Pink Floyd OBSCURED BY CLOUDS | CD

The last in Pink Floyd's series of 1970s film-inspired works, OBSCURED BY CLOUDS, like much of the band's music, has a cinematic feel. In retrospect, however, the album sounds like a warm-up for--or even a collection of high-quality outtakes from--Floyd's next and greatest record, DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. The opening title track is the sort of proto-ambient music that Pink Floyd helped pioneer and, with its spooky slide guitar, sounds uncannily like some of Eno's work with U2. After another instrumental, the album takes a more traditional, song-based turn and the next seven tunes cover a dizzyingly diverse array of styles.There is stomping, Grand Funk Railroad-style hard rock and gentle ballads like "Stay" and "Burning Bridges" (which recalls Hendrix's "Little Wing"). "Childhood's End," a funky psychedelic number, sounds like a work-in-progress version of DARK SIDE's "Time." David Gilmour, especially, is on top form. Whether creating Robert Fripp-esque soundscapes or blistering Clapton-s