PINK FLOYD
MEDDLE
1971-HARVEST
Produced By PINK FLOYD
1. One Of These Days
2. A Pillow Of Winds
3. Fearless
4. San Tropez
5. Seamus
6. Echoes
Following the departure of Syd Barrett, to say that Pink Floyd struggled for a bit would be a pretty large understatement. With new guitarist David Gilmour on board, they kept at it, releasing four studio albums between 1968 and 1970. The results of these recordings were mostly unremarkable. In 1971, with the release of Meddle, things were beginning to change. Meddle is an album with some major flaws, but it is also the beginning of greatness for Floyd. The album’s first five tracks are relatively short and vary in quality between very good and very bad. “One Of These Days” is about as hard a Floyd ever rocked, and is a solid instrumental. “A Pillow Of Winds” is nice, unremarkable, and non-vital. “Fearless” is beautiful, almost perfect (except for the end…why have a chorus singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”?) and more than worth having. Then, there’s the Barrett-esque “San Tropez”, which sounds horribly dated, followed by the awful “Seamus”, an ill advised blues song with a howling dog as the lead instrument (I kid you not). So far, Meddle is not faring so well.
And then, boom. The final track, “Echoes”, is 23 minutes of mind blowing “what the hell was that?”. You can hear the blueprint for the band’s next album, Dark Side Of The Moon (and Wish You Were Here as well) all over this track. It’s as if, suddenly, Pink Floyd grew up and understood what it was meant to do. “Echoes” is not as good as either of the albums that followed, but it’s a stunning contrast to the rest of the record, and the rest of their career so far. It’s the sound of a band figuring it out. The upcoming results would be monumental. “Echoes” is where it all started, and for that alone, Meddle is a must have album. Not the greatest album by any means, but a solid work despite its flaws and wasted songs. It’s as important as anything the band ever did, because of where it would lead to…because of the doors it would open. The song would be mercilessly chopped into pieces on the compilation album Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd from 2001. You want the full version: it’s beautiful. You can only get it on Meddle. So you should really have this if you love the work that Floyd did after this album.
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Great reviews as always. On meddle yeah "Echoes" is one of those moments in rock history where it seems like a band just kinda makes a breakthrough and discover something great that they do better than anyone. Stellar song and a harbinger of things to come. My dad always told me to check out Meddle for that last song and said similar things - that it was the beginning of a new era. I didn't listen myself until a good 17 years after he first told me that when he caught me listening to Dark Side of the Moon. _________________ -Ryan
I like the full album more than you do. To me the I’ll never walk alone at the end of Fearless is a real bonus because it matches perfectly with the fearless concept of Liverpool supporters chanting this after they won a football match. And I’m even not kidding that I don’t dislike the barking dog on Seamus (although it’s not my album favorite). But I of course completely share your enthusiasm with One Of These Days and Echoes, which indeed sets the tone of Pink Floyd’s further career and classic albums that would follow.
THE HOLLIES
DISTANT LIGHT
1971-EPIC
Produced by RON RICHARDS & THE HOLLIES
1. What A Life I’ve Led
2. Look What We’ve Got
3. Hold On
4. Pull Down The Blind
5. To Do With Love
6. Promised Land
7. Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress
8. You Know The Score
9. Cable Car
10. A Little Thing Like Love
11. Long Dark Road
The Hollies showed up in 1965, and built a legacy of singles that has always suggested that they were a much better band than their seemingly endless string of lackluster albums would indicate. The number of greatest hits packages made by The Hollies speaks volumes, and if you want to appreciate this band, that’s going to be the best way for you to go. By 1971, Graham Nash had long since departed for the much greener pastures of Crosby, Stills and. The band was left with the also soon to leave Allan Clarke, and they still couldn’t put together a full albums worth of quality material to save their lives. Distant Light is one of the below average efforts that kept their string of hits alive in the early seventies, with “Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress” joining the likes of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” and “The Air That I Breathe”. Like most of the Hollies records, everything here sounds very dated…except for the hit. (“Long Dark Road” was also a minor, and long forgotten, hit as well).
Throughout the album, Clarke’s vocals sound as if they were piped in through a tin can. The songs here are not terrible, just completely unmemorable and very dated. It’s listenable, but just barely, and there’s not really any good reason to have this, unless you’re a big fan of the band. Get one of the many, much better, greatest hits packages instead. The Hollies would continue on…their next album, Romany (with the exact same album cover only in a winter setting) was a dud, but that didn’t stop them…The Hollies would make 10 more albums over the next decade before calling it a day. They never did make a really good album, though, and their legacy as one of the great bands of the 60’s and early 70’s is built solely on the fact that they had some great hit singles. Distant Light is not highly recommended: there were much better bands in the era to hang your hat on, without having to endure too much of these guys.
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Indeed one of those bands I like so much for their singles that I regret they didn’t release a decent regular album although I have the feeling they had that in them.
This album was also on my list to check out if it was an exception but by reading your post I doubt if it’s worth it.
Indeed one of those bands I like so much for their singles that I regret they didn’t release a decent regular album although I have the feeling they had that in them.
This album was also on my list to check out if it was an exception but by reading your post I doubt if it’s worth it.
