Overhead the Albatross Hangs Motionless Upon the Air

Two posts down titled “Wots…Uh The Deal?”stated my feelings about the lack of glorification of earlier Floyd work specifically anything before “Dark Side Of the Moon.” I claimed I would shine much positive light upon three early Floyd albums “Meddle”, “Atom Heart Mother” and “Obscured by Clouds” this post starts the “glorification” process. To start off "Meddle" which is a bit more well known than the other two contains probably the strongest Floyd piece ever "Echoes", a twenty three minute epic that has every conceivable emotion tied into it, along with incredibly soothing harmonies, moving guitar lines, and wonderful sonic textures. When listening to “Echoes” you are being taken on a journey which pulls and tugs at your mind taking you in all types of directions. At times you will be lulled and sedated by lush and beautiful sounds and at times you will be tense with a sense of urgency from the rough sounds and unbelievable guitar lines. When talking about a song which creates a sense of urgency no song is better than "One of these Days", the song is nothing more but urgency, the pulsating guitar riff, hammering drums and demonic sounds/voices come together to give the listener a feeling of tension and stress. To sum up “One of these Days” in just one word, it would have to be poignant. Aside from “Echoes” and “One of these Days” this album is a rather mellow one. “A Pillow of Winds” the second track on the album sounds just like its name, a very dreamy song which will lull you right in serenity. The third song on the album “Fearless” is quite like “A Pillow of Winds” in the manner of its soothing sound, David Gilmour’s voice on this song is just miraculous, it is so incredibly mellow and surreal no other voice fits better, along with the moving voice is some brilliant guitar work, nothing over the top but regardless it sounds spectacular. The only down point of the album is “San Tropez” a song which just does not fit in any way on this album, if anything it sounds like it belongs more on “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” than anything else. Although sounding out of place it is a rather catchy song on its own but when looking at the album as a whole this track can certainly be disregarded. In the end “Meddle” is nothing short of spectacular, the album clearly shows the potential Pink Floyd had if they were able to all hone their skills together to make one cohesive and fluid sounding album which was obviously soon to come if not already apparent. This is one album that no music lover should go without and especially no Floyd fan should be without.