In the same vein as their guitar and keyboards working together, Wright was the weaker singer but when combined with Gilmour as said it was a magic blend, soo much is focused on Waters but these two really are the sound of Floyd, Echos is really where it all came together and led to the absolutely extraordinary music to follow from Floyd.
A personal memory of an old man. LOL... Echoes (& the Meddle album) was when I became a Floyd fan back around '70. I had a tiny 8" black & white portable tv on my kitchen table. One evening, I was eating & flipping channels when I landed on "Pink Floyd live from Pompei" on PBS!. I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing. They were playing Echoes & if anything it was even better live than in studio (if that is possible). Ofc, that is now available on youtube, dvd, etc & famous... but for me, that memory is etched in my old brain. :-) Glad you have now experienced it, Justin.
Me too. I read somewhere that Gilmour accidentally wired up one of his effects pedals wrongly and it made a strange booming noise instead of whatever it was was supposed to do. He liked it so kept it that way. Absolutely blew everything else away. One of those world standing still moments. Nothing else matters till it is over. Another Gilmour “what on Earth am I hearing moment was the first time hearing Red Sky on his On an Island album/CD incredible.
Echoes is gorgeous, powerful, and haunting. Lyrically, it is about the spiritual connection between all living things, the ocean, and the sun. Echoes and Dogs are the two best Pink Floyd songs. I can never decide which is better.
I'd like to add a big thank you to Justin. He's facilitated a community of people who can share our experiences, memories, stories and thoughts. I can hear many voices here of my generation and whilst we understand that music like this was the soundtrack to our lives it's wonderful that a younger generation can now share in that experience. The technology has allowed it but Justin and other people like him have fostered it. Thank you.
Watch Pink Floyd live at Pompeii 1972( the directors cut). The greatest live performance ever recorded. Watching them play this song is something special !!
IMHO, I really think that the performance of "Echoes" was better in the concert video, "David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk." It's also the last recorded performance. BTW, just a few years ago, David Gilmour played at Pompeii again, this time with a live audience. But because of Richard's passing, they did not perform "Echoes."
“This is a song about connections”. You got that right and it is especially the connection between guitarist David Gilmour and keyboardplayer Richard Wright. Gilmour called Echoes an extended conversation between him and Wright and as such has also stopped performing it since Wright has passed away.
The last recorded instance of "Echoes" can be found on the "David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk" concert video, and it's one of the very best. Richard toured and recorded with David's solo group up till his death due to cancer.
This music was also created at a time when the world was not moving so fast. People weren't in such a hurry. It seems like some younger people today may not have the patience to appreciate songs like this anymore. But you do. Its cool to see such new appreciation from someone who has listened to this for decades already. "Unsettling beauty" that describes a lot of their music
Before the comments start coming in, I just wanted to say thank you all for your patience in me getting this to you. I hope everyone enjoys the video, and I thank you all for watching. Have a great Friday! (Or whatever day it is when you're watching 🙃) And if you missed it, heres the playlist for the whole album listen! ruclips.net/p/PLk5U1pT6RIR3eMur94Ekjp-9rXC13F4Wc
Totally worth the wait. It's so satisfying to listen to someone experience music for the first time who's actually into music. So many will just fake enthusiasm, try to force some meaning into it and move on to the next paid song. You're into the details, the structure, the meaning. No one else on You Tube compares so thank you for making this channel.
This is a great choice. You must watch the Pompeii version. Even if you don’t watch it on this channel. You must watch it in your own time. You need to watch it at least once in your live.
Acid rock at its best. Have to say first time I heard this was on chemicals. The day was memorable, drove to Waikiki beach, dropped a hit and spent the day watching the ocean and the people. Come sun down it was awesome, the colors and the sound of the ocean and the reflection of the sunset in the water. Had several drinks at the beach and as me and my friends headed back home dropped us another hit. Had a great stereo system, put this album on, it was dark outside, had the lights off and the only light was from the stereo system and the first sound was the ping from the song. We sat back eyes closed and got taken on a trip trough the universe. This is what the 70s was for me, one music experience after another. Hawaii was a great place for the military to send me.
For me Pink Floyd peaked at Echoes. It was the last song the 4 members truly equally collaborated on, and it is the best example of the whole being greater than the parts. It is my favorite song, period. I've been listening to this song for over forty years.. I've heard it hundreds and hundreds of times. And yet even now, once in a while I will find something I've never heard before buried in the mix. Maybe I'm using new headphones, or different speakers etc., and it usually happens when I'm not entirely focused on the music, but invariably my mind will pick out an instrument or sound that I had never noticed before. The music is so layered and textured that it's ocean deep. That's why when people say they prefer the Pompeii version I cringe a little bit. The album version and the live version are 2 completely different beings. Both incredible. The live version is raw and visceral, the studio version is softer but so expansive. There is literally an orchestra of David Gilmour's playing on the album version, most of whom you will never hear because the passage is buried so deep in the mix. That's what I love about this song. Those little pieces surface many years down the road. The song keeps revealing itself even after all this time.
I love your post because it's exactly how i feel. I do love Dark Side and beyond but for me pre Dark Side is my preferred era and i agree that the studio version is better than Pompeii. For me my favourite albums are Meddle,Atom Heart Mother and the live side of Ummagumma.
Yes, Andrew Lloyd Webber did steal that riff for Phantom of the plagiarist. This song is important to me because it was the start of the PF style that I loved most. They found their direction on this song. Also, in a band known for their excellent lyrics, this song contains my favourite line in all music "strangers passing in the street, by chance two separate glances meet and I am you and what I see is me". This is at the core of nearly all Rogers lyrics and is also my principle belief in life. Empathy is the key.
I like this channel a lot better than JPMP. MP is a little too stuck in his preferences in my opinion, he isn't the best at reacting to music that is 'new' to him. Keep up the great work man, your quality is phenomenal and you're a super personable guy. Subbed.
i politely disagree. i like what JP is doing here by himself but Manny was a great foil that would put a different take on the music played. They weren't on the same page all the time which made it fun to watch them converse through their differences.
@@Vince-lq3ve I agree with you. I like that JP is more adventurous, and so we get lots more videos and lots of variety and in-depth thoughts. But I do like the two of them reacting from time to time and getting a different take on things.
One of my top 5 PF songs! If you listen closely you will here a ping and return ping from a submarine. The weird sounds, are to me, whales echoing in the deep ocean. The live at Pompeii version of this is amazing! You can watch Gilmour work that black Strat to perfection!
This song brought me to Pink Floyd in my early teens. It brought me into music in general, and especially prog. It brought me into sound engineering and into making music. It gave me part of my user name. I owe a lot to this piece. Listening to it in its entirety cannot not be an experience. It always is. Fun fact: in all of this soundscape, there's zero synthesizer (on the whole album). To be honest, I'm kinda new to this "reactions/first listen" videos and I like that, a lot. It's like having a buddy discover art you like, but is actually attentive to it. It's awesome. Especially on a piece with that much significance (to me, at least). Very glad you liked it. And of course you have to watch the Pompeii version! Also, look up "Nothing Part 14" to hear them experimenting on this. Great work and thanks for your efforts!
At last. It's here. Echoes. After 30 years of waiting and anticipating, the day has finally arrived. People have lived and loved, died and lost. Ice ages have gone by and the tectonic plates have drifted several meters apart. But the day we've all been waiting for has finally come. And it's a bittersweet one, because there are no more epics like this to react to now. But we've had Supper's Ready and now we have Echoes, so the balance has been restored. And that's what life is about. Yin and Yang, and all that shit.
You should try Mick Oldfields Tubular Bells. He had to borrow and beg studio time, he was only 17, plays all the instruments, produced most of it himself and of cause came up the the tune and concept. "Of course" " Mike Oldfield"
The part that you describe as "quiet funk with the organ in the back" after the first transition is the single best groove that Floyd ever committed to vinyl.
I remember listening to this with friends in the early 70's, usually in an altered state of mind, and commenting with them how we would still be listening to this 50 years later.
yep ! well done again Justin, nailed it, if the RUclips police are watching leave this guy alone he's doing a fantastic job putting a lot of effort in to his channel to make it a really unique and in depth take on reactions as opposed to a lot of other channels, I can't add much to what you've already said about "Echoes" but considering it was released in 1971 it must have blown everyone away at the time, As well as the Pompeii version you should also watch the version on the David Gilmour live DVD "Remember That Night".....
