavy Weather

Overall grade: 4

More than five years separate the final Pulp album and this, Jarvis’ first solo effort, although to be fair he was working on other things in that time too – most notably, a guest role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where he actually contributes three really good magically-themed songs and performs at the Yule Ball, basically just making an already-great movie even better. I’d guess that the songs here were written and recorded sporadically between his other commitments, as the album as a whole does seem a bit disjointed. Some of these sessions produced songs which are minor classics, while others are less than inspired.

There are two excerpts from an unreleased song, at the very beginning and near the end of the album, known as ‘Loss Adjuster’. They’re pretty piano pieces. In my notes, I have ‘I like Loss Adjuster’ written as I listened to the first one, and when I got to the second, ‘I still like Loss Adjuster’. There’s little else to say about it.

First real song is ‘Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time’ and lyrically it’s similar to Pulp, especially from the ‘His ‘N’ Hers’ era, but the production is not as perfectly polished and it’s less poppy. It works well as an opener with its mix of familiar and unfamiliar. Following on is ‘Black Magic’ which is very, very different, quite a lot heavier with a jumpy backing that reminds me a little of Talking Heads, only nowhere near as good, because this song doesn’t stay with me and honestly, I have no idea what it’s about.

I really don’t understand why ‘Heavy Weather’ was included. It has rain sound effects all the way through, which basically sums up everything that’s wrong with it, and it’s just so dull, with no real substance. Make a serious improvement to this album by removing this song and replacing with ‘Can You Dance Like A Hippogriff’ from Harry Potter.

Luckily, after its mostly inauspicious start, we get a real winner: ‘I Will Kill Again’ is amazingly chilling; a very creepy song from the point of view of a stalker observing his victim, and it’s a really interesting and perceptive look at someone with such a messed up mind. At the start the melody is slow and sinister, as you might expect, but later on, it takes more the form of a traditional love ballad, which is actually even MORE disturbing.

‘Baby’s Coming Back To Me’ is justified in its existence, I guess, by its delicate melody and good description of the feeling you get after receiving good news, where everything else seems good too. However, it never picks up any momentum and feels a bit lifeless throughout. That’s actually a problem that persists throughout the record. The best Pulp songs work so well because they masterfully build to a crescendo, while here many tunes remain static. ‘Disney Time’ makes a weak attempt at such a build right at the end, but it is, sadly, too little too late – a real shame, because the ideas behind the song and the first verse are impressive.

‘Fat Children’ is pretty hilarious the first time you listen to it, with its satirical lyrics and over the top cries of ‘Fat children took my liiiiife!’ Musically it doesn’t hold up so well, it’s a little repetitive and I like it less with each time I hear it. ‘Tonite’ also feels pretty stale, but did so from the first time I heard it, because it’s basically just recycling ideas from previous albums. Listenable, but adds nothing.

The other song I’m 100% in support of is ‘From Auschwitz to Ipswich’. It’s hopeless and depressing with good, insightful social commentary and a wonderful melody, so, in short, everything Jarvis is good at, and both the musical theme and the lyrics are very memorable, almost haunting.

For the most part, the lyrics on this album are very good, but they don’t do that nosy-neighbour, storytelling thing that I love about Pulp songs. The only song that does continue that tradition is ‘Big Julie’, and while it doesn’t reach the heights of ‘Wickerman’ or ‘Common People’, it’s a worthy continuation of the tradition, with an interesting character and some of the best lyrics on the album: see ‘Yeah, go and chase your dreams/But if your dreams are not your own/Then wouldn't it be better/just to work things out at home?’

‘Quantum Theory’ ends the album proper on a good note. It’s beautifully sung with a lot of emotion and quite cryptic in a way, not giving too much away about the story behind it, but definitely relating to a lost, maybe-dead lover, and the narrator’s way of coping; imagining them in a parallel universe where things worked out. It’s an idiosyncratic take on a love song and in that way it reminds me of ‘Something Changed’ from Different Class.

But there is a bonus track after 25-odd minutes of silence, ‘Running the World’. Although I can’t disagree with its message, it shouldn’t be there, and – dare I say it – someone with such a talent for lyricism shouldn’t need to use so many swear words.

