What’s the big deal with Pink Floyd’s ‘Meddle’?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by thnkgreen, Mar 1, 2021.

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  1. juss100

    juss100 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    This is what I wanted to say but couldn't find a way of saying it. Absolutely this - Pillow of Winds through Seamus do exactly what they're supposed to do in an album context - it works perfectly for me. I don't sit to myself and think "damn I wanna hear Seamus" right now, but I do enjoy it as a closer to Side One.
     
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  2. tonyballz

    tonyballz Roogalator

    Location:
    arizona
    Just a little joke there bud, calm down. And everybody takes some kind of drug.
    Meddle sounds fantastic in any state of mind.
     
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  3. Paranoid Android

    Paranoid Android Forum Resident

    One of these days I’m going to cut you into little pieces... love it
     
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  4. tonyballz

    tonyballz Roogalator

    Location:
    arizona
    Meddle is the first perfect Pink Floyd album. It's the record they had been trying to make since losing Syd, the crystallization of their unique psychedelic blend of beauty and menace.

    The cold wind from Valhalla delivers One Of These Days, brutally opening the album like an evil portend. The howl subsides and we awaken on A Pillow Of Winds' relaxing major 7 chords, like a bleak nightmare dissipated by the bright sleepy sunshine of early morning.

    Fearless is stately and regal but not pompous. "And as I rise above the treeline and the clouds ..." is the noonday sun. "Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd ..." and the crowd (who have been peeking in and out of the mix) responds with You'll Never Walk Alone, their football hooligan voices echoing and listing from side to side (Meddle is definitely a "headphones" album).

    San Tropez is lazing on a Sunday afternoon, with more major 7 chords, mellow slide guitar and a nice loungey piano solo, watching the fat old sun fall in the sky, ready for a cocktail and dinner. We close the day at dusk, sitting on the porch with the old acoustic while Seamus the dog sings the blues.

    Time for bed. From behind the wall of sleep, we hear Echoes.

    So yeah, those songs in the middle are real good too.
     
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  5. Deek57

    Deek57 Forum Resident

    One of These Days was the track that attracted me to Meddle, a bit late to the show after the showing of Ian Emmes(?) animation on The Old Grey Whistle Test, it's now my least favourite track on the album, it sounds out of place for me now.
     
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  6. geezin'

    geezin' Forum Resident

    Location:
    Flintstone MD
    I enjoy listening to it after all these years. And I find Seamus a fun tune.
     
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  7. The message of hope in the song has given the fans of Liverpool hope through some very tough times – both on and off the field.

    In the finals of the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final in Istanbul, Liverpool were losing 3-0 to AC Milan. Legend has it that the motivating effect of the fans singing You’ll Never Walk Alone gave the players hope when all seemed lost. This small act of defiance in the face of adversity galvanised the Liverpool team, and they managed to pull back and win the match on penalties, crowning them European Cup Champions

    The song took on a much deeper and more tragic meaning after the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, when a human crush at the stadium in Sheffield injured hundreds and 96 fans lost their lives. There followed a 25 year legal battle before the courts ruled that the victims were unlawfully killed and that a catalogue of failings by police and the ambulance services contributed to their deaths.

    To refer to Liverpool fans (as a whole) as hooligans is truly a deep misunderstanding.

    [​IMG]

    Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium was one of the first football grounds to have a PA system, and the Top Ten in the charts would be played over the speakers before the match as a form of early pre-match entertainment. This was also the time when ‘Merseybeat’ bands like The Beatles and Gerry And The Pacemakers dominated the charts, so the fans would have heard a lot of their local heroes over the tannoy. ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ stayed at No. 1 in the charts for about four weeks in 1963, by which time it had become Liverpool FC’s signature tune.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2021
  8. ILovethebassclarinet

    ILovethebassclarinet Forum Resident

    Location:
    Great Lakes region
    The longer they kept at it, the less interested I was; by the time of The Wall, I'd lost all interest, permanently apparently. I'd call the More/Meddle/Obscured By Clouds/Umma-Gumma era 'their post-Barrett peak' myself... Even Dark Side got tedious after a few hundred listens.
     
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  9. Eyes74

    Eyes74 Abstractor of the Quintessence

    Location:
    Canada
    There’s a whimsical lightness present in Meddle and the previous albums that disappeared with Dark Side and never returned. I think the word I’m looking for is fun. Post-Meddle Floyd is brilliant, don’t get me wrong, but the brilliance and focus came at a price: they weren’t fun anymore.

