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"...Climb The Hill In My Own Way..."
As the four longhaired Prog
Rockers of Pink Floyd sat on a bench holding hands up to their faces and
giggling as the camera snapped their hidden visages in 1971 – I doubt any of
them would have thought then that they’d end being a 'limited company' in the
future - the decidedly English lads now just as corporate as the machine they
so raged against throughout the whole of the Seventies. Which brings us to the
mighty "Meddle" album and its "...I'll Climb The Hill In My Own
Way..." brand of music now re-issued yet again on CD in 2016...
UK re-released 8 January
2016 – "Meddle" by PINK FLOYD on Pink Floyd Records PFR6 (Barcode
5099902894225) is a straightforward 6-track reissue CD in 2016 using the Remaster from
2011 and in fact the same barcode. It's once again housed in a gatefold card
digipak, has a stickered sleeve (on the outer shrinkwrap) and 12-page colour
booklet (48:51 minutes).
The original version of this
Remaster was released 26 September 2011 as a 'Discovery Edition' single CD on
EMI/Harvest EMI 50999 028942 2 5 (Barcode 5099902894225) – this 2016 version on
Pink Floyd Records uses that 2011 remaster and the same artwork. The 'Discovery
Edition' sticker is gone as is the horrible 'green Ds' reinvented CD artwork
that came with the 2011 issue – that's thankfully been replaced on the CD with
the Cow's Ear cover artwork of the original LP.
1. One Of These Days [Side
1]
2. A Pillow Of Winds
3. Fearless
4. San Tropez
5. Seamus
6. Echoes [Side 2]
PINK FLOYD was:
ROGER WATERS – Bass, Guitar
and Vocals
DAVID GILMOUR – Lead Guitar
and Vocals
RICHARD WRIGHT – Keyboards
and Vocals
NICK MASON – Drums and
Percussion
Released 30 October 1971 on
Harvest Records SMAS-832 in the USA and 13 November 1971 in the UK on Harvest
Records SHVL 795 - original UK vinyl copies of PINK FLOYD'S "Meddle"
came in an untitled textured gatefold sleeve. American issues were titled and
featured reversed artwork on a hard-card sleeve - the back of the UK cover put
on the front.
JAMES GUTHRIE and JOEL
PLANTE have carried out the remaster on this and all 14 albums in their
catalogue at the Das Boot Recording Studios in Tahoe in California (Guthrie is
a Sound Engineer associated with the band since 1978). The original 1st
generation master tapes have obviously been given a thorough going over because
it truly feels like each song has had a staggering amount of time spent on them
worrying out every single nuance possible. The audio result is truly
impressive. Those Discovery Edition Remasters have been reused for all 14 of
the January 2016 reissues.
On the 1995 remaster - the
six-minute opener "One Of These Days" took ages to arrive and even
when it did it was somehow dull and lacklustre. How things have changed - when
the huge synth riff kicks in about 2:50 on this 2011 version - the sound is
incredibly clear - allowing you to hear crashes and bangs going on in the
background that I've never heard before. Then the sort of Piltdown Man voice
says "One Of These Days I'm Gonna Cut You Into Little Pieces..." and
all Hell breaks loose - Gilmour's guitar indeed sounding like a musical
chainsaw. It's revelatory genius and in that uniquely peculiar Pink Floyd kind
of a way.
But even that is trumped by
the awesome clarity of the forgotten and hugely underrated "A Pillow Of
Winds". Put simply - it sounds 'beautiful'. The jaunty "San
Tropez" and the rather pointless ditty that is "Seamus" are both
the same - so clear and renewed. The 23:25 minute Side 2 opus "Echoes"
has hiss as it opens on sonar pings - but luckily Guthrie and Plante have
allowed it to breath instead of using some no-noise dampening technique. So
when the funky break takes place at about seven minutes (now being used by
Dance DJs in the UK as a mix in sets) it sounds just HUGE. It's impressive
stuff, it really is.
But on this album my heart
has always been with "Fearless" - issued as a B-side to "One Of
These Days" in the USA and other European territories. It seems like I've
waited literally 40 whole years to hear this fabulous song in such clarity
(lyrics above). It's a genuine wow - and reminds me of a club I used to go to
in Dublin called The Grove in the Seventies when they actually used this song
as a 'lurch' (a slow tune in Ireland). As it fades out to the Liverpool
Football Club fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" (a no.1 UK hit
for Gerry & The Pacemakers in 1963 and adopted by them as an anthem) - I'm
in floods...
I wish I could say the same
for the staggeringly unimaginative packaging. The 'Pink Floyd' logo you see in
all the photos advertising these new reissues turns out to be a sticker on the
outer shrink-wrap that gets lost the second you unpeel it. The card sleeves are
like The Beatles 09/09/09 EMI reissues - glossy and flimsy - so they smudge
with finger prints the second you open them and are easy to bend and crease.
The Discovery CD label with its pointless generic artwork (a sort of Turquoise
and Pale Green for "Meddle", a garish Red and Pink for "Obscured
By Clouds" etc) has thankfully been replaced with an artwork picture CD
(no Harvest Records logo) but again it has no protective gauze sleeve so it
will scuff on repeated plays (I’d suggest you protect it with a paper inlay).
But the skimpy booklet is
the biggest disappointment. Although it has the lyrics (like this is a major
improvement) it seems little different to the 1995 issue. It has no history on
the album, pictures of European and Worldwide 7" sleeves, the different US
artwork etc. OK - it does look nice and does the job adequately - but that's
all. It's a lazy-assed approach and undermines the sterling work done on the
sound front. And there are no outtakes either...and man would they have been
worth a listen.
Still – with the truly
beautiful sonic upgrade – Floyd’s "Meddle" finally gets the five-star
sound the album has always deserved - albeit housed in 3-star presentation.
But at least these 2016 reissues have a decent price (under eight quid in most
places for a single CD) and come accompanied with their VINYL variants for the
first time in decades – each beautifully reproduced 180-gram Vinyl LP featuring
fully restored artwork and also reasonably priced compared to what Near Mint
originals would set you back.
Unique music from a unique band. A pillow of winds indeed...
