Published on Apr 27, 1998
It seems like everybody sings the praises of Pink Floyd’s 1973
epic
The Dark Side Of The Moon — maybe that’s one of the reasons
we’ve avoided reviewing it as long as we had. (Hard to keep an
objective view of it when we hear parts of it played on the radio
every damned day.)
But what many people might not realize is that Roger Waters and
company almost had all the pieces together back in 1971, when
Meddle was released. This might be one of the best efforts
that Pink Floyd ever put together — and at times, it’s also one of
their most challenging.
The opening track “One Of These Days” is a longtime concert
staple, but nothing has ever come close to matching the mystique
and intensity of the original version. Starting off only with
Waters’s echoed bass line, then building to include Richard
Wright’s keyboards, David Gilmour’s chainsaw guitar lines and Nick
Mason’s drum work, “One Of These Days” is one of the songs in Pink
Floyd’s career that captured its essence perfectly. (Listen for a
small snippet of the “Doctor Who” theme in the bridge.)
Were this the only worthwhile performance on
Meddle, it would have secured its place in the rock annals.
But Gilmour shows just how gentle his singing and playing could be
on the very next track, “A Pillow Of Winds”. The gentle acoustic
guitar line paves the way for the rest of the track to unfold. For
that matter, each song on the first half of
Meddle not only examine slightly different genres of music,
but they all seem to be natural progressions from the other.
“Fearless” examines a more subdued style of rock (great line a
teacher buddy of mine always quoted: “Fearlessly the idiot faced
the crowd / Smiling.” That one’s for you, Buzz.), “San Tropez”
delving a little bit into jazz, and “Seamus” taking a bizarre look
at blues – including a dog doing vocals. (If memory serves me
right, a version of this without Gilmour singing – that’s right,
only the dog – was called “Mademoiselle Knobs” on a bootleg
release. I’ll have to dig that out of the Pierce Archives to
check.)
The centerpiece of
Meddle is “Echoes,” a 23-minute piece that is the first
truly successful merge of psychadelia and rock that Pink Floyd
attempted. The interplay between all four band members is quite
smooth – it does seem like it’s the most natural that Gilmour had
sounded since replacing acid casualty Syd Barrett in 1968 – and it
could have been the most creative the band had ever been in this
vein. But there are times that the concept is stretched a little
too thin – especially around the half-way point in the song.
However, this is a small complaint.
When you listen to
Meddle, you notice that it seems like the seeds for
The Dark Side Of The Moon are occasionally heard. And while
it might not have been quite as spacy as the album that was to
follow, Pink Floyd definitely had entered “the zone,” an almost
impenetrable field where they could do no wrong — a field they’d
be in for three more albums. (Sorry, but I don’t include
The Wall in this “zone” – the floor is now open for
debate.)
Meddle is probably the second album you should buy if you’re
just starting to get into Pink Floyd, the first being
The Dark Side Of The Moon. If you want to discover more
about this album, check out the video
Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii.