Meddle

I just got a turntable setup and started buying up all the vinyl I had 30 plus years ago. I have been trying to buy original pressings but this one was too much money. I took a chance on the $25 reissue from Amazon. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. It sounds great and is flat as a pancake. All the other reissued I have bought haven't sounded too good and have had issues like warping. I have a feeling this one sounds so good because Floyd (Roger Walters) probably still controls the process.

Never a major fan of the group, one must recognize excellence. They are. I do. I agree with other reviewers, the album does hint at future releases. My favorite is Wish You Were Here. Major memory of college apartment living '75? on release day of WYWH.. Sunny warm afternoon. Almost nice enough to forget the inevitable horrid soul sucking cold Wisconsin Winters back in the 70s. Lil Ice age. Nuclear Winters. Cute names for misery. The rag reviewers were not kind in reviewing Floyds WYWH. We lived by these reviews. Will always remember my roomie was bat poop crazy over Floyd. Still is. Watching his antics over what he perceived as perfection. He expectations were low. If memories serves. If memory serves. The hint of herb was in the wind, as usual, Point beer in paw, and WYWH blasting out of seemingly every other apartment window. Not quite the same feeling as opening the Prime package today. Contents being some Floyd, ultra supremo Sprayway glass cleaner, paper plates, and disappointment over a backordered Louie Prima re-master. Meddle sounds great! Forgot there was some dog treats added. Much appreciated by a pair of unregistered mut country music loving dachshunds. Vinyl helps too. I've some classic rock CDs sounding fine. This copy and my double album WYWH sound better than my fancy dancy mucho yen Japanese re-mastered Dark Side of the Moon CD. Am seriously thinking about doing a Amazon Prime vinyl Dark Side. In short, Meddle great music on great format.

A lot has been said in these reviews, and "Meddle" is obviously one of the more popular efforts by the Floyd. I bought it twice on vinyl, once on cassette, and then on CD, but I sat on it, breaking it, so I bought it again. Willingly each time.The cover art is a play on words; if you look at it from a distance, you can see it's a close-up of an ear, with the surface of water superimposed over it. Hence, "waves of sound." These things come up in Floyd covers quite a bit, if only you take a minute to study it.The music, although only six selections, pretty much runs the gamut, from menacing ("One of these days, I'm going to cut you into little pieces!"), to soft borderline romantic; the words to "A Pillow Of Winds" show Waters' ability to assume any role he pleases in his lyrics, and Wright and Gilmour are the perfect vehicles for delivering his lyrics. You are shown optimism and perseverence in "Fearless," even with the much criticized sounds of a stadium full of soccer fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" appended to the ending, it's still a good, well-made song.As popular as "Meddle" is, the two most hated Floyd songs ever, "San Tropez" and "Seamus," follow, sort of a diversion from the majesty of the opening numbers, I guess one can call it a "breather. "San Tropez" is a light jazzy number, and if you didn't immediately recognize Waters' voice, you'd never know it was Pink Floyd. It's not that it's a bad song, it's just not what people would expect from such a progressive Pink Floyd release. The guitar solo is played almost like Hawaiian slide, and the piano solo at the end, is like something from 1950's jazz records. It's well-done, but very much maligned by casual fans, and some more serious fans, as well. "Seamus" is a slow, lazy blues number, not much substance, and the howling dog in the background has gotten some funny reactions by house-dogs; they don't know where this imaginary dog is, and go crazy trying to find it.The highlight of the record, and by many, many accounts, their collective career, is "Echoes," probably the most-played FM radio request in history. At least when FM radio was worth something. I guess I shouldn't make such a blanket statement, but every facet of the entertainment industry has been so polluted with useless, flash-in-the-pan junk, that I know, myself, I don't bother listening much anymore. "Echoes" is a multilayered opus the took up a whole side of the original LP. If you are into "expanding your consciousness," this selection can do it naturally. I've always held the conviction that Pink Floyd is an "anti-drug" band. Yes, a lot of their fans like to get stoned, or "trip" on certain substances, but the thing about this type of band, and this band in particular, is you don't need any of that, all you need is some imagination. If you can think in pictures and concepts, performances like "Echoes" will take you on a journey, from the tranquil seascapes hinted at in the beginning part, to the ornate, colorful images conjured up in the "funky" part of the instrumental. The art of the segue is mastered here, when you hear this fairly simple rhythm, peppered with guitar and organ interplay, fade into this formless "abyss" of swirling noise, with truly creepy, shrill, I don't know what to call them, high-pitched "calls," I guess, in this grey fog, no signs of life otherwise in this void, so desolate, so full of nothing, and the gentle return to the surface, droning keyboards, the "pings" from the intro come back, with this rhythm accompanying it, the anticipation is almost tangible, when this explosion of sound comes at you, almost a "jump start," and you're back into the verse, the chord progression follows, taking you to what I call the "take-off." The band is playing softly, and these voices fade in, at least they sound like voices, maybe voices mixed with wind, not sure, slowly encircling you, getting louder as the instruments fade away, and off you go, into the Cosmos, and it all slowly fades into nothing. And you stay wherever it takes you, until you open your eyes.With this stuff, who needs drugs? That would just spoil it!

The media could not be loaded. Goated album

Excellent heavy-duty record with modern high-quality sleeves

One could probably say that Meddle is where Pink Floyd first start to sound like Pink Floyd. I've been a big fan of this one for a long time, as any fan should be, with epic "Echoes" the clear standout track on this album.But (most of) the rest of the album is solid too. For the last five years or so, I've focused on hi-res recordings, using a Monolith desktop DAC/amp or FiiO DAP for playback. In 2023 I began my vinyl journey. When this LP dropped to $21, I went for it.I'm glad I did. There's an extra depth to this album on vinyl that has to be heard to be believed. It's almost shocking how good it sounds. I can't even really put it into words, and I write for a living.Bonus: Seamus ends side one, so as soon as San Tropez is done, one can flip over to side 2.

Rare & Difficult to find!

Love it and the price is great