I can remember at the tender age of 11 putting a very enigmatic looking LP that I’d found in my parents’ record collection on to listen to. It seemed to have a picture of an underwater nose on it for some reason I couldn’t fully fathom. Meddle was the first Pink Floyd album I ever listened to by myself.
Now I already knew of Pink Floyd, they were the band with the sound effects that always made me perk up my ears; dogs, sheep, planes, telephones ringing and my mum had played me listen to See Emily Play when we spent an afternoon going through all of her singles*, maybe that was my motivation. I remember loving just how mean ‘One of These Days’ was and liking that really long track, until it got too sinister-sounding and thinking the rest of it was a bit pants.
I rather like Meddle. You can’t go around hurling the phrase ‘forgotten gem’ at Pink Floyd LPs, but it is a bit of a one anyway. Meddle sits at a point of flux between the not-very-listenable Atom Heart Mother** and the, rather good but very-soon-to-be-ironically-obscured, Obscured By Clouds, a transitional threesome maybe before Pink Floyd all got thrown into prism.
I always play the second-side of Meddle first because I taped it the wrong way around by mistake and played it that way so many times that it just sounds all wrong if I start with Side 1^, which means it all starts with a ping. Rick Wright amplified a grand piano through a speaker and the, wonderfully named, Binson Echorec to go all sonar-tonal on us and it just starts the side-long ‘Echoes’ perfectly, its’ evocation of water is probably why that nose on the cover is underwater. I love Gilmour’s gentle guitar flights on this track, with hindsight you can see the foundations for every single one of those later Floyd glories being laid here; no ‘Echoes’ no ‘Shine on…’, no ‘Echoes’ no ‘Breathe’. The whole track is a melodic tour de force, dignified, noble-sounding and inspiring, sad of course, Floyd are always sad when they’re being great and then …
… it all goes a bit funky, a mere seven minutes in. Some great funky, organ work and guitar wailing take place over a tough strut laid down by Waters and Mason who I think never really get their dues as a rhythm section. That’s when it all starts to go VERY WEIRD and really sinister, terrifying seagull-like noises wheel around overhead against a backdrop of nightmarish ambient textures, I remember feeling trapped when I first heard this track, it always summons up a vision of a body at the bottom of a cliff to me. And then …
… around the quarter-hour mark, the band take mercy upon us, resurrecting the beginning of the track – Ping Floyd, if you will. This time though they inject a real sense of urgency, more great work by Nick Mason here and we’re off and flying again, the first of many such flights in their canon. When the vocals crest the horizon we are safe again, the band play us out gently setting us back on our feet again by the close, before zooming off again. Easy.
What I think is really admirable about ‘Echoes’, along with the sheer joyous invention of it all and the fact that you can hear the band they were to become hatching out, is that for a song timed at 23:32 it isn’t a second too long – no mean feat.
Next up is one of my very favourite Floyd songs, then and now, ‘One Of These Days’. I just love how incredibly mean Floyd sound here and the opening where double-tracked basses played by Gilmour and Waters emerge out of, yet more sinister wind sounds is supreme. Nick Mason’s vocal is my fave Floyd lyric ever, of course:
One of these days
I’m going to cut you into little pieces!
If particularly vexed I here myself saying that to people in my mind’s ear, strange accent and all^^. I used to put it on teenage rock mixtapes for all my friends, none of whom could believe it was Pink Floyd. I remember one drunken outdoor party when I was 18, someone who I’d introduced to it playing it over and over and over again, whilst I was lying on my back staring at the stars and watching the flickering shapes of the fire. Happy memories.
That’s where my plays of Meddle usually ended, the other tracks were a bit too soft for my tastes back then. Even when I bought my copy back in 1999, I don’t think I’d bothered with the other tracks more than once. Oops.
Okay so ‘Pillow of Winds’ is très wussy, but rather restful too. For once the winds that stalk Meddle are benign, ruffling fields of corn prettily on a sunny day. The lyrics are particularly anodyne by Floyd standards but overall it has a lovely sound and feel to it, Gilmour plays some gorgeous, gentle country-tinged guitar figures here and there – pre-figuring some of his later solo work. Next track ‘Fearless’ is one of the reasons why Pink Floyd in general and Roger Waters in particular are so reverenced in my adopted city of Liverpool, the song ends with a field recording of Liverpool football fans singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ on the terraces which is also cleverly teased throughout the track. The tune is great too, built around a really interesting Eastern-tinged ascending riff, sounding like a mellow Zeppelin number. I really like it and it sounds like nothing else the band ever tried again.