I'm ashamed to say that it's only now when I listen to what we had in the '70s, compared to what came before and after, am I blown away. At the time as a teenager it was just the music we listened to - Alan Freeman on the radio Saturday mornings, John Peel late at night and listening with friends to each new album and gig from Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf, etc. We didn't know any different, this is just what music was. Now I realise I was spoilt and I was living in a golden age that I'll never see again. Or does everyone think that of their teenage years?
@@PaulMDove2 I spent my teenage years mostly in the early 80's, but went back and found the same golden age you did when I was dissatisfied, which was often.
What a brilliant analysis while at the same time intelligently expressing an emotional musical experience which is even more impressive because its the product of an initial listening. Well done and thank you!
I had forgotten how deeply and freakishly good this is. Wow. The vocal section is this gorgeous spacey church music, until the blues rears up and stomps around the church. Gilmour and Wright sing together so beautifully.
Echoes is one of my all time favorite. Listened with my sister to all Pink Floyd when we were young. She is no longer with us. Echoes always takes me back to those happy days. It touches deep into my soul.
As far as the length goes, you have to remember this was 1971 and they were limited by the vinyl format. Sure they could do a 28 minute track but the sonics would have suffered. I was introduced to Meddle/Echoes around 1980 and it was not a widely talked about record at least in my circle of friends and acquaintances. I bought the album after seeing a midnight showing of the Pompeii film. This was shortly after being introduced to Pink Floyd with the release of The Wall in 1979. But Echoes remains as powerful as it was all those years ago.
First, honestly, I've watched 100s of Floyd reactions and 100s of other music reactions and I have to say this reaction and post song analysis has been the best I've seen (at least among my favourites). Thank you for that, the wait was well worth it. Secondly, even if you didnt end up liking the song, I would have said thanks for giving it a shot, but the fact that not only you enjoyed it, but you understood how profound this song actually is made this an amazing experience to listen to this song with you ("connection"). Your analysis and excitement helped put into words what all of us feel when we listen to this masterpiece. You asked us what our favourite part is... I'd say everything. From the pings to the instrumentals, musical landscapes, transistions, tempo changes, middle section, the build ups, Gilmour's solo, the lyrics, and the vocals, this song is all around amazing. But if I have to choose, I would say when the ping comes back in after the middle section is amazing. Then it builds up into Gilmour's solo which then builds again into the final vocals. That whole section is so incredible for me. There are a few live versions (Pompei, Rememeber than Night, Live in Gdansk), I was extremely fortunate to see the Remember that Night Version live on Gilmour's 2006 tour with Richard Wright (On an Island tour in Toronto). It was the best live musical experience I've had to date. I recommend you check that version out in your own time when you can (or do a reaction if you want, I won't complain :p ). If you want to continue discovering more Floyd, and since you've already done Darkside, I suggest Wish You Were Here album as the next logical step. Seeing you react to it like Meddle, track by track, will be so much fun. Thanks again (and sorry for the novel!).
Thanks for all of that jtrem, I'm really really happy you've enjoyed this (and other videos)! Yeah, the buildup into the solo is just magical. I'll definitely be doing more PF in the future :)
Overhead the albatross Hangs motionless upon the air And deep beneath the rolling waves In labyrinths of coral caves The echo of a distant time Comes willowing across the sand And everything is green and submarine And no one showed us to the land And no one knows the where's or why's But something stirs and something tries And starts to climb toward the light Strangers passing in the street By chance, two separate glances meet And I am you and what I see is me And do I take you by the hand And lead you through the land And help me understand the best I can? And no one calls us to move on And no one forces down our eyes No one speaks and no one tries No one flies around the sun Cloudless everyday You fall upon my waking eyes Inviting and inciting me to rise And through the window in the wall Come streaming in on sunlight wings A million bright ambassadors of morning And no one sings me lullabies And no one makes me close my eyes So I throw the windows wide And call to you across the sky Source: LyricFind Songwriters: David Gilmour / George Waters / Nicholas Mason / Richard Wright
This piece takes you deep deep underwater in the labyrinth of coral caves where life began. The screaming sea gulls and roaring waves take you deep. Very deep.
This was the second album I ever bought. I bought it about a week after it was first released. One of Floyd's best, certainly top 3. Love Echoes so much, I can remember listening to it in the shop before deciding whether to buy it or not. I remember vividly hearing that ping for the first time. It still fills me with joy.49 years later. 👍😊
I know the feeling. Whenever I hear a ping, I get a ripple deep pleasure. I laugh when people say 'ping me a message', Do they know what comes after the 'ping' ?
My Rushmore is: - "Echoes" by Pink Floyd - "Firth of Fifth" by Genesis - "La Villa Strangiato" by Rush - "Close To The Edge" by Yes - "Starless" by King Crimson - "Luminol" by Steven Wilson (only modern one but it's just SOOO good) :)
I was a student around 78 or 79 in the summer I couldn't afford a proper holiday so I went to a Chantier in France (It's like an International work camp) you pay fot travel to the workcamp and bring spending money for trips, etc. the rest is provided free in exchange for work. So one weekend we planned a trip to Avignon. It was during the time of the music festival. There was music everywhere in the streets, in the pubs, even in the cinemas. So we noticed amongst the music films was a Pink Floyd double bill, "The making of Dark Side Of the Moon" and "Live at Pompei". Pompei was great especially where they are playing Echoes in the old Amphitheatre in Pompei, the ancient Roman town devastated by the volcano Vesuvius. It was the perfect setting to play echoes.
I always thought the repeated piano ping was meant to represent sonar and, the middle I always thought was the band trying to replicate prehistoric sounds of pterodactyls. It's amazing that next year this song will be 50 years old and yet doesn't sound dated in any way. I think that you would enjoy Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn, an album of virtually two side long instrumental tracks plus a single length vocal track.
Vernon Allen Your mention of Ommadawn transported me to the memory of hearing it for the first time at College; a rainy afternoon stuck in my dorm room. A lot of memories today. I would second your recommendation.
Since you already listened to The Dark Side Of The Moon, I highly suggest to react to Wish You Were Here. Hands down their best album, with the beautiful suite Shine On You Crazy Diamond that is split in half and opens and closes the album.
It's hard to pick a "best album" when they are all so damn good, but WYWH is definitely one of my top 3 from PF! It's got stiff competition for first place from The Wall, that's for sure!
I still think Dark Side of the Moon is their best, I can't put that album on and not end up listening to the whole thing. I love Wish Your Were Here as well, but I still think the entire flow of DSotM is better. Now, Shine on you Crazy Diamond may be the best song of theirs (all parts).
RIP Rick Wright. Echoes is always very cleansing, and is arguably the most proggy thing PF ever did. Most of the effects -- piano, guitar, bass and more -- were produced using a Binson echo unit and a Leslie cabinet. The Leslie had been around for years, but the Binson was relatively new and was one of the first purpose-built effects units. It was adopted by many rock bands in the late 60s/early 70s. The deep, haunting swirling sound in the middle is Waters running a metal slide bar over his bass strings while running it through the Binson. You can see him doing this in the Pompeii film.
45 + yrs later and I still groove to Echoes.. Its nice knowing and expecting all the little nuances of the song. I must have heard this well over a thousand times. It was nice to watch someone hear it for the first time and be taken to a new place.
You've got to check out the live version from Live In Gdańsk (performed by David Gilmour with his band, which featured Richard Wright) from 2006. I might be biased as I was there but the recording doesn't lie!
Agree completely. While the original "Live in Pompeii" live version was very good, "Live in Gdansk" was spectacular, as is the entire concert video. I was so happy that David and Richard kept collaborating after Pink Floyd dissolved. They played together until Richard's death of cancer.
I very much liked your reaction and very apt analysis. the middle part - the ambience part - for me always has been the submarine being on the surface of the sea - with cold wind and sea gull cries. Imagine a submarine lost in the middle of North Atlantic during last war -- and there is dark grey sky - cold wind - sea gulls trying to land on your starboard and the radar clicking to detect any enemy. it sounds more melodic when it returns under the sea and get protected by the mass of water being itself and the potential enemy. Note that the radar clicking can only happen under the sea.
The structure of the song is just sublime, it’s as if each band member brings there own experiences and sounds together and is moulded into a fantastical soundscape of the ocean depths. Pure class!
Picture it. Miami, FL. 1981, I'm 21. Midnight Pink Floyd laser light show at the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium. Stoned out of my mind, grooving on the sound and lights. The show ends, the lights slowly rise. I blink my eyes, watching others rising from their seats and gathering their items to depart. When, to my own surprise, not to mention the surprise of the event organizers, I'm sure, out of my mouth comes the plaintiff wail of, "Echoes!" (which had not been played during the show) The audience stills. Slowly people return to their seats. I cry out again, "Echoes!" This time my call is picked up by other voices, mostly male, but here and there a few fellow females as well. This goes on for about five minutes, more or less. I see the ushers congregating, whispering to each other and beginning to make their way towards the ends of the rows. ...and the slow sunset fade of the planetarium lights dim as we hear over the speakers: "Ping!"