This album is worth owning if you like Pulp or quirky singer-songwriters. Probably it’ll become the kind of thing that you rarely play all the way through, but have a few songs that you listen to a lot. Its towering highs make it more than worthy of a passing grade, but there’s enough I don’t like to guarantee it’ll never be a favourite. Jarvis is talented on his own but his style is dramatically different – and he’s allowed to change, but I’m still allowed to prefer things the old way.

Taylor Swift: Red

Red

Best song: All Too Well

Worst song: Everything Has Changed unless you have the deluxe edition

Overall grade: 6

I really expected to be seriously unimpressed by this. The sheer number of bands I discovered in the time between ‘Speak Now’ and this one alone means it’s automatically going to be at more of a disadvantage – at one point I was doing a band every week and listening to their entire discography in that time. You can tell I never do my schoolwork. Anyway, much to my surprise, this turned out to not only be the best collection of songs Taylor Swift has put out, but one of the best records of 2012, full stop.

The original album brief was that it would detail “the rise and fall of a relationship”, so I did wonder if it would be a kind of rock opera – well, pop opera, I suppose. Popera? That term must already have been coined by someone. But that didn’t turn out to be the case, as these stories don’t follow any kind of thread. Which was a minor disappointment at first, but then I realised that if they did, there couldn’t be any of her songs that tell the tale of an entire relationship, which are always so effective.

Unlike the last album, a handful of these songs are written by Swift in collaboration with other people. For the album’s fifth track, ‘All Too Well’, she returns to her original writing partner Liz Rose, who helped her edit the song down from 10 minutes in length. Not that I would have minded if she’d kept the length. Despite appearing fairly early on it acts as a centrepiece of the album, and although it follows the same basic pattern as many of her songs have before – starting with two verses that introduce the story, then a really powerful, swelling middle eight before a quiet, mournful section and then the eventual emotional finish – this guitar-driven confession only improves on what has come before. Musically and lyrically she knows exactly what she’s doing, getting her audience involved in the story before delivering the crushing though unavoidable blow that this relationship can never work out: ‘Cause there we are again when I loved you so/Back before you lost the one real thing you’ve ever known.’

Elsewhere, a freshness is brought to the songwriting process by other artists joining Taylor in a duet. The first of these is with Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, and together they come up with the amazing alt-country song ‘The Last Time’, a dark look at an on-off relationship that both parties swear is now on for the last time. The two play off each other well and parts of it feel spontaneous and conversational, like the great exchange ‘This is the last time you tell me I’ve got it wrong/This is the last time I say it’s been you all along/This is the last time I let you in my door/This is the last time I won’t hurt you anymore’. But the other duet is with Ed Sheeran, and though I expected the two of them to be a perfect match, the song they came up with is bland and uninteresting, making it easily the worst thing here (although on the deluxe edition there’s a bonus track called ‘Girl at Home’ which is the worst thing she’s written, ever. Don’t listen to it)

The most commercial, chart-topping songs come courtesy of pop writing/production super-duo Max Martin & Shellback, although Swift still takes first credit and manages to bring her own voice to them. They’re all winners but I’m most interested by ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ because it shows she’s trying to push boundaries, maybe not in music as a whole but within herself. The dubstep influence is as far removed from country as you could get, but she performs convincingly on this purposefully messy song.

Most other material here is entirely Swift’s own (she also helps produce!) and it’s here that she slips back into her country ballad and pop rock tendencies, with consistently good results, although I’m going to dock points from ‘Holy Ground’ – I like it, but it doesn’t have any real hook, and isn’t the whole point of a pop song to get into your head? Other than that, solid stuff. ‘I Almost Do’ and ‘Sad Beautiful Tragic’ are the emotional tearjerkers and the second one in particular is very evocative, skilfully remaining general enough as to apply to many people’s memories. A change in subject matter comes in the form of ‘The Lucky One’, the ‘fame-isn’t-so-great’ song that every Serious Artist is obligated to record at one point in their life. As one of the world’s biggest pop stars, she’s earned the right, and the comparison of her own life with Joni Mitchell’s keeps things interesting, along with a particularly dynamic vocal performance.