Yeah...I think the Hollies are pretty much the definition of singles band. Compilations are the way to go. _________________ May we all get to heaven
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THE SMITHS
MEAT IS MURDER
1985-SIRE
Produced By THE SMITHS
1. The Headmaster Ritual
2. Rusholme Ruffians
3. I Want The One I Can’t Have
4. What She Said
5. That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore
6. How Soon Is Now?
7. Nowhere Fast
8. Well I Wonder
9. Barbarism Begins At Home
10. Meat Is Murder
The Smiths may have been the saving grace of the 80’s during their short lifetime, but even great bands have a misstep or two. The closest thing The Smiths had to one of those was Meat Is Murder, their second album…a bit of a sophomore slump, if you will. Coming off the heels of their self titled debut, the band (in particular, Morrissey) came out with all their guns blazing, spewing political negativity from every angle imaginable. Meat Is Murder is Morrissey at his mopiest, his preachiest, and his least fun…which is too bad, because the rest of the band (guitarist Johnny Marr in particular) seem to be finding their way instrumentally, bringing to the mix elements of rockabilly and funk. But Morrissey seems more intent on hammering home his messages of love is bad, girls are worse, corporal punishment sucks, and eating meat is for losers than on bringing an actual melody to the proceedings. Intsrumentally, this could have been a great Smiths album, had their singer just lightened up a little bit.
The saving grace of this album is the stunning and terrific “How Soon Is Now?”, a track that wasn’t even on the original UK version and added at the last minute to the US album. “How Soon Is Now?” is a haunting guitar track, with great vocals and an actual vibe to it. It’s one of their better songs. Marr’s guitar and Morrissey’s vocals intertwine to make a perfect song. The rest of the album is unfortunately not on the same level, although you can’t really blame anyone not named Morrissey for that. The comeback from this would be great…The Smiths followed up Meat Is Murder with the excellence of The Queen Is Dead, making this not much more than a minor misstep. It’s still worth hearing once in a while, it’s just not on the same level as the best work by a band that was very capable of greatness. Preachy and boring at its worst, just above average and funky at its best. I may get flack for this, but I see Meat Is Murder as the weak link in the discography of The Smiths.
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Always a pleasure reading about The Smiths, nicely done.
Romanelli wrote:
I may get flack for this, but I see Meat Is Murder as the weak link in the discography of The Smiths.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger The Smiths fan than me, - but then again, that’s something each and every fan would say - I adore everything they ever did. Having that in mind, if you force me to pick the one release of theirs that is just a tiny bit flawed, my reaction will be to reluctantly point to this one right here. I agree that the main reason is Moz being, well, … too Moz and as a result losing part of his trademark, idiosyncratic charm. He’s at his best when he deploys a mix of sarcasm, gloom and despondency, but when anger gets in the way and makes him overly didactic trying to convey his “message”, that’s usually a no-no. That being said, If I’m being totally honest, I would go beyond him when exploring the reason behind the lacklustre impression this album may leave. Take him out of the equation and it still doesn’t hold up – again, when I say “it doesn’t hold up” I don’t mean to imply it’s anywhere near bad, it’s just that the bar is set sky-high and we are nitpicking. Their sound here is the least memorable, their other three records have something well-defined and unique going for them in regard to what they are trying to achieve music-wise. Their debut is how a debut is supposed to be, exciting, raw, rough, enclosed even, underground for sure, their most 80’s sounding album, which of course has a lot to do with the production as well. Everyone knows all about The Queen is Dead, what could one possibly say that hasn’t already been repeated to death, their sound perfectly matches the lyrical content, the epitome of glorified melancholy with a healthy dose of witty touches in between, a masterpiece in every sense of the word. Strangeways, Here We Come is another record that immediately stands out when examining their body of work, their most forward thinking and diverse attempt, as it sees them depart from their jangly roots and enter what would have been a transitional/experimental period that was cut short because of the band’s decision to break up. So, coming back to Meat Is Murder, it is not easy to spot a distinct characteristic that sets it apart from the rest of their discography, it isn’t as clear where it stands. Also, as you correctly pointed out the original version – which is the one I own – doesn’t include How Soon Is Now, so that's another decisive factor.
Always a pleasure reading about The Smiths, nicely done.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger The Smiths fan than me, - but then again, that’s something each and every fan would say - I adore everything they ever did. Having that in mind, if you force me to pick the one release of theirs that is just a tiny bit flawed, my reaction will be to reluctantly point to this one right here. I agree that the main reason is Moz being, well, … too Moz and as a result losing part of his trademark, idiosyncratic charm. He’s at his best when he deploys a mix of sarcasm, gloom and despondency, but when anger gets in the way and makes him overly didactic trying to convey his “message”, that’s usually a no-no. That being said, If I’m being totally honest, I would go beyond him when exploring the reason behind the lacklustre impression this album may leave. Take him out of the equation and it still doesn’t hold up – again, when I say “it doesn’t hold up” I don’t mean to imply it’s anywhere near bad, it’s just that the bar is set sky-high and we are nitpicking. Their sound here is the least memorable, their other three records have something well-defined and unique going for them in regard to what they are trying to achieve music-wise. Their debut is how a debut is supposed to be, exciting, raw, rough, enclosed even, underground for sure, their most 80’s sounding album, which of course has a lot to do with the production as well. Everyone knows all about The Queen is Dead, what could one possibly say that hasn’t already been repeated to death, their sound perfectly matches the lyrical content, the epitome of glorified melancholy with a healthy dose of witty touches in between, a masterpiece in every sense of the word. Strangeways, Here We Come is another record that immediately stands out when examining their body of work, their most forward thinking and diverse attempt, as it sees them depart from their jangly roots and enter what would have been a transitional/experimental period that was cut short because of the band’s decision to break up. So, coming back to Meat Is Murder, it is not easy to spot a distinct characteristic that sets it apart from the rest of their discography, it isn’t as clear where it stands. Also, as you correctly pointed out the original version – which is the one I own – doesn’t include How Soon Is Now, so that's another decisive factor.
Nicely stated. Well thought out response...you do know your Smiths! Thanks! _________________ May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...
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