At last! Actually, I must say, although I have been waiting for this, I must also point out, I haven't actually listened to it for years. Nonetheless, it was brilliant to experience it with you again. So many musical memories crashed into my consciousness. I was taken back to the very first time I heard the song, while watching a late night cinema version of "Pink Floyd in Pompeii" - three schoolkids out at night without our parents really knowing where we were. Freedom! After I got hold of the album and played it many times, I increased my own love of all the parts - the beginning, the vocals, the long ambient bit you liked so much, the "cllimactic guitar" - I have lived it through many lives. I had played it so many times that, although I have not listened to it for over 20 years, the memories all came flooding back as I listened to it with you. Thank you so much for including it in your programme.
I used to listen to Echoes every night in my lightweight Sennheiser headphones until I fell asleep. It was 1980. I was a kid. 16 years old. Now I am 58 years old. Yet as youtube chose to play your video (randomly) this morning, the effect was visceral. It's not music. It's sounds. And to my amazement, they did the same things to me now as they did 42 years ago.
I just love your analytic skills Justin. And your enthousiasm is so fantastic! I can tell you've been touched to the core. This is what Pink Floyd does. But now direct yourself quickly towards the pompeii live version, part I and II. You will be blown away!
It was 1971 and I was living off base in Las Vegas. I was in the Air Force stationed at Nellis. I had never heard Pink Floyd at this point. We would leave KLUC FM on every night while we slept and in those days dj’s would play anything. One night I was having a dream about trucks grinding their way up The Grapevine a long and steep hill in Southern California on the way to Los Angeles. So I am hearing this sound while in semi sleep and I am too tired to call the station but I did wake up and looked at the stereo and fell back asleep so I didn’t know what that was. I forgot about all that and about a week later a friend of mine Pete came to my room in the barracks because I moved back to base because it was free and invited me to listen to a song he felt I would dig the hell out of on his headphones with no interruptions. I agreed and he didn’t tell me the band or song it was very mysterious. And we were a little vegged out so off it goes and I am entranced then it goes into what you called Ambient and my memory came back from my dream as the trucks. So you know how when you talk on headphones you are actually way too loud right I start yelling The Trucks The Trucks! Pete is like what’s The Trucks? What are you talking about Rand? I told him about my dream and that this was the song being played on the radio a week before. We both went WOW and took another hit and then he showed me the album cover. It was Purple with an ear superimposed. Here’s the weird part. In the house at night the stereo had it’s own light but we also had a nightlight with a mild purple haze all around the room. You could sleep but also walk to the bathroom without waking anyone up. The Meddle cover was the same color as our room one week before I saw the Meddle cover. The British cover is green. That’s my introduction to becoming a life long Pink Floyd fan.
You're so perceptive and articulate, listening to you talk about Pink Floyd is an absolute delight. I heard someone once describe Pink Floyd as always playing the perfect note you didn't know you needed to hear and the suprise of it causes an ecstatic response in your brain. Ecstatic would definitely describe how I feel when listening to Pink Floyd no matter how many times I've heard a song. My boyfriend did a college final on the hero's journey by playing this song to the class. He got a B. ✌💗🖖
I think once Tomorrow Never Knows was released by The Beatles in 1966, the traditional music walls came down resulting to open up a world of advanced recorded sound engineering. As demonstrated here Pink Floyd were also one spearhead for this creative approach. Great architecture and mood. Credit to all those involved at the time. Liked.
Most Pink Floyd fans will tell you either ECHOES or SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND is their best song. But seriously, I love so many songs by them. I think the more you listen to Pink Floyd's discography (By the way, Pink Floyd have a pretty large discography, they were active a lot longer than Led Zeppelin ever were), the more you will explore and appreciate and discovery their other hidden gems such as The Narrow Way Part 3 from the Ummagumma album by Pink Floyd or Julia Dream from Relics album. I think globally, people will know them most for The Dark Side Of The Moon album, therefore their other albums kinda get overlooked.
I always interpreted the song as being about the evolution of life to adapt to the land, but also the desire to climb towards the sun and travel interplanetarily. So I hear the ambient section as being both submarine, and interplanetary, and then the transcendent "re-entry" is in my mind a literal re-entry after a journey around the sun in a spacecraft, and coming back, changed
Thanks JP, it was facinating to hear your thought on this epic song. You pretty much 'echo' my own thoughts. To me the whale song section portrays desolation and loneliness, which (I think you said) pulls you deep down, but then a slow rise follows into the second major transition which is like a reward for returning from such a bleak place. This song should be tought at music school. This song grew in an organic way from their live performances in much the same way that many of Floyds later tracks, including the follow-up album Dark Side Of The Moon, which they were playing versions of long before they committed it in the recording studio. BTW, you're going to love see the guys playing live at Pompeii. Along with all the expected greatness, look out for Nick Mason on drums in Pt.1 of Echoes, some of my favourite Floyd viewing right there.
Happy to see you reach nirvana finally! This is the prelude to the masterpiece Dark Side of the Moon! Echoes is unlike any other song by any other band, a creativity overload..Enjoy Echoes Pompeii...
I knew Pink Floyd through "See Emily Play" but never got into them. When I was at uni, I went to the local record shop to buy "Ars Longa, Vita Brevis" by the Nice and "Echoes" was playing. When I listened to the Nice album I thought it was shit, scratched it and took it back to the shop. I got "Meddle" to replace it. Must admit, I later bought ALVB again and really love it. "Echoes" is one of my favourites along with "Atom Heart Mother".
Meaning of this album, let me put it this way. My little sister just told me, she has been listening this lately, and was stunned to realize, she did not know any of the songs by name, but every part of every song was very familiar. And that is because of the amount of play this album got in our home. I was about 16, she was about 14. Something like 38 years ago. This is very essential music to me. Those seagulls, random sounds, overall freedom and creativity. Can not explain. I now consider DSOTM, WYWH and Animals to be better albums. But at the time, this was the most fascinating music. Its beautiful to gather around these masterpieces. I am biased, but how could admiring this be cheesy 😊. Got to the end, great analysis. Thank you.
I'm late, but this is the very first music from Pink Floyd which stuned me when I was 8. I used to do dancing (ballet, mordern jazz) in small town. Of course there were end of years shows... And this one was at the end of year, and guess what ? It was used to illustration "evolution", so... "Life" as you said... You seem to have felt the same feeling my dance teacher felt almost 40 years ago.... But I must admit, at 8, this song felt a bit creepy for me, fortunately I was going to become a huge Pink Floyd fan a few years later...
Echoes is my favorite song by far. I used to skip it because on Pandora, they would always play the middle part of the song and I would not understand why that would be made. I picked up the album and I like to listen to the whole album a few times to get what type of story it might tell. So I finally heard it and fell in love. The beginning keyboards, with the guitar and how it builds up into this dream like song that always makes me feel relaxed no matter what I am doing. Fat old sun on Atom Heart Mother is another song by Pink Floyd that is amazing and you should really give it a try. It isn't as known as most of their albums (I don't think. Most I talk to never heard of that album).
I believe it was in 1972 when I went to see Pink Floyd perform their new suite "Eclipse" which was very well received. For an encore they performed Echoes, and at the sound of the ping the place erupted.
Hi there, and thanks for this superb reaction. This song is very special to me, and will be for all time. As a 8 year old I was snooping around in my dad's albums and came across this , almost 40 years ago. I was listening to the album and while Echoes played I noticed that something happened to me. The bridge that sets in on 16.41 in you're reaction video was a turning point for me. I was listening to it, the world stopped. I never had heard someting so beautyfull and soul crushing like this. How the sound volume goes up, the instuments grow and the overal feel gets uplifting, and becomes a person almost. That feeling I got then, well I still cary that around with me. I've seen lots of concerts, shows from blues to extreme metal and always look when that feeling comes around , then I know it's alright. Echoes is one of my altime favorits and that person, like I did say, walks with me for all my life. Thanks again for this reaction, Greets, Chris.
Pink Floyd, whilst way over toward the progressive side, still find their roots, like so many English bands (the Shadows, Dave Mayhall, Cream, Yardbirds, Zeplin...long list), in American Blues. It is fun to watch your reactions to things I was listening to 45+ years ago, thank you for your interest.
