Pink Floyd-Meddle: Classic Albums Under Review (2008) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Featurette-The Remarkable Roger Barrett Quiz-The Hardest Pink Floyd Trivia Quiz In The World Ever Biographies-Cast-Contributors
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	62:09
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Mark Sturdy Malcolm Dome Hugh Hopper Mark Blake David Stubbs Mark Prendergast Norman Smith Peter Banks Thomas Arnold
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	?	Music	(Papa T) Flava Loc Pink Floyd

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In Pink Floyd's broad catalogue of work, Meddle is considered by many to be a largely underrated album, overshadowed by the enormous success of it's follow-up, Dark Side Of The Moon. It's certainly a mixed bag to say the least, with folksy interludes and experimental passages that haven't dated well. It's the album's epic closing track, Echoes, that sets Meddle apart as a watershed in Pink Floyd's history. When you take a step back as a listener, it's easy to see that Meddle contains many sounds and concepts that hint at what was to come.

    This unofficial documentary, produced by Chrome Dreams in the UK, is simply an attempt to cash-in on a marketplace with an endless appetite for Pink Floyd-related material. What better subject than an album that is undoubtedly a fan favorite, largely underrated and screaming out for a bit of exposition? They go even further by putting "Classic Albums" in the title in order to mislead consumers about the quality of the content. I love the Classic Albums series, and this product, comprised mostly of lengthy stills, stock footage and critic's interviews is most certainly not deserved of that title.

    The first half hour of the feature covers very familiar territory; the 60s psychedelic movement, Pink Floyd's inception in Cambridge and their early influences. We touch on Syd Barrett's breakdown, the subsequent hiring of David Gilmour and the band's creative output leading up to Meddle. The second half of the production is a track-by-track dissection of the album's six songs and the artwork contributed by Storm Thorgerson. The only contributions from actual members of Pink Floyd come in the form of non-referenced text quotes on screen, complete with embarrassing typos.

    The interviewees who take part are:

• Hugh Hopper - Bass player of Soft Machine (Syd Barrett's backing band for a brief period).
• Malcolm Dome - Rock journalist extraordinaire.
• David Stubbs - Columnist for The Wire.
• Mark Blake - Mojo Magazine columnist and Pink Floyd guru.
• Toby Manning - Author of The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd.
• Mark Sturdy - Mojo Magazine.
• Norman Smith - The Beatles' engineer and served as Producer in Pink Floyd's early days. The most worthwhile contributor here.
• Mark Prendergast - Writer and Ambient music specialist.
• Pete Banks - Founding member of Yes.

    Fans will find nothing new here, and the lack of any legitimate involvement from the band themselves makes it an unsubstantial way to spend an hour.

Video

    This NTSC video transfer is about as satisfying as the content. A slightly amateurish, low-budget and ultimately superficial effort.

    The documentary on this disc has been produced in the 1.78:1 widescreen aspect, but in its transfer to disc it has been letterboxed. The image lacks sharpness and has a decidedly analogue look about it. Colours are noisy and bleed often.

    MPEG compression grain is common, but not overly distracting. Film artefacts can be seen in some of the archival clips, but they're not the fault of this transfer.

    There are no subtitle streams provided. The disc is single-layered (DVD5).

Video Ratings Summary

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Shadow Detail
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Audio

    A single Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack is provided, and it does the job adequately. The audio quality isn't especially involving, in fact overall it lacks a certain brightness that you would expect from a music documentary.

    The dialogue contained in the interview segments is clearly audible and the passages of music are balanced nicely. Some clumsy attempts to sync music with dated video footage aside, there are no dire sync issues to be found.

    There is obviously no surround or subwoofer activity to report.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
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Menu

Featurette- The Remarkable Roger Barrett (10:46)

    This short piece explores Syd Barrett's early musical career and was produced soon after his passing in 2006. It includes a rather lengthy anecdote from producer Norman Smith, regarding the difficulty he encountered in dealing with Syd on a creative level. I suspect this has been culled from another Chrome Dreams title Syd Barrett: Classic Album Under Review.

Quiz- The Hardest Interactive Pink Floyd Trivia Quiz In The World Ever

    Twenty-five questions relating to content found in the docco on this disc. Only hard if you weren't paying attention.

Biographies (9)

    There is a single page biography for each of the nine interviewees.

    The transfer is average.

    The extras are brief, but worthwhile.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall