Pink Floyd Discography thread v. 'On An Island, end V1'

[Podaar]

I finally had time to listen to Atom Heart Mother.

I actually have the vinyl tucked around here somewhere from when I was a kid. I couldn't recall a thing prior to listening but, man, did it bring back a flood of memories. Good ones too. I like the whole album, yet that could be 90% nostalgia. Although it does seem that the kitchen sound effects go on too long without music.

[masterthes]

Nice segue there jingle

[PixelDream]

'Echoes' from Live in Pompeii is so freakin' epic. And then to realise this was the last thing they did before entering the studio to record Dark Side...

[jingle.boy]

Nice segue there jingle

 

[GentlemanofDread]

After the Atom Heart Mother tour, Pink Floyd entered Abbey Road Studios once more. Then left very quickly. It's the equivalent of coming home from uni and deciding to move out within a day. The main reason was due to the type of equipment that Abbey Road Studios had, in particular the eight-track multitrack recording facilities. Pink Floyd found it lacking in what they needed, and went else where, mainly to Associated Independent Recording (AIR) studios & Morgan in West Hampstead.

Followed by... Nothing. Like, Pink Floyd entered the studio and did nothing. They fooled around, they got drunk, they watched Monty Python and they spent so long on lazing around. Lacking a central theme for the project, the band used several experimental methods in an attempt to spur the creative process. One exercise involved each member playing on a separate track, with no reference to what the other members were doing. Yeah. They weren't really.. doing things. They just had the space to chill, really.

Then, finally, something happened. A new project! Pink Floyd would make music from using only household objects. Whilst the project, known as "Nothings", was dropped, it started work for Pink Floyd.  Soon, we had the experiment "Son of Nothings", followed by a possible album title of "Return of the Son of Nothings." These early experiments included he use of Richard Wright's piano. Wright had fed a single note through a Leslie speaker, producing a submarine-like ping. The band, unable to reproduce these pings in the studio, had to use the demo recording on the song it appeared on. Thankfully, the studios that Pink Floyd were recording at let them work on songs in stages, because "Echoes" would have been a pain for experimenting on. Experiments like plugging in Gilmour's Wah Wah pedal back to front for instance.

The only other song of actual note in recording wise is "One of These Days." It was developed around an ostinato bassline created by Roger Waters, by feeding the output through a Binson Echorec. Gilmour and Waters both play bass on this song, making it an amazing stereo listen.

So, here we are..

Meddle (1971)

1    One Of These Days, Written-By – David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, Roger Waters, 5:56
2    A Pillow Of Winds, Written-By – David Gilmour, Roger Waters, 5:13
3    Fearless, Written-By – David Gilmour, Roger Waters, 6:08
4    San Tropez, Written-By – Roger Waters, 3:43
5    Seamus, Written-By – David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, Roger Waters , 2:15
6    Echoes, Written-By – David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, Roger Waters, 23:35

Bit of change here. Before I do my own post (I am incredibly positively biased towards this album) about Meddle, what does everyone else think of this album?

[Zydar]

Now this is where the magic starts. One Of These Days and Echoes are classics. I also like Fearless and San Tropez a lot. Seamus is pretty weak, though.

[KevShmev]

For whatever reason, I've never been completely bananas about this album the way some people are.  I like it, but I don't love it.

Okay, Echoes is obviously pretty great.  The leap from Atom Heart Mother (the song) to Echoes is similar to Rush's leap from The Fountain of Lamneth to 2112: neither got it totally right the first time, attempting a sidelong epic, but both nailed it the second time.

I love One of These Days, but I find the later live versions to be far superior to the studio version.  Gilmour's solo in the second half of the song is too noisy in the studio version.  He used a less heavy tone in the later live versions, and the song benefited big time as a result.

A Pillow of Winds and Fearless are both nice, but neither are songs I go out of my way to hear.

San Tropez and Seamus both suck swamp water.

