Whats the deal with Andrew Lloyd Webber?”
[With much help from Adam Floro:] In general, he just doesn’t like ALW’s music, and doesn’t mind saying so. But specifically, there’s a section of Webber’s _Phantom of the Opera_ that bears a marked similarity to a part of “Echoes.” The opening notes to the “Overture” of _Phantom_ (Track 2, Disc 1) are C# C B Bb A C#. This matches rather closely a section of “Echoes,” approximately 6:06 to 6:16. While Waters was less than pleased with this similarity, Echoesians have pointed out that such a chromatic pattern is fairly common; by no means a Floyd invention. However, the relevant dates make the charge of plagiarism at least possible, if not really likely — Webber first used the riff in question on the film “Gumshoe,” released in December 1971. _Meddle_ was released on 11 November, 1971, with the live debut of “Echoes” having occurred on April 22.
