Review Summary: The moment Pink Floyd made it clear they were here to stay.
Given the circumstances surrounding
Meddle's production, it's perhaps a wonder that it ended up being as good as it is. The band were tired and burnt out, void of any ideas, pissed off that they were being seen as "yet another psychedelic rock band", and while
Atom Heart Mother was a success in Europe- especially in their home of the UK, it did pretty dismal in the US, and the band hated its guts, with David Gilmour saying "it was a good idea but it was dreadful..." and Roger Waters, more harshly, saying "If somebody said to me now – right – here's a million pounds, go out and play
Atom Heart Mother, I'd say you must be fucking joking." With this in mind, and the concept of a first half being the whole band collaborating and a second half being one song per band member, the band decided it was probably best that they'd just work together on every track for their next effort, and if the result is any indication, this was an idea that ended up paying off greatly.
Meddle shows the band members trading the ego that was evident thought their first few albums for a more collected and focused effort. The band finally makes songs rather than glorified pieces of music, and also finally makes their sound more accessible to pedestrian listeners. It's the sound of the band finally coming to terms with who they are meant to be as a band and comfortably writing songs that they know they'll be able to look back on decades later and be proud of, and they deserve to be proud of an effort like this.
With that being said, it's ironic that despite this, the first track on the album ends up being without a doubt, one of their scariest, angriest and heaviest tracks they've ever made. "One of These Days" is classic Floyd, and definitely a black sheep among their classics, though deservedly seen as a classic- a dual bassline performed by Waters and Gilmour leads the first half of the track, followed by some eerie keyboard pings, creepy reversed cymbals, heavy as fuck guitar and a tripadelic interlude that uses the eerie main riff to the
Doctor Who theme before Nick Mason chimes in with a distorted and Satanic sounding, "
One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces!" From there on, the band slams into some heavy and groovy rock that shows the band jamming harder that than they ever have before, and is there to ensure the listener that Pink Floyd do NOT fuck around. Contrastingly, the album's final track, "Echoes", commonly seen as the band's crowning achievement, is a 23-minute epic that shows a similar amount of craziness, albeit utilized rather quite differently. Pinpointing exactly one thing that makes it a work of genius would certainly be a tall order as there's plenty of things that make it a stunning work of art; the opening high Piano Bs, the slow, restrained set up, the jangly and distorted piano throughout, the moments of heaviness peaking their heads through the rather restrained mood, the funk-filled jam section, the horrifying middle section of high pitched wailing and crows, the most beautiful build-up in music history with a palm-muted guitar riff, the beautiful reprise of the song's main part, the outro with the creepy voices, and the beautiful lyrics that include such amazing imagery as "
And through the window in the wall, comes streaming in on sunlight wings/A million bright ambassadors of morning". What's even more impressive is that this is all in the time span of 23 minutes and is not some multi-part suite; much like Iron Maiden's most recent epic "Empire of the Clouds", this is one linear, start-to-finish tune. The song is rightfully hailed as a masterpiece and doesn't waste a single second, showing the band finally coming to terms with what they were truly meant to be.
It's with this in mind that makes it a pity that the rest of the album isn't like this. Which isn't to say the remaining four songs aren't great, because they are, although they are slightly marred by the fact that they're ever so slightly lacking the sophistication that the two tracks they're sandwiched between show. That said, they're still some of the most beautiful music the band has written. Perhaps the most bizarre musical direction shown on the album is not the blues parody (we'll get to that one in a bit), but the Waters-penned "San Tropez". Waters is never known for making soft and dreamy ballads, but this acoustic-led, catchy tune shows him getting nostalgic about a vacation he took in San Tropez with his girlfriend. the song appropriately evokes the feeling of being on a sandy San Tropez beach both through its lyrics and catchy acoustic guitar, and as a nice beautiful touch, even evoking a calm rolling wave, a beautiful piano solo from Rick Wright is the real surprise here. Furthermore, Waters' typical "forks on a plate" voice is absent and in its place is him softly and dreamily reassuring us that if we're alone, he'll "come ho-o-ome". "Fearless" is yet another ballad, this time about... well, what the title says, being fearless especially in situations that need it, and even features one of the band's best lyrics: "
Fearlessly, the idiot stood and faced the crowd". Class! It even ends with a football chant of "You'll Never Walk Alone" as a nice touch. And what's not to love about "A Pillow of Winds"? The title is a clear indicator of the soothing, mellow and almost sleepy mood it puts us in. Which is appropriate, as it's probably the most poetic description of the sleeping process I've ever heard. Gilmour softly croons us through a journey from falling asleep, to dreaming, to waking up, and this is all done to an ethereal acoustic backing with some slide guitar as a nice touch. If any track here is the weak link, it's "Seamus", the aforementioned blues parody which features a dog barking and howling into a microphone while Gilmour sings about a depressed dog. It is funny, but admittedly could have been left off the album with not much being missed.
That being said, it's criminal that
Meddle, outside of its opening and closing tracks, is largely overlooked. If any album deserves to be seen as something of a successful "maturity album", it's
Meddle. And while it's no matched for the "objective classic" (TM) albums that followed, it nonetheless is a gem that stands out in the band's already large and comprehensive archive of work that is just as unique as it is recognizably Pink Floyd. It's hardly a wonder that David Gilmour performs select tracks from it at solo concerts and Blue Man Group made "One of These Days" a regular part of their touring act;
Meddle is an album that stands the test of time well and while still holding a ton of nostalgic value.
