Obscured by Clouds is the seventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 2 June 1972 by Harvest and Capitol Records.

[6] The new film, La Vallée, features two travellers on a spiritual quest in New Guinea, and Schroeder thought Pink Floyd would be suitable to provide the music.

[4] Drummer Nick Mason recalls that the sessions were very hurried, and the band spent most of the time in Paris locked away in the studio.

[2] In a snippet of interview footage at Abbey Road Studios that appeared in the 1974 theatrical version (later released on VHS and Laserdisc and subsequent "Director's Cut" DVD) of Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, Waters said that early UK pressings of the album contained excessive sibilance.

[9] After recording had finished, the band fell out with the film company, prompting them to release the soundtrack album as Obscured by Clouds, rather than La Vallée.

[6] The songs on Obscured by Clouds are all short and economical, in contrast to the lengthy instrumentals found on other Floyd albums.

[14][15] "Mudmen" is an instrumental adaptation of "Burning Bridges" in a different time signature, and one of the few tracks from this era to be credited to just Wright and Gilmour.

It was performed live at a few gigs in late 1972 and early the following year; the drum pattern opening the track was recycled for "Time" on The Dark Side of the Moon.

[17] "Free Four" was the first Pink Floyd song since "See Emily Play" to attract significant airplay in the US,[18] and the second (after "Corporal Clegg" from A Saucerful of Secrets)[19] to refer to the death of Waters' father during World War II.

The cover is a still from a workprint of La Vallée depicting a man (Jean-Pierre Kalfon as Gaëtan) sitting in a tree, reaching out to pick the fruit from one of its branches.

Schroeder later said the band did not want to make the cover particularly good as The Dark Side of the Moon would have to compete with it, but Thorgerson insisted it be given proper consideration like any other Floyd album.

[39] Retrospective critical reception has been mixed; The Daily Telegraph said "its elegant instrumentals point the way to Dark Side",[29] while Rolling Stone said it was a "dull film soundtrack".