This article is a continuation of a series of reviews where I will be taking a look at the /Remade Pink Floyd vinyl box sets. The /Remade series is a set of releases under various record label names (really the same label, I imagine) that reimagine classic Pink Floyd albums, while also providing rare supplemental materials that are difficult or impossible to find in any form, let alone on vinyl. In other words, these are in-depth fan projects that have become some of my favorite unofficial releases to collect and enjoy. This is the eighth one in the series, and I really hope to see more in the future to eventually encompass all of the albums. You can click the Pink Floyd / Remade tag under the article heading to see everything I’ve covered so far.
Ever since I started collecting this series a couple years ago, I wondered why they seemingly skipped Meddle. For a long time, Meddle held a special place for me as my favorite Floyd album, and I think a lot of other collectors feel the same way. I believe this was the peak of the psychedelic and experimental phase of the band, and the beginning of where we would start to get heavier and more meaningful lyrics, as evidenced on pieces like “Echoes”. I originally suspected that the reason they didn’t remake this album was probably due to a lack of usable material. I still think that’s probably the case, and that what we have here is mostly created through AI separation software, although I still don’t know for sure.
The Box
Just like all the other boxes in this series, the physical quality is great. The artwork is obviously a take on the original Meddle cover artwork (which features an ear underwater, if you weren’t aware of that little piece of trivia), pairing well with the similarly designed hype sticker which is affixed to the front of the box. The label name, The Magic Ear, is also a nice little homage. As indicated on the sticker, this is a limited edition of 300 total boxes worldwide, and each one is individually numbered. The actual box packaging is just as nice as any official release, and honestly, I think it’s better than most. In addition to the LP’s, we also get a small “booklet”, which is really just a foldout picture of the band with the track listing repeated from the back of the box. Looking closely, it also seems like the band photo was smoothed out using AI, which I’m not sure was necessary. It still looks nice, though.
The four LP’s themselves are very heavy, and at least 180g. Each one is complete with very nice labels that clearly indicate what’s on each side. My box came with each disc pressed on four different colors of wax, including orange, red, white, and a sort of peach color. I’m not sure if every box has the same colors, or if it varies. There are certainly variations in the marbling and opacity on each LP, at least in my set. Overall, I think it looks great, and the colors are nice choices. All of my discs were totally flat, scratch free, and appeared to be clean. As usual, I still cleaned them myself and switched them to new rice paper sleeves. If you usually keep the original sleeves these boxes come with, you’ll be happy to know that the included ones are poly-lined and of nice quality.
Track Listing
Record One: Meddle 2024 Alternate Version
A1 One of These Days (instrumental without drums)
A2 A Pillow of Winds (acoustic mix)
A3 Fearless (alternate mix)
A4 San Tropez (acoustic mix)
A5 Seamus (piano blues version)
B1 Echoes (instrumental mix)
Record Two: Meddle at the BBC 2023 Remix
A1 One of These Days
A2 The Embryo
A3 Blues
B1 Echoes
Record Three: The Evolution of Echoes
A1 David and Rick talk about Echoes
A2 Echoes (piano intro)
A3 Echoes (Rick’s contribution part 1)
A4 Echoes (extract with Rick’s keyboards up-front)
A5 Echoes (David’s and Rick’s vocals plus guitar)
A6 Echoes (Rick’s contribution part 2)
B1 Echoes (David’s contribution part 1)
B2 Echoes (David’s contribution part 2 – extract)
B3 Echoes (vocals and guitar overdubs for live version)
Record Four: More Meddle
A1 One of These Days (alternate versions 1&2)
A2 A Pillow of Winds (alternate mix)
A3 Fearless (instrumental version)
A4 Seamus (vocals only)
A5 Seamus (instrumental version)
B1 Echoes
Record One: Meddle 2024 Alternate Version
As far as content is concerned, the first LP is the entire album in original running order, but it’s been newly remixed. First up is, of course, “One Of These Days”. You can tell it’s definitely been changed, since it’s missing the drums. I suppose this allows us to hear the subtle nuances of the other instruments, which I imagine was the whole idea here. Mostly though, this mix just makes it clear why the drums were there in the first place. Taking them out doesn’t make the track better. “A Pillow Of Winds” is next, and the new mix focuses in on the acoustic guitar and vocals, and the double tracking is now more obvious. I can’t tell if we’re hearing two Gilmour vocals tracks, or a Gilmour/Wright combo, but this one is interesting. At first, I wasn’t sure if extraction software was used but hearing that the bass is still present in the background (although it’s very soft) makes me believe that this is probably how it was done. It’s still a cool version of the song, and a highlight for me.
