Echoes 2

Listening to Floyd again. As usual, its eerily beautiful. Roger Waters is in his element in 'Careful with that axe, Eugene!' as he screams, whispers, and emits animal cries to the accompaniment of dreamy music. 'A saucerful of secrets' is very 'Space Floyd', with an other-worldly composition, and Gilmour's wordless singing adding the final touch. Then comes the mad energy of 'One of these days', followed by the mystic litany of 'Set the controls for the heart of the sun'. Roger again shines in 'Set the controls...' with his understated vocals and the trippy lyrics taking you to a different dimension. This is followed by the wierdest song in the album, 'Mademoiselle Nobs', where Floyd's eccentricity reaches a zenith. In this song, Gilmour creates some Picasso-like music on the harmonica, followed by a dog/bitch (of the same breed as 'Lassie') howling in an apparent effort at singing into a mic held to its mouth by Wright. The animal seems to be in as much solemn mood as Floyd in its urge to add to the '...Pompeii' atmosphere. Of course, nothing rivals the opening credits of the album, a blank screen, with two very intimate sounds, breathing and heartbeats, following each other in a natural rhythm for 3 - 4 minutes, taking you inside yourself, to the core of life, before you blast into outer space in the shuttle taking off from the space center (the immediate next scene).

One senses a kind of other-worldly spirituality in Floyd’s music of the ‘…Pompeii’ time, like they are worshipping some pagan God with pagan music. Listen to ‘A saucerful of secrets’ if you wish to understand what I mean. Their music sometimes reminds me of religious chanting, each syllable in the chant expressing things better than any words will. You wouldn’t be remiss if you were caught swaying in a trance to Floyd’s music. In fact, when I saw the video of ‘One of these days’ on YouTube, I saw a comment posted underneath, saying, ‘This is the world’s first death metal song!’ Of course, I’ve yet to verify this, but I was pretty shocked when I read that. Take that for progressive!

‘One of these days’ has Nick Mason going into a demonic momentum with the drums, a precision that seems more machine-like than human. The music can only be described in two words: ‘Spaced Out’. The climax of the song is of course, the demonic voice screaming inside Nick Mason’s head, ‘One of these days, I’m going to cut you into little pieces!’ For a moment, you expect to see pieces of your body neatly arranged next to you.

It was always dark in Pompeii due to the heavy clouds and the ground was dark with volcanic ash, but the darkest thing of all was Pink Floyd’s music.

Just read an iMDB comment stating, 'Pink Floyd were The Beatles of the 70s'. Not sure how Beatles fans would feel about that, but I fully agree. They are certainly among the greatest rock bands of all time. This, by the way, is a great opinion piece on the '10 best rock bands ever': www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4595384/

Don't miss 'Live at Pompeii'. Now set the controls for the heart of the sun!

Echoes

My favorite Pink Floyd song. I haven't heard a song with deeper atmosphere. Right from the mystic sounds at the beginning to the crescendo building up before the surreal lyrics sung by Gilmour and Wright, the song takes you down a certain valley beyond which there's another world quite alien from ours. This is space, and the Floyd are taking you on a trip to the unknown, filled with its strangeness and mystery, captured so well in the outer space sounds that form the beginning of 'Echoes 2'.

However, one cannot make this trip completely without joining the spaced out musicians at the sulphur spring-filled ruins of Pompeii. The video takes you on a journey into their mind, into 'coral caves' and 'labyrinths' filled with psychedelic light, where they are both, the albatross hanging motionless in the air, as well as the deep sea creatures that cannot rise above the coral caves and labyrinths, creatures that cannot 'move towards the light'.

The second verse shows an inclination towards the 'we're all one' philosophy, and so the stranger passing you on the street is you, though not your mirror image. You want to guide this person through your world, and in doing so, you want to 'understand the best you can' about yourself.

Floyd were called an acid band when they started out, and they acknowledge this 'distinction' wryly in the candid face-to-face they have with the director in this movie. David Gilmour, then an almost femininely good-looking youth, smiles dreamily at the camera and says, very casually, 'We've this image of being an acid band, and that that's the main influence of our music (I'm not quoting verbatim here, so those who've seen the movie, please don't rush to correct me), but we're not.' Then some more of the charming smile, and 'You can trust us.' This sounds so much like an ingenue playing her part to perfection that you admire it even as you want to laugh at the impishness in his eyes. And then you observe all these characters, so completely relaxed, sitting in a deli, ordering a typical English breakfast of ham, eggs, bacon, and whatnot, talking about their music, trends in the music industry, the rifts and patch-ups that have defined their relationship all these years, and you wonder if its possible that they are just regular people deep down, like you and me, and that the thing that sets them apart is their unequivocal dedication to their craft. Truly, when you've a purpose that defines your life, you need little else...

People have criticized Pink Floyd for going 'commercial' over the years, of stepping down to conventionality, of being like 'any other rock band'. It is to Pink Floyd's credit that their sound remains unique and original down to their last album, 'The Division Bell'. All their live tours have been tremendous successes, even though David Gilmour's voice acquires a tinge of exhaustion by 'The Delicate Sound Of Thunder'. But his trademark guitar solos remain the high point of all their concerts and even his live efforts. One has to see the video of 'On an island', the title track of his solo album by the same name, to know what I mean. And who can forget 'Marooned'? I think of it as my 'requiem' song; when I die, I want to be on an island filled with scenery and completely uninhabited, with the night just beginning to set, stars shining brightly in the sky and 'Marooned' (and all the best of Floyd) playing in a rich surround effect from the skies...

Bands may come and go, the tastes of generations in music may change over decades, but old-timers like Floyd will aways remain a standard to look up to, an inspiration. I do wish they had retained the madness of 'live at Pompeii' though, and I'd love to hear a present day version of 'I'm going to cut you into little pieces!'