Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd

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Pink Floyd

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Floyd have issued earlier compilation albums, but not on a double CD. A single LP was never going to do adequate justice to the band, even though they attempted it with the COLLECTION OF GREAT DANCE SONGS. But no collection could sincerely claim to be the best of the Floyd without including, say, all 23 minutes of 'Echoes', and that blows half an LP right away.

This album contains almost all of 'Echoes', together with almost all of almost every other Floyd that one would expect to hear on a 'Best of' collection. I say almost all, because the tracks have been judiciously segued into each other, in most cases just before the fade-out on the original. To some, it may seem sacrilege to interleave DARK SIDE tracks such as 'The Great Gig in the Sky', 'Money', 'Time' and 'Us and Them' with other Floyd classics, but believe me, it works. The only classic which I'm disappointed not to see here is the opening track from OBSCURED BY CLOUDS.

There can be few Floyds fans who don't have the classic sequence of four albums from the 70s -- MEDDLE, DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, WISH YOU WERE HERE and ANIMALS. But there may be many who, like me, have never bought a Pink Floyd album on which Syd Barrett played. The early stuff -- for instance, 'See Emily Play', 'Arnold Layne' and the glorious 'Bike' -- has been ingeniously blended into the meld, despite the production standards of the period appearing primaeval compared to Alan Parsons' engineering work on DARK SIDE.

It's a wonderful, wonderful collection. I re-purchased my Floyd albums on CD too early -- i.e. before they were re-mastered. The tracks chosen here are from the re-mastered CDs, and it's frankly a relief that I cannot tell the difference in sound quality between these remastered versions and my acoustic memory of my CDs. That's a small fortune saved!

The CD inlay booklet is up to the usual Floyd standard, with a cover reminiscent of UMMAGUMMA. We get the lyrics to every song -- I don't believe that all the original LPs disclosed these -- and we get the info on who-played-what. Floyd have even taken away that second notch on the transparent CD case which makes the inlay booklet so difficult to remove. This is the early Xmas present you need to give yourself.

The Good:

The sound quality. It doesn't get any better than this. Best sound on the '67 material I've heard.

The Mixed:

The running order and the cross-fades. First, not all the songs are cross-faded, which is good -

I was really wondering how some of the songs would work that way! The cross-fades on Disc 2 work better overall than the cross-fades on Disc 1. While most of the ideas are OK, they have a tendency to make the fade a little too abrupt - they could be more gradual in spots, like the transition from "Keep Talking" to "Sheep". A couple of the transitions are awkward, like from "See Emily Play" to "Happiest Days" - while technically OK, it really just doesn't fit musically. Similarly, going from "Wish You Were Here" to "Jugband Blues", while quite proper thematically, doesn't really work musically; and the fade from "Jugband Blues" into "High Hopes", while aurally satisfying, is in fact quite inappropriate musically IMHO - I think there has to be a break of silence after "Jugband Blues". I also find it hard to accept "Echoes" in the middle of a set - it has to be either at the beginning or the end. I would have put it at the end of Disc 1. Also, while putting "Bike" last has many connotations which should not be forgotten, it would still be a lot stronger musically to end on "High Hopes" - put "Bike" somewhere else. Oh, and the echo at the of "Us And Them" has to go!!

As far as the selection, this package is definitely aimed (in theory) for the casual fan, not the connoisseur. As one who falls in the latter category, I believe that there are many good choices and many "why this, not that?" choices. My personal number one in the latter category is why "Fletcher Memorial Home" to represent The Final Cut? "Not Now John" or "The Final Cut" (the song) would have been a far stronger choice IMHO - even "The Gunner's Dream" is better than this one! But that can all be argued another day.

The Abominable:

But here is where the adrenaline rises, where the fist of death seeks to be loosened upon the entity that did the final mix. Now, some cuts aren't all that horrible; while I would prefer the entire ending of "High Hopes", the fact that they shortened the long solo at the end by 30 seconds (or cut the first 15 seconds off the opening bird sounds, for that matter) isn't devastating. But...

Marooned. It is cut in half - it is the regular version, but fades out 2 minutes (less than halfway) into the song. and it isn't at any natural place - it is as the piece is building. Now Marooned wouldn't have made my own list, but if you are going to have it, have it! Why this fragment? I don't see the point.

But all this fades compared to what has been done to the two greatest epics in the history of Pink Floyd, Progressive Rock, and music in general (well...). What has been done to Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Echoes is beyond comprehension.

Shine On is bad enough. The second guitar lead of Part 4 (the one just before the vocal) is cut, but that's the way we've been hearing it live for years, so it's not all that disturbing. The transition from Part 5 to Part 6 is OK, though I would have not let the entire Part 5 fade-out occur begin starting to bring in the Part 6 bass and wind. But then a TOTAL BLASPHEMY occurs - THEY CUT GILMOUR'S TWO SLIDE LEAD VERSES TO ONE!!! They take the first half of the first verse, then join it to the second half of the second verse. The result is you miss half of Gilmour's most signature slide leads (along with the end of One Of These Days). I screamed. The song fades out after the last vocal, segueing into "Time". A good segue, but it doesn't matter. 'Tis intercoursed!

BUT ECHOES IS WORSE!!!!!! This is what is cut from Echoes, the song they had the chutzpah to have as the title track for the collection:

- The guitar lead before the first vocal

- The second half of the guitar lead before the funk section

- Part of the organ funk intro (cut from 12 reps to 8 )

- MORE THAN HALF OF THE SEAGULL SECTION

- MORE THAN HALF THE SPACEY WRIGHT-DOMINATED SECTION leading into where the rhythm comes back in

- Cuts the build-up from the return of the rhythm to where the loud guitar riff comes in from 8 repetitions to 5

- CUTS THE LAST TWO GUITAR SOLO VERSES AFTER THE LAST VOCAL

There are no curses that can apply to this abomination.

One other thing - would I recommend it for the casual fan, given what they are more likely to be concerned about and interested in? Truthfully, I don't know. It might be a little too odd for the mass market, while definitely way to K-Tel - like for the true fan. Overall, a messy end to a great band's career.

Jeff