[King Postwhore]

Now this is where the magic starts. One Of These Days and Echoes are classics. I also like Fearless and San Tropez a lot. Seamus is pretty weak, though.

This is where I came in.  Though my cousin had all the earlier PF albums, I just didn't like them and with Meddle, it was the first PF album, I could relate to.

[Orbert]

San Tropez is my favorite song from this album.  It's the ultimate kickin' back, sippin' a drink on the beach song.  The piano solo at the end just drifts off and sounds like the sun setting on a perfect day.  I have no idea how anyone could not like this song.

The only one I'm not wild about is Seamus, but I still kinda like it because of its experimental nature.  There are times when the dog actually sounds like he's singing in tune.

Fearless is good, but the start-stop rhythm of it has never quite worked for me.  Other than Seamus, it's probably my least favorite, though it's still a good song.

The rest are great, all top shelf.  Echoes of course is amazing, though I do understand the people who say it seems to wander a bit in the middle.  I'm pretty sure it's supposed to wander a bit in the middle.

A Pillow of Winds is almost too mellow to be real, but it's such a great catharsis after the dark, menacing One of These Days (and they seque nicely).

I know you young whippersnappers love the live versions of One of These Days, but when I was your age, we only had the studio version, and we liked it!  No shoes, uphill both ways, etc.  Seriously though, for over 20 years, this was the only version there was, and I really do love this version.  To me, it is the live version that fails to capture the magic of the original.  The distortion is supposed to be like that, actually obliterating some of the tone and becoming part of the sound itself.  (See also the U.S.A. version of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" where Wetton's vocals are so distorted that you can't make out the words.  It's supposed to be like that.  Or Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Hey Hey, My My" from Rust Never Sleeps.  He'd blown out the speakers during sound check, didn't care, recorded it and put it on the album anyway.)  Yes, the version on Pulse is great, and the solo is fine; it's glorious, melodic, and refined.  But for those of us who grew up with the original, that is missing the point.  It's too "nice" sounding.  Give me the dirty, vicious, heavily distorted original.

[jingle.boy]

For whatever reason, I've never been completely bananas about this album the way some people are.  I like it, but I don't love it.

Okay, Echoes is obviously pretty great.  The leap from Atom Heart Mother (the song) to Echoes is similar to Rush's leap from The Fountain of Lamneth to 2112: neither got it totally right the first time, attempting a sidelong epic, but both nailed it the second time.

I love One of These Days, but I find the later live versions to be far superior to the studio version.  Gilmour's solo in the second half of the song is too noisy in the studio version.  He used a less heavy tone in the later live versions, and the song benefited big time as a result.

A Pillow of Winds and Fearless are both nice, but neither are songs I go out of my way to hear.

San Tropez and Seamus both suck swamp water.

It's like you pulled these words right out of my head.  I do enjoy Fearless, and put it as a definite #3 on this album.

Bob... completely understand what you mean about studio vs live.  In my case though, the first time I ever heard this song was on Delicate Sound of Thunder.  What a way to open disc 2.    Although, I thought at first 'what the hell are they playing the Dr. Who theme for'? 

[Orbert]

Oops, you're right; it's The Delicate Sound of Thunder, not Pulse.

I know this discussion has come up before, but in general, people tend to prefer the version they heard first, especially if no other versions came until many years later.  Such is the case here.  True, there are exceptions; but most of the time, the version you're used to hearing, or the one you heard first, is the "right" version.

[jingle.boy]

Oops, you're right; it's The Delicate Sound of Thunder, not Pulse.

I know this discussion has come up before, but in general, people tend to prefer the version they heard first, especially if no other versions came until many years later.  Such is the case here.  True, there are exceptions; but most of the time, the version you're used to hearing, or the one you heard first, is the "right" version.

For the most part... though some live versions are so good, they slay the studio no matter what.

[KevShmev]

True, but of the Delicate Sound of Thunder tunes, One of These Days and Sorrow were the only ones that I later heard the studio versions of and thought, "The live versions are way better."

