My review of "More"

More just arrived at the shop today and I went to pick it up.

Played it three times now....and here is my general opinion:


"It's okay."


It's not good, it's not terrible. It's....okay. Which is better than my first impression because the first listen had me at "this is garbage!" so clearly the album has the ability to grow on you!

Anyway, song by song, here's how it stands with me right now. As with all Floyd albums, I'm sure I will grow to love this one more with repeated listens!


1. Cirrus Minor - I had heard this was a good track so I'd thrown it in with my best of early floyd tracklisting thread in the General forum, but...this one was something of a disappointment at first. Nevertheless....first track to use bird recordings, but, Grantchester Meadows was the FIRST to use the "bird recording" that was later recycled on Sheep and a few other songs. This particular bird recording...well...I've never heard this one elsewhere. Just the one from Grantchester Meadows. Anyway, the birds themselves aren't all that interesting, but the track itself is good with repeat listens. The vocals are nothing to write home about, but the music is pretty good, except for a few patchy moments. The birds are overused, really.

2. The Nile Song - The intro was good. Wish I could say the same for the rest of the song. The vocals ruin it. A brainless cock-rocker.

3. Crying Song - Good! Similar in feel and sound to what we'd hear from Floyd in the 1970s. Vocals reminiscent of DSOTM.

4. Up The Khyber - Interesting instrumental. Reminds me of ASOS, similar drum pattern and sounds, but much shorter.

5. Green Is The Colour - Reminds me of Fat Old Sun. Pretty good.

6. Cymbaline - A good track, better than the track before it.

7. Party Sequence - Um, worthless. Next.

8. Main Theme - Arguably the best song on the album. Too bad the title sucks because I'd include this in a best of early floyd collection to be sure. Reminds me of the Epcit floyd tracks....in a similar vein to ASOS or Interstellar Overdrive...maybe even a hint of Careful with that Axe Eugene in here too.

9. Ibiza Bar - Ah, very good. This is what Nile Song should have been. A good rocker and this time with some actual brains.

10. More Blues - A downbeat instrumental. Fairly uneventful. Nothing interesting.

11. Quicksilver - Yet another track that reminds me of ASOS. Certainly has that occasional "don't listen to this in a darkened room" feel to it. The track shows promise at first with the atmosphere and you think it's going to build up to something great and then it just...stops....and fades away. Leaving you somewhat disappointed. Still, one of the better tracks on the album.

12. A Spanish Piece - What the hell is this? Worthless.

13. Dramatic Theme - Guitar work reminds me of Let There Be More Light. A good closer for the album.




Overall: As I said above..."it's okay". It's got a lot of songs that MIGHT have been great with just a little more effort. But they don't quite reach the mark, falling disappointingly short when we know just where they might have gone. Quicksilver could have been amazing. Cirrus Minor, with a little work, could have been a classic track, and Main Theme with a better title also might have been.

Track titles are nothing more than working titles it seems and the band didn't bother to give some of them appropriate names, but oh well.


Score: Out of 13 tracks, 9 are acceptable.

Of those 9, 6 would be called "good". Giving this album a score of 6/13, or 41.6% good, just below Ummagumma.


Ranks with albums from the time period: 1967-1970

Atom Heart Mother
Piper at the Gates of Dawn
A Saucerful of Secrets
Ummagumma
More


Dead last of Early Floyd. Sorry "More!"

A good album. But the worst of the early floyd era. All IMHO of course.