Compliments, Justin, this is by far the best "off-music-theory" - first listen channel I know. And many thanks for the "unsettling beauty" in this song, I didn't have a better concise expression for that certain feeling so far.
This was used on the film Crystal Voyager. It was used for the section during which the surfers went through the eye of the wave with cameras on then so they surfed through the barrel of the wave. (not sure what it should be called) and you get to see it from the perspective of being inside the wave. I am not certain but I think that was the first time that was put on film. With this music being the sound track. In the weirder parts of this piece texture is the thing. The appreciation of the texture of sounds. This is art. Music as art not just a rhythm to dance to or background noise for a dinner party.
You were on point about the undersea sense of the song. This song had more input from Richard Wright, and his favorite place to be was on the ocean. He was happiest on his sailboat, hence the first verse is about green and sub marine (as in colors) and coral caves. I would guess that if we have any say in the afterlife, he would be on his boat, upon the waves. He reflects that in word and music, and he plays a single note and David plays one back, therefore the Echo of each other's notes, riffs. David expertly, as always transports us throughout the song, including eerie haunting vibrating sounds, that some listeners say must be aliens. I don't think they are aliens, but perhaps by the sea, perhaps sirens who are fabled to make sounds the fishermen and sailors can hear. I loved the song had many changes, one is like pure Funk, to it, which is not a theme of Pink Floyd. Then it takes a new twist with David playing with I am not sure, but something akin to a set of Bagpipes, ( to me) which adds a new twist to the song before returning to the last verse, which is my favorite, the words are pure poetry, with a million white Ambassadors of Morning, coming in through the window on wings. What a beautiful term for dawn. I love this song, and, I must add that it is solidly linked from start to end by some of Nick Mason's finest drumming. They are all solidly linked, and then once again the song, plays the keyboard and is then echoed back by David's perfect guitar notes and melodies. I recall at the concert, you could actually have heard a pin drop by the crowd, as no one dares move, or fidget during this long song. Every Floyd concert I attended were very well behaved, and a real treat to have been to. I wished we all slowed down aging, as I selfishly looked forward to taking my two now adult sons to a Pink Floyd Concert, but, will have to be content with those kind people who share these concerts, music pieces on YT etc. I know Pink Floyd has played many a decade, and sure deserve their retirement. RIP Richard Wright. I hope you enjoy playing with the stars in heaven. Til then,.....
I listened to this back at Day 1 (release day, 1971) - by pure coincidence I was reading re-Lord of the Rings and had just listened to a prerelease (Swedish) bootleg of Bo Hansson's 'Lord of the Rings' a sort of musical accompaniment to the book. There is a track called 'For on the Barrow Downs', about the company camping in a ruin, being hunted by the undead Nazgul, one of whom finds a trace of the hobbits somewhere and off in the distance it cries, an eerie wordess scream. Floyd got it spot on....reading 'Fog on the Barrow Downs' now without that atmospheric section of this track is unthinkable. Great review, btw
Justin another stupendous prog band to react to, camel, "ice" a hair on back of neck instrumental, camel guitarist Andrew Latimer is on par with David gilmour. Justin, you won't be disappointed, I promise, thanks for another great review.
Thanks for the reaction, Justin. My wife and I were spending our 3rd anniversary in Capri back in 1998 and we journeyed to Pompeii largely because of this song and the movie Live at Pompeii. So good!
@@JustJP Fantastic. The following year my wife gave birth to our first child in Germany without anesthesia, just headphones and a cassette with DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and WISH YOU WERE HERE on it. All of my kids have grown up surrounded by good music, and "Echoes" is a favorite. Thanks again for your reactions.
Meddle got me through 9 'O'-levels, 5 'A'-levels and the rest of my life. People always comment how patient I am, and it's because I have a quiet, focused core to my being due to this music.
Forgotten how many times I’ve got high to this going back 30 plus years. Still great in 2021 as it was in 1973 - and this is exactly why music was far better then than now.
Brilliant reaction Justin!!! Analysis is truly a gift of yours; right on the mark. Roger Waters was a Stanley Krubic fan and '2001 a Space Odyssey' (Which I highly recommend), had just came out not long before this. A movie which is about the evolution of man. The way the music rises during the Altro of the song makes me picture our next evolutionary phase, our journey to space and the stars. I can hear someone saying, 'Set the controls for the heart of the sun'. We're all echoes of the Big Bang I suppose...fantastic!!!
Sunday May 1st I went to see Nick Mason's Saurcerful of Secrets Live in Leicester U.K. And they did a great version of this track. Loads of trippy sounds and some great vocals.
Wow Justin you nailed it ! Well worth waiting for your reaction and you will enjoy the Pompeii version even more. Meddle will be 50 years old next year, I can’t believe it. Floyd music will never die, thanks for a brilliant analysis. Gilmour also plays echoes live in Gadansk with Rick Wright it’s amazing. My top 3 bands are Floyd , Genesis (early up to Duke) and Yes. It’s great that you play all three. So far you’ve just done the classic Echoes and Genesis’s Suppers Ready, only Awaken to go now 😊
your background is also matching with the album cover, what a coincidence. Echoes probably one of the greatest song ever written. The last line "Calling you across the sky" always gave me chills. Roger Waters is lyrical genius.
You really nail it at 30:00. Their music seems loosely connected, like they just improvised and all of the sudden beautiful melody from outer space just unintendedly came out of nowhere.
Echoes is arguably the greatest song of all time.
I would argue for it :)
It's a legit perfect song💯 In my top 10 favorite songs of all time
It's the greatest work of art of all time if you ask me.
@@MinorCirrus I'd probably say 'Once upon a time in the West' edges it but both epic in their field.
Not as long as "The Gates of Delirium" exists.
David Gilmour and Richard Wright are perfect singing together!🎶🎧❤️
Gilmour himself said the duo was kinda magical, and when Rick passed away, he said he would never perform this song again without him.
In the same vein as their guitar and keyboards working together, Wright was the weaker singer but when combined with Gilmour as said it was a magic blend, soo much is focused on Waters but these two really are the sound of Floyd, Echos is really where it all came together and led to the absolutely extraordinary music to follow from Floyd.
Echoes is a musical masterpiece
Yes it is!
No it’s not because mUh pReTEnTiOus PenTatOnIc ScAlE
Echoes is brilliant - it's basically every musical idea that's on Dark Side of the Moon, but compressed into 20 mins.
You know...you're right
@@JustJP Where's the girl?
A personal memory of an old man. LOL... Echoes (& the Meddle album) was when I became a Floyd fan back around '70. I had a tiny 8" black & white portable tv on my kitchen table. One evening, I was eating & flipping channels when I landed on "Pink Floyd live from Pompei" on PBS!. I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing. They were playing Echoes & if anything it was even better live than in studio (if that is possible). Ofc, that is now available on youtube, dvd, etc & famous... but for me, that memory is etched in my old brain. :-) Glad you have now experienced it, Justin.
That whole video is spooky, as if they're playing to the long-dead spirits in that amphitheater.
Thats so funny; I'm hearing a lot of stories about the same video exposing PF to others. Ty Eric
I think the studio version is way better than the Pompei version.
Pigs brought me into pink floyd when i was a kid and echoes sealed the deal never had i heard such music before or since.
Me too. I read somewhere that Gilmour accidentally wired up one of his effects pedals wrongly and it made a strange booming noise instead of whatever it was was supposed to do. He liked it so kept it that way. Absolutely blew everything else away. One of those world standing still moments. Nothing else matters till it is over.
Another Gilmour “what on Earth am I hearing moment was the first time hearing Red Sky on his On an Island album/CD incredible.
Echoes is gorgeous, powerful, and haunting. Lyrically, it is about the spiritual connection between all living things, the ocean, and the sun. Echoes and Dogs are the two best Pink Floyd songs. I can never decide which is better.
Exactly!!! Both are superb- The sheer amount of brilliance is inexplicable.
bro...the most inspired, astute, articulate analysis of this song I have ever heard....Floyd is a spiritual experience...well done mate...peace
Thank you so much Damien :)
Absolutely man! To both of you!
Ok, but look at the Critical Reactions YT account...very nice analysis too.
I'd like to add a big thank you to Justin. He's facilitated a community of people who can share our experiences, memories, stories and thoughts. I can hear many voices here of my generation and whilst we understand that music like this was the soundtrack to our lives it's wonderful that a younger generation can now share in that experience. The technology has allowed it but Justin and other people like him have fostered it. Thank you.
Ty Alan, I'm just happy to have you all around tbh. Its refreshing and nice being in an active group like this.