I get liking the fury and aggression of the original One of These Days, but while I don't dislike it, I just think it works better the way they later did it.

[ReaperKK]

Oops, you're right; it's The Delicate Sound of Thunder, not Pulse.

I know this discussion has come up before, but in general, people tend to prefer the version they heard first, especially if no other versions came until many years later.  Such is the case here.  True, there are exceptions; but most of the time, the version you're used to hearing, or the one you heard first, is the "right" version.

Pulse has a pretty deadly version of OOTD

[Scorpion]

Meddle is great, aside from Seamus, though even that isn't as bad as I remembered it being. Definitely the best up to now (though it does get better). Echoes is ridiculously awesome.

[jingle.boy]

True, but of the Delicate Sound of Thunder tunes, One of These Days and Sorrow were the only ones that I later heard the studio versions of and thought, "The live versions are way better."

Not gonna argue that.  I was referring to live > studio on rare occasions across the board in music, not just PF or DSOT.  We can all name the songs where it's almost painful to listen to the studio version once you've heard the live one - Freebird, Closer to the Heart (Different Strings version), One Way to Rock, Rock 'n' Roll All Nite, anything from Strangers in the Night...

[jammindude]

Seamus pulls on an extra heartstring when you're a fan of the movie "Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead" 

[The Curious Orange]

Meddle is the first album where they reigned back their post-Syd avant garde psychedelia enough to produce somethng that was actually listenable. Side One has some great songs on it, and some pretty music, but Echoes is just transcendent. The band were on creative high at this point - early versions of what would become DSOTM were already in their set-list, and the improvement from one album to the next shows them transforming into one of the most original, important and influential rock bands ever.

Although I've heard all of the early stuff (I quite liked More, actually), this and Obscured by Clouds are the only two pre-DSOTM I'd ever want to listen to again.

[ReaperKK]

Took a listen to Meddle last night, ended up listening to it three times. I forgot how good the album is, even it's weakest track (Seamus) is still strong. Meddle is where PF started firing on all cylinders IMO.

[hefdaddy42]

Agreed, this is the first one I've listened to in this re-introduction where I thought, "This sounds like Pink Floyd."

FANTASTIC album. 

[Onno]

I really like Atom Heart Mother, but Meddle is just godly.

[Sketchy]

Meddle is a wonderful album. I love One Of These Days so damn much, it has all of the rumbly. The studio is my favourite version although the version on The Delicate Sound Of Thunder rules hard too.

A Pillow Of Winds is beautiful. There is nothing more that needs to be said about it.

Fearless is catchy, but I don't really find it piques my interest as much as the two before it. It's a cool song I guess.

San Tropez is a nice song. I do like me some jazz.

Seamus is a nice little bit of blues.

Echoes. Just. Echoes. That song is perfection, lyrically and musically for me. I love everything about it. I love the harmony between Wright and Gilmour, I love the sound of the piano, I love the bass and drum groove in the middle, I love the main riff, I love the atmospheric bit, I love that build-up which kind of feels like the sunrise, I love how the final verse is all major key, I love the ending bit. I just adore this song.

Also: shouldn't this be v.something to do with meddle  now?

[Accelerando]

Just listened to The Great Gig In The Sky for the first time in awhile...or rather I just listened to Dark Side of the Moon for the first time in awhile. Man, I love that song. So much soul and emotion. It gives me the feels.

[JayOctavarium]

Jumpin a little ahead are we?

[GentlemanofDread]

I'll have you know the next album won't even be Dark Side of the Moon! (Bloody Obscured by Clouds)

[Sketchy]

I'll have you know the next album won't even be Dark Side of the Moon! (Bloody Obscured by Clouds)

Oi! Obscured By Clouds is amazing.

[masterthes]

i still think One of These Days is Pink Floyd's best instrumental. I still listen to Fearless and Pillow every so often

I haven't listened to Echoes in a while, but it is a masterpiece! So amazing

[JayOctavarium]

Love OdtD.


