Product Description

This release is a comprehensive retrospective of Pink Floyd's studio output between 1967 and 1994. It features materialfrom their psychedelic early days with Syd Barrett, right through to the modern rock sound of 'The Division Bell'. The no.1 single 'Another Brick In The Wall (part 2)' is also included.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Astronomy Domine
2. See Emily Play
3. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
4. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)
5. Echoes
6. Hey You
7. Marooned
8. The Great Gig In The Sky
9. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
10. Money
11. Keep Talking
12. Sheep
13. Sorrow

Disc 2:

1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-7)
2. Time
3. The Fletcher Memorial Home
4. Comfortably Numb
5. When The Tigers Broke Free
6. One Of These Days
7. Us And Them
8. Learning To Fly
9. Arnold Layne
10. Wish You Were Here
11. Jugband Blues
12. High Hopes
13. Bike

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1482 in Music
• Released on: 2001-11-05
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.co.uk Review
Echoes is a double-CD collection of some of Pink Floyd's best songs; it's also an interesting document of the band's history. They began life as Syd Barrett's mandrax-flavoured nursery-rhymers--gnomes, scarecrows, cats and bikes a speciality--before clasping the wings of Icarus and ascending towards the sun on an epic space-rock odyssey, eventually turning left once they reached the dark side of the moon and burning up on re-entry, crash-landing on every earthlings' home hi-fi with the imperious but seething embitterment of their (or more pertinently, Roger Waters') pomp rock; the sociological (Animals), totalitarianism (The Wall) and World War (The Final Cut). And it's all here--30 years of the Floyd's awesome back catalogue trimmed down to two handsome CDs. It is worth reiterating that, despite a fondness for pyrotechnics (and fittingly--and perhaps deliberately--the album was released on November 5th), Pink Floyd were never a prog-rock band. Sure, some of their songs were a bit long, and they never released singles (at least not for 11 years), but the same could be said for Led Zeppelin. Clinically devoid of the cod-classical overtures and vainglorious musicianship of that era, Pink Floyd were a pole apart; Meddle's epic maritime tone-poem "Echoes" remains The Floyds' apogee. But here, on this collection, "the albatross" which "hangs motionless upon the air" has had its wings clipped--seven full minutes are missing, but you'd never be able to tell. The sonar bleeps, the screeching seagulls, the howling winds are all retained and whoever wielded the editorial axe did so carefully, Eugene. Interestingly, the non-chronological track listing works--the summery, childhood enchantment of "See Emily Play" timetabled right next to the square-bashing school discipline of "Happiest Days Of Our Lives"--and at least this way no-one will switch off when material from "A Momentary Lapse in Reason" comes around. Despite the curious omission of "Atom Heart Mother", this really is the very best of the Floyd--from the throbbing "One Of These Days" (conceived as an attack on disc jockey Jimmy Young), to the pop operatic "Great Gig In The Sky" and the genius silvery fluidity of Dave Gilmour's guitar work. This is timeless, as many members of Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Blur, Beta Band etc will no doubt testify. --Kevin Maidment

Customer Reviews

we don't need no education
i like this compilation as it contains most of pink floyd's classics. i'm not a big fan of them but my favorite songs are the two 1980s hits learning to fly and sorrow. then comes another brick in the wall, money, wish you were here and shine on you crazy diamond which i like better on the wish you were here album. but for classic rock fans, this is a must have!

A BIT HIT AND MISS BUT STILL GOOD
eing the quintessential album rock band, Pink Floyd hasn't had much luck with "best-of" and "greatest-hits" compilations, like A Collection of Great Dance Songs and the bizarro follow-up, Works. Since both of those were released in the early '80s (and time travel being unavailable even to Pink Floyd), they obviously left out any tracks from the post-Roger Waters era albums. While countless hours in dorm rooms have been spent laboring over whether or not the post-Waters recordings should even be considered the "real Floyd," the later albums nonetheless stand as a further progression in the band's evolution and warrant recognition. The 2001 release Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd does just that, sequencing the tracks non-chronologically in an effort to place more emphasis on the individual songs as opposed to the era they're from. Unfortunately, the effect is rather jarring when the songs transition from the clinical mid-'90s sound of "High Hopes" directly into the psychedelic groove of the much earlier "Bike." Interestingly, as is the case with most of their albums (but a rarity in "hits" compilations), most of the tracks fade into one another; the hum of "Keep Talking" segueing into the bleating of "Sheep," making for an intriguing listen from one song to the next.

There are many highlights on this collection: the inclusion of the Floyd holy grail "When the Tigers Broke Free," a sweeping Waters military dirge that has only appeared in the film The Wall, and the fascinating "Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 1-7," which has never before been released without the break in the middle (but conspicuously missing parts eight and nine). The confusing inclusion of "The Fletcher Memorial Home" (possibly just to cover something from The Final Cut) and three songs from the decidedly mediocre Division Bell stand out as obvious head-scratchers, making the die-hard Pink Floyd fan wonder if compiler James Guthrie was really clear on what this album should represent. Guthrie's job was unfortunately doomed from the start; since Pink Floyd's strength has always been in the band's rich, sprawling albums, listening to selections cut and chopped from here and there makes it almost like watching three-minute segments from Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, and Apocalypse Now, knowing full well that they hold together much better as whole works. Still, Echoes is nearly the best possible assembly of the band's individual songs one could hope for, and collectors and completists should be overjoyed. That being said, anyone just getting into this group's fascinating sound would be much better off starting with Dark Side of the Moon, then working forward, then backward from there: the time honored system of hungrily consuming the Pink Floyd catalog that has stood for generations.

A good introduction
If you don't know Pink Floyd at all or only a little, this is definitely a good place to start; it's a fair representation of their whole career and all the real classics are here, all beautifully mastered and segued.
Just a few minor complaints about track selection: 'Keep Talking' and 'The Fletcher Memorial Home' should have been nowhere near this; who wouldn't rather have had 'Cirrus Minor' and 'Careful with that Axe, Eugene', for example? But as I say it represents their whole career fairly evenly, and as such works better as an introduction than as a 'best of'.