 ‘State Of Grace’ opens the album with a killer drum and guitar introduction and a lyric that does basically sum the whole thing up: ‘Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right.’ The game is only played good and right in three songs; lighthearted bubblegum country ‘Stay Stay Stay’, escapist pop anthem that’s sure to be lots of people’s wedding song in ten years’ time, ‘Starlight’, and closer ‘Begin Again’. Contrary to the last two albums, it’s not a massive arena rock track with a far-reaching message, it’s a snapshot of an unsure, intimate moment between a couple who are just starting out and thinking that maybe, this time, things might work. It’s like Swift saying to us after all the negativity: ‘Don’t worry – I still believe.’

Right now, I can’t imagine Taylor Swift ever putting out a set of songs that equals or betters this. But then, I’ve said that before.

Yes: Going for the One

Going for the One

Best song: Turn of the Century

Worst song: Parallels

Overall grade: 6

Listening to this album is always slightly bittersweet. On the one hand, it’s brilliant and there’s no denying it; on the other, it was Yes’ last truly mindblowing album, and it can only go downhill from here. But it’s still a pretty impressive feat that this one turned out as good as it did: after ‘Relayer’, the band felt they were fresh out of ideas, and took a hiatus to pursue solo projects (of which Chris Squire’s is meant to be the best, though I don’t have it). But then they came back together, with Rick Wakeman returning to the band having made a pretty great start to his own solo career, and they had a whole bunch of new ideas to work with, which over time became this.

I guess that’s the reason why I like ‘Turn of the Century’ so much – it’s more of a collaboration than the others. It’s a slightly folk-influences tune that’s got this really cool production effect in that it starts off sounding like the music’s being played from very far away and gradually gets closer as it moves on. There’s also some ridiculously beautiful harmonies going on; that moment around the four minute mark where thye sing ‘I’m sure we know’ gets me every time. Elsewhere, Wakeman (he’s back! what could make me happier?) pitter-patters over constantly ascending and descending keyboard lines and the feeling I get from it is that the band have reached where they wanted to be. Past the point of needing to constantly prove themselves with the endless 20-minute songs, they’re comfortable with just staying in one place for a bit. It’s almost their equivalent of ‘Abbey Road’.

So if ‘Turn’ sees them content, then the track which gives Yes the new lease of life to reach that point is definitely the title track, which precedes it on the record. Rather than building up slowly like a lot of this group’s songs, it hits you in the face from its first few seconds, and the intensity stays with the song throughout. It almost matches ‘Time and a Word’ in its overwhelming positivity; Anderson’s euphoria can be felt as though he’s standing in the room right next to you and Howe’s guitars sound almost jubilant.

Rounding out side one is ‘Parallels’, an outtake from Chris Squire’s ‘Fish Out Of Water’ album. Now, I have minor issues with Chris Squire as a person in the way he takes total control of the band, treats its other members as disposable and also turned them into an 80s pop machine for a few years, but I do love his playing, and so if I thought this song was really good, I’d admit it. I don’t, though. I think if someone was trying to recreate the style of classic Yes, it would be a fair imitation, but coming from the band themselves it seems a bit uninspired.

Side two opens with the surprise hit single ‘Wondrous Stories’. I actually heard this played on mainstream radio pretty recently, which came as a real shock, though a welcome one. Some people hate it, and to be fair, if the band made a whole album of cute little pop songs like this, I would probably hate it too. But in moderation it works really well, especially coming right before the more challenging ‘Awaken’. Oh, and it strongly features Rick Wakeman’s NEW POLYMOOG! (As someone who doesn’t actually play any keyboards, I probably should not find that as exciting as I do. But it does sound amazing.)

I never used to be big into ‘Awaken’, thinking it didn’t really achieve anything not already improved on with their earlier epics, but then I heard Jon Anderson saying that he saw it as their best, or certainly most complete song, and I thought I’d try to see it in a new light. And you know what? I did. It doesn’t burst with originality in the same way ‘Close To The Edge’ does, but I see Jon’s point in that it’s more planned out, less improvised than earlier works, and it really takes the listener on a rollercoaster ride through musical themes and emotions – moving seamlessly from church organ to guitar solo to ethnic percussion to a sudden cascade of excitement to the sad and melancholy ending. And it all makes perfect sense; after all, they’d had a lot of practice with this extended composition thing by this point, hadn’t they?

