Echoes, by Pink Floyd, on Meddle (1971)
Sometimes considered as a demanding acoustic experience, Echoes will nevertheless always remain the song through which I discovered Pink Floyd. Released on Meddle, a rather experimental record, its 23 minutes ate up to one full LP-side of the whole album, something that would sound fairly crazy in the contemporary music industry (with the exception of Archive's Again, very floydish at any rate).
With its slow introduction, scary interlude, multiple movements and evolutionary construction, this song could be considered as a modern symphony, and at least a perfect demonstration of progressive rock.
Starting as a quiet vocal ballad, the voices sound reassuring although the lyrics remain abstract. The symbiosis of the musicians is then more powerful than ever in the following part, with all instruments perfectly balanced and playing with each other. The next part, mainly constituted of "haunted forest" screams and howlings, has been criticized for lasting too long, but it turns out to be an essential phase of delirium before the following build-up, slowly covering the noises by organ textures and guitar riffs, growing before exploding in a climactic explosion of electric guitars. Finally, the song cools down as it comes back to the original sung movement, jolting a few more times before reaching its end, exhausted.
This incredibly daring composition symbolizes a time when geniuses were free to realize their musical experiments and release them to an eager audience. As rich musically as in the imagery it provides to the listener, Echoes is a timeless progressive rock masterpiece, one of Pink Floyd's most impressive contribution and an epic musical experience.