In love with Echoes. Almost musical perfection in my book. Only bested by Dave and Rick's version on Live in Gdansk

[Jaq]

I could write a lot about this album, but I'm just gonna say it's where Pink Floyd became, recognizably, the band we know them as today, Echoes is frigging amazing, the closest thing to a duff track is Seamus and even that has its charms, and I'm lining up with Orbert in preferring the studio version of One of These Days. Gilmour's lap steel tone on that version sounds like the growl of a madman when it comes it and by the end is just raging. Nothing wrong with any of the live versions, but the studio one kicks them all in the dick. 

[Orbert]

 

[Sketchy]

I could write a lot about this album, but I'm just gonna say it's where Pink Floyd became, recognizably, the band we know them as today, Echoes is frigging amazing, the closest thing to a duff track is Seamus and even that has its charms, and I'm lining up with Orbert in preferring the studio version of One of These Days. Gilmour's lap steel tone on that version sounds like the growl of a madman when it comes it and by the end is just raging. Nothing wrong with any of the live versions, but the studio one kicks them all in the dick. 

I'm pretty sure at least part of that solo is actually Gilmour soloing on the bass. Nick Mason does mention in the biography that it's one of the few Floyd songs with a bass solo.

[Jaq]

All I know about the bass on that song is that both Waters AND Gilmour played the bass on it. I was mainly talking about the first time the lap steel comes in, which sounds fantastic.

[Nihil-Morari]

Wonderful album, definitely in my top 5 PF albums, Echoes is one of the best tracks they ever recorded.

[GentlemanofDread]

So! Meddle! I left my review for this untill everyone else was done, purely because I didn't want to gush about this album so much before everyone else had their go. Now, it's time to talk about it.

One of These Days is one of the best ways to start an album. The wind into the first bass, the sharper one, is Roger Waters and the dullen one is David Gilmour. This is mainly because of Pink Floyd sending a roadie to go get new bass strings for the Bass that Gilmour was playing.. and the roadie went to visit his girlfriend again. It's probably for the best because the difference between the two basses add a little more to the song, something that sounds better in the ear.  The threat, performed by Nick Mason, was recorded through a ring modulator and slowed down to create an eerie effect. And when it hits, there's that slide guitar solo after it. Yes.

We're immediately dragged into the exact opposite of this song with A Pillow of Winds, a mellow love song. After the sheer aggressiveness and darkness of One of These Days, A Pillow of Winds is just something you need, a nice relaxing love song that appeals to the light side of the heart. Fearless is good too, not as special as the first two songs, but just good. I'm still confused how they used the Liverpool F.C fans singing "You'll never walk alone" considering nobody was a Liverpool fan. Oh well.

San Tropez is a hidden little gem on this album, if that's possible to say. With most of the focus going on the first and last tracks of the album, the bluesy piece often gets overlooked, but hey, I like it. It's certainly continuing a nice mellow bit before we get to the weakest track on the album, Seamus. I like it, just not as much as the rest of the tracks on the album. It's an experiment, just not a long one, so it doesn't really grate on me like, say, Breakfast did.

Echoes. My all time favourite song. It's.. it's just the closest thing to perfection there has ever been. The pings. The guitar. The Bass. The delievery of vocals. The rocking section. I've listened to this song so many time and every time is always a joy. My favourite part is the climax, that unreal combination. I'm cutting myself very short because I don't want to spend 100 years of your time gushing about it.

Next, (Thursday), shall be Obscured by Clouds. Sunday, DSOTM.

[KevShmev]

To me, Echoes is sort of like Yes' Gates of Delirium in that I think both are totally awesome, but they are both songs I can only listen to every once in a while.  Some 20-minute plus songs I can listen to somewhat regularly (the three from Transatlantic's first two albums, 2112, etc.), but something like Echoes is just so out there and different than I have to be in the right mood to wanna listen to all of it.