How to Listen to Meddle
Meddle is considered by many the beginning of a string of classic albums running throughout the 1970s, but it is not commonly thought of as the best within that line-up, even though half of the album consists of “Echoes,” which not a few fans would maintain is Floyd’s greatest single song. I would argue that Meddle is their best studio album, not just because it contains some classic songs, but because it is their best concept album . Admittedly, the idea that Meddle is a concept album at all is not obvious, as it is with the parade of albums that followed it (the sole exception being Obscured by Clouds , which is, after all, a film soundtrack). Meddle as an organic whole makes sense as soon as we recognize that its six songs are in fact three pairs of stark contrasts , adding up to a unified statement about . . . about what? Life. Reality. Human experience. About everything , really. It’s rather obvious once you see it. What is “One of These Days”? Pure menace, aggression, a