June 24 - Echoes

Today's song, Echoes by Pink Floyd, is a masterpiece. It bridges the gap between Pink Floyd as a psychedelic band led by Syd Barrett into a more progressive band led by Roger Waters. The third transition was into a boring version led by Dave Gilmour, but we'll leave that version alone. For me, the Pink Floyd I know and love is the more progressive version led by an idealistic Roger Waters who wanted his lyrics to mean something. I see this version of Pink Floyd in a very yin/yang way, where Waters' very biting and edgy style is tempered with the softer, prettier, and more romantic style of Dave Gilmour - although in all honesty, all four members were integral parts to the whole that created a lot of amazing music.

While it is easy to refer to Meddle as a transformational album, it is really the last in a series of transformational albums released after Syd Barrett left. A Saucerful of Secrets, Ummagumma, and Atom Heart Mother preceded it, in the transformational period, and while you could hear their direction on those albums as well, it is really taking form on the song Echoes, which takes up all of side B and lasts about 23 minutes. To me, this song was also the blueprint for much of what Motorpsycho did around 1993, with songs like Demon Box and Mountain (and seeing them play Mountain live, they even quoted Echoes in there) - and when I fully realized this, I wanted to share it with as many as possible.

In 1995, I had my own radio show, Undertoner, where I looked at people behind the scenes - and threads that were harder to find. I had this brilliant idea that I would show where much of what Motorpsycho's inspiration clearly came from (and this was a side that I hadn't seen explored much before), and so I could devote the entire half hour to Echoes. I still think it was a brilliant idea - there are segments that could be faded down and left in the background while I talked - but my bosses at the radio station disagreed with me. The argument was that people tuning in would get bored and tune out again. I could not understand why anyone would do that - because the song is so great - so I did it anyway. Like I said, I still like the idea, but I am not sure my execution lived up to that. People weren't happy with me for that decision, but I stood by it. In the end it was decent, but not great - and so I have to admit that based on the execution, they were right. But I still believe that the idea really is good. Plus - who wouldn't want to dedicate 23+ minutes of their life to this song? I know I have done it more than once - and I am listening to it again as I write. That's how much I love this song.

Of course, their next album sold a heck of a lot more and is a lot more familiar to most people - The Dark Side of the Moon is considered a masterpiece, and rightfully so. But I can hear how that way of thinking started on Echoes (actually, it started before, but they were getting there with Echoes). It is also very interesting listening to their evolution in concert. The expanded versions of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here has a concert from Wembley, I believe, that includes Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, and early versions of songs that ended up on Animals. Getting insight in their creative process this way has been invaluable to me. However, today it's all about Echoes. Richard Wright constructed the starting point of the melody, bassist Roger Waters wrote the lyrics, and the vocals belong to Dave Gilmour and Rick Wright, who also plays guitar and keyboards respectively. That leaves Nick Mason on drums. Today I bring you the studio version, but the live version from Pompeii is also very worth watching!