Pink Floyd Meddle Harvest SHVL 795 UK 1st press A1-U/B1-U + inner sleeve 1971

	£		250
	$		331

Pink Floyd Meddle  Harvest SHVL 795  UK 1st press Stereo Vinyl, LP, released on November 5th 1971. This is the original UK release with A1U/B1U runouts, fully textured (outside & inside) gatefold sleeve & 'The Gramophone Co.' rim text on green/yellow Harvest labels. The LP is housed in an EMI/Harvest poly-lined paper inner sleeve, advertising other Harvest releases.
The vinyl appears to have been lightly played and is in lovely condition. It played through beautifully on my stereo - no hop or stick. it is housed in its original inner sleeve, which has some ring-wear and creasing, but which is otherwise in good shape - no rips or writing. The textured, gate-fold sleeve is also in great condition, with slight ring-wear and signs of use - again no rips or writing. The spine is intact and legible. Matrix / Runout Side 1 : SHVL 795A-1U CR  2 Matrix / Runout Side 2 : SHVL 795B-1U CR 1
Meddle is Pink Floyd's sixth studio album, first released by Harvest Records on 5 November 1971 in the United Kingdom. The album was produced between the band's touring commitments, from January to August 1971 at a series of locations around London, including EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) and Morgan Studios.
With no material to work with and no clear idea of the album's direction, the band devised a series of novel experiments which eventually inspired the album's signature track "Echoes". Although the band's later albums would be unified by a central theme chosen by Roger Waters, and thematically consistent lyrics written entirely by Waters, Meddle was a group effort with Waters contributing primarily to the lyrics and the bass. It is considered a transitional album between the Syd Barrett-influenced group of the 1960s and the Waters-led era of the 1970s.
As with several previous albums, the cover was designed by Hipgnosis, and has been explained by its creator Storm Thorgerson – who was unhappy with the final result – to be an ear underwater. The album was well received by critics upon its release, and was commercially successful in the United Kingdom, but lacklustre publicity on the part of the band's American label Capitol Records led to poor sales in the US upon initial release.
On release, Meddle received generally positive reviews from music critics. Rolling Stone's Jean-Charles Costa wrote: "Meddle not only confirms lead guitarist David Gilmour's emergence as a real shaping force with the group, it states forcefully and accurately that the group is well into the growth track again", and the NME called it "an exceptionally good album". Steve Peterson of Hit Parader cited "Fearless" as its best song and said of the album, "This has got to be their best ever." Ed Kelleher of Circus called it "another masterpiece by a masterful group", noting "Fearless" as "fascinating" and praising "Echoes" as "a tone poem that allows all four band members much time to stretch their muscles".
In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Rob Sheffield said "Echoes" showed Pink Floyd to be a more developed group than before, "coloring the slow guitar ripples with deep-in-the-studio sonic details that only the truly baked would notice, much less appreciate." Writing for AllMusic, editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Meddle the best album from their transitional years leading up to The Dark Side of the Moon, as it "spends most of its time with sonic textures and elongated compositions, most notably on its epic closer, 'Echoes'". He noted a "uniform tone", but not song structure, and wrote of the album's significance in the band's catalogue: "Pink Floyd were nothing if not masters of texture, and Meddle is one of their greatest excursions into little details, pointing the way to the measured brilliance of [The] Dark Side of the Moon and the entire Roger Waters era."
The album was voted number 255 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).