The next two tracks, “Fearless” and “San Tropez”, have always been kind of hidden gems, in my opinion. As far as I know, the band never played these songs live, which is a real shame. Anyway, this remixed version of “Fearless” highlights the vocals quite prominently and brings the harmonies to the surface. In exchange, they have mixed the guitars to be a bit quieter. Unfortunately, this is the only place in the box set that “San Tropez” appears. Once again, it’s a vocal-centric mix, that sounds a little weird to me when I think back to the original. It’s not radically different, however, and I found it to be a nice bit of a change.
Next, we reach “Seamus” which isn’t exactly a fan favorite for most listeners. Giving a microphone to a howling dog is certainly avant-garde, but it probably sounds like a much better idea to people who are high on some powerful drugs. This song was actually played live as “Mademoiselle Knobs” on the Pompeii recordings, which is inexplicable when you consider it was used in place of other material the Floyd had available at the time. Underneath it all though, “Seamus” is actually quite an excellent blues tune. This particular remix highlights the piano and moves the vocals into the right channel. Honestly, this was probably my favorite bit on the entire LP, as I think the changes make it more listenable. You know, for us collectors who like less howling. Finally, Side A ends with an isolated version of the famous Nick Mason vocal sample usually found in “One Of These Days”. Not sure why it’s here, but it is.
The entirely of Side B is taken up by “Echoes”, just as it is on the original album. This version is a piano focused instrumental mix, and it also has many of the guitar effects removed. Additionally, all the vocals have been cut, which I found particularly jarring when the “dark” portion of the song ends, and we normally hear “cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes…”. If this was made using stem AI technology, whoever did the mix did an excellent job. Just like “One Of These Days”, however, I think the removal of the vocals and other parts really only highlights why they were there in the first place. The song loses its gravity and ambiance without the effects, and removing the vocals deprives the listener of some of the best Pink Floyd lyrics ever written. I think it’s worth listening to it once, but I can’t imagine anyone preferring this version over the official one.
Record Two: Meddle At The BBC 2023 Remix
If you aren’t sure whether these remixed versions of Meddle are really for you, I would say that record two, Meddle At The BBC, might still make purchasing this box set worthwhile. The audio source they used here was excellent to begin with, having just a slight hint of tape noise. In other words, nice warm analogue. The set starts out with “One Of These Days”, and it’s an excellent and memorable version. Interestingly, the Mason provided vocal sample (“One of these days, I’ll cut you into little pieces”) appears at the very end of the song again instead of closer to the middle. The second selection is “The Embryo”, which was played absolutely to death live during the early years, even though it never actually appeared on any Pink Floyd studio album. You can, however, find it on the compilation album “The Works”, where it was pulled from “Ummagumma” outtakes.
“Blues” is just the band messing around and jamming in C for five minutes. This is pretty incredible when you realize this was being included as part of such a prominent broadcast, but it’s a cool track, nevertheless. Finally, we have “Echoes”, which clocks in at over twenty-six minutes. That seems like a long time until you consider that the BBC also broadcast a song called “Sleep” by some guy called Max Richter that went on for over eight hours. This is an exceptional version of “Echoes”, and this recorded has been commonly used on other LP’s and such. I’m not exactly sure what the “remix” differences are here for this show, but I can tell you that this version sounds great. If you don’t already have the show in your collection, this remixed version is a fantastic way to pick it up.
