Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd

From Pink Floyd

Title: Echoes The Best Of Pink Floyd
Artist: Pink Floyd
Released: November 5, 2001
Total Length: 151:11
Label: EMI (UK), Capitol (US)

Contents 1 Track Listing 1.1 Disc One 1.2 Disc Two 2 Review 3 Info

[edit] Track Listing

[edit] Disc One

1. Astronomy Domine – 4:10 (from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn)
2. See Emily Play – 2:47 (non-album single; appears on Relics)
3. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives – 1:38 (from The Wall)
4. Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) – 4:01 (from The Wall)
5. Echoes – 16:30 (abridged) (from Meddle)
6. Hey You – 4:39 (from The Wall)
7. Marooned – 2:02 (abridged) (from The Division Bell)
8. The Great Gig In The Sky – 4:39 (from The Dark Side Of The Moon)
9. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun – 5:20 (from A Saucerful Of Secrets)
10. Money – 6:29 (from The Dark Side Of The Moon)
11. Keep Talking – 5:57 (from The Division Bell)
12. Sheep – 9:46 (from Animals)
13. Sorrow – 8:45 (from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason)

[edit] Disc Two

1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-VII) – 17:32 (Combined parts 1-7 with some guitar solos edited - from Wish You Were Here)
2. Time – 6:48 (from The Dark Side Of The Moon)
3. The Fletcher Memorial Home – 4:07 (from The Final Cut)
4. Comfortably Numb – 6:53 (Lengthened to include part of Bring The Boys Back Home - from The Wall)
5. When The Tigers Broke Free – 3:42 (from the film version of The Wall, also appears on 2004 remaster of The Final Cut)
6. One Of These Days – 5:14 (from Meddle)
7. Us And Them – 7:51 (from The Dark Side Of The Moon)
8. Learning To Fly – 4:50 (from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason)
9. Arnold Layne – 2:52 (non-album single; appears on Relics)
10. Wish You Were Here – 5:20 (from Wish You Were Here)
11. Jugband Blues – 2:56 (from A Saucerful Of Secrets)
12. High Hopes – 6:59 (abridged) (from The Division Bell)
13. Bike – 3:24 (from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn)

[edit] Review

• Song Rating: 4.0 / 5
• Overall Rating: 4 / 5
• Best Song: Comfortably Numb mainly because it hasnt been edited.

Echoes: the best of Pink Floyd does contain some of the best material that this band has to offer. Whether this compilation is an essential purchase is another matter entirely. One problem is that two of the bands best songs ("Echoes" and "Shine on") are sadly truncated. It is however, nice to see the band recognise their past, with Barrett appearing regularly throughout.

[edit] Info

• The compilation spans the career of Pink Floyd from their first single "Arnold Layne" in 1967, through to "High Hopes", the final track from their 1994 studio album The Division Bell. Each of the twenty-six tracks non-chronologically segues from one to the next with no break in the music (apart from a disc switch after thirteen tracks), courtesy of longtime producer-engineer James Guthrie. This was done to help recreate the concept-album feel of the band's mid-period work. All twenty-six tracks were newly remastered specifically for this compilation.
• This is the first album released on CD that includes "When The Tigers Broke Free", which appeared in the film version of The Wall; prior to Echoes, the song had never appeared on a Pink Floyd album, though it would later be included on the 2004 remaster of The Final Cut.
• The album is, at times, criticised by hardcore Pink Floyd fans for its lack of material from Music From The Film More, Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother and Obscured By Clouds, as well as for its shortened versions of "Echoes", "Marooned", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" "Sheep", and "High Hopes". It can be argued, however, that the compilation is geared more towards casual and new fans of the band, rather than hardcore fans who already own all of Pink Floyd's albums. Echoes lacks many of the lesser-known classics that fans have come to love through the years, and is also devoid of any new material that many bands choose to attach to a 'best of' collection.
• The album's artwork is a collage of dozens of well-known Pink Floyd images, including screenshots from music videos, LP artwork and single artwork. On the front cover alone there is, among other things, the diver, businessman and blowing veil from Wish You Were Here, the rower and lake from The Rower (a film shown during the 1994 tours), a porcelain pig and cow from Animals and Atom Heart Mother, The Division Bell heads in miniature, a plane in reference to "Learning To Fly" and a picture of the ear underwater from Meddle.
• It reached #2 on The Billboard 200 in November, 2001. It went Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum in December of 2001 in the U.S. It was recently listed as being certified Triple Platinum (three million copies sold) in the U.S.