Declared bankrupt in 1972, Michel Magne passed the baton to Yves Chamberland, owner of Studios Davout, who was succeeded two years later by Laurent Thibault. Magne never got over this failure and took his own life on December 19, 1984.
The Sleeve
The album was originally supposed to have a very different title, probably Music from La Vallée (which appears on the back of the sleeve), but a minor dispute between Schroeder’s production company, Les Films du Losange, and the Floyd management resulted in a change of plan. The title used in the end, Obscured by Clouds, refers to the ultimate destination of the adventurers’ journey: the valley that appears to them shrouded in thick mist at the end of their expedition. This is also the title under which the movie would be released in the English-speaking world!
The sleeve, another designed by Hipgnosis, is somewhat strange. The photograph on the front is a still from the movie depicting one of the travelers in a tree, but deliberately out of focus—to the extent that it is impossible to make out the subject at all! “Since we believed that the Floyd were obviously beyond normal reality then out-of-focus was cool,” explains Storm Thorgerson. “So was distorted or unnatural colour, like infra red film—a film developed initially for military purposes, I suspect, where normal colours were changed depending upon the original colour and on the exposure.”65 Barbet Schroeder offers a slightly different explanation for the blurring: “An amusing detail is that once again, [Pink Floyd] were delighted to be doing the music for the film, but they didn’t want it to do too well relative to their serious work. I sent them a movie still for the cover of the LP. They really wanted to sabotage the thing, and so they blurred the photograph beyond all recognition… All one can see are these bubble-like shapes. It was not in any sense an eye-catching cover. They didn’t want to have another experience like More.”69 Add to this the texture of the card, which was rather fluffy, with rounded corners (first edition only) and an inner sleeve of plain paper…
The Recording
In his book, Nick Mason notes that the songs on Obscured by Clouds were recorded at Strawberry Studios (at the Château d’Hérouville) “in the last week of February.”5 According to Glenn Povey, however, the album was recorded in two spells: February 23–29 and March 23–27, 1972. The mixing was then done at Morgan Sound Studios in Willesden, London, which the group had used during the closing stages of Meddle, April 4–6. Between these two periods, Pink Floyd went on tour in Japan (March 6–13). It is also known that they had already started work on the future The Dark Side of the Moon.
By the time the Floyd found themselves in the Hérouville studio at the end of February, the deadline was therefore relatively short. Nick Mason confirms that recording was intense, which forced the group to be more efficient. “Sure, I thought it [the album] was particularly good from that point of view. It had a good, together feel. It was a fairly relaxed album, but it was, well, tight.”9 The four Englishmen arrived at the château with vague ideas about the music and would often leave the tapes running while they improvised, as Barbet Schroeder explains: “They had done a tiny amount of preparation, but still did everything in the studio. I described the mood I wanted, the mood I needed in order to evoke some scene or other… They mulled it over a little and then, with minimal preparation, literally made the record on the spot, in the studio, to the amazement of the technicians.”74 Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Rick Wright, and David Gilmour worked together in harmony, indulging in games of table soccer or Ping-Pong during their breaks and taking great delight in the French cuisine. The Floyd were still enjoying a period of calm before the dark clouds came along and blotted out the light. “I didn’t detect any tension between them during the sessions,”74 Schroeder would confirm.
As for the recordings themselves, it is highly likely that they were engineered by Peter Watts, even though his name does not feature in the album credits. Pictured on the back of the Ummagumma sleeve (on the right), Watts was the Floyd’s road manager, but also their sound engineer for live gigs. This is confirmed by various witnesses including Dominique Blanc-Francard, who, without naming Watts, recalls “the front of house sound engineer who recorded the album.”77 Dominique Blanc-Francard, one of the rare French sound engineers of international stature, had worked at the Château d’Hérouville since February 1971, in other words for a little more than a year before the arrival of Pink Floyd. As he himself would explain, he did not become involved in the project until Peter Watts had finished recording the album: “Barbet [Schroeder] came down to listen [to the album], and requested a mono version for the movie. Andy Scott was the assistant at the time. The Floyd asked me to mix it, which I did.”77 Two different mixes were therefore done: a stereo mix by Peter Watts for the album and a mono mix by Dominique Blanc-Francard for the movie. During the three years he spent at the legendary studios, Blanc-Francard would record an impressive number of artists, including the Grateful Dead, Elton John, T. Rex, Magma, MC5, and Claude Nougaro. As for Andy Scott, the assistant sound engineer had been hired as the result of a misunderstanding. In the belief that he was dealing with Elton John’s sound engineer, who was to record Honky Château in January 1972, Dominique Blanc-Francard showed Scott around the château and its facilities before the visitor, astonished to encounter such eagerness, revealed that he had simply turned up looking for a job. To Blanc-Francard’s great irritation, Michel Magne immediately decided to hire Scott, reasoning that an English assistant would be extremely useful in the future. He was right, and Andy Scott went on to enjoy a remarkable career, working with such prestigious names as Elton John, Cat Stevens, David Bowie, Jean-Michel Jarre, Daniel Balavoine, and Jean-Jacques Goldman, to name just a few.
