Pink Floyd- Meddle

Pink Floyd started out as a psychedelic rock band in the mid 60's, and remained so for a while. After their guiding light, Syd Barret, went insane and was replaced by guitarist David Gilmour, the group noddled around for a few years. While they made some good music, they lacked the focus and drive to make a really good album during that period. Everything changed for this 6th album, 1971's Meddle. Though there were hints of a change on the proir album, Atom Heart Mother, here the Floyd jumps with two feet into progressive rock and they don't look back.

The affair starts off with the six minute instrumental "One of These Days". It's all atmosphere, with distorted bass, fuzzy guitar, and lots of sound effects. This creates an awesome brooding effect, and rocks out more than most prog pieces. Also of note is the one line ultra-distorted vocal. The track is juxtaposed with " A Pillow of Winds", which is a soft acoustic guitar piece. It floats by, and isn't nearly as fun but is admitably quite enjoyable. The rest of the A side has mostly forgettable tracks with different influences: the folksy "Fearless" (well liked by many, but not my favorite), the jazzy "San Tropez" (fun, but not substantial), and the bluesy "Seamus" (terrible). However, the side long "Echoes" makes up for anything that those three songs lack. From the opening electric pulse, everything about this song is right. The music is so completely somber, and the emotion is what makes the track. It also is an early entry in Pink Floyd's existentialist catalogue, and the live version is even better.Very few pieces of Progressive Rock capture so much raw feeling with music. A classic.

The early Pink Floyd albums, especially their debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, weren't at all bad. But most of those albums are just good, the kind of things that would be forgotten today if not for the later fame that the Floyd gained. Meddle is not like that. Led by Roger Waters, Pink Floyd took their roots and mixed them into a Prog Rock format, allowing them to really start reaching the post Barrett musical vision the group had. Though not a Dark Side, Wish, or Animals, the door was now open to high achievement.

The real Pink Floyd starts here. Grade: A-