Released: 1971
Tracks: One of These Days; A Pillow of Winds; Fearless; San Tropez; Seamus; Echoes
Best track: Fearless, I think?
Tracks to skip: San Tropez & Seamus
Of the “popular” Pink Floyd albums, I think this is earliest in chronological terms. I’m curious why Obscured by Clouds gets skipped over and most people head over to Dark Side of the Moon. Ah, but that question is for another day, after I buy Obscured and then review it. My point is that Meddle is definitely a “usual” destination for those exploring Floyd and I’m willing to bet that a lot of people don’t go earlier than 1971. It’s too bad, because there’s some great material there. I think the general consensus is that the band hit their stride on this one and then (skipping over Obscured obviously, even though I think it’s possibly better than Meddle) came into it all for Dark Side. See, I don’t know about all that. I think this album definitely points the band in the direction of Dark Side of the Moon, but they’re really still a long way off.
In listening to this (twice in row, woo-hoo!) I got the feeling that the album, and probably the band, was still a bit directionless. No, maybe that’s not right. I think there might’ve been “direction”, but they just didn’t know which direction to take. Some of my most favorite albums are ones that are very eclectic. I like that stuff. I like all of the songs sounding different from each other. I think it’s a bit weird for me to say, “oh, I love eclectic albums”, but then turn around and say, “Meddle sounds directionless”. I think it’s true…and it doesn’t quite make sense to me, but I have accepted that as an answer. Huh? Yeah, exactly. OK, what I mean is this: yes, this album is eclectic and yes, they don’t stay in one place and yes, it’s absolutely unpredictable. However, everything doesn’t necessarily *work* on this. 4 of these 6 songs are great and they definitely display different sides of the band you probably wouldn’t know just by listening to Dark Side, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. OK, I’ll grant you that’s further expanded by San Tropez and Seamus, but I’ll get to those in a second. Those four songs are really good and in a way they don’t make sense that they’re all by the same band. I think individually the songs are good, but I don’t think all of them work together…especially when you throw in San Tropez and Seamus. Those two just confuse the whole thing. I think the eclecticism is good in general, but in this specific instance it doesn’t work the way it should. Yes, I realize that doesn’t make much sense. I’ve accepted it.
One of These Days kicks off the album and it’s the only song that’s usually heard on the radio from Meddle. It’s a great, driving instrumental and possibly one of the darkest and heaviest tracks the band recorded. It’s a great way to kick off the album, even if it hasn’t anything else to do with any other track on the album. It gets your attention that’s for sure. A Pillow of Winds is a slightly creepy, but very chilled track. It’s a nice break after One of These Days, even if it’s still a bit unnerving in a way. I like the finger-picked guitars combined with some very cool fretless bass work from Roger Waters. He doesn’t have any need to show off on the fretless, but his playing on the instrument is always right on. Fearless…man, that’s a cool song. Right now I think it’s the best one on the album, but that can change at any time. Gilmour sings some great melodies on this track and I’d go so far to say that it’s the best “unknown” Pink Floyd track out there. It’s not played on the radio, that’s what I mean. Fearless presents Gilmour’s acoustic playing in a totally different way from A Pillow of Winds and further shows that he’s not just great on the electric and slide guitars. The soccer chanting is…kind of strange on this track. I don’t really know *why* it’s there, but I guess it adds more to the “what?” factor of this album. As for San Tropez and Seamus, the dreaded “skippers”, San Tropez is cute, but it’s really not substantial. It’s just kind of a goofy, lounge-jazz track that doesn’t do too much and ends without resolving anything. It’s silly and obviously a throw-away, but to me it doesn’t add anything to the album at all. Seamus? I really, really can’t stand listening to this track. It’s a very boring acoustic guitar-based blues song anyway, but throw in a yelping dog (for the whole track) and it becomes unbearable. It really sounds like someone is abusing the dog in some way. I’ve always hated it.
The last track on Meddle is Echoes and it’s the one that seems like it points to what the band would do in the mid-70’s and what would make the band superstars. Not necessarily in the length (since it’s 23 minutes long after all), but in the feel and texture. It’s very spacey and mellow and just a little bit sinister. That middle bit is trippy. It does take patience to get through the track, especially that middle part (the “screaming” bit), but once you get to that *really* cool guitar part around the 18 minute mark and then back into the song proper it all really comes together. I just love that guitar part. I think that’s my favorite moment of the whole album. Yeah, Echoes is a LONG song and sometimes it is rather plodding, but when taken as a whole I think it’s enjoyable. It’s certainly *different* and you’re not likely to hear anyone make music like that. The sound effect of the SONAR “ping” is a wonderful addition to the song. It’s a small thing, but it adds a lot of weight to it.
So, what about the album as a whole? Like I said, it’s certainly eclectic, but I think everything doesn’t necessarily work together. It’s unbalanced in a way. I think it’s definitely an essential Pink Floyd purchase, because the four good songs are all quite good. Meddle isn’t a perfect album, and it’s not sure where it’s going, but there’s enough enjoyment in here and enough different ideas to change your mind that Pink Floyd is just a “space rock” band. Of course, then there’s Echoes and that’s nothing BUT space rock. Still, I like it.
Rating: 86
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