Technical Details
At Hérouville the Floyd used a sixteen-track Scully 100 tape recorder, the sixteen-channel Difona console that had been custom built for Michel Magne by Gérard Delassus (with an orange surround by Bernard Laventure), and Lockwood monitors. For the stereo mix, the Floyd returned to Morgan Studios, where Meddle had been mixed, to use the famous Cadac 24x16 desk and sixteen-track 3M M56 tape recorder.
It is interesting to note that the 24x16 console installed in 1972 in Hérouville’s second studio, known as the Chopin Studio, was made to measure using modules manufactured by Studio Techniques, the company of Dutchman Maurice Van Hall, who used to import Scully and MCI equipment, along with other brands, into France.
The Instruments
The many studio photos that were taken provide reasonably precise information about the instruments the group used in the making of the album. Roger Waters played his Fender Precision Sunburst and a Martin D-35 acoustic, a model David Gilmour had in his collection from around this time. The Floyd guitarist used his “Black Strat” and most probably his Fender double-neck pedal steel guitar, and can also be seen using an EMS VCS3 Synthi A “Portabella.” Rick Wright also used an EMS VCS3, although he favored the “Putney” model. Wright also supplemented his usual keyboards (the Farfisa, the Hammond M-102, acoustic piano, Mellotron) with a Fender Rhodes Mark I electric piano. In addition to his Ludwig kit with double bass drums, Nick Mason used orchestral timpani and a pair of congas that the studio made available to him.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
Barbet Schroeder approached Roger Waters to ask him to do another movie score, this time for a Hollywood production, but “the producers refused to agree to his conditions,” claims the director, “finding Roger’s financial demands… too high.”74
Obscured By Clouds
Roger Waters, David Gilmour/3:05
Musicians
David Gilmour: electric lead guitar, EMS VSC3
Rick Wright: EMS VSC3, keyboards
Roger Waters: EMS VSC3 (?)
Nick Mason: drums, electronic drums
Recorded
Strawberry Studios, Château d’Hérouville, Val-d’Oise, France: February 23–29, March 23–27, 1972
Morgan Studios, London: April 4–6, 1972
Technical Team
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sp; Producer: Pink Floyd
Sound Engineer (Hérouville): Peter Watts (?)
Sound Engineer (Hérouville, mono mix): Dominique Blanc-Francard
Assistant Sound Engineer (Hérouville): Andy Scott
Genesis
The track from which Pink Floyd’s seventh studio album takes its name is an instrumental credited to Roger Waters and David Gilmour, a track whose musical ambiance is based on long synth pads, a hypnotic beat, and distorted guitar. This piece is heard twice in Barbet Schroeder’s movie: firstly during the opening scenes, when Schroeder’s cameras are overflying New Guinea and its thickly forested mountainous regions partly concealed by banks of cloud, regions hitherto unexplored “that are not on the map, or, more accurately, are only shown as white spots,” explains the narrator. The second time occurs at the end of the movie, after the group, which is on its last legs, has finally discovered the valley it has been looking for.
Production
“Obscured by Clouds” is based on a single A-minor chord. The keyboard sounds derive mainly from the two EMS VCS3s, the “Portabella” and the “Putney.” They succeed each other in waves, progressively thickening the overall sound texture. To judge from the studio photos, David Gilmour and Rick Wright are the main synthesizer users. Other keyboards contribute to the general atmosphere as well, most probably the Farfisa, the Hammond M-102, and the Mellotron. Nick Mason also innovates on this track, using a new form of percussion: “I was able to try out a very early pair of electronic drums—not as advanced as later syndrums, more like electronic bongoes—on the opening sequence.”5 In actual fact, Pollard Syndrums would not see the light of day until 1976. For the time being it was very probably on the invention of Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge and electronics engineer Brian Groves that Mason was marking the beat. He nevertheless reinforces this beat on his Ludwig kit, adding a second bass drum, his snare drum, and a hi-hat. In addition to the VCS3, David Gilmour also contributes on his “Black Strat” Fender, playing a melodic line with ample Fuzz Face distortion and sometimes bottleneck, and a short delay. His guitar seems to have been doubled by means of ADT. As for Roger Waters, it is difficult to discern the bassist’s role as no bass guitar can be heard on this track. It is quite likely that he too was using a VCS3.
The electronic drums created by Graeme Edge and Brian Groves around 1971 are precursors to the electronic drum kits of the following decade, whose real origins lay in the Pollard Syndrums of 1976. These predated the famous octagonal Simmons drums that ruled the recording roost throughout the eighties.
When You’re In
David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Rick Wright/2:31
Musicians
David Gilmour: electric rhythm and lead guitar
Roger Waters: bass (?)
Rick Wright: organ, EMS VSC3 (?)
Nick Mason: drums
Recorded
Strawberry Studios, Château d’Hérouville, Val-d’Oise, France: February 23–29, March 23–27, 1972
Morgan Studios, London: April 4–6, 1972
Technical Team
Producer: Pink Floyd
Sound Engineer (Hérouville): Peter Watts (?)
