Pink Floyd: Meddle - 1971

 

Firstly, I have to make the point that I have done on all the Pink Floyd albums that I have reviewed - I am not a ‘proper’ Pink Floyd fan. I am a Floyd dilettante. Therefore my approach will be a slightly different one. Anyway - this was, I have to say, a most interesting album, packed full of lengthy, often ambient, often heavily rocking, instrumental passages spread over only six tracks. 

The opener, One Of These Days, is a pounding instrumental featuring a few distorted vocal grunts of the like Mike Oldfield would use on Tubular Bells and some grinding, Kraftwerk-style chugging rock parts. The beat stays regular throughout, but it is a string, muscular, great-sounding one, overflowing with early seventies rock power. A typically airy, folky Roger Waters sound is found on the slow, acoustic and bucolic strains of A Pillow Of Winds. 

A fine, chunky guitar riff powers the slightly Led Zeppelin III-esque Fearless together with a lovely deep bass line. The signature riff that appears regularly in the song is a catchy one. I love the sound on this track, but I am always irked by the incongruous use of Liverpool FC fans singing You’ll Never Walk Alone at the end - why? I don’t get what it adds to the song at all. 

San Tropez is a jaunty, quirky piece of McCartney-esque fun that sits as a bit of a surprise, but it is actually relaxingly pleasant. Seamus is a short bit of bluesy nonsense with a dog - Seamus - guesting on vocals. 

These two short numbers provide a light-hearted appetiser for the gargantuan twenty-three minute leviathan that is Echoes. There is so much to admire on this monumental achievement of a track - from its sumptuous bass on the first section to the phenomenal thump of the drums of the rock passage, which is the bit that I really love. Yes, it could probably have a few of the ambient later minutes shaved off it but it would still be a magnificent piece of indulgent rock music. And me a two minute thrash punk fan too. I love everything about this, and its sound quality is simply superb. Just check out the wonderful bass, drum, funky organ and guitar passage at seven minutes - it is one of Pink Floyd’s finest bits of music, for me. 

Overall, it is a really fine early seventies rock album and another Pink Floyd album I prefer to Dark Side Of The Moon.


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