MEDDLE

While not nearly my favorite Pink Floyd album, Meddle has over time become one of those strange albums I find myself gravitating toward with more (no pun intended at all) frequency. It is an album for both lovers of jazz and psychedelic music.

"One of These Days" The album begins with a pillow of winds, as it were, and Waters's echoing bass (perhaps hinting at the final track). The composition is repetitive, but uses that repetition to build by bringing in the various instruments, but it is without a doubt the wild bass guitar that stands out. Gilmour's slide guitar plays a more prominent role toward the end, but one may still be tempted to focus on the bass (and Wright's punctuating keys). The music ends with the sound of wind leading into the next track.

"A Pillow of Winds" This lovely track looks far into the future, seeing a time when Gilmour would make an album centering around this pleasant sound, which would be called, On an Island. If one is a fan of said album, one should not be disappointed by this satisfying acoustic guitar-based song, which also features slide guitar.

"Fearless" "Fearless" is one of those tracks that I always seem to forget about when I put on its album until it begins, and then I am filled with both delight and pity- delight because I have rediscovered something a song I enjoy, and pity because I find it impossible to refer to it as a memorable track. That said, I really enjoy the layers of guitars, the happy riff, and Gilmour's singing. The singing of "You'll Never Walk Alone" by the Liverpool Football Club is a nice touch.

"San Tropez" This Waters-penned piece reminds me quite a bit of Burt Bacharach, with it's easygoing but upbeat jazziness. Gilmour has a slide guitar solo, while Wright gets an opportunity to delight listeners with some jazzy piano at the end.

"Seamus" This is a short, acoustic blues song featuring the ever-annoying wailing of a Borzoi.

"Echoes" A piano through a Leslie rotary speaker begins this epic Pink Floyd song. Gilmour's guitar is subtle, although less so than the rest of the instrumentation until the drums come in. Three minutes in, the hypnotically beautiful vocals enter, full of mesmerizing lyrics. The guitar riff after the verses is intriguing, fitting the enigmatic nature of the song. Following several minutes of guitar soloing, a funkier, bass-driven ride gives Gilmour more freedom to run about on his guitar. Things take a turn for the strange, though, as the funky groove gives way to out-of-this-world psychedelic noises, all of which are the result of heavy experimentation or sheer accident. Waters used a steel slide on his bass and fed the signal through a Binson Echorec. The ear-piercing screams occurred because Gilmour accidentally had his cables switched around on his wah pedal. Wright contributed to the sonic experimentation by pulling certain drawbars on his Hammond organ. When the music becomes coherent again, reviving the Leslie-induced piano, Gilmour palm mutes rapid notes on his guitar while playing a lovely melody, and the sound builds with Mason's steady cymbal work. The music climaxes in this part to some creative guitar work, but unexpectedly brings the verse section back around. One of the greatest audio illusions ever, a Shepard tone, concludes the piece.