Watch Pink Floyd live at Pompeii 1972( the directors cut). The greatest live performance ever recorded. Watching them play this song is something special !!
IMHO, I really think that the performance of "Echoes" was better in the concert video, "David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk." It's also the last recorded performance. BTW, just a few years ago, David Gilmour played at Pompeii again, this time with a live audience. But because of Richard's passing, they did not perform "Echoes."
“This is a song about connections”. You got that right and it is especially the connection between guitarist David Gilmour and keyboardplayer Richard Wright. Gilmour called Echoes an extended conversation between him and Wright and as such has also stopped performing it since Wright has passed away.
That's really interesting, but it definitely makes sense. Ty Chris
The last recorded instance of "Echoes" can be found on the "David Gilmour - Live in Gdansk" concert video, and it's one of the very best. Richard toured and recorded with David's solo group up till his death due to cancer.
I miss richard!!!
@@JustJP in my opinion as a PF big big big fan (my favourite band) Waters was the brain Gilmour the heart Wright the soul….
@@andreascala2663 Mason the body and Barrett the muse?
This music was also created at a time when the world was not moving so fast. People weren't in such a hurry. It seems like some younger people today may not have the patience to appreciate songs like this anymore. But you do. Its cool to see such new appreciation from someone who has listened to this for decades already. "Unsettling beauty" that describes a lot of their music
Thank you green!
Before the comments start coming in, I just wanted to say thank you all for your patience in me getting this to you. I hope everyone enjoys the video, and I thank you all for watching. Have a great Friday! (Or whatever day it is when you're watching 🙃)
And if you missed it, heres the playlist for the whole album listen!
ruclips.net/p/PLk5U1pT6RIR3eMur94Ekjp-9rXC13F4Wc
Totally worth the wait. It's so satisfying to listen to someone experience music for the first time who's actually into music. So many will just fake enthusiasm, try to force some meaning into it and move on to the next paid song. You're into the details, the structure, the meaning. No one else on You Tube compares so thank you for making this channel.
@@1nelsondj Agreed
This is a great choice. You must watch the Pompeii version. Even if you don’t watch it on this channel. You must watch it in your own time. You need to watch it at least once in your live.
Shspurs1 yeah but they split it in 2 parts good thing they’re on RUclips.
Studio version first was the right choice. Live versions after..
Acid rock at its best. Have to say first time I heard this was on chemicals. The day was memorable, drove to Waikiki beach, dropped a hit and spent the day watching the ocean and the people. Come sun down it was awesome, the colors and the sound of the ocean and the reflection of the sunset in the water. Had several drinks at the beach and as me and my friends headed back home dropped us another hit. Had a great stereo system, put this album on, it was dark outside, had the lights off and the only light was from the stereo system and the first sound was the ping from the song. We sat back eyes closed and got taken on a trip trough the universe. This is what the 70s was for me, one music experience after another. Hawaii was a great place for the military to send me.
Now thats a memory Carl, thank you for sharing
This is one of my favorite pieces of music, regardless of genre..
For me Pink Floyd peaked at Echoes. It was the last song the 4 members truly equally collaborated on, and it is the best example of the whole being greater than the parts. It is my favorite song, period. I've been listening to this song for over forty years.. I've heard it hundreds and hundreds of times. And yet even now, once in a while I will find something I've never heard before buried in the mix. Maybe I'm using new headphones, or different speakers etc., and it usually happens when I'm not entirely focused on the music, but invariably my mind will pick out an instrument or sound that I had never noticed before. The music is so layered and textured that it's ocean deep. That's why when people say they prefer the Pompeii version I cringe a little bit. The album version and the live version are 2 completely different beings. Both incredible. The live version is raw and visceral, the studio version is softer but so expansive. There is literally an orchestra of David Gilmour's playing on the album version, most of whom you will never hear because the passage is buried so deep in the mix. That's what I love about this song. Those little pieces surface many years down the road. The song keeps revealing itself even after all this time.
I love your post because it's exactly how i feel.
I do love Dark Side and beyond but for me pre Dark Side is my preferred era and i agree that the studio version is better than Pompeii.
For me my favourite albums are Meddle,Atom Heart Mother and the live side of Ummagumma.
Yes, Andrew Lloyd Webber did steal that riff for Phantom of the plagiarist. This song is important to me because it was the start of the PF style that I loved most. They found their direction on this song. Also, in a band known for their excellent lyrics, this song contains my favourite line in all music "strangers passing in the street, by chance two separate glances meet and I am you and what I see is me". This is at the core of nearly all Rogers lyrics and is also my principle belief in life. Empathy is the key.
I like this channel a lot better than JPMP. MP is a little too stuck in his preferences in my opinion, he isn't the best at reacting to music that is 'new' to him. Keep up the great work man, your quality is phenomenal and you're a super personable guy. Subbed.
Agreed... he absolutely couldn't wrap his mind around concept rock
i politely disagree. i like what JP is doing here by himself but Manny was a great foil that would put a different take on the music played. They weren't on the same page all the time which made it fun to watch them converse through their differences.
Neighbor Bruce
I miss Manny cuz I’m human. jk. I’m not human...
@@Vince-lq3ve I agree with you. I like that JP is more adventurous, and so we get lots more videos and lots of variety and in-depth thoughts. But I do like the two of them reacting from time to time and getting a different take on things.
One of my top 5 PF songs! If you listen closely you will here a ping and return ping from a submarine. The weird sounds, are to me, whales echoing in the deep ocean. The live at Pompeii version of this is amazing! You can watch Gilmour work that black Strat to perfection!
This song brought me to Pink Floyd in my early teens. It brought me into music in general, and especially prog. It brought me into sound engineering and into making music. It gave me part of my user name. I owe a lot to this piece. Listening to it in its entirety cannot not be an experience. It always is.
Fun fact: in all of this soundscape, there's zero synthesizer (on the whole album).
To be honest, I'm kinda new to this "reactions/first listen" videos and I like that, a lot. It's like having a buddy discover art you like, but is actually attentive to it. It's awesome. Especially on a piece with that much significance (to me, at least). Very glad you liked it. And of course you have to watch the Pompeii version! Also, look up "Nothing Part 14" to hear them experimenting on this. Great work and thanks for your efforts!
Thanks so much AE, especially for sharing exactly why this song is so special to you.
At last. It's here. Echoes.
After 30 years of waiting and anticipating, the day has finally arrived. People have lived and loved, died and lost. Ice ages have gone by and the tectonic plates have
drifted several meters apart. But the day we've all been waiting for has finally come. And it's a bittersweet one, because there are no more epics like this to react to now.
But we've had Supper's Ready and now we have Echoes, so the balance has been restored. And that's what life is about. Yin and Yang, and all that shit.
Balance at last! :)
You should try Mick Oldfields Tubular Bells. He had to borrow and beg studio time, he was only 17, plays all the instruments, produced most of it himself and of cause came up the the tune and concept. "Of course" " Mike Oldfield"
Of cause, he did. Of cause.
I loved 'Ommadawn', 'Hergest Ridge' and 'QE2' even better, and yes, 'Tubular Bells', is a Masterpiece.
@@michaelhernandez6446 Of cause.
songs of distant earth
@@SpaceCattttt of course, 😂
The part that you describe as "quiet funk with the organ in the back" after the first transition is the single best groove that Floyd ever committed to vinyl.
I remember listening to this with friends in the early 70's, usually
in an altered state of mind, and commenting with them how we would
still be listening to this 50 years later.
yep ! well done again Justin, nailed it, if the RUclips police are watching leave this guy alone he's doing a fantastic job putting a lot of effort in to his channel to make it a really unique and in depth take on reactions as opposed to a lot of other channels,
I can't add much to what you've already said about "Echoes" but considering it was released in 1971 it must have blown everyone away at the time,
As well as the Pompeii version you should also watch the version on the David Gilmour live DVD "Remember That Night".....
He's doing Genesis and Floyd, what a guy. Hope he does Camel too!
I'm ashamed to say that it's only now when I listen to what we had in the '70s, compared to what came before and after, am I blown away. At the time as a teenager it was just the music we listened to - Alan Freeman on the radio Saturday mornings, John Peel late at night and listening with friends to each new album and gig from Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf, etc. We didn't know any different, this is just what music was. Now I realise I was spoilt and I was living in a golden age that I'll never see again. Or does everyone think that of their teenage years?
Thanks so much Robert! I appreciate you all watching and just enjoying the videos, means a lot to me tbh.
@@PaulMDove2 I spent my teenage years mostly in the early 80's, but went back and found the same golden age you did when I was dissatisfied, which was often.
