Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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'The box arrived in Melody Maker’s offices in December 1970, just in time for Christmas, addressed to Michael Watts. It was a sturdily constructed hardwood cube, painted dark red, about the size of half-a-dozen hardback books piled on top of each other. It was very heavy, and Watts approached it with caution, gingerly drawing back the catch that held down the lid. THWACK! It zapped open with the speed of light and a boxing glove on a powerful spring shot out.'

“It would have broken my jaw if I hadn’t jumped out of the way fast,” says Watts today. “It was a really powerfully built thing, very dangerous. It was a Christmas present from the Pink Floyd. They hadn’t liked my review of Atom Heart Mother.”

This is the one of the Pink Floyd's anecdotes I always liked. Pink Floyd's guys sense for a humor. :lol:

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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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Isn’t that weird? They reacted so fiercely to the criticism of the Atom Heart Mother album, but Pink Floyd guys themselves never missed an opportunity to completely belittle that album? :smt102
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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space triangle wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2020 11:56 am Isn’t that weird? They reacted so fiercely to the criticism of the Atom Heart Mother album, but Pink Floyd guys themselves never missed an opportunity to completely belittle that album? :smt102
Did PF belittle it at the time, or was that in hindsight?

AHM was followed by Meddle, a step up in my opinion. So, maybe they took the criticism to heart and it spurred them onto greater things.
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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Annoying Twit wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2020 3:05 pmDid PF belittle it at the time, or was that in hindsight?
This here was some of the reactions to the AHM album when it was almost new: Taken from the book 'Pink Floyd the visual documentary by Miles and Andy Mabbett'.

Nick Mason: I'm pleased with the AHM album and can listen to it. The only other Pink Floyd album I'm sufficiently pleased to listen to was 'Saucerful of Secrets'. We had some problems because of Atom Heart Mother was very rushed - We had to go on US tour right after that.

David Gilmour - Atom Heart Mother' is an experiment rather then a new direction for us, but we like it..

Rick Wright - 'Atom Heart Mother suite is just a piece of music - there isn't really a very strong theme. It's very sectionised and mood runs through it.

Nick Mason(again) - AHM suite wasn't entirely successful, but it was extremely educational.

Annoying Twit wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2020 3:05 pmAHM was followed by Meddle, a step up in my opinion. So, maybe they took the criticism to heart and it spurred them onto greater things.
'Seamus' or 'San Tropez'.....Are they really better than anything on the AHM album? Or 'A Pilow of Winds' too...?
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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space triangle wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2020 3:58 pm 'Seamus' or 'San Tropez'.....Are they really better than anything on the AHM album? Or 'A Pilow of Winds' too...?
Overall the album is better. And, even more than AHM, a transition from post-Syd to their classic era.
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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Annoying Twit wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 8:10 amOverall the album is better.
Then, how do you explain that AHM topped the U.K chart at that time (No 1.), but Meddle don't managed to climb higher than position No.3 when it was released?
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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space triangle wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:20 am
Annoying Twit wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 8:10 amOverall the album is better.
Then, how do you explain that AHM topped the U.K chart at that time (No 1.), but Meddle don't managed to climb higher than position No.3 when it was released?
I don't think there is any strong correlation between the performance of albums in the charts and the actual quality of the album. Hence, I don't think there is anything that needs to be explained.
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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I love this what Nick Mason said in the December 1971: 'There are similiraities between 'Atom Heart Mother' and 'Meddle'. The structure of both albums is the same, the one-side long track plus a few shorter tracks on the flip side. I don't think we could have done 'Meddle' without doing 'Atom Heart Mother'.

Hence, without AHM no Meddle. 8)
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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space triangle wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:17 am I love this what Nick Mason said in the December 1971: 'There are similiraities between 'Atom Heart Mother' and 'Meddle'. The structure of both albums is the same, the one-side long track plus a few shorter tracks on the flip side. I don't think we could have done 'Meddle' without doing 'Atom Heart Mother'.

Hence, without AHM no Meddle. 8)
As I've posted elsewhere, the progression through SoS, More, AHM, and then Meddle is clear, and they were developing their style which would come to full fruition in DSotM.

Note: I consider Ummagumma a diversion from that development, not part of it. And that OBC is, as it's often described, a stop-gap album recorded when DSotM was already well in development.Though, OBC may be important in the inclusion of synthesisers in their sound.

