Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Pink Floyd - Meddle CD (album) cover

MEDDLE

Pink Floyd

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

4.30 | 3494 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

penguindf12
Prog Reviewer
3 stars This is the WATERS-era PINK FLOYD's first album. It only hints of the four massive hit albums to come, however, with the 20 minute epic Echoes. But we'll get to that later.

The album begins with the haunting sound of wind blowing, through which a single bass note echoes in high delay. Then another bass note, and another, and then we have a full bass riff going. Then a second bass joins in, double tracked. What happens is an axe-grinding madness underscored by WRIGHT's synth skills. It builds and builds until it goes into a very sharp, distorted single bass which broods for a while. Then you hear someone pounding on a door as the climax comes, and a monstrous voice says "ONE OF THESE DAYS I'M GOING TO CHOP YOU INTO 'LIL PIECES!"

Then the song continues with a guitar added, and eventually fades into the wind. This wind continues until the first acoustic riff of "Pillow of Winds" begins. It is a nice little song, and the transition between the two songs hints at the FLOYD's later obsession with connecting the songs together.

Following the relaxing number "Pillow of Winds" is "Fearless," another great song. Then there's the lazy "San Tropez," which is slightly less interesting, followed by what is possibly the FLOYD's worst song ever: "Seamus." It's a mediocre blues number made much worse by a dog barking (literally) in the foreground. It was meant to be a joke by the band, but come on! Fortunately it is very short. This album seems to begin wonderfully, then steadily get worse, then spring back up with "Echoes."

Ah, "Echoes." Very high-quality stuff. It starts with the "ping" of a submarine and then becomes an underwater, slow rock masterpiece. The lyrics are the first sympathetic lyrics from WATERS, and prove to not be his last. After some beautiful music, the band goes into a sort of jam which lasts just a little too long in my opinion. Then the band is silenced as GILMOUR's guitar screeches out eerie, piercing notes and seagull caws. It is here that we are pulled from the comfort of the watery beginning into the freezing air above. Not the best part of the song, but it is thankfully short. The pings of the submarine are agains heard, and we are slowly pulled back to earth with some progressing guitar riffs. Then the original theme is reprised in a drier setting, and the whole thing is eventually sucked into a pinging wormhole of sound. Excellent.

Now, with the great reviews I gave "Echoes" and "One of these Days," you might be wondering why I gave this an average 3 stars. If this album were the only way to obtain these wonderful songs, I'd definitely have raised the rating. But the album "Best of Pink Floyd" also has these two songs as well as some other great material. The only difference is that "Echoes" was edited a little bit, but the parts cut out aren't that great anyway. But if you really like "Echoes," you may want to get this album. "Pillow of Winds" and "Fearless" are worth a few listens as well, but not necessarily essential. Good for fans of PINK FLOYD or people wanting to start into their earlier material.

penguindf12 | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this PINK FLOYD review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.