So far so I’ve-been-wrong-all-these-years but … I have very little time for the easy listening stroll of ‘San Tropez’, although Rick Wright’s piano part is a bit of a joy it fails to save the whole thing – should have been a B-side. As for ‘Seamus’, I’m torn between loving the bluesy music and thinking very uncharitable thoughts about a dumb animal, a very dumb, very noisy one by the sounds of it! Two to skip, methinks, but at least these tracks marked the death throes of the novelty side of their English whimsy, it never suited them.
I’ve written far more than I meant to about Meddle and I still haven’t explained the post title. Well, Hipgnosis founder, Storm Thorgerson wanted to use a picture of a baboon’s anus as the LP cover for Meddle, but the band told him on a phone call from Japan that they would rather have a picture of an ear underwater. Pah! Some bands just ain’t got no class. Just think how much greater this LP could have been.
771 Down.
PS. For a total geek out here’s the live version of ‘Echoes’ (from Pompeii) with a video of 2001: A Space Odyssey:
*’Rubbish’ was my verdict then and now.
**and I say that as someone who has never, ever listened to it – so it must be true. For some reason my folks never owned it and I’ve never bothered with it, which of course doesn’t stop me holding self-righteous opinions about it.
^see also: Black Crowes Shake Your Money Maker.
^^#NotSinisterJoe
The start for me too. I like the hard/soft touches.
One Of These Days rules. I love scary ass songs and the instrumentation on that tune is unreal.
As a big Floyd nut “Echoes” is my favorite song by them and you have masterfully put all the beauty of the tune into magical words. Unfortunately I never got to see Floyd do it live. Last year I went and saw “Brit Floyd” who is one of the best Floyd cover bands out there and they did a fabulous version of it. I still remember as a kid around 11 or 12 listening to “Echoes” every night before going to sleep. I even used to put my oldest daughter to sleep to it many many times. Great Post!!!!
Than you so much, that’s really kind.
At their best they were able to create a fabulous alchemy on their LPs. Because my folks were big fans they’ve always been a big part of my musical life, although I don’t have much time for anything post-split.
Thanks again though.
It was the night before Hallowe’en 1971, that an inter-dimensional cross-rip of truly transcendent Rock was released to the world – Pink Floyd’s “Meddle”.
I’ll state right up front that Pink Floyd has been my favorite band forever – their sound takes me back to my homeland, the place where my soul dwells.
If ever there was a record that could actually take you away – I mean had the power to transcend space and time, it was this LP. Meddle was the doorway to other dimensions and “ECHOES” was the key.
https://00individual.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/1970%E2%80%B2s-historic-classic-rock-albums-meddle-pink-floyd-october-30-1971/
Thanks for the great write-up!
I hear you Brother 00!
My parents were fans from the psychedelic days and used to go and see them a lot, so it was definitely in my blood.
I can relate to that ‘so-far-so-wrong-all-these-years’ feeling, finally discovering what all the fuss is about. But then I start to expect to like things I didn’t before and am surprised to find I was right-all-these-years about other uninspiring tracks.
I can’t think of a specific example right now of course – but just imagine the relevance of this comment if I could!
It would be an all time great comment. A real 2017 Hall of Fame-r.
Meddle was the first PF I bought back in ’71 and DSOTM the last in ’73. both fell victim to the prog purge of ’73 when I fell headlong in the LA/country/rock vibe. Haven’t heard it since but I always saw the cover as an ear. I still trot out Relics for the odd listen.
Wow 1971 … wasn’t everything black and white back then?
This was one Floyd album that passed me by. After reading your take on it, I’m not sure whether or not to give it a try.
It’s worth streaming, or playing on Youtube late one dark night and just letting yourself drift away.
I’ll take that on board.
I was a latecomer to Meddle, despite having spent many weekend nights in my teens watching the Pompeii film at midnight showings. I must admit that I don’t understand your teen friends’ confusion over “One of These Days” being a Floyd song – I knew the song, but not having gotten aboard the Meddle train, always thought of it as some non-album single or B-side outtake from Dark Side of the Moon.