If you’re not convinced, then just remember that this album, complete with its 15-minute closer, stayed at number 1 in the charts for two weeks. And it was freaking 1977. Now that’s a triumph.

Ramones: Road to Ruin

Road to Ruin

Best song: most of them, but I’ll stick with the obvious answer of I Wanna Be Sedated

Worst song: She’s the One

Overall grade: 6

The Ramones’ fourth album is both very familiar and very new. It gets off to an unsurprising start with the fast, energetic guitar riff of ‘I Just Want To Have Something To Do’, and it’s not until Joey starts singing that you realise quite how much development there has been since the last album. With Tommy Ramone out of the drummer’s chair (replaced by some guy called Marky, who sounds pretty similar) and now behind the scenes producing, things just sound different – the melody is emphasised more, and the anger, while still ever-present, has become more subtle. It’s really working for them. They never move into any kind of sickly-sweet pop; the guitar is too animalistic for that and the vocals too hard around the edges, but every song overflows with hooks and giant sing-along choruses. And while the record as a whole still gets samey in places, when a song gets stuck in your head (and it will) you’ll know exactly which one it is.

Songs such as ‘I Don’t Want You’ prove they’re finally taking this music business thing seriously. It doesn’t have many lyrics, but the delivery is a thousand times more sincere than anything on previous records. And a couple of the songs, like ‘I Wanted Everything’, break the three minute mark! That’s how you know they mean business.

The group seem more willing to experiment with ideas now, and there’s a slight country influence on ‘Don’t Come Close’, a great song which feels like something that would be played over the closing credits of a film. The influence is there too on ‘Questioningly’, but that track is more notable for being the band’s attempt at a solemn, honest love song. It’s the biggest surprise of the album in that it’s actually very successful! The slowed-down playing doesn’t lose any of the life that the faster numbers have, and the lyrics are good even though they’re frank and not hidden behind their usual veil of humour.

Further showing how these guys are moving on is ‘I’m Against It’. It almost seems like, dare I say it, a purposeful self-parody, taking the nihilism that defines punk and using it in such an extreme way that it becomes comical. I like how they’re not afraid to laugh at themselves and that they’re not trying to distance themselves from the whole punk scene, and I like the song too, especially Joey’s super-intense growling of the lyrics.

‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ has become one of the band’s best-known songs, despite originally being released as a b-side. Again, the fact that it’s based on a true story (Joey Ramone struggling to cope with the Ramones’ frantic touring) gives it more gravity, but the subject matter never tries to overwhelm the song, which stays fun all the way through.

The downside to the band’s new maturity is that the throwaway material is much easier to spot – ‘She’s the One’ is a blatant piece of filler that would have fit in better on one of the previous records, but still would have been one of the weaker tracks. And then ‘Needles and Pins’ is an acceptable cover, but just when their own songs are getting so awesome, I’m not sure it’s really needed.

But apart from those two, there’s nothing to bring this album down, unless you’re one of those people who believes that taking the music in this direction was the Ramones ‘selling out’. It’s not. This is the exact opposite of selling out! (I’m not sure what that is, though… pretty sure ‘selling in’ is not a term) This is the band becoming more artistically creative, more willing to experiment, and if it happened to sell them a few records, well, so much the better. I can’t see why old-time fans who are devoted to the first three albums dismiss this one when it has songs like ‘Bad Brain’ on it, something which takes the best elements of the early records and makes them better, or ‘I Just Want To Have Something To Do’ which is basically just a more technically interesting version of their past stuff.

This wasn’t the first Ramones album I heard, but it was the one that made me see what all the fuss was about when it comes to them, and I still see it as their absolute high point of studio output – the moment when their punk and pop worlds collided in a glorious explosion.

[REQUEST] One Direction: Take Me Home

Take Me Home

Best song: Change My Mind

Worst song: Rock Me

Overall grade: 3

I never used to give One Direction much thought. Much like Justin Bieber or Jedward, they were famous for having hairstyles, and happened to also release the odd song that sold like ice cream on a beach but that nobody older than thirteen actually listened to. And then it happened. People I knew, who I otherwise considered to have very good taste in music, began to confess to enjoying certain One Direction songs. Well, this wasn’t on! I see the appeal of the band to a certain demographic of people, but I just couldn’t understand why a commercial product with so little substance could satisfy a person whose favourite album is Revolver.

