Pink Floyd - More

Released - June 1969

Genre - Psychedelic Rock

Producer - Pink Floyd

Selected Personnel - Roger Waters (Bass/Guitar/Percussion); David Gilmour (Guitar/Vocals/Percussion); Richard Wright (Keyboards/Percussion); Nick Mason (Drums/Percussion)

Standout Track - Green Is The Colour

The lengthy and hugely influential history of prog rock legends Pink Floyd has instigated a number of raging debates among fans that continue to divide them to this day, most along the lines of "Waters vs. Gilmour." But one of the most divisive issues at the heart of the band lies in the enormous shift between what they set out to be and what they became or, put in equally simple terms, "Barrett vs. Gilmour." I don't know anybody who enjoys the early psychedelic noodling of the band under the stewardship of Syd Barrett as much as they enjoy their later, critically acclaimed prog work, or vice versa. I know people who have a vague appreciation for both, but everybody seems to come down on one side or the other, either claiming that when guitarist and lead vocalist David Gilmour replaced Barrett in 1968 it moved the band towards the greatness they were destined to achieve, or that it sullied everything the band stood for in their early days and that they would never be as good again. Personally, I've always been in the former camp. Barrett's early psychedelic weirdness is interesting but rarely particularly memorable or tuneful, and occasionally genuinely quite inane and irritating. The band's hugely influential debut, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, was a huge influence on the psychedelic scene, but contained little of real value beyond the space rock odysseys of "Astronomy Domine" and "Interstellar Overdrive." Tragically, Barrett's grip on his own sanity became progressively more fragile to the point where the band simply couldn't rely on him onstage and had to draft in Gilmour as a replacement, with bassist Roger Waters taking over the principal songwriting duties. Barrett hung around for one song of their second album, A Saucerful Of Secrets, that song being the bittersweet "Jugband Blues" which, despite its childlike music, expresses Barrett's feelings of isolation and resentment at being forced out of the band due to his deteriorating mind. After that album, Barrett would never be directly involved in Floyd's work again, though his shadow would hang large over a lot of their subsequent work.

So the band's soundtrack to the film More is their first complete work made without Barrett's involvement, and it begins to show them moving forward from the more spaced-out, tuneless nonsense of their earlier work. That said, it's not a sudden seismic leap forward into full-blown prog grandiloquence and still treads fairly similar psychedelic ground to Barrett's earlier forays with the band, though there is a general trend in a new direction. But without Barrett's tentative grip on reality steering things, there's a much greater sense of coherence and consistency here, of a band that can rely on each other and really pull together to create a complete product that's not constantly in danger of veering off into obscurity. The first side of the album contains some of the most straightforward and direct songs the band had recorded yet, though that's not to say that they were simple or in any way predictable - the lazy, dreamlike opening strains of "Cirrus Minor" conjure up some sort of vaguely threatening dreamscape that's echoed in other quiet, woozy songs such as "Crying Song." It's a restrained and acoustic approach the band would rarely attempt again after this point, but succeeds in channelling their talents into creating a much more relaxed and mellow atmosphere than they would come to be known for. The highlight of these quieter, more folk-inflected songs is the lovely "Green Is The Colour," a charming little song enlivened by the trilling of a tin whistle over the pleasant whimsy of its simple tune.

But the album is far from a collection of acoustic, psychedelia-inflected ballads, and still finds room to showcase Floyd's heavier side as well as their now-familiar avant-garde experimentalism. "The Nile Song" is one of the most directly heavy powerhouses the band would record, with Gilmour really acquitting himself as a truly great guitarist to be reckoned with for the first time, his bellowing vocals driving the song over the distorted attack of his guitar. In fact, this album more than any other in the band's discography up until the departure of Roger Waters in the 80s, really does feel like Gilmour's playground. While most of the songs were written by Waters, Gilmour sings all the lead vocal parts himself, and most of the songs are really driven by his lead guitar parts. Keyboardist Richard Wright gets very little occasion to really show off except for the more experimental instrumental tracks, while a number of the best songs are those acoustic tracks which more or less don't involve drummer Nick Mason at all.

As for those instrumentals, sadly they're the chief reason that this album doesn't hold a stronger position in my affections, as for a while it looks set to be a really great collection of alternately heavy rock and reflective psychedelia which should be hugely enjoyable. The rot starts to set in with "Up The Khyber," the first of several discordant and directionless instrumental jams that serve only to create a few minutes of noise rather than to actually entertain. To be fair, perhaps judging this album because of that is fairly harsh considering that it was written and recorded as the soundtrack to a film by Barbet Schroeder - I've not seen the film, and presumably these directionless instrumental passages work well in context, but listened to as an album they just serve as annoying distractions in between the better songs, and it can't help but slightly sour your appreciation of the album. Some are far better than others - "Main Theme" is a brilliant song, with Gilmour's guitar snaking and twisting around Mason's dramatic cymbal rolls and Wright's simple repeating keyboard riff, but it's in the minority in terms of genuinely good instrumentals here.

But there's no doubt in listening to it that a very new, and very impressive, kind of band was on its way - while they were still indulging their experimental streak and struggling to always refine it into something genuinely compelling, they also delivered some of the best, most memorable and striking songs they'd yet recorded, and were clearly paying attention to the innovations of the prog scene around them to move their music into more rewarding territory. They would soon follow More up with their next full studio offering, which still ranks as one of the most tediously self-indulgent albums ever recorded. It wasn't until the following year that they would resurface with something genuinely fresh and exciting and accomplished, but it would be worth the wait.

Track Listing:

1. Cirrus Minor (Roger Waters)

2. The Nile Song (Roger Waters)

3. Crying Song (Roger Waters)

4. Up The Khyber (Nick Mason & Richard Wright)

5. Green Is The Colour (Roger Waters)

6. Cymbaline (Roger Waters)

7. Party Sequence (Roger Waters; David Gilmour; Richard Wright & Nick Mason)

8. Main Theme (Roger Waters; David Gilmour; Richard Wright & Nick Mason)

9. Ibiza Bar (Roger Waters; David Gilmour; Richard Wright & Nick Mason)

10. More Blues (Roger Waters; David Gilmour; Richard Wright & Nick Mason)

11. Quicksilver (Roger Waters; David Gilmour; Richard Wright & Nick Mason)

12. A Spanish Piece (David Gilmour)

13. Dramatic Theme (Roger Waters; David Gilmour; Richard Wright & Nick Mason)