Record Three: The Evolution Of Echoes
The third LP chronicles the evolution of the legendary song “Echoes”, which is undoubtedly the main highlight of any version of Meddle. Side A is more focused on Rick’s particular contributions on keyboard, while Side B is focused more on David and the guitar. We start out with an interesting anecdote about how the instantly recognizable “ping” effect was achieved. Apparently, it was done using a Leslie cabinet at Abbey Road, and if I remember correctly, they used the first version as it could never be duplicated or improved upon. Part of the secret sauce was apparently the Leslie cabinet itself, which contained a rotating speaker. Some guitar players out there will also remember that the timeless tone on the solo of “Comfortably Numb” was achieved by playing through a Leslie cabinet as well.
Next, we actually get to hear some of these isolated parts, which are interesting for study and historical value if you happen to be a bit of a Floyd historian like I am. Certainly, this isn’t a portion of the set that you would turn on to chill or rock out to. The rest of this LP is essentially removing parts from the mix so we can hear the nuance of the piano or guitar parts. There is also a ton of studio banter where we can hear the recording speeding up and slowing down. Most of this is concentrated on Side B, and I don’t know how interesting this is going to be for the average listener. Once again, it’s something cool to hear one time, or maybe many times if you have a deep interest in the construction of “Echoes” specifically. The track list will show you the details of what all these individual sections are, exactly.
Record Four: More Meddle
With LP 4, we once again find some alternate versions of most of the songs on the original album. As mentioned previously, “San Tropez” is notably (and sadly) absent. “One Of These Days” is a super different version, and they’ve decided to loop the Nick Mason sample throughout the track. I have some other versions on vinyl that do this as well. An addition that’s new to me, however, is a sample from what appears to be a radio show that has been added and also runs through practically the entire track. It’s a bit garbled, and I can’t tell exactly what’s being said. Truth be told, I found this version to be quite annoying, and I don’t think I’ll be listening to it again. “A Pillow Of Winds” has far less noticeable changes and sounds pretty much like the official version to my ears.
This time, “Fearless” is the track that’s had all the vocals removed, and I just found myself asking why anyone would do this. The bass is certainly able to be heard more clearly, and the runs are quite pretty. I’m not sure it’s worth the tradeoff, though. The football chants are still present but have been mostly hidden in the background. There are two versions of “Seamus” here, with the first one just being forty second of vocals. The second is essentially just vocals and guitar, and mercifully, the howling dog has been more or less neutered out of the mix. I don’t think this version is quite as good as the one found on the first LP, but it’s probably as good or better than the original version. Finally, the set is complete with another version of “Echoes” on Side B. This is an audience recording, but the quality is extremely high. It’s a great way to finish the set, and I think it adds quite a bit to the overall value of the box.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I would say that I’m happy with Meddle / Remade, but I acknowledge the set won’t be for everybody. A few of the remixes are actually quite good, but for most of them, I’m not sure what the point was. In some cases, the songs were made noticeably worse by the absence of drums or vocals, for example. Where this box really shines is on Record Two with the BBC material and then again on the live version of “Echoes” on Record Four. If you happen to be interested in the creation of the actual “Echoes” song, I think you’ll love the content of Record Three, where you essentially get to be a “fly on the wall” of the studio, so to speak. Most fans will enjoy listening to this one at least once, I’d imagine. Consider it to be a bit of an audio-only documentary.
The actual pressing of all of the records in this set is stellar, and I’d rate the quality at 9.5/10. The packaging is a solid 10/10 which you can probably see from the photos. The audio source quality varies from disc to disc, as some of the material is studio recorded and some of it is live. Overall, it’s all great sounding stuff, and deserves a solid 8/10 considering everything together as a whole. I don’t think this is going to be an everyday listen for anyone, or that anyone will grab this set off the shelf instead of the actual album, but as a collector, this is nice material to have. Since I first saw the /Remade series, I have wanted Meddle to be included, and I’m happy to say that I have found it to largely be worth the wait. Meddle /Remade has only been out for a couple of months, so if you want a copy, you should still be able to find a copy in the wild. Happy hunting!