MEDDLE

Meddle is a beautiful chapter in the history of one of the greatest rock bands ever. This truly reflects the glory days of the band, when they had reached their creative and musical pinnacle. Still not confined to any style of sound, Meddle is an unconstrained masterpeice.The use of unique elements such as a wind noise in the backround, or the crowd chanting in Fearless, combined with the superior muscicianship of Pink Floyd, creates something completely unique within the history of music. Every track is a beautiful part of the masterpeice that is the album. Many parts, people claim, have the muscicians "Underutilizing their talent". However, just because the music is not difficult, does not mean it is not good. If you stop comparing it with other works, be them other Floyd works or any other music, you will enjoy the album. Just sit back and listen to the sounds you are provided, they all make up a part of the album. Do not skip tracks, regardless of wether you like them or not, or you are depriving yourself of the full experience the band wanted you to hear. Each track is a peice to the artistic triumph that is Meddle.

One of these days is an energetic, driving peice, that is haunting with it's wind noises in the backround, and the driving bass combined with Rick Wright's superior synthesizer skills create an exhilarating experience that create an emjoyable introduction to the album.

Pillow of winds is a relaxing acoustic tune, featuring, Pillows of Winds. The imagery created in the song is very powerful and it is nice to close your eyes and listen to this one. I enjoyed this quite a bit, as floyd demonstrate their capacity to paint a picture with this song.

Fearless is a very underrated floyd work that begins to change the atmosphere of the album, creating a lively and vivacious sound that is soothing and stimulating at the same time. The strange and intricate guitar work of David Gilmoure is reflected here.

San Tropez is a peice written by Waters, that some will undoubtedly find tedious and unenjoyable. However, I enjoyed it immensely. You can truly enjoy the predictability and quiet reserved style of the song. Floyd is an acquired taste, but after awhile, you learn to approach every song they wrote with an open mind, and be willing to try and see what they were trying to do with this song. Perhaps San Tropez is a reflection on the monotony within life, but I enjoyed it immensely.

Seamus is a peice many have called Floyd's worst song ever. Those people have obviously never heard Allan's Pyscadellic Breakfast, which was quite literally, the sound of a man eating breakfast. The bluesy nature of Floyd reflects their broad musical range and their roots as blues performers. Their creativity is shown with the use of the dog, which although at first seems random and annoying, is actually calculated, and a stimulating musical aspect of the song. I enjoyed this quite a bit, as I am a strong blues enthusiast and I think it shows an important aspect of Pink Floyd.

And then, there is Echoes. Many have a raging hard on for this song, which I actually, do not. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it quite a bit. However, I think that it is on equal level with the rest of the songs on the album, not above or below any. From beginning to end, echoes is stimulating, original, and truly a wonderful musical experience, just like the album meddle itself.

Meddle preceeded Pink Floyd's widescale popularity into the mainstream culture with works such as Darkside of the moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall, and the often overlooked Animals. I enjoy this album immensely, and would reccomend it to anyone willing to keep an open mind throughout. One thing to keep in mind when listening to Pink Floyd, is that they make albums, not songs. Songs are simply smaller parts of the album. You mustn't listen to specific tracks and decide which ones you like or don't like. This was intended for vynal and with CD's and MP3s now, it's easy to listen to only music that you know you like and filter and deprive yourself of the full album experience. Just know that track hopping and closing your mind will only deny you of the musical orgasm that is Pink Floyd's Meddle.