Pink Floyd
When an old album of a group reappears on the pop charts—and rises—that's clout. The success of Pink Floyd's current LP, The Wall, No. 1 for more than a month and destined to be one of the giant rock recordings of this or any other year, has reactivated sales of their 1971 Meddle. Meddle is vintage Floyd, which could be called space-folk music. One of These Days is a driving, building instrumental that explodes toward its end with an exhilarating rhythmic force and a dizzying electric guitar solo. Next come A Pillow of Winds and Fearless, which let the listener down easy. They are dreamy, euphoric ballads with sumptuous idiosyncratic chord sequences. San Tropez is a jaunty tune by the group's inventive Roger Waters, and Seamus is pure blues, highlighting a sinuous acoustic slide guitar solo by David Gilmour and background blues baying—on pitch—by a dog. Side Two, a 23-minute creation titled Echoes, begins as a ballad, then accelerates into a throbbing instrumental "movement" and finally breaks off into pure Floyd space music. The band's range of textures is awesome. Anyone for whom The Wall hasn't proven Floyd a major rock force should test their Meddle.
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