The 2024 12 - Part 4: The Magic Touch of David Gilmour
In 2023 I bought about 175 records. Come 2024, with storage space tight, a growing one-year-old, and a cross-country move on the horizon, a radical shift was in order. This is the third in a series of posts about my “2024 12”, the only twelve records I permitted myself to buy this year in radical departure from my excesses of 2023.
Today’s entries are among the most epic and evocative as it gets in the world of video games, and that’s saying a lot! As a lifelong gamer who works in the gaming industry, video game soundtracks are always going to have big pull on me. But they tend to be costly and the music often just doesn’t land when decontextualized from the artful graphics and sweaty boss battles they are meant to accompany. As a result, these two albums netted me just my thirteenth gaming LP in contrast to my roughly sixty film and TV soundtracks.
An Incomparable Guitar Tone
The Metallic Spheres In Colour by The Orb & David Gilmour (2023). My first purchase in 2024 was this new mix from The Orb derived from their ‘94 session with David Gilmour (which at the time produced Metallic Spheres). I just adore Gilmour as a person and player, his tone is so unmistakable and his playing an amazing balance of precision and warmth. This release is two long trancey tracks that are like a techno take on Jam Band music. It was quite cheap (like $12) and I felt compelled by my love for David; but honestly, despite enjoying this record, it doesn't really hold up as a must-have when buying just 12 LP’s in a whole year. I think the biggest thing holding this release back is that while it explores a variety of interesting vibes, there are no peaks, no central motif or high point to want to come back to. It delivers as a cool trip with great guitar tone woven in here and there, but it’s ultimately not a showstopper.
Buying this made me be much more discerning for the other picks in this series, and of course the next album featured here…
Obscured By Clouds by Pink Floyd (1972). I've been on the lookout for used copy as opposed to a modern repress for some time (call me a romantic) and came across a great one at the superb Ergot Records in NYC. Sandwiched between their epic accomplishments in Meddle (1971) and The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973), and released just 9 months before the latter, this album has fallen into obscurity, eclipsed to the point of invisibility even among self-proclaimed Floyd fans.
It is a delight, a masterclass in the Floyd sound - airy, rich, melodic, super British, spacey and pastoral at the same time. Making it more endearing is that it’s mostly free of pretension or the lofty ambitions that brought bombast to the Waters-led albums in Floyd’s 70’s catalog. Of course Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall are all monumental albums, but the dreaminess, gentle melodies, serene tenderness, and occasional playfulness in these Obscured tracks make for a unique kind of sublime. A big part of this is the prominence of Richard Wright and of Gilmour’s voice, playing, and songwriting. The twin compositions of Burning Bridges and Mudmen are exemplars, and Wright’s vocal melody on Stay (“Midnight blue / Burning gold / A yellow moon / Is growing cold”) is beautifully haunting.
Next Stop: North Carolina
Enough about Brits for now, we fought a revolution after all. Regarding my next post, these were choices made as part of me integrating into my new hometown in the Carolinas. They are from active locals making big waves with earnest, country-tinged Indie.
