Pink Floyd and The Incredible String Band.
Pink Floyd.
“Meddle” is the next LP released by the band, being the only one they brought out in 1971. In terms of written info, it is the sparsest of their albums so far. This is the front cover:
This is actually one of the best albums the group ever released; there is simply not one moment on it that is not brilliant.
There is only one track on Side 2, but there are five on Side 1. Track 1 is called “One Of These Days”, and was noted at the time as featuring Nick Mason’s vocal debut. I remember it being played on one of the very early editions of “The Old Grey Whistle Test”, a prog rock TV programme on BBC2 that had just replaced its noble predecessor “Disco 2”. It was played showing a surreal cartoon of swirling shapes. It is a real stormer, this one, with a relentless bass riff giving the whole thing a menacing feel, with the soaring guitar of Dave Gilmour and the ghostly organ of Rick Wright providing an astounding colour to the mix. The only vocals in the song do indeed come from the drummer Nick Mason about two thirds through, where in a rough and guttural voice he intones the words “One of these days I’m going to cut you up into little pieces”. Sheer magic!