October 30th
album anniversaries

A single piano note, played by Richard Wright through a Leslie speaker, gave Pink Floyd the sonar-like ping at the start of “Echoes”. The band could not recreate the sound in the studio, so the demo stayed, and the piece grew to fill the whole second side of Meddle.

Sessions moved from EMI Studios to AIR and Morgan, where sixteen-track machines were available. For “One Of These Days”, David Gilmour fed his bass through a Binson Echorec, and he and Roger Waters play the line on two bass guitars. “Seamus” features Steve Marriott’s dog howling along, and “Fearless” fades out with Liverpool supporters on the Kop singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

Michael Braun, producer of the documentary The Secret Life of Plants, described each scene to Stevie Wonder in detail while engineer Gary Olazabal set the timing of every passage. Wonder then composed music to match, and Tamla Motown issued the result as a double album.

Most tracks use the Computer Music Melodian, a digital sampling synthesiser, and the recording was made with a Sony PCM-1600 adaptor, placing it among the earliest digitally recorded pop albums. Syreeta sings “Come Back As A Flower”, “Send One Your Love” reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “Black Orchid” and “Outside My Window” sit nearby on the third side.

Early copies of Different Class came with six double-sided inserts showing cardboard cut-outs of the band, plus a sticker inviting buyers to choose their own front cover. Chris Thomas produced the album at the Townhouse in London between January and July 1995.

Two singles set it up. “Common People” and the double A-side of “Mis-Shapes” and “Sorted For E’s & Wizz” both reached No. 2 in the UK, and “Disco 2000” later climbed to No. 7. The album entered the UK chart at No. 1 and won the 1996 Mercury Music Prize.

Dublin studios including Windmill Lane, Westland and HQ hosted most of the sessions for All That You Can’t Leave Behind, with further work in the south of France. Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois produced, and Steve Lillywhite was among those credited with additional production.

Its first four tracks were all singles. “Beautiful Day” came out three weeks before the album and became U2’s fourth UK number one, and “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”, “Elevation” and “Walk On” followed during 2001. The second half runs through “Kite”, “New York” and “Peace On Earth” to the closing “Grace”.

The National and Menomena shared a bill at Holocene in Portland, Oregon, in October 2003, and that is where Matt Berninger met Brent Knopf. They stayed in touch, with Knopf sending rough musical sketches and Berninger answering with melodies and lyrics.

Return To The Moon turned that exchange into EL VY’s debut. Berninger pictured it as a punk-rock musical following two characters, Didi and Michael, drawing on Grease and We Jam Econo; the names nod to the Minutemen’s D. Boon and Mike Watt. “I’m The Man To Be”, “Paul Is Alive” and “Sad Case” sit alongside the title song.

“Shut Up” opens Positions with pizzicato strings and orchestral flourishes, and string arrangements run through much of the album. David Campbell arranged strings for four songs, among them “Off The Table”, Ariana Grande’s slow R&B ballad with The Weeknd, while her frequent collaborator Tommy Brown was the main producer.

Doja Cat appears on “Motive” and Ty Dolla Sign on “Safety Net”. The title track, issued a week ahead of the album, debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and Positions itself opened at the top of the Billboard 200 and the UK albums chart. “POV” closes the record with rain sounds and a quiet arrangement for cello and viola.