PINK FLOYD PART ONE: Meddling

In High School I was a huge Pink Floyd Fan.  Got turned on to them in middle school I was on a class trip and picked up Dark Side of The Moon.  In High School bought a copy of The Wall from a classmate who said he did not need the cassette anymore and needed a few dollars to buy a pack of cigarettes.  I picked up Wish You Were Here at a local tag sale and was in awe of David Gilmour's guitar sounds on "Shine On Your Crazy Diamond."  I picked up almost everything I could get my hands on.  I even saw the A Momentary Lapse Of Reason Tour at the local Civic Center.  They played two nights and I wish I saw both, but only was able to see one. It was one of the best times in my life. I even got a copy of Delicate Sound of Thunder on LP and Cassette because to me that was our show we went to see.

In High School one day my friend who I went record shopping with handed me a video cassette and told me to watch.  The video cassette was Live at Pompeii.  I remember walking to class when a teacher grabbed it from my hands while I walked into his classroom.  He asked if it was okay to show the class my video cassette.  I was not sure if he was going to embarrass me or just use the cassette to point out that education is more important then Pink Floyd speech.  When we all sat down the teacher made a comment on Live at Pompeii that caught me off guard.  He mentioned that this video cassette is the best document of what early 1970's Pink Floyd should sound like and every one should listen to this awesome classic.  I was really caught by surprised by his statement.  I was more surprised that he handed me back the video cassette with me not getting in trouble.

After school my friend picked me up and went record shopping.  I explained to him that my teacher really liked that I had this video and was telling the class to listen and watch with great interest and intent.  We laughed that a teacher so cool as that  would recommend a Pink Floyd video.  When I went record shopping my mind was on the music of Live At Pompeii and the music around that time.  I had to look for an album in that time frame.  I knew most of their albums at this point but only by a popular song on the album.  While at the store my friend pointed out that the song "Echoes" was off an album called Meddle.  I remember one day the local Classic Rock radio station played "Echoes" but only played part of it and the music was playing while the DJ talked.  It did not help to hear the song, but gave me an idea what it sounded like.

That day at the record store I found a copy of Meddle but not for $25.00.  I looked at other things and left.  When I got in the car my friend put a CD on my lap.  It was Meddle.  He would do this often and hand me something that he knew that I wanted.  It was an old pressing of Meddle and was really excited to listen to it.  I looked at it the other day and realized that I had a rare Harvest black faced edition that would make any audiophile jealous.  The sticker is still on it and it says $10.00.  I gave my friend some money for the thievery fee and I now owned a copy of Meddle. My friend himself bought a copy of Pink Floyd Animals.  He told me his copy was his dad's and it was pretty worn out. It was a good day for us Floyd fans.

When I put it on the CD player I was in awe.  The music was unreal the songs were not too catchy even though "One Of These Days" was a monster and we heard it at the concert.  The studio version was even more so, and It was a true scary piece of music.  When I heard "Echoes" I knew this was the big cookie.  This twenty-three minute track was worth it's time and patience.  Up to that point I only knew one song and I think we all know that song ("In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida").  This of course was much better then that one hit wonder. With it's soaring guitar solos and it's atmospheric middle section that makes anyone zone out and feel the music.  I wish I was a fly on the wall when they recorded it.  The song is one of my favorite of the early Floyd era.

Around the same time I got Meddle I was record shopping again.  This time I took my cousin along for the ride.  He lives in a different part of the state I lived and he knew this record store near his house.  I was always a frequent visitor of the place so I was always looking for something new.  The record store owner was a huge Jethro Tull fan and had a ton of photographs, posters, memorabilia and bootlegs.  His section was not just Jethro Tull and related he had a lot of bootlegs.  I came in that day with my cousin and looked around.  Since I was on a Pink Floyd kick I needed to look what he had for Floyd bootlegs.  I started looking and looking back some of these were worth the purchase price.  I stumbled upon a Live at Pompeii CD version.  There were two in this stack of Pink Floyd CD's but this version was the only one that kept "Echoes" in it's complete performance.  All other bootlegs had the song broken up.  The price was cheap too.  I bought it with the hope it was a very good sounding version of the video I borrowed from my friend.

When I got back to his house I put the CD on their stereo and took a listen.  Not only was I surprised about the audio quality I was even more taken by "Echoes" sounding better then ever.  I was very happy to find this bootleg.  I was even more happy that I found early live versions of not only "Echoes," but "One Of These Days" and some earlier Pink Floyd songs.  These songs sounded so much better then their studio versions and the music from Meddle was amazing.  The bonus was there was too session takes of "One Of These Days." Being one of my first bootleg CD's I cherished it and when I was back in college I would once in a while play the live version of "Echoes." It got a few phone calls asking where I found this.  It was great to play this era of Floyd and this awesome song.

When it's all said we will talk about those pre Dark Side Of The Moon and the post Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd.  I still prefer the pre era even though on an occasion I love listening to Wish You Were Here.  In 1970 Pink Floyd gave us Atom Heart Mother a great album but for some of us it was too much. For myself it was the start of the Floyd I love. Long songs, and experimentation and the signature Gilmour guitar sound that we love.  Meddle was an album that made me understand that songs can sound engaging and worth a listen even at the beyond normal four minutes. Sure Neil Young & Crazy Horse did ten minute pieces and King Crimson as well, but if you can keep a listener attention over twenty then you have got me and others hooked.

Meddle is something we all should take a note on.  Meddle is the album that I love to this day and hearing it again while writing this post reminds me how awesome the album is.  There is a few fillers, but "One Of These Days" and "Echoes" start and finish a great album.  Not many can have you hooked from the beginning to the end like that.  By the way, do you know what the cover photograph is?  Let me know if you do.  Enjoy!!