AHM, on the other hand, is part of their main progression as a band and I'd agree that Meddle wouldn't have happened without AHM. To me, AHM shows Dave and Rick catching up to Roger in terms of songwriting, while Rog's 'If', to me, is a step down from his writing on More. Musically at least. Though the lyric, in hindsight, shows him moving in the direction he'd polish for the classic PF albums such as DSotM and WYWH.

I agree with @Kerry King here that for AHM the band were still honing their songwriting skills and learning to write the classic songs they'd later write.

Particularly in hindsight, there is some very good music on AHM. But, the album as a whole, is not beyond criticism.
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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Annoying Twit wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 11:43 am
As I've posted elsewhere, the progression through SoS, More, AHM, and then Meddle is clear, and they were developing their style which would come to full fruition in DSotM.

Note: I consider Ummagumma a diversion from that development, not part of it. And that OBC is, as it's often described, a stop-gap album recorded when DSotM was already well in development.Though, OBC may be important in the inclusion of synthesisers in their sound.

AHM, on the other hand, is part of their main progression as a band and I'd agree that Meddle wouldn't have happened without AHM. To me, AHM shows Dave and Rick catching up to Roger in terms of songwriting, while Rog's 'If', to me, is a step down from his writing on More. Musically at least. Though the lyric, in hindsight, shows him moving in the direction he'd polish for the classic PF albums such as DSotM and WYWH.

I agree with @Kerry King here that for AHM the band were still honing their songwriting skills and learning to write the classic songs they'd later write.

Particularly in hindsight, there is some very good music on AHM. But, the album as a whole, is not beyond criticism.
Well written, I agree. Even David Gilmour said in an interview that Dark Sde Of The Moon did not come from nowhere. And he said there is 'red thread' in between A Saucerful of Secrets(song), Atom Heart Mother suite,, Echoes and DSOTM.
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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A little more about Atom Heart Mother: 8)

They were satisfied with the album in the begining, but they realized over time that it is very demanding to play it live. Especialy the two major pieces AHM suite and APB. This caused them to change their minds, and start talking all the negatives about the album. How the album is shit, have no direction at all, and so on..

As an example of the difficulties of the AHM live performances, here is just a little bit of Rick Wright\s words after the Bath festival (06-27-1970).
'When we played Atom Heart Mother suite someone put some beer down the tuba which added to the chaos.It does limit you because you have to worry about the orchestra all the time. It dectracts from from your enjoyment. We'll probably try to find different ways of orchestraring so that there's more freedom'.
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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I forget that desire for the pomp! I think AHM could have worked if they'd played to a backing track of the orchestral bits? Yeah, the synclavier technology wasn't there, but it might have cost less to stage to have a series of backing tracks to be set off to match movements with the band's playing on tapes.
Didn't David Gilmour eventually do that?
Perhaps the same huge props every night for APB would have limited their movements on stage and probably added to their mood and enthusiasm for the album?
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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Jimi Dean Barrett wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 7:12 pm Perhaps the same huge props every night for APB would have limited their movements on stage and probably added to their mood and enthusiasm for the album?
Didn't Rick build a table during The Man and the Journey shows? Surely having breakfast would be easier than that.
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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space triangle wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 4:51 pm they realized over time that it is very demanding to play it live. Especialy the two major pieces AHM suite and APB. This caused them to change their minds, and start talking all the negatives about the album.
The reason they spoke negatively about the studio album is not because it was difficult to play live. The album's two "major" pieces are amateurish and meandering. Hardly worth playing live. As they evolved it was easy to look back and see how weak some of these earlier albums were. Echoes was a result of pink floyd learning from their earlier failures. It then gave them something to grow on.
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Re: Melody Maker's Michael Watts and the box with a boxing glove

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Kerry King wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:31 pmHardly worth playing live. As they evolved it was easy to look back and see how weak some of these earlier albums were.
I clearly remember the article with Roger Waters where he talked about the A side of the Meddle album. He said the side is a mess without any flow in it. So, not such big difference from the AHM album, really. And, they didn’t play a lot of the songs from the Meddle live. ''A Pillow of Winds", "Fearless", "San Tropez" and "Seamus"(if we don't count Mademoiselle Nobs) .....were never played live. They had all those songs, but they still played unfinished and unreleased 'Embryo' at the live shows. Too bad they didn't played at least 'Fearless' live.

I would love Meddle much more if the finished long version of the 'Embryo' was on the album, instead of 'San Tropez' and 'Seamus'.