There are times when I have some sympathy with the intent of separatist feminism. One such is when I force Lucy to play this 'game' where I put on a CD and force her to guess who it is. Only a man would do this; only a man could — and a puerile man at that. On this occasion it was a lot of fun. As we set off in the car, I slotted this into the dashboard and set the challenge. "Sounds like seventies prog," she said. Yep, recorded in '69 as it happens, but generally included in the prog canon. "Hmmm, my mind's gone blank on prog rock groups." As it does with most people of taste and discernment. "Not Genesis." No. "Not King Crimson?" No, but you're still along the right lines. "Is there a colour in the name?" Yes. "Deep Purple?" No. "Well, it can't be Pink Floyd, because you wouldn't have any of their stuff*, and anyway I can tell it's definitely not them." I didn't say anything. We were on to The Nile Song or possible The Crying Song by this point. Consternation coalesced. "Not Black Sabbath, surely." No, not Black Sabbath, and not The Moody Blues either. We were through Camberwell by this stage, going past Elephant and Castle. "It must be someone horribly obscure; are you sure I'll have heard of them?" They recorded one of the best-selling albums of all time: a massive, massive hit. "I'm going to be really cross with myself when you tell me, aren't I?" Uh-huh. I promised to put Lucy out of her misery once we got north of the river (we were bound for this event), and as we reached the far end of Blackfriars Bridge, and I broke the news, the sense of relief, drama, chagrin, closure was… less than palpable.
I hold my friend David Kay responsible for this. We were sharing a beer or two when I mentioned that I'd recently bought Meddle and Ummagumma, so we got into a chat about the late-sixties-early-seventies Floyd era. He recommended More so strongly that I went and got it a week or two later — and Obscured by Clouds at the same time. (*See, I told you Lucy never reads Music Arcades.) And, as with Obscured…, the CD booklet makes the film More look very drippy indeed.
Meanwhile I never quite understood David's recommendation. I've been taken to task, earlier today, for implying that a record was unremarkable, but let me be bolder and more explicit about this one: with the exception of Main Title it seems remarkably unremarkable. Although David and I have been in daily email contact recently — we submitted a bid to the British Library this morning — we only get to have a beer once a year, if that. Otherwise I'd ask him to remind me what he thinks make this interesting.
MusicBrainz entry for this album
Very mellow and interesting record. I haven't seen the film it soundtracks.
Posted by: M.J. Nicholls | 13 February 2010 at 06:14 PM