Music Recommendations of the Past
by Marco Mondragon
I am here to make a musical recommendation and expand your taste in music. I am not here to recommend the latest rap or pop song; I am here to take a deep dive into the past thirty or forty years. Some songs that were popular then are popular today, and I want to share some “hidden gems” that I discovered myself.
Pink Floyd, which was a progressive rock band, is known for their most popular album Dark Side of The Moon, which is most recognizable by the triangle reflecting white light into a rainbow. I would say many people have heard or seen the album cover, but today I am not touching Dark Side of The Moon. Instead I am going to focus on the album Meddle and pick one song from that album. That song is "Echoes." If you’re a Pink Floyd fan, then you most likely know this song for being one of the band’s longest songs. The song is 23 minutes long, but it is so worth listening to. Roger Waters, one of the founders of Pink Floyd, said in an interview in 1992 that the song was about, “The potential that human beings have for recognizing each other’s humanity and responding to it, with empathy rather than antipathy."
Dark Side of the Moon Album Cover
Meddle album cover
The song starts off with what sounds like a submarine going deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean . This soft pinging noise leads into the guitar and drumming solo, with the soft piano in the background. You feel this sense of wonder and unknown, not knowing where the song is going to take you. At around the three minute mark, the vocals begin. The lyrics are very poetic and soothing. Somehow, a sense of nostalgia overcomes you and suddenly your mind transports you into another world. Right after the lyrical section of the song, it transitions to a peaceful and rhythmically complex section. The most notable segment of this song is the bass guitar solo, it’s what makes it stand out. The best way I can describe the guitar solo is that it goes in a descending pattern and then holds the bottom note, and does the descending pattern again. This repeats several times. At six minutes, the descending bass guitar solo returns and continues along with the electric guitar to form a rich and almost synchronous piece. The seven minute mark hits, and the continuous drum and bass guitar rhythm is in the background while the electric guitar takes the stage. This repeating background pattern slowly fades away which transitions to the “ghost” or “alien” part of the song.
At around the ten minute mark, the song slowly transitions to what I call the “ghost” part of the song. This part of the song might be unpleasant to some, but is interesting nonetheless. This part of the song, which lasts for roughly five minutes, feels desolate and deserted, which is definitely a far cry from the first ten minutes. It sounds like you're surrounded by ghosts and periodically you hear the wails of the electric guitar. This ghost part of the song is quite unique, which makes it really stand out.
Once the ghost section of the song is over, you start to slowly transition to the “rebirth” part of the song, which starts at around 14 minutes. The odd noises of the ghost section stop, and the pinging comes back from the beginning of the song accompanied by complicated beats played on the cymbals. It starts to pick up again and speed up. The cymbals become louder which is building up to a beautifully dropped guitar solo. After this solo, the song returns to its buildup pace.
*here's the qr code . It takes you to YouTube*
The reprisal begins. The lyrics continue and the heavy beats soften and the lyrics are the main focus. Suddenly, the guitar solo comes again with the descending notes coming together to form the rest of the song. Everything comes together all with a synchronized beat. In an instant the “release” comes, which marks that end of the song is near. Which is at about 20 minutes and 15 seconds. Everything becomes calm, the familiar rhythm from the beginning of the start of the song returns. You start to hear the “ghosts” come back, while the instrumentals fade away. The pinging comes back and again everything fades away.