Pink Floyd - Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd
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Free Music Notes for Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd
Free Music Review: An open,musical 2 CD letter to their friend Syd Barrett...
Hit: 5 Stars
Hi. How are you?
I realize that some people will be puzzled by certain track ommissions from 'Echoes' (such as 'Dark Side Of The Moon tracks "Speak To Me/Breathe","Brain Damage/Eclipse",or other tracks from 'Wish You Were Here' like "Have A Cigar","Welcome To The Machine"... Nevermind other key tracks from 'The Wall' such as "Run Like Hell","Mother","Young Lust" or "In The Flesh?"...),but in the huge task of reassembling a running order for over thirty-five years' worth of Pink Floyd material,the band truly did a splendid job not only with their choices of track selections,but in having the two discs maintain a flow and a poignancy..
Interesting asides about 'Echoes': Both the opening tracks on disc one ("Astronomy Domine") and the closing track on disc two ("Bike") are BOTH Syd Barrett-penned (and sung) tracks that also opened and closed Floyd's legendary debut album (and also,the only full Pink Floyd album featuring the late Syd Barrett,'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn')...
Also,the two discs also have thirteen tracks apiece; reminiscent of the thirteen/thirteen on both discs of 'The Wall'... These awesome twenty-six tracks on 'Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd' take you on some wonderful musical journeys...
I even don't mind that some of the lengthier tracks have been edited some (such as the original 23:00 of "Echoes" from 'Meddle' to about 16:00)... This works well actually and puts a new frame on a familiar picture,if not a few new colors...
The fusing of most of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" into a stirring 15:00-plus minutes is wonderful...
There's nary a track you'll feel compelled to skip overe. Listening to 'Echoes' is like any happening Floyd album: you'll wish to listen to it straight through as an album in itself.
A very sturdy group of choices for songs and -if so- a fitting and apt farewell to the recorded work of Pink Floyd.
Five stars hands down.
Thanks for your time,
Tim Goyer
Albany,NY
USA
Free Music Review: A Near Perfect Compliation! MUST HAVE!
Hit: 5 Stars
As a starving, unpublished artist, I often listen to Pink Floyd when working on my craft. I have been a fan since I was about 12, in 1973, when I bought the vinyl Dark Side of the Moon. After hearing that masterpiece, I was hooked. I quickly (at least as quickly as I could scrounge together the money) bought every other Floyd album I could afford at the Detroit "Peaches" record store. When I heard the band was working on a "best-of" collection, I was excited to see how it would turn out. This collection exceeds my expectations.
Rather than slap together the songs in chronological order, they have put together a 2-disk masterpiece, fitting the songs together in a seemless arc. Of particular note is the use of segue between songs, including some new effects and editing that brought a smile to my face.
It was probably a difficult task to fairly balance the work from the Syd Barrett era, the Roger Waters era, and the David Gilmour era, but the balance seems near perfect. The early Syd Barrett material sounds the most dated, especially the Beatle-esque "See Emily Play" and "Arnold Layne." But the placement of the songs within the context minimizes any culture shock, and provides a brief trip down memory lane. I guarantee you will have no choice but to smile when those songs play, especially if you have ever seen "This is Spinal Tap."
Several of the songs are edited, probably for the best . The title piece, "Echoes," is cut by 7 minutes, but still clocks in at over 16 minutes. "Marooned" is cut down to a 2 minute piece that serves mainly as a bridge between "Hey You" and "The Great Gig in the Sky."
Overall, I think anyone with even a passing interest in Pink Floyd should add this CD to thier collection. And, although it's impossible to please everyone, Floyd fans will find very little to complain about. There are no gaping holes in the playlist, no obvious ommissions, and the sound quality of the remix is exceptional.
Free Music Review: The Ultimate Pink Floyd Experience?
Hit: 5 Stars
Maybe not. But it's a heck of an effort, attempting to represent Pink Floyd over its entire history (1967-1994, I guess)with the obvious and the obscure. This is a pretty good package: Disc 1 clocks in at about 77 minutes, Disc 2 is 78 minutes, so you get a lot of music for the money. To me, it kind of plays like the soundtrack to one of those Pink Floyd laser light shows. The songs aren't placed in chronological order, but rather programmed for pace and effect. For some reason, I'm listening more to Disc 2 with "Shine On..." and "Time" and later on, "Comfortably Numb" and "When the Tigers Broke Free," which is supposedly from "The Wall" movie. The disc appropriately ends with a cut, "Bike," from sad, crazy Syd Barrett, Floyd's founding father.