What a brilliant analysis while at the same time intelligently expressing an emotional musical experience which is even more impressive because its the product of an initial listening. Well done and thank you!
Thats really nice of you to say Iacobus, thank you
I had forgotten how deeply and freakishly good this is. Wow. The vocal section is this gorgeous spacey church music, until the blues rears up and stomps around the church. Gilmour and Wright sing together so beautifully.
Can't get enough of this masterpiece, wish it could go on forever.
Echoes is one of my all time favorite. Listened with my sister to all Pink Floyd when we were young. She is no longer with us. Echoes always takes me back to those happy days. It touches deep into my soul.
As far as the length goes, you have to remember this was 1971 and they were limited by the vinyl format. Sure they could do a 28 minute track but the sonics would have suffered.
I was introduced to Meddle/Echoes around 1980 and it was not a widely talked about record at least in my circle of friends and acquaintances. I bought the album after seeing a midnight showing of the Pompeii film. This was shortly after being introduced to Pink Floyd with the release of The Wall in 1979. But Echoes remains as powerful as it was all those years ago.
The one song that perfectly defines "Space Rock"
To me Echos means sitting stoned in my buddy Jim's house in the early 80s with a thunderstorm coming in.
Now the second best song of pink floyd, shine on you crazy diamond, all 9 parts!!!
First, honestly, I've watched 100s of Floyd reactions and 100s of other music reactions and I have to say this reaction and post song analysis has been the best I've seen (at least among my favourites). Thank you for that, the wait was well worth it.
Secondly, even if you didnt end up liking the song, I would have said thanks for giving it a shot, but the fact that not only you enjoyed it, but you understood how profound this song actually is made this an amazing experience to listen to this song with you ("connection").
Your analysis and excitement helped put into words what all of us feel when we listen to this masterpiece. You asked us what our favourite part is... I'd say everything. From the pings to the instrumentals, musical landscapes, transistions, tempo changes, middle section, the build ups, Gilmour's solo, the lyrics, and the vocals, this song is all around amazing.
But if I have to choose, I would say when the ping comes back in after the middle section is amazing. Then it builds up into Gilmour's solo which then builds again into the final vocals. That whole section is so incredible for me.
There are a few live versions (Pompei, Rememeber than Night, Live in Gdansk), I was extremely fortunate to see the Remember that Night Version live on Gilmour's 2006 tour with Richard Wright (On an Island tour in Toronto). It was the best live musical experience I've had to date. I recommend you check that version out in your own time when you can (or do a reaction if you want, I won't complain :p ).
If you want to continue discovering more Floyd, and since you've already done Darkside, I suggest Wish You Were Here album as the next logical step. Seeing you react to it like Meddle, track by track, will be so much fun. Thanks again (and sorry for the novel!).
Thanks for all of that jtrem, I'm really really happy you've enjoyed this (and other videos)! Yeah, the buildup into the solo is just magical. I'll definitely be doing more PF in the future :)
Overhead the albatross
Hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine
And no one showed us to the land
And no one knows the where's or why's
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb toward the light
Strangers passing in the street
By chance, two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can?
And no one calls us to move on
And no one forces down our eyes
No one speaks and no one tries
No one flies around the sun
Cloudless everyday
You fall upon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning
And no one sings me lullabies
And no one makes me close my eyes
So I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: David Gilmour / George Waters / Nicholas Mason / Richard Wright
This piece takes you deep deep underwater in the labyrinth of coral caves where life began. The screaming sea gulls and roaring waves take you deep. Very deep.
This was the second album I ever bought. I bought it about a week after it was first released. One of Floyd's best, certainly top 3. Love Echoes so much, I can remember listening to it in the shop before deciding whether to buy it or not. I remember vividly hearing that ping for the first time. It still fills me with joy.49 years later. 👍😊
I know the feeling. Whenever I hear a ping, I get a ripple deep pleasure. I laugh when people say 'ping me a message', Do they know what comes after the 'ping' ?
My all-time favorite song, from my all-time favorite band of all space and time.
This song is so good that it is not long enough! 🎸🎶👌
1976 my mate bought all the Floyd and I bought all the Genesis, visited each other to vary the tunes.
Thats such a perfect way to share the music
My sister and I did this. Between the two of us, we owned most all of Genesis and PF albums.
Echoes is part of my personal prog Mount Rushmore : it sits alongside Close to the Edge /Yes , Suppers Ready /Genesis and 2112 /Rush
My Rushmore is:
- "Echoes" by Pink Floyd
- "Firth of Fifth" by Genesis
- "La Villa Strangiato" by Rush
- "Close To The Edge" by Yes
- "Starless" by King Crimson
- "Luminol" by Steven Wilson (only modern one but it's just SOOO good)
:)
I would add Epitaph - King Crimson to this list.
The effect of the Shepherd' tone at the end is something I never heard again as an end.....
I was a student around 78 or 79 in the summer I couldn't afford a proper holiday so I went to a Chantier in France (It's like an International work camp) you pay fot travel to the workcamp and bring spending money for trips, etc. the rest is provided free in exchange for work. So one weekend we planned a trip to Avignon. It was during the time of the music festival. There was music everywhere in the streets, in the pubs, even in the cinemas. So we noticed amongst the music films was a Pink Floyd double bill, "The making of Dark Side Of the Moon" and "Live at Pompei". Pompei was great especially where they are playing Echoes in the old Amphitheatre in Pompei, the ancient Roman town devastated by the volcano Vesuvius. It was the perfect setting to play echoes.
I always thought the repeated piano ping was meant to represent sonar and, the middle I always thought was the band trying to replicate prehistoric sounds of pterodactyls.
It's amazing that next year this song will be 50 years old and yet doesn't sound dated in any way.
I think that you would enjoy Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn, an album of virtually two side long instrumental tracks plus a single length vocal track.
Vernon Allen Your mention of Ommadawn transported me to the memory of hearing it for the first time at College; a rainy afternoon stuck in my dorm room. A lot of memories today. I would second your recommendation.
And everything is green and submarine explains the sonar.
@@richardsmith3121 just yesterday I happened to think the very same thing about Ommadawn. I would third the recommendation 🤣 Seriously though!
Speaking about Mike Oldfield, I’d take a listen to Hergest Ridge too.
Since you already listened to The Dark Side Of The Moon, I highly suggest to react to Wish You Were Here. Hands down their best album, with the beautiful suite Shine On You Crazy Diamond that is split in half and opens and closes the album.
It's hard to pick a "best album" when they are all so damn good, but WYWH is definitely one of my top 3 from PF! It's got stiff competition for first place from The Wall, that's for sure!
Wish You Were Here is one of my all-time favorite albums! Seriously. It's an incredible album!
I still think Dark Side of the Moon is their best, I can't put that album on and not end up listening to the whole thing. I love Wish Your Were Here as well, but I still think the entire flow of DSotM is better. Now, Shine on you Crazy Diamond may be the best song of theirs (all parts).
@ron schraper Agreed! I think Sheep is my favorite song off of Animals, but I like the whole album as well.
I must agree theyre best. Just like all of them...
RIP Rick Wright. Echoes is always very cleansing, and is arguably the most proggy thing PF ever did. Most of the effects -- piano, guitar, bass and more -- were produced using a Binson echo unit and a Leslie cabinet. The Leslie had been around for years, but the Binson was relatively new and was one of the first purpose-built effects units. It was adopted by many rock bands in the late 60s/early 70s. The deep, haunting swirling sound in the middle is Waters running a metal slide bar over his bass strings while running it through the Binson. You can see him doing this in the Pompeii film.
Greatest song ever written
45 + yrs later and I still groove to Echoes.. Its nice knowing and expecting all the little nuances of the song. I must have heard this well over a thousand times. It was nice to watch someone hear it for the first time and be taken to a new place.
50yrs !
You've got to check out the live version from Live In Gdańsk (performed by David Gilmour with his band, which featured Richard Wright) from 2006. I might be biased as I was there but the recording doesn't lie!
My favorite
Agree completely. While the original "Live in Pompeii" live version was very good, "Live in Gdansk" was spectacular, as is the entire concert video. I was so happy that David and Richard kept collaborating after Pink Floyd dissolved. They played together until Richard's death of cancer.
I very much liked your reaction and very apt analysis.
the middle part - the ambience part - for me always has been the submarine being on the surface of the sea - with cold wind and sea gull cries.
Imagine a submarine lost in the middle of North Atlantic during last war -- and there is dark grey sky - cold wind - sea gulls trying to land on your starboard and the radar clicking to detect any enemy. it sounds more melodic when it returns under the sea and get protected by the mass of water being itself and the potential enemy.
