Pink Floyd - Meddle

Discussions about Pink Floyd and Solo Official Album CDs and DVDs.

Rate This Album

5 - Best
57
45%
4
58
46%
3
9
7%
2
0
No votes
1 - Worst
2
2%
 
Total votes: 126

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Sonic Destruction
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by Sonic Destruction »

"Meddle" would get a five star rating from me if all the tracks were as good as the best ones, which are obviously "One Of These Days" and "Echoes". For me, they were the strongest tracks that the pre-"Dark Side" Floyd would produce, like a superbly logical conclusion to everything else that they had done before (at least post Syd).

I have no problem with "Fearless" and "A Pillow Of Winds", either. Sure, they are not epic prog rock like the above tracks, but they are still fine when taken in their own right, giving shades of "light" to the "darkness" of "Days" and "Echoes".

Unfortunately "Meddle" loses one star for the inclusion of "San Tropez", a pleasant throw-away piece of filler, and "Seamus" which is just a pointless unfunny joke. I believe Nick summed it up with words to the effect that it seemed a lot funnier to them at the time than it was later to everybody else. I wouldn't say I actually hate it, but it is one reason why I play "Meddle" a little less often than it deserves.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by David Smith »

Started to gain an appreciation of Pillow of Winds recently. Really nice and peaceful, the perfect way to follow up One of These Days :)
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by 2066 »

Yes. I think that the album is sequenced quite well.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by Zack »

Meddle is the quintessential Floyd album and its too bad about St Tropez and Seamus robbing it of being a true classic. If only they'd put on Embryo instead. Here goes:

OOTD: 5
Pillow: 4
Fearless: 5
St Tropez: 2
Seamus: 1.5
Echoes: 5

Overall: 4
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Re: Discography - Pink Floyd - Meddle discussion....

Post by AtomHeartMomma »

Twid wrote:It's got Echoes on it ..'nuff said

Almost gave it 5

It also has One Of These Days. I bought this album about 5 days after I bought DSOTM. I heard this instrumental music coming from a neighbor's house and asked, "is that Pink Floyd" and he said "yes". The song I heard was Echoes. Need I say more?
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by oldhippy »

Apart from One Of These Days and what I think is one of there best which is Echoes, the rest is pure filler and very forgetful. Thats why I gave it only 3.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by princessDungan74D »

its a good album though I don't like Seamus.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by darksyde »

5 stars because it contains Echoes and One of These Days, sometimes I only listen to these two songs.
For the ear on the sleeve, I must admit that it was not until Mind Over matter that I actually realized what it was.... Now that I know, I'm ashamed of not having saw it sooner :D
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by cwta eugene »

This is probably my favorite album by Pink Floyd!

I was given the opportunity to listen to this for the first time from a Geography teacher I had that used to put music on during tests and such. One day, after putting on The Beatles' White Album for the class, I asked my teacher if I could bring in WYWH the next day. He had never heard it! :shock: :shock: I was stunned! He told me that somewhere in his attic he had a copy of A Nice Pair and Meddle on vinyl, but that he had never gotten much into Pink Floyd. After listening to SOYCD in class, I lent him my CD to copy since he liked it so much and he, in turn, made a cassette tape for me with A Nice Pair on one side, Meddle on the other. I had never heard either. In a time where Discman's were popular, all I had was an old Sony Walkman cassette player to listen to on bus trips to and from Basketball games during my Freshman year of High school. I remember everyone else had their CD's playing Tupac and what not and I instantly fell in love with Meddle from the first howling winds and echoing bass notes to the "submarine ping" of Echoes, to the final distant guitar soloing lost in the re-approaching winds.

For me, Meddle is cohesive enough. Where DSOTM deals with the issues of life, Meddle takes on the issues of an average day.

One of These Days, to me, is about the struggles we take on daily with those we just wish to beat the crap out of, to put it mildly, but never do, instead telling ourselves "One of these days...I'm going to cut you into little pieces." Perhaps it's the guy who cut you off on the way to work, or the boss/co-worker you can't stand or the telemarketer who interrupts you during dinner. I'm not saying I'm an angry guy, by any means, but that's probably because I've learned to deal with those who've upset my equilibrium by pushing those bad thoughts to a part of my brain where that person, whoever it is, get's what they deserve. For the Floyd, Roger has admitted that that line referred to a DJ the band hated. Not that they would ever really cut a guy up into pieces, but you catch my drift.

A Pillow Of Winds and San Tropez are about two different people finding joy in their everyday life. One finds simple pleasures in lying by the one he loves, reading a book, etc. while the other finds pleasures drinking champagne, driving big Sedans, etc. These are two songs that seem to say "whatever your lot may be in life, rich or poor, enjoy what life gives you daily".

