Long before the days of anything big by Pink Floyd, unless of course you are (were) into England's underground music at the time, this was an overlooked CD. Which is very unfortunate, this was quite the preview of what was to come of Pink Floyd, in all its amazingness. Only six tracks long of 47 minutes in total, it isn't a lop-sided album at all.

Starting off with "One Of These Days," Pink Floyd starts with their occasional instrumentals - so you think. If you listen carefully (or, read the All Music Guide as I did) you can hear "One of these days, I'm going to chop you into little pieces". Just giving it a strange mode, which probably wouldn't have occurred if it were just an instrumental.

"Fearless" comes 3rd, the next song I feel is worth mentioning. While this is a very different Pink Floyd song, it definitely stands out on the CD. Nothing amazing or exactly Darkside worthy, but there's definitely a selfish/arrogant feeling to it. However, it does have the everyday theme to it, just as Darkside was highly based on.

"San Tropez" and "Seamus" are kind of the same, pre-Darkside feeling with its subtle preview. Both of these have jazzy yet psychedellic sound effects, again like Darkside. "A Pillow Of Winds" is almost a post-Darkside, though just beyond, with the wind sound effects of "Wish You Were Here," both the CD and song.

The big one - "Echoes." Begining with a spacy sound effect, though I belive it's just the plucking of one guitar string, leads to this very calming tune. This is very much like Darkside, with the everyday feel lyrics of "And no-one showed us to the land/And no-one knows the where or whys" and the ending (nearly 19 minutes later) "And no-one sings me lullabies/And no-one makes me close my eyes" showing the maturity of the 'me' along with the realizations the band has come to.

If you're a Pink Floyd fan, and don't want the hype Darkside bring with it, already have Darkside or heard everything on it, Meddle is worth picking up. However, the 23 minute long track might be too much for a new listener. Proceed with caution.