Disc 1 is no slouch, either, with "See Emily Play" (a single also featuring Barrett), a nice instrumental teamp with "Marooned" and "Great Gig in the Sky" as well as "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2." I read in some of the pre-release hype that this album was programmed as "one continuous piece of music." Uh-oh. But it's not that bad -- the segues are logical, artful in places and fairly unobtrusive. It's easy to pick out your faves and program into the CD player; not too much bleed-over from previous songs.
I suppose there are those who will view it as sacrilege that cuts from the post-Roger Waters Floyd are here. Not me -- I love "Learning To Fly." There aren't enough of those to worry about anyway, and they fit (especially if you want a complete picture). Sure, there are some cuts not here I wish could have been included, but that's why I have a Pink Floyd CD library at home. This is a good compilation for casual listening and for the car, and for first-time fans.
I wonder if this means that Pink Floyd is finally over for good. I hope not -- whatever the case, this CD makes great memories.
Free Music Review: The Best So Far
Hit: 5 Stars
In the 34 years since Pink Floyd first entered a recording studio, there has never been an adequate compilation, and to a certain extent this is no exception. Of course all the classic material is on there, but there is only one track which has not appeared on an album anywhere else, and that is "When The Tigers Broke Free". Admittedly, this is even a different version to the one which appeared on 45 back in the early 80s, so that is something of a breakthrough. But the early years are somewhat sadly neglected.Where, for example, are the single-only releases, "Apples And Oranges", "Point Me At The Sky" and "It Would Be So Nice". I have been looking and I can't find any of these on CD anywhere. This would have been the ideal opportunity.
Also sadly neglected are the movie scores, "More" and "Obscured By Clouds". When taken in context against the backdrop of the truly monumental studio albums, these were very definitely 'minor league', but there were some great songs on those albums.
While it is odd to hear some of the tracks on this collection out of context, the whole thing is extremely well-balanced. But there was a reason why "Shine On" was split over the beginning and end of the "Wish You Were Here" album, and that is made apparent here. Patching the two sections together sounds strange after all these years.
Everyone will have their own opinions about what consitutes "The Best Of Pink Floyd" and it would be surprising if two lists matched up, but this is an extremely good cross-section of the Floyd's meisterwerks.
The sleeve notes state that the compilation was produced by James Guthrie and Pink Floyd. Does this mean that they've finally settled their differences? It would be nice to think so, because as compilations go there isn't a single weak track on this entire set. But although this rates 5 stars, I'm not going to get rid of my copy of "Relics" just yet.
Free Music Review: Audiophiles unite. The best SOUNDING Floyd yet
Hit: 5 Stars
Let's face it, even if you're just a casual Floyd listener you're not only in it for the songs, you're in it for a spacial, mind-blowing, other-worldly listening experience. The re-mastering of this collection of songs provides just that. Not only do you get a taste of some timeless classics but some of their pre-Dark Side of the Moon stuff that many people may not be acquainted with. Either way, whether you have every Floyd album out there or if this is your first, the sound produced on this cd is worth the price of admission. I started out listening to it just to see how they segued the songs into one another but then I thought, "Man does this sound GOOD!" So I went and got out my MFSL cd copy of Dark Side Of The Moon (for those who don't know, that's the gold CD that is supposedly superior in sound quality to anything else). I did a little A-B testing and believe it or not, this new "greatest hits" package sounds better. The sound is much more dynamic and the channel separation is much sharper. The vocals and instuments are crisp and clear and seem to just come alive and to the forefront. Not that Floyd ever had any problems with dynamics or spacial reference before, it's just that I've never heard them mixed and master as well as on this cd. Of course the early Floyd sounds better with a little touch up on the control panel but even stuff you thought couldn't sound better does.
There are always going to be debates on song selection with "greatest hits" albums. "Why is this on there?", "Where is that song?", "Why did they edit that?"... It's inevitable with any band and more-so with Floyd considering their very extensive and diverse history. I think however, that the selection here will give the average Floyd listener more than enough to mull over. As for the Floyd connoisseur; even if you have all of their other cds, get this one merely for the sound. You will not be disappointed.