MEDDLE

One of These Days opens the proceedings in a high note. A typical Floyd's instrumental tour-de-force. Hard and fast, menacing, as proved by the only single spoken line: One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces. Spooky. The "acoustic" songs - A Pillow of Winds and Fearless are by all acounts way beyond their AHM counterparts (If and Fat Old Sun). The acoustic solo of the first is simply beauty - a redundance, as far as Pink Floyd is concerned, I admit - calm, gentle, as romantic as Floyd would allow itself to be. One of the few band's song to deal with the LOVE theme - in a simpathetic way, not cynical as would surface later in The Wall. Fearless is more rythmic, upbeat, uplifting. Two true real hidden gems, overlooked even by Floyd's typical fans.

Following are two of the least appreciated songs in Floyd career. San Tropez is a jazz-pop piece with less inspired lyrics and vocals (provided by Roger). Yet, it has some interesting keyboards, courtesy of Rick Wright. Seamus, the blues number with canine vocals, is generally regarded as the weakest song in the entire Floyd catalogue. Honestly, it is to short to hurt me (or the album), and, even more honestly, it cannot compete with Bike for the title of "most stupid pointless nonsensic Floydian tune ever". And yet, Bike is usually regarded as a classic, so... let it be.

And yet, what would Meddle be without Echoes?

Echoes is the quintessential Pink Floyd music. Every note falls right on place. Every bandmate is 100% at their best. Let me start with Rick Wright - he is such an underrated keyboard player! It is not a matter of whether he's got the skills of an Emerson or Wakeman (he does not), but the beauty of the notes he plays and his own very personal style. Simplistic, some would say. Minimalistic, I claim. He does not feel the need to play 1.000 notes per second - thankfully. He just plays the right note at the right time. Not a single note missing or exceeding. Rick's subtle touch and voice (he shares lead vocals with Dave, which is something most people tend to forget) are the foundations to Dave's dramatic guitar solos and Roger's poignant lyrics.

Let me go on to Roger, then. His talent as a songwriter need not to be overstated - I hope so. The lyrics for Echoes are among his finest: moving, a synthesis of the major theme he would explore throughout his career - finding mutual empathy in between each one's loneliness. Not a topic to be approached carelessly, by the way. Yet, I would also like to point out his job as a bass player here - simple, yet effective.

And how about Dave? His voice and guitar are the reason why Echoes will be forever remembered (at least among Floyd's fans) as one of the greatest moments in rock history. One devastating guitar solo after another, one for every taste - pungent in the first section, bluesy on the second section, a breathtaking fanfare after the sound effects interlude, followed by a quiet and simply beautiful solo to close out the song. Without such a magnificent and versatile guitar work, such an epic song would just not be possible (or maybe it would... but then it would be just boring).

Of course, evaluated as a whole, Meddle could not be regarded as a TRUE masterpiece. Itis uneven, unbalanced, sometimes messy - just as LIFE. And, just as in life, it has moments of pure joy, beauty and genius. Not restricted to, but majorly result of a certain side-long 23-minute song incidentally known as "Echoes". With it, Meddle climbs heights very few living people could ever possibly dream of achieving on ther own. What else could we (fairly) ask for? Neverminding the minor flaws, anyone ought to be part of such an experience. Echoes is such a 23-minute experience everyone should take part of. Everytime you feel down and out, go back to it to recover energy and hope, to feed on the all the potential of human talent.

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