Fearless is about the everyday obstacles and people we rise above. Those who try to dictate what we do, whether it is by telling us that we cannot do physical things like climb a certain hill or that we don't have the mental capability for certain things are surprised when we conquer the hill and show them who the real "fool who wears the crown" is.

Seamus is about knowing our days are numbered but living them anyway. While cooking dinner in the kitchen, glancing out at the sunset, and listening to the dog howl, another day is set to retire until one day all those sunsets disperse and you've seen your last, eaten your last meal, and heard the dog howl his final song.

Echoes ends the album perfectly because it is about the ending of one day and the beginning of the next. It's about dreaming at first, exploring labyrinths and coral coves, freeing your mind to venture into places it is otherwise repressed to during the day. Then the dream shifts from the mysterious to the ordinary where you find yourself going to work, passing people, and all of a sudden seeing yourself in another person. You realize, as you "take them by the hand" that they have the same fears, hopes, desires, etc. that you do and together you can take all the negativity you experience in "One Of These Days" and rise above it, like the person in "Fearless". The dream goes into a state of anxiety where, though the mind is ready to push on through another day, the body is not yet ready for the task, it needs more sleep. Suddenly the mind and body awake to a "cloudless day" with "a million bright ambassadors of morning inviting you to arise through the window". It's a new day and it's yours for the taking.

What a great album! 5/5 8)
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by psychocandy »

i don't know why so many people don't like san tropez and seamus, i think they're great tracks and this is definitely one of the best albums ever made.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by 506am »

cwta eugene wrote:This is probably my favorite album by Pink Floyd!

...

What a great album! 5/5 8)
What a great review! I would have quoted the entire thing but for the bandwidth issues. I think we all know that music is truly a personal thing, and sometimes the way an album impacts a person depends on their mood, where they were and who they were with when first encountering an album.

For me, I was dating a lovely girl who was going to a small college in Kansas. This school was out in the middle of nowhere. And the drive there was peaceful and quite relaxing. My first memories of Meddle are with her, the two of us driving around Baker University and the surrounding area on lazy Saturday afternoon's.

While One Of These Days/Echoes seem to be everyone's favourites, I find great joy in listening to Pillow Of Winds and Fearless. I just love the acoustic guitar in Fearless. I also have fond memories of Seamus, because I had a dog long ago, named Buddy, a black lab who just showed up at my door one day... and being the animal lover I am, I took him in. Buddy had an amazing gift... when I would tune my guitar... playing the harmonics against each other... (6th string 5th fret against 5th string, 7th fret and so on... ) Buddy would howl until the strings were perfectly in tune.

It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. The dog had perfect pitch! As this was long before You Tube and the like, sadly no recorded evidence exists, but every time I hear Seamus... I think of Buddy. My little homeless pup who would become a fast and enduring friend, and who always knew when the guitar was going out of tune... LOL

Echoes... not because it's the popular choice but because I just love this song. I once dated a girl who made fun of the middle section... said it was something like Whales crying... she didn't last long. Absolutely loved that David revisited this track on the On An Island tour with Rick in tow.

I also must admit that my Meddle is probably different than most people's Meddle. As I also love Embryo I long ago took the opportunity to add Embryo from Works onto my cassette copy, thus extending Meddle.

Track list:

One Of These Days
A Pillow Of Winds
Fearless
San Tropez
Seamus
Embryo
Echoes


As for rating... let's see... I'll grade each individual song on a 1-10 scale, then add/divide, then divide in half...

One Of These Days - 8.5 {I have a slew of ROIO's that have superior versions of this song, hence the 8.5}

A Pillow Of Winds - 8.5

Fearless - 9

San Tropez - 6.5

Seamus - 4 {Would be higher if I allowed my personal feelings about Buddy to enter the grade}

Echoes - 10

That adds up to 46.5, divided in half is 23.25, divided by 6 comes out to 3.875... So darn near a 4.

Meddle is a wonderful album and I have fond memories of my first experience with it. That today, some 25 years on, I still enjoy it says all I need to know that this is a classic and timeless effort.
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by ddebil »

May I be so bold as to ask why you have specific words/numbers etc. written in, erm, bold type? Just curious, as your earlier posts were not like that. :)
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by 506am »

ddebil wrote:May I be so bold as to ask why you have specific words/numbers etc. written in, erm, bold type? Just curious, as your earlier posts were not like that. :)
Hmmm... I think you'll find all my posts are like that. Names, album titles, song titles... it breaks up the posts and makes them easier to read, I feel...
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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

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Re: Pink Floyd - Meddle

Post by 506am »

ddebil wrote:Not all, just the new ones.

http://forum.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/vie ... 17#p168117
That was how many years ago? I have no idea. Perhaps they were edited. Or the board didn't have the full functions it has now. I've no idea...