Review Summary: A ship without it's captain sailing across rough waters.
In was legendary David Gilmour, and out was the increasingly unstable mad genius Syd Barrett who had been kicked out of the group during the recording of the previous album. With Barrett gone, the group seemed to lose their footing and still wanted to try out at a psychedelic sound, as they had seemingly perfected this on the last two releases. However, without Barrett's leadership and crazy ideas, the band faltered quite heavily and went on with a mere limp of the power that they once held.
More suffers from a lack of focus and chemistry between the band members more than anything, and it really shows on this album.
Not yet having Roger as the leader of the band, this period is what I deem the "everyone era" as each member seemed to hold a lead part in the band's dynamic from 1969-1972. On this album, each member attempts to work unanimously and reach for the stars, yet often, this exceeds their grasp. "Up the Khyber" is a messy piece that barely holds a functioning melodic centerpiece, trying too hard to emulate the psychedelia that was the drawing point of their previous efforts, with Rick Wright pounding his keyboard in awkward ways that don't work whatsoever and tape manipulation that while is technically impressive takes away from the focus of the track. "Crying Song" is a bland lullaby-meets-elevator-music tune that never really goes anywhere and has the most pastiche riff that's been done up to this point by the band, doing nothing to separate them from their contemporaries.
"Party Sequence" suffers from trying to do a tribal drumbeat-type song, with Nick Mason managing to do this quite well; unfortunately the flute sounds out of place here and doesn't mix well with the beat, and the song is too short to find its footing or have time to develop. "More Blues" is an attempt to be flashy at guitar in a Jeff Beck-esque blues rocker that sounds completely out of place, while "A Spanish Piece" remains one of the worst songs in Pink Floyd's canon, with weird swallowing sounds and butchered Spanish pronunciation. There is NO rhyme scheme, and the whispering sounds as if recorded through a tire pump.
For what its worth, however, the album isn't completely terrible and again, is just the band suffering from a lack of focus and direction, as there is quite a few fantastic moments. "Cirrus Minor" is a decent enough song that starts off with the very calming atmosphere painted by birds chirping, and some nice acoustic guitar by Gilmour, it works well as an opener and is a perfect example of how one can paint a whole atmosphere with instruments and pastoral lyrics. "The Nile Song" is one of the heaviest songs in Pink Floyd's discography and is a forgotten masterpiece, Gilmour's vocals shriek with sincerity and the riff is one of the heaviest I've heard to come out of the 60's, even though it is admittedly quite chaotic, it works extraordinarily well and makes for one of their best songs.
"Green is the Colour" is a return to a softer style of music, and is quite a well-constructed composition, the use of tin whistle really brings it all together, while "Cymbaline" is the albums second best cut, and one of the tracks you'll definitely remember by the end, which can't be said for much of this experience. "Ibiza Bar" is another hard rock song and though it sounds similar to the aforementioned Nile Song, it holds its own well and shows just how good of a metal act they could have been if they went that route.
All in all, this was Pink Floyd rising from the shambles of their collapse from the leaving of the man that was behind their ideas, and trying, yet failing, to play it safe by sticking to what was working on previous albums. It'd be a while before they found their footing again, though it does have some good moments.
Track By Track:
1. Cirrus Minor: ★★★★
2. The Nile Song: ★★★★★ 🎖️
3. Crying Song: ★★
4. Up The Khyber: 💣
5. Green is The Colour: ★★★★★
6. Cymbaline: ★★★★★
7. Party Sequence: ★★
8. Main Theme: ★★
9. Ibiza Bar: ★★★★★
10. More Blues: ★
11. Quicksilver: ★★
12. A Spanish Piece: 💣
13. Dramatic Theme: ★★
