Up to this point, I think that I’ve been a bit tough on Pink Floyd, With the exception of their brilliant debut album (with Syd Barrett at the helm), most of what I’ve heard in the interim from then was worse than disappointing and often aggravating for me.

I mean, I’m supposed to covering some of the most important music in history with this series, but things really seemed to go to hell after Barrett was ousted until “Meddle” finally showed the band’s better side. The studio albums were mostly fatuous, humorless and poorly constructed, while the soundtrack albums were even less entertaining than the studio albums! But then, “Meddle” seemed to come from nowhere, and the band found their niche.

Still in all, I did not expect a great studio album to have an impact on yet another soundtrack album, but boy was I wrong. “Obscured by Clouds” could have been a proper album and it almost qualifies as a classic in its own right, so today we will start with another segment of some mostly terrible music from Roger Waters’ first solo foray (well, solo with Ron Geesin), and then I will be able to thoroughly enjoy sharing with you highlights from the soundtrack album “Obscured by Clouds.” Enjoy!

Featured Tracks:

Breathe (from “Music for the Body”)

More Than Seven Dwarfs in Penis-Land (heavily edited!) (from “Music for the Body”)

Obscured by Clouds

When You’re In

Burning Bridges

The Gold, It’s in the…

Wot’s…uh, the Deal

Mudmen

Childhood’s End

Free Four

Stay (?)