Note that the radar clicking can only happen under the sea.
Thanks so much Jacques! Ah, a lost submarine; I love the visual
Just love the Shepherd's Tone during the ending. They have always fascinated me.
This reminds me of my buddies and I going to an old theater in LA in the 70’s to watch Live at Pompeii. Quite an experience.
Takes me long chilled summer days and nights. It's uncanny how well the setting fits the song so well on the Pompeii film.
The structure of the song is just sublime, it’s as if each band member brings there own experiences and sounds together and is moulded into a fantastical soundscape of the ocean depths. Pure class!
A masterpiece... 🤗
The part you refer to at the 42:00 mark is just spectacular to see live in the Pompeii video: PINK FLOYD, LONDON! Gilmore is on fire!
Picture it.
Miami, FL.
1981, I'm 21.
Midnight Pink Floyd laser light show at the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium.
Stoned out of my mind, grooving on the sound and lights. The show ends, the lights slowly rise. I blink my eyes, watching others rising from their seats and gathering their items to depart.
When, to my own surprise, not to mention the surprise of the event organizers, I'm sure, out of my mouth comes the plaintiff wail of, "Echoes!"
(which had not been played during the show)
The audience stills. Slowly people return to their seats. I cry out again, "Echoes!" This time my call is picked up by other voices, mostly male, but here and there a few fellow females as well.
This goes on for about five minutes, more or less. I see the ushers congregating, whispering to each other and beginning to make their way towards the ends of the rows.
...and the slow sunset fade of the planetarium lights dim as we hear over the speakers:
"Ping!"
Haha that's awesome!
I felt like listening a song with an old friend, a song I've known since I was a kid. Such a special good time.
Thanks so much Antonio :)
At last! Actually, I must say, although I have been waiting for this, I must also point out, I haven't actually listened to it for years. Nonetheless, it was brilliant to experience it with you again. So many musical memories crashed into my consciousness. I was taken back to the very first time I heard the song, while watching a late night cinema version of "Pink Floyd in Pompeii" - three schoolkids out at night without our parents really knowing where we were. Freedom!
After I got hold of the album and played it many times, I increased my own love of all the parts - the beginning, the vocals, the long ambient bit you liked so much, the "cllimactic guitar" - I have lived it through many lives. I had played it so many times that, although I have not listened to it for over 20 years, the memories all came flooding back as I listened to it with you. Thank you so much for including it in your programme.
Thanks Mark! I'm glad you enjoyed listening to it again after so long; must be like revisiting an old friend :)
The middle section reminds me of birds screaming in a dark forest and towards the end I can always hear Crows in distant trees.
Great reaction and good analysis - they were outstanding live - saw them twice in the 1970s.
Ty!
I used to listen to Echoes every night in my lightweight Sennheiser headphones until I fell asleep. It was 1980. I was a kid. 16 years old. Now I am 58 years old. Yet as youtube chose to play your video (randomly) this morning, the effect was visceral. It's not music. It's sounds. And to my amazement, they did the same things to me now as they did 42 years ago.
I just love your analytic skills Justin. And your enthousiasm is so fantastic! I can tell you've been touched to the core. This is what Pink Floyd does. But now direct yourself quickly towards the pompeii live version, part I and II. You will be blown away!
Thx so much JK! This was perfect
@@JustJP to help you out: ruclips.net/p/PLFDA8SD1ocxnjWgQ6LKQv7rVlc_-RaPn
And enjoy the rest of the concert as well.
It was 1971 and I was living off base in Las Vegas. I was in the Air Force stationed at Nellis. I had never heard Pink Floyd at this point. We would leave KLUC FM on every night while we slept and in those days dj’s would play anything. One night I was having a dream about trucks grinding their way up The Grapevine a long and steep hill in Southern California on the way to Los Angeles. So I am hearing this sound while in semi sleep and I am too tired to call the station but I did wake up and looked at the stereo and fell back asleep so I didn’t know what that was. I forgot about all that and about a week later a friend of mine Pete came to my room in the barracks because I moved back to base because it was free and invited me to listen to a song he felt I would dig the hell out of on his headphones with no interruptions. I agreed and he didn’t tell me the band or song it was very mysterious. And we were a little vegged out so off it goes and I am entranced then it goes into what you called Ambient and my memory came back from my dream as the trucks. So you know how when you talk on headphones you are actually way too loud right I start yelling The Trucks The Trucks! Pete is like what’s The Trucks? What are you talking about Rand? I told him about my dream and that this was the song being played on the radio a week before. We both went WOW and took another hit and then he showed me the album cover. It was Purple with an ear superimposed. Here’s the weird part. In the house at night the stereo had it’s own light but we also had a nightlight with a mild purple haze all around the room. You could sleep but also walk to the bathroom without waking anyone up. The Meddle cover was the same color as our room one week before I saw the Meddle cover. The British cover is green. That’s my introduction to becoming a life long Pink Floyd fan.
Rand Kelly well that must have been a “what the truck” moment.
You're so perceptive and articulate, listening to you talk about Pink Floyd is an absolute delight. I heard someone once describe Pink Floyd as always playing the perfect note you didn't know you needed to hear and the suprise of it causes an ecstatic response in your brain. Ecstatic would definitely describe how I feel when listening to Pink Floyd no matter how many times I've heard a song.
My boyfriend did a college final on the hero's journey by playing this song to the class. He got a B.
✌💗🖖
Thank you so much RM!
This is my favorite piece of music ever. I've never heard a better , more complete or more heartfelt review of it.
This song is pure trance.
A trip.
I think once Tomorrow Never Knows was released by The Beatles in 1966, the traditional music walls came down resulting to open up a world of advanced recorded sound engineering. As demonstrated here Pink Floyd were also one spearhead for this creative approach. Great architecture and mood. Credit to all those involved at the time. Liked.
Most Pink Floyd fans will tell you either ECHOES or SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND is their best song.
But seriously, I love so many songs by them. I think the more you listen to Pink Floyd's discography (By the way, Pink Floyd have a pretty large discography, they were active a lot longer than Led Zeppelin ever were), the more you will explore and appreciate and discovery their other hidden gems such as The Narrow Way Part 3 from the Ummagumma album by Pink Floyd or Julia Dream from Relics album. I think globally, people will know them most for The Dark Side Of The Moon album, therefore their other albums kinda get overlooked.
Atom Heart Mother,this album in fact too does have a lot of impact but again went overlooked
I always interpreted the song as being about the evolution of life to adapt to the land, but also the desire to climb towards the sun and travel interplanetarily. So I hear the ambient section as being both submarine, and interplanetary, and then the transcendent "re-entry" is in my mind a literal re-entry after a journey around the sun in a spacecraft, and coming back, changed
Thanks JP, it was facinating to hear your thought on this epic song. You pretty much 'echo' my own thoughts. To me the whale song section portrays desolation and loneliness, which (I think you said) pulls you deep down, but then a slow rise follows into the second major transition which is like a reward for returning from such a bleak place. This song should be tought at music school. This song grew in an organic way from their live performances in much the same way that many of Floyds later tracks, including the follow-up album Dark Side Of The Moon, which they were playing versions of long before they committed it in the recording studio. BTW, you're going to love see the guys playing live at Pompeii. Along with all the expected greatness, look out for Nick Mason on drums in Pt.1 of Echoes, some of my favourite Floyd viewing right there.
Ty Morbius! :D
Happy to see you reach nirvana finally! This is the prelude to the masterpiece Dark Side of the Moon! Echoes is unlike any other song by any other band, a creativity overload..Enjoy Echoes Pompeii...
I knew Pink Floyd through "See Emily Play" but never got into them. When I was at uni, I went to the local record shop to buy "Ars Longa, Vita Brevis" by the Nice and "Echoes" was playing. When I listened to the Nice album I thought it was shit, scratched it and took it back to the shop. I got "Meddle" to replace it. Must admit, I later bought ALVB again and really love it. "Echoes" is one of my favourites along with "Atom Heart Mother".
Meaning of this album, let me put it this way. My little sister just told me, she has been listening this lately, and was stunned to realize, she did not know any of the songs by name, but every part of every song was very familiar. And that is because of the amount of play this album got in our home. I was about 16, she was about 14. Something like 38 years ago.
This is very essential music to me. Those seagulls, random sounds, overall freedom and creativity. Can not explain.
I now consider DSOTM, WYWH and Animals to be better albums. But at the time, this was the most fascinating music.
Its beautiful to gather around these masterpieces. I am biased, but how could admiring this be cheesy 😊.