I made my feelings clear and then moved on, until a couple of weeks ago, when I was asked to listen to this album with an unbiased ear and review it. Which I did – and would you believe it, I only hate maybe ten of the songs on here!

It is difficult to know how to grade this, though. There are certain things I don’t know if I should take into account. For example, their superfans are often horrible people: I’ve often heard comments made by devotees to new fans like ‘we don’t want you, this fandom is full’. Bit harsh; surely it’s a good thing if more people appreciate your music? But I’m not using that as a criteria, since they don’t choose their fans. But there’s also the fact that the five members are actually pretty good singers. It’s never going to be demonstrated well on highly autotuned songs like ‘Kiss You’, but they have talent. Should I include that fact when deciding on a rating?

In the end, their abilities in the voice department were cancelled out by the fact that only three songs on the record give a songwriting credit to any member of the band, which is enough to make me lose respect for any artist. So I am judging this album entirely on its songs, most of which live up to my expectations.

Lead single ‘Live While We’re Young’ could almost be a parody. It really embodies every cliché of a modern day pop song: bright guitars, ridiculously obvious hook in the chorus, a more tender, slow bridge section in the otherwise uptempo song, never more than three seconds without some kind of vocal even if it’s just ‘oh, oh, oh’, most of the chorus layered and loud before the last line which is sung almost a cappella, and such a polished production that you could slip over on it. It’s blatantly assembly-line and doesn’t even try to hide it. I honestly can’t find a thing that might make it stand out from the crowd or distinguish itself from a thousand others released in the past few years. I particularly hate the lyrics, which are crude and obviously about sex, which is kind of inappropriate considering their fanbase.

Continuing with convention, One Direction follow the tried and tested pattern of two big, peppy singles followed by a ballad. I find ‘Little Things’ less painful to listen to than its two predecessors on the album, because it’s not so overtly commercial. But it’s still very formulaic and a song that’s meant to be this emotional and sincere really should be written by the band.

This album pretends the Beatles never happened, and goes back to the old tradition of padding out the singles with a handful of album tracks that don’t need to exist. ‘C’mon C’mon’ is a good example of this – it seems like it was written in half an hour to fill some space, and although it has an appropriately rousing chorus, the verses are mediocre and the quiet to loud transition in the third chorus is so awkward. Another example is ‘Over Again’, which I actually quite like the beginning of, as it’s more stripped down and has lost the production sheen – but that doesn’t last long. It’s written by Ed Sheeran, who has written a few good songs in his time, but this is clearly taken from his reject pile. ‘They Don’t Know About Us’ has a pretty piano introduction so that I originally thought it might be a nice surprise, but again, it quickly descends into pointlessness.

Each member of the band does make a token songwriting contribution, and some or all of them are featured (alongside professional songwriters) on ‘Last First Kiss’, ‘Back for You’, and ‘Summer Love’. Interestingly, these are three of the songs that come across as the most believable, and I think it shows that they’ve been more involved in the process from the start. But the first and last of these are also the most sickeningly sweet songs, making me gag with their too-perfect harmonies and lyrics that talk of unrealistic relationships.

As much as this style annoys me, it’s nowhere near as bad as ‘Rock Me’, the unlistenable Queen pastiche that occupies the middle spot on the album. I’d like to commend them for branching out, but hearing these five preppy, clean-cut boys try to convince us all they can play rock music is excruciating. In ten years’ time, it’ll be the embarrassing photo they have to keep hidden when people come round.

But finishing off on a positive note, there’s a couple of songs I can tolerate! ‘Heart Attack’ is mixed. The cries of ‘ow!’ in the chorus are really annoying, but I do find the tune very catchy. The pre-chorus section is good, and I like the way the close-up individual vocal of that part is neatly contrasted with the big group harmonising of the chorus. Should have been a single. And the biggest surprise of all is ‘Change My Mind’. It’s not positioned to be noticed and I’d never heard of it before I was commissioned to write this, but I’ve actually found myself growing to enjoy it rather a lot. It has a more mature feel than the surrounding tracks, and I can’t see it becoming dated as quickly as the rest of the record. The longing confusion of a guy who doesn’t know where he stands with a girl shows through, and although the multiple vocalists diminish the effect somewhat, its wistful melody and candid delivery show that maybe, just maybe, there’s some potential with these guys.