    Animals is a fantastic album, but it’s not fun. Seamus is fun. One of them probably came up with the goofy idea of making it sound like the dog was singing the blues, and they probably had fun trying to make it work.

    Part of the fun was the experimental nature of their early work. Some experiments fail (Psychedelic Breakfast?) and some succeed (Echoes). After the success of Dark Side, the power dynamics of the band shifted and the stakes were too high to risk experimental failure on goofy ideas.

    I love Meddle because it’s a great synthesis of early and late Floyd: fun, focused, experimental, and brilliant.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2021
  10. Zack

    Zack Senior Member

    Location:
    Easton, MD
    Fine post. :edthumbs:
     
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  11. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Meddle is a great album and up there with my favourites: Piper, Saucerful, More, DSOTM and WYWH.
     
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  12. Jet Age Eric

    Jet Age Eric Forum Resident

    Location:
    SIlver Spring, MD
    I'm not a Floyd fan but I enjoy Meddle. -E
     
  13. Python

    Python Forum Resident

    Location:
    S.F. Bay Area
    I actually like "Seamus" and "St. Tropez," which seem to get a lot of disdain, but I also really like "Pillow Of Winds" and "Fearless."

    Oddly, my two least-faves are the lauded "One Of These Days" and "Echoes"!

    Regarding the former, it's certainly a cool track, but I like Floyd instrumentals such as "Obscured By Clouds" more. Regarding the latter, sure, it's cool, but the lyrics are rather mundane and the thing just goes on forever (which I'm sure is what a lot of folks probably love about it ; ). I did enjoy Gilmour playing it live on his '06 tour, but I couldn't help thinking that in the 25 minutes they played it, they could have played "There's No Way Out Of Here," "Murder," "You Know I'm Right" and "Lost For Words" with time to spare!
     
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  14. Crosseyed

    Crosseyed help I'm a rock

    Location:
    NJ
    It's weird, back in the day (30+ years ago) WNEW would re-air the BBC shows on a regular basis which featured many of the songs from Meddle. I taped those shows and listened to them often but never heard the actual album until many years later. When I did finally listen to the album it sounded dull and lifeless compared to the BBC versions. However Fearless is really something special.
     
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  15. ostrichfarm

    ostrichfarm Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    By any chance, did you tape the one show where Alison Steele (the Nightbird) played Embryo and Blues in addition to the usual Fat Old Sun/OOTD/Echoes lineup from 1971?
     
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  16. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Yes, those aren't hooligans! None of the Floyd were Liverpool fans though, I think Roger Waters is an Arsenal fan?
     
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  17. Yes, Roger is a lifelong fan of Arsenal (who are nicknamed The Gunners, they were a works team of The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich), funny that him being a pacifist and all.

    [​IMG]

    David Gilmour was also a fan; he had season tickets for several years.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2021
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  18. Vangro

    Vangro Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    The Gunner's Dream?
     
  19. tonyballz

    tonyballz Roogalator

    Location:
    arizona
    I apologize, no insult intended. We uncouth Yanks usually refer (humorously) to all soccer fans as hooligans, it was not meant to besmirch the fine people of Liverpool.
     
  20. tonyballz

    tonyballz Roogalator

    Location:
    arizona
    Ha! Good one. That almost made me spit water through my nose.

    I lost mine to Carrie Anne by The Hollies. We should start a thread on this subject, if there isn't one.
     
  21. dsdu

    dsdu less serious minor pest

    Location:
    Santa Cruz, CA
    Does Pictures of Lily count? Asking for a friend.
     
  22. vinyl diehard

    vinyl diehard Two-Channel Forever

    Screw that. I can’t stay up past 9:30pm:laugh:

    The only way for me to listen to Meddle is in over the speakers turned up so I can feel the bottom end. Headphones are good but nothing beats feeling the sound.

    I do agree you really want it to be immersive, so alone in the house is best.
     
  23. polchik

    polchik Forum Resident

    i was just trying to be helpful lol .... i hardly ever listen to music on headphones nowadays .... but i have fond memories of listening to this album that way when i lived at home / was in high school lol
     
  24. reddyempower

    reddyempower Forum Resident

    Location:
    columbus, oh, usa
    Would you settle for a cat named Lucifer Sam?
     
  25. Deja Doh

    Deja Doh QUARANTINED

    Location:
    South Pasadena, CA
    I pretty much like all the tracks.
     
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