And I’m thinking an underwater baboon’s backside photo would likely look a lot like your final offering above in which Lego Joe appears to be caught in the backside whirlpool.
I think folks were just confused by how hard it rocked – they were a bit anaemic in the late 80s.
Damn, you spotted it! That is in fact a terribly exploitative shot of my pet baboon, Vivien, taken in my bathroom. True story.
One of my favorite Pink Floyd records, that’s for sure. Echoes is their greatest song as far as I am concerned. I remember listening to it quite loud on my stereo a few years back; I did that once a month or so (I wonder what the neighbors thought of that) and it was almost like a spiritual ritual to me. The song is so beautiful it takes you to some fantastic places (no illegal substances required).
The only track I don’t like that much is Seamus, even if the bluesy vibe is pretty cool.
Exactly, that’s totally right – it transports you.
I really enjoyed this one, Joe. You make a good case for revisiting it, but alas, my Floyd senses are not tingling. Perhaps because they didn’t have the artistic vision of their pal Thorgerson or because I just haven’t ever really liked it all that much? I didn’t hear it at the right time, maybe? Regardless, this was great. Plus, the photos are brilliant.
Thanks J worth picking up if you see a decently priced copy. It has a pleasantly textured feel to the sleeve – not that I’ve ever rubbed it against myself at all, ever. That was just all a nasty rumour spread by my enemies.
I hate when enemies spread those kind of rumours.
#NotSinisterJoe — haha 🙂
It’s currently trending wildly. True story.
Aah Meddle or as it’s known in my house the Easter album. I spent a lot of time two years ago listening to bootlegs of Echoes and it is always awe inspiring.
What I really enjoyed here is the irreverence you have brought to a band that make more people search out the depths of their own baboons anus in describing the true meaning of life as sanctioned by Roger and pals.
By the way I love Floyd and always will, one day I know I am going to paint the cover of Meddle on the back of my Levi’s jacket and walk proudly displaying my love of all things Floydian.
Thank you, but I have to say it would be way cooler if you painted a baboon’s anus on your denim – only real true hardcore fans would recognise it for what it was. Fans of either Floyd, or baboon’s back bits, that is.
I am amused at the use of the word hardcore when relating to baboon bottoms.
It’s a natural association for me.
I am thinking Hardcore Baboon Ass is a great name for a band.
They should have compromised and had a picture of a baboon’s butthole underwater. That would have been awesome.
Sadly, Pink Floyd just didn’t have the artistic vision for that – just think how big they could have been!
I have Meddle here (on evil silver disc), but I haven’t, er, meddled with it yet. I have to be in the right mood to sit through a whole Pink Floyd album. Eventually, I will get to “P” in the All The Everything series and then I’ll have to!
Still, this write-up is fantastic. And I love that you play side 2 first.
Echoes is a wonderful track, a proper headphones in the dark classic.
The whole LP just doesn’t sound right, the right way around.
I have that one, also, on the 2CD hits set called Echoes (imagine that). But that version is truncated by several minutes. Why the hell would they do that?
Headphones in the dark, eh? A good alternative for mind-altering substances, perchance?
A far more legal, cheaper and just plain easier alternative, I’d imagine.
You didn’t listen to ‘Atom Heart Mother’ after my brilliant treatise? Shame!
So much to love here, Joe. The running gag about noses, the shark-man mini-fig, “Ping Floyd”. This is my core Floyd album (which is why I’ve not written about it), yet I don’t much like “Seamus” either. Having said that, watching it being recorded in the “Live at Pompeii” film is more entertaining than just the track.
Nice work, you ol’ prog-head you.
Shame indeed! Mostly because it was one of two Floyd LPs my parents never had – that and Dark Side (believe it, or not). AND I’ve never stumbled across a decent used copy of it.
Thanks Bruce, I did note that you’d not mentioned this one yet. I don’t play it very often though, I always end up playing WYWH the most.
I genuinely thought it was a nose for years and years, I can’t remember when I realised it was an ear but it wouldn’t have been more than 10 years ago. Oops.
I’ll get the ‘OKay, so I’m a Progger’ T-shirt and hoodie printd this weekend. It’s time I ‘fessed up.