Soundtrack From The Film 'More' [Discovery Edition] [Original recording remastered]

This album is a significant part of the Pink Floyd back catalogue. It provided an empathetic accompanyment to the film "More". When experienced on a stand alone basis it remains cogent enough to retain the listener's attention. This is partly because "More" shows how Pink Floyd were progressing as performers and composers. Interestingly all of the most mature pieces were penned by Roger Waters perhaps making an early bid for artistic leadership. The opening track "Cirrus Minor" establishes the album's mood, it has haunting melody tinged with melancholy. "Crying Song" and "Cymbaline" continue to evoke feyness both lyrically and in the music.

The remaining group compositions are of slighter stature in themselves. But they contribute well to the album's atmosphere and feature some attractive and exciting instrumental performances. "Main Theme" is dramatic and memorable and "More Blues" has some very tasty playing by guitarist David Gilmour.

I recommend "More" for the above reasons and also on the simple grounds that it's a nice record. The new remastered release seems to enhance sonic clarity and crispness generally and especially with regard to percussion and bass parts.

I understand it took PF just 5 days to write, record and press this remarkable album. It is hard to know where to start when praising this albums virtues. Beautiful melodic ballads rub shoulders with avant garde psychedelic exotica, punctuated the while by two heavy rock tracks that outperform anything ever produced by Deep Purple, Black Sabbath or other contemporary doyens of this genre.
This is one of Pink Floyd's finest contributions to our musical heritage.

NOTE: This is a review I wrote in 2009. I do not own the 2011 remaster.

This is the soundtrack to an obscure movie that very few people have seen. By all accounts it's a bit rubbish so it's probably no great loss.

It's a minor footnote in their career, which is as it should be. There are two good songs on it (neither made it onto the 2001 or 2011 Best Of compilations), a few so-so minor songs and the rest are instrumentals of no great merit. An easily overlooked and forgotten 45 minute album. And that's no big injustice either.

If you will like this album will probably come down to how much you like their unfocused, mediocre, noodling era - 1968 (post-Syd Barrett) to 1972 (pre-Dark Side of the Moon). Most people can't stand the hazy, meandering, mostly instrumental music from that era. In truth it's only for the most dedicated fan. The more casual listener is unlikely to get much out of it.

1. "Cirrus Minor" (Roger Waters) - 5:18 (3 out of 5 stars)
Slow song with a not particularly pleasant keyboard drone dominating along with bird chirps. A few lines of vocals in the middle but mostly instrumental.

2. "The Nile Song" (Waters) - 3:26 (5 stars)
Heaviest song Pink Floyd ever recorded. Real distorted heavy metal guitars and shouted vocals. As close to Black Sabbath as the band ever got. Shame they didn't record a few more songs like this. Should have been on the Echoes Best Of.

3. "Crying Song" (Waters) - 3:33 (3 stars)
Nice soft song. Quietly melodic. No great shakes but very pleasant and laid back. Doesn't amount to much.

4. "Up the Khyber" (Nick Mason, Richard Wright) - 2:12 (3 stars)
Hard instrumental jazzy number with seemingly random piano clusters being chopped out in as tuneless a fashion as possible. Atonal and slightly horrific musically but fairly interesting and heavy. I've heard worse jazz. Obviously a Wright number.

5. "Green Is the Colour" (Waters) - 2:58 (3 stars)
Very soft Gilmour vocals with some extra flute. Innocuous drifting song of no substance. Atmospheric of a nice sunny holiday. Too short to amount to anything more than being a nice interlude.

6. "Cymbaline" (Waters) - 4:50 (4 stars)
A real song with some very interesting lyrics. Far from amazing but a few notches above average.

7. "Party Sequence" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason) - 1:07 (1 star)
Super short, super pointless bare handed tribal drumming instrumental. To describe it as filler would be an insult to real filler.

8. "Main Theme" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason) - 5:28 (3 stars)
A few things happen in this instrumental but nothing jaw droppingly beautiful.

9. "Ibiza Bar" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason) - 3:19 (3 stars)
Reprise of "The Nile Song" so more heavy metal guitar. Vocals are buried in the mix. "The Nile Song" was inspired but this sounds like going through the motions. Oddly not very enjoyable due to the weak songwriting.

10. "More Blues" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason) - 2:12 (3 stars)
Some nice slow picked out guitar notes on this rather aimless instrumental.

11. "Quicksilver" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason) - 7:13 (1 star)
A bunch of atonal noises start this instrumental before it develops into a droning keyboard. Nothing interesting happens. Maybe it fits the movie but it shouldn't have made it onto the album. Awful track that goes on forever. To call it music is to be far too kind.

12. "A Spanish Piece" (Gilmour) - 1:05 (1 star)
Nice Spanish guitar ruined by Gilmour making funny comedy voices over it. Very short and pointless but harmless enough.

13. "Dramatic Theme" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason) - 2:15 (2 stars)
Decent short instrumental that's forgotten even while you're listening to it as it's so undistinguished.

If you're a Floyd fan just starting to explore this era, I would recommend starting with Meddle as it's the strongest album. If you like that then you'll probably quite like this. Everyone else should just skip it.

I have included a 1CD Best Of 1968-72 playlist in the comment section for anyone who wants an easy way to navigate through their noodly period.