So while you won’t be finding me in the queue of people waiting to buy their next single the moment it comes out, I will be keeping half an eye out. Just to see where they go next.

Pink Floyd: Obscured By Clouds

Obscured By Clouds

Best song: Stay

Worst song: Absolutely Curtains

Overall grade: 4

Pink Floyd’s last attempt at a film soundtrack went swimmingly. Apart from the fact that they completely fell out with the film’s director and so released this album as something that, officially, had nothing to do with the film. Clearly assuming that anyone who then saw the actual film, ‘La Vallee’, would assume its use of exactly the same songs was a coincidence. Luckily, this never had to be an issue, because the people in charge actually changed the film’s title (or gave it an extra title) to fit in with the album. So as you can see, the band had plenty of experience of petty disagreements before they started their own war in the 80s.

That’s a bit of a history lesson, but it’s got nothing to do with the album really. What is interesting about this one is that it was written essentially in tandem with their artistic and commercial breakthrough ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. That particular piece was already in its early stages of development when the band were approached and asked to score something for Barbet Schroeder. Consequently, the whole thing reads like an outtakes and demos collection from ‘Dark Side’.

I imagine that for someone who worships ‘Dark Side’ and thinks every record should sound like it, this would be an absolute gem. For me, it’s a definite poor relation. Some of the ‘Clouds’ songs exactly correlate with those on ‘Dark Side’ a year later. The most blatant is ‘Childhood’s End’ in its ripoff of ‘Time’: the theme and structure of the lyrics are identical, the main melody is kind of similar, and at the beginning there’s what is basically ticking – a clear equivalent of the chiming clocks on the other song. ‘Burning Bridges’ is also the exact equal of ‘Breathe’ in its soft edged vocals and mellow atmosphere, and out of context I think I’d find it challenging to tell their openings apart. Lastly, ‘The Gold It’s In The…’ can only be ‘Money’, the token rocker. They still don’t seem all that comfortable with the style, but they’re getting better at hiding that fact, which must count for something.

Aside from those three, the other songs don’t have obvious counterparts, but all bar one would have seemed right at home on ‘Dark Side’. You could probably create a playlist that structures them into a double album if you’re a person who doesn’t think messing with the running order of ‘Dark Side’ is sacrilege (so not me then.) The one song that would feel out of place is ‘Free Four’, which is almost a throwback to the more lighthearted side of Syd Barrett musically, with a bouncy rhythm and a carefree demeanour, even during lines like ‘You are the angel of death’.

The two other vocal tracks are ‘Wot’s… Uh, The Deal?’, a Gilmour dominated affair that happens to be one of his favourites. I can’t argue with that. It has lots of guitars and his trademark soothing vocals and a very pleasant instrumental break in the middle, but is removed from easy-listening territory by the dark quality of Waters’ lyrics. ‘Stay’ is my absolute favourite. It gets the strongest emotional reaction from me out of anything on this album; I can just feel the yearning in that opening section. The brightly-coloured lyrics are very evocative and though nobody mentions is when discussing best Gilmour guitar solos, I can’t get enough of his wah-wah solo on this song.

To round out the album we have a handful of instrumentals. ‘Obscured By Clouds’ is very Floyd; some weird distorted guitars over an atmospheric backing, can’t really go wrong. ‘When You’re In’ has more going on and is pretty cool too, but is it film music? I can’t really imagine it as the backing track to anything, but who knows? ‘Mudmen’ goes through a lot of changes for its length and doesn’t really flow. Some of the sections are good – there’s a part near the end that’s awesome to listen to with headphones on – and some of them are less good, like the screeching guitar that’s not all that enjoyable to listen to. Strikes me as more a medley of ideas than a developed track. And the final ‘Absolutely Curtains’ doesn’t do a lot for me, just wandering around for a while. Plus, there’s another large-group chant at the end, for at least a couple of minutes. Is this becoming a thing, the Floyd finishing off their songs with famous chants? I can’t get into that, it disrupts the flow of a song.

So, in conclusion: the beta-test version of ‘Dark Side’. Listen to it for interest’s sake, but it’s hardly essential.