Review Summary: A classic PF record that compares to DSoTM.
Pink Floyd are known as classic/prog/psychedelic titans. The anthem to every stoner's life and the youthful soundtrack to every 50-some-year-old. They released timeless records such as Dark Side of The Moon, Animals, The Wall, and Wish You Were Here. While those records are indisputably great, Pink Floyd released some material that perhaps is unfairly overshadowed due to their through-the-roof popularity in the mid-to-late 70's. However, in the beginning of the decade and the end of the 60's, the band released some albums that don't get the credit they perhaps deserve, like The Piper At The Gates of Dawn, Saucerful of Secrets, Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, and Obscured By Clouds.
I'd like to review all of them, but I'll start with Meddle. Meddle was recorded from January to August 1971 in London and released on Harvest/EMI on October 30th, 1971. Perhaps not coincidentally, the album was released the day before Halloween, which makes sense given that Pink Floyd releases some trippy, haunting, sometimes scary music. There are only six songs on the record totaling around 47 minutes of time, almost half of that being the most known song on the album, Echoes, which is 23 minutes and 29 seconds long.
The pace of the album, I believe is set when the bass kicks in on the song "One of These Days". After about 40 minutes of inaudible noise to begin the song, the bass kicks in and Pink Floyd has arrived. Without it, the song sounds like sound effects. With it, it sounds like Pink Floyd. After a minute and a half of jamming, the drums kick in and then David Gilmour joins the party with his roaring guitar tone. After the entire band has played together for a short time, it breaks down and sounds almost electronic, and then the entire band begins to play together again - marking the swift tempo and rhythm changes that made the band so successful. A very trippy jam to open Meddle is a great way to open the album.
In "A Pillow of Winds", the tone is set by David Gilmour's peaceful acoustic guitar fingerpicking tone and soothing vocals. He sounds like he's singing directly to you when he says "behold a dream, the dream is gone". In some parts of the song, Gilmour's guitar tone sounds very reminiscent of his lap-steel guitar tone in Shine On You Crazy Diamond. He explores many different guitar pitches in the cut, and makes the song with peaceful acoustic finger picking, sensitive vocals, and eclectic electric phases.
Reminiscent of the underrated Obscured By Clouds song "Free Four", "Fearless" is a very good song to listen to when you're happy. You can't help but hum or sing along when Gilmour opens with "you say the hill's too steep to climb." The opening verse is open to various interpretations depending on the listener. It could relate to never giving up or trial and error ("you say you'd like to see me try"), finding your own sense of spiritual self ("I'll climb the hill in my own way") as well as other personal themes.
Much like the previous track, Gilmour plays acoustic guitar on the fourth song, San Tropez, but the singer in this song is bassist Roger Waters. It's strictly a lovers' song:
"Deep in my dreams and I still hear her calling
If you're alone, I'll come ho-ho-home."
Gilmour's, as usual, beautiful, guitar tone takes over the song about 1:25 into the song, and gives the song a new life and spark - as if it wasn't lively enough. Waters ends each verse with "if you're alone, I'll come home." It's a song to listen to when thinking about a significant other.
Perhaps a precursor to a future Animals song entitled Dogs, the next song on Meddle, Seamus, is about a dog. Throughout the song you hear a dog barking. On top of that you hear Gilmour playing some very folky blues guitar and singing a ballad about a dog: "well I was in the kitchen, Seamus, my old hound was outside." The lyrical content is funny, the dog barking provides an as usual trippy element, the guitar parts are unique and the vocals are very good. Great cut.
Since we have now reviewed the first five songs, we know what's next: Echoes.
One of the most psychedelic, LSD-influenced songs in the Pink Floyd catalogue (and that's saying something), stoners have been listening - and tripping - to Echoes for about 40 years and it doesn't look like a trend that'll stop. About 23 1/2 minutes long, it's very progressive and has multiple phases. It features a great David Gilmour solo, some very sonic noise effects, soothing drum beats, great rhythm patterns and soft vocals, among other things. If you have the patience to listen to all 23 minutes, I promise you won't regret it.
Ironically, Roger Waters said this song was the beginning of Pink Floyd focusing on things that weren't so predominantly trippy and more humanity-based.