Sound Engineer (Hérouville, mono mix): Dominique Blanc-Francard
Assistant Sound Engineer (Hérouville): Andy Scott
Genesis
The title of this track has its origins in an expression much used by Chris Adamson, the Pink Floyd road manager and technician. Whenever anyone asked him how far he had gotten with some task, he would invariably answer: “I’m in. And when you’re in, you’re in.”
Credited to all four members of Pink Floyd, “When You’re In” follows on directly from the opening track, although it is very different in mood. The song is based on a rock-cum-hard-rock riff by David Gilmour that brings to mind “The Nile Song” on More. Linked together, the two numbers were performed by Pink Floyd as the opener to many of their 1973 concerts—in versions that stray in some way from the originals, it has to be said. Interestingly, Barbet Schroeder did not use the piece in the final La Vallée soundtrack.
Production
The second track on the album opens with three raps on the snare drum. Nick Mason works his Ludwig kit heavily and powerfully, pounding his ride cymbals throughout the whole of this instrumental, a track that can be described as forceful to say the least, despite its no more than moderate tempo. Roger Waters seems to be supporting the drummer on bass, although his presence is difficult to make out. Rick Wright makes his Hammond organ roar, and is apparently also playing his VCS3, whose sonorities blend with those of his piano. Despite all this, “When You’re In” owes its particular color mainly to David Gilmour’s guitar parts. Gilmour delivers a melodic motif with plenty of Fuzz Face distortion on his “Black Strat,” which he plays through his Hiwatt DR-103 amp head connected to his WEM Super Starfinder speaker. He doubles himself on a second track, thereby boosting the power of his hook. In actual fact, the piece has two motifs that are played over and over again in a kind of loop before concluding with a fade-out of more than twenty seconds’ duration. This is probably not the most original track on the album or the most essential in the group’s discography. It is interesting to note that there are ten seconds of silence after the fade-out.
For Pink Floyd Addicts
Road manager and technician Chris Adamson will be encountered again in “Speak to Me” on The Dark Side of the Moon.
Burning Bridges
Rick Wright, Roger Waters/3:30
Musicians
David Gilmour: vocals, electric rhythm and lead guitar, pedal steel guitar (?)
Roger Waters: bass
Rick Wright: vocals, organ
Nick Mason: drums
Recorded
Strawberry Studios, Château d’Hérouville, Val-d’Oise, France: February 23–29, March 23–27, 1972
Morgan Studios, London: April 4–6, 1972
Technical Team
Producer: Pink Floyd
Sound Engineer (Hérouville): Peter Watts (?)
Sound Engineer (Hérouville, mono mix): Dominique Blanc-Francard
Assistant Sound Engineer (Hérouville): Andy Scott
Genesis
Although David Gilmour and Rick Wright sing “Burning Bridges” this penetrating ballad is the result of an—all too rare—collaboration between the keyboard player and Roger Waters. It is heard in the movie in the scene where Olivier shows Viviane his outstanding collection of feathers.
Bridges burning gladly/Merging with the shadow/Flickering between the lines/Stolen moments floating softly on the air: the first few lines written by Roger Waters seem to have no more than a remote connection to the screenplay of La Vallée—unless, that is, the flames and the riot of colors are intended to symbolize the exotic feathers. The second verse seems far more explicit. The ancient bonds [that] are breaking, the dreaming of a new day, and the magic visions stirring clearly relate to Viviane. After encountering the group of explorers who have broken with Western society, she decides to do likewise: burn her bridges and embark on a new life of adventure accompanied by a variety of amorous and psychedelic experiences. The same goes for the third and final verse, in which the heroine breaks the golden band. This clearly refers to Viviane’s comfortable life as the wife of a senior official. “Burning Bridges” is one of the best songs on the soundtrack, of which Nick Mason was moved to declare: “I thought it was a sensational LP, actually.”36
Production
The music for this beautiful ballad, whose harmonies occasionally hint at jazz-rock, was composed by Rick Wright, with lyrics by Roger Waters. It is also Wright’s Hammond organ that is responsible for the main color of the song, creating a tranquil, gently drifting ambiance. Together, Mason and Waters lay down a very good rhythm with a fluid, floating feel. However, David Gilmour has taken the lion’s share for himself. Not only does he split the lead vocal with Wright, he also plays various different guitar parts, including a rhythm part on his “Black Strat” that is lightly
colored by his new Uni-Vibe. He also takes three solos: the first, highly inspired and incredibly heartfelt, on his Strat (at 1:26); the second and third (1:51 and 2:54) most likely on his double-neck Fender pedal steel guitar. “Burning Bridges” is an excellent song of which “Mudmen”—on the same album—is an instrumental variant.
The Gold It’s In The…
Roger Waters, David Gilmour/3:08
Musicians
David Gilmour: vocals, electric rhythm and lead guitar, bass(?)
Roger Waters: bass (?)
Nick Mason: drums
Recorded
Strawberry Studios, Château d’Hérouville, Val-d’Oise, France: February 23–29, March 23–27, 1972
Pink Floyd All the Songs Page 34