Got to the end, great analysis. Thank you.
THAT is lovely to hear! Ty Blue
I am enjoying the little smiles that seem to say " I see what you did there"
I'm late, but this is the very first music from Pink Floyd which stuned me when I was 8. I used to do dancing (ballet, mordern jazz) in small town. Of course there were end of years shows... And this one was at the end of year, and guess what ? It was used to illustration "evolution", so... "Life" as you said... You seem to have felt the same feeling my dance teacher felt almost 40 years ago.... But I must admit, at 8, this song felt a bit creepy for me, fortunately I was going to become a huge Pink Floyd fan a few years later...
Echoes is my favorite song by far. I used to skip it because on Pandora, they would always play the middle part of the song and I would not understand why that would be made. I picked up the album and I like to listen to the whole album a few times to get what type of story it might tell. So I finally heard it and fell in love. The beginning keyboards, with the guitar and how it builds up into this dream like song that always makes me feel relaxed no matter what I am doing.
Fat old sun on Atom Heart Mother is another song by Pink Floyd that is amazing and you should really give it a try. It isn't as known as most of their albums (I don't think. Most I talk to never heard of that album).
I believe it was in 1972 when I went to see Pink Floyd perform their new suite "Eclipse" which was very well received. For an encore they performed Echoes, and at the sound of the ping the place erupted.
Hi there, and thanks for this superb reaction. This song is very special to me, and will be for all time. As a 8 year old I was snooping around in my dad's albums and came across this , almost 40 years ago.
I was listening to the album and while Echoes played I noticed that something happened to me.
The bridge that sets in on 16.41 in you're reaction video was a turning point for me. I was listening to it, the world stopped. I never had heard someting so beautyfull and soul crushing like this.
How the sound volume goes up, the instuments grow and the overal feel gets uplifting, and becomes a person almost. That feeling I got then, well I still cary that around with me. I've seen lots of concerts, shows from blues to extreme metal and always look when that feeling comes around , then I know it's alright. Echoes is one of my altime favorits and that person, like I did say, walks with me for all my life.
Thanks again for this reaction,
Greets, Chris.
Ty so much Kwenchris! I can tell this album definitely left a mark on you from the moment you found it.
Phenomenal groove from the Great Floyd ☝️
Thanks for your insights on this song. Your critique allows me to hear it again with new ears.
Ty for that Mikko :)
Pink Floyd, whilst way over toward the progressive side, still find their roots, like so many English bands (the Shadows, Dave Mayhall, Cream, Yardbirds, Zeplin...long list), in American Blues. It is fun to watch your reactions to things I was listening to 45+ years ago, thank you for your interest.
Pink Floyd always had that cosmic/trippy feel but still kept everything bluesy/funky. A great combination.
So true!
When you close your eyes thats when the music has taken control. What a fucking ride.......
Totally agree!
Compliments, Justin, this is by far the best "off-music-theory" - first listen channel I know. And many thanks for the "unsettling beauty" in this song, I didn't have a better concise expression for that certain feeling so far.
This was used on the film Crystal Voyager. It was used for the section during which the surfers went through the eye of the wave with cameras on then so they surfed through the barrel of the wave. (not sure what it should be called) and you get to see it from the perspective of being inside the wave. I am not certain but I think that was the first time that was put on film. With this music being the sound track.
In the weirder parts of this piece texture is the thing. The appreciation of the texture of sounds. This is art. Music as art not just a rhythm to dance to or background noise for a dinner party.
You were on point about the undersea sense of the song. This song had more input from Richard Wright, and his favorite place to be was on the ocean. He was happiest on his sailboat, hence the first verse is about green and sub marine
(as in colors) and coral caves. I would guess that if we have any say in the afterlife, he would be on his boat, upon the waves. He reflects that in word and music, and he plays a single note and David plays one back, therefore the Echo of each other's notes, riffs. David expertly, as always transports us throughout the song, including eerie haunting vibrating sounds,
that some listeners say must be aliens. I don't think they are aliens, but perhaps by the sea, perhaps sirens who are fabled to make sounds the fishermen and sailors can hear. I loved the song had many changes, one is like pure Funk,
to it, which is not a theme of Pink Floyd. Then it takes a new twist with David playing with I am not sure, but something akin to a set
of Bagpipes, ( to me) which adds a new twist to the song before returning to the last verse, which is my favorite, the words are pure
poetry, with a million white Ambassadors of Morning,
coming in through the window on wings. What a beautiful term for dawn.
I love this song, and, I must add that it is solidly linked from start to end by some of Nick Mason's finest drumming. They are all solidly linked, and then once again the song, plays the keyboard and is then echoed back by David's perfect guitar notes and melodies. I recall at the concert, you could actually have heard a pin drop by the crowd, as no one dares move, or fidget during this long song. Every Floyd concert I attended were very well behaved, and a real treat to have been to.
I wished we all slowed down aging, as I selfishly looked forward to taking my two now adult sons to a
Pink Floyd Concert, but, will have to be content with those kind people who share these concerts, music
pieces on YT etc. I know Pink Floyd has played many a decade, and sure deserve their retirement.
RIP Richard Wright. I hope you enjoy playing with the stars in heaven. Til then,.....
I listened to this back at Day 1 (release day, 1971) - by pure coincidence I was reading re-Lord of the Rings and had just listened to a prerelease (Swedish) bootleg of Bo Hansson's 'Lord of the Rings' a sort of musical accompaniment to the book. There is a track called 'For on the Barrow Downs', about the company camping in a ruin, being hunted by the undead Nazgul, one of whom finds a trace of the hobbits somewhere and off in the distance it cries, an eerie wordess scream. Floyd got it spot on....reading 'Fog on the Barrow Downs' now without that atmospheric section of this track is unthinkable. Great review, btw
Missed this, damn.. Brilliant reaction. More Pink Floyd please 😌
Justin another stupendous prog band to react to, camel, "ice" a hair on back of neck instrumental, camel guitarist Andrew Latimer is on par with David gilmour. Justin, you won't be disappointed, I promise, thanks for another great review.
Thanks for the reaction, Justin. My wife and I were spending our 3rd anniversary in Capri back in 1998 and we journeyed to Pompeii largely because of this song and the movie Live at Pompeii. So good!
Awesome Jon! How was the trip?
@@JustJP Fantastic. The following year my wife gave birth to our first child in Germany without anesthesia, just headphones and a cassette with DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and WISH YOU WERE HERE on it. All of my kids have grown up surrounded by good music, and "Echoes" is a favorite. Thanks again for your reactions.
Meddle got me through 9 'O'-levels, 5 'A'-levels and the rest of my life. People always comment how patient I am, and it's because I have a quiet, focused core to my being due to this music.
Forgotten how many times I’ve got high to this going back 30 plus years. Still great in 2021 as it was in 1973 - and this is exactly why music was far better then than now.
Brilliant reaction Justin!!! Analysis is truly a gift of yours; right on the mark.
Roger Waters was a Stanley Krubic fan and '2001 a Space Odyssey' (Which I highly recommend), had just came out not long before this. A movie which is about the evolution of man.
The way the music rises during the Altro of the song makes me picture our next evolutionary phase, our journey to space and the stars. I can hear someone saying, 'Set the controls for the heart of the sun'.
We're all echoes of the Big Bang I suppose...fantastic!!!
Thanks so much Will!
Sunday May 1st I went to see Nick Mason's Saurcerful of Secrets Live in Leicester U.K. And they did a great version of this track. Loads of trippy sounds and some great vocals.
your faces with their craziness are the best. Love your videos, cheers from Brazil
😁Ty!
Wow Justin you nailed it ! Well worth waiting for your reaction and you will enjoy the Pompeii version even more. Meddle will be 50 years old next year, I can’t believe it. Floyd music will never die, thanks for a brilliant analysis. Gilmour also plays echoes live in Gadansk with Rick Wright it’s amazing. My top 3 bands are Floyd , Genesis (early up to Duke) and Yes. It’s great that you play all three. So far you’ve just done the classic Echoes and Genesis’s Suppers Ready, only Awaken to go now 😊
Thanks so much Gavin, I appreciate that🙃
your background is also matching with the album cover, what a coincidence. Echoes probably one of the greatest song ever written. The last line "Calling you across the sky" always gave me chills. Roger Waters is lyrical genius.
21:02 best part of the song 👌
You really nail it at 30:00.
Their music seems loosely connected, like they just improvised and all of the sudden beautiful melody from outer space just unintendedly came out of nowhere.
Ty Paruj :)
Back in 75 meddle was the first album I heard from pink floyd and the track one of these days my favourite track