Starless vs Echoes

Starless.

The.Crimson.King wrote: Tough choice...Echoes is cool, though the spacey middle section bores me a bit.  Starless is not one of my fave 70's Crimson songs...though I love the live versions on The Road to Red much more than the studio version.  Live, instead of the sax solo at the end, Fripp shreds like a maniac so I'll give the vote to Starless

I also love Starless much more live. The guitar at the end indeed sounds more powerful, and the intro with violin for me also works better than the guitar... since I actually heard the live versions first, for me that intro was made to be played with violin (and actually, that might just as well be the case, since the song was written and first performed live, while Cross was still with the band). However, out of the versions I have heard, the one I love most is the one on Collectable King Crimson Vol 1, CD1 (Live in Mainz). I would need to hear that Road to Red version you say. Is it only one? Or are there several versions and you just like them better in general?

^I used to get impatient with the ambient middle part in Echoes....and sometimes moved the needle ahead.

dr wu23 wrote: Starless......not wise to vote against the mighty Crim......bad things have been known to happen.  ;) And I have always felt that Echoes was a bit too long for it's own good.

This poll is to me all about the mood I'm in and the company I am in, they are just mind blowing compositions in prog in my opinion but I can't say I`m always in the mood for both, when I am I`m really swept up in them.  I went with Starless  with an even respect for Echoes.

There was this exact poll on RYM just the other week.

I said: "Echoes can drag a bit, Starless never drags."

Echoes is great when you're stoned, but Starless is great all the time.

starless by far, and it's not probably not in my top 10 KC songs (hmm said the same thing about Schizoid a few polls over - better check that list )

Echoes has been of course a great Floyd piece to me always, but not ever as great as it seems to be many here. When I started listen Floyd, the whole Dark side went over it. Many Floyd listening years Atom Heart rose over it, also older material. Like somebodies here I don´t think it´s just trippy jampiece, as far as I know it was their first piece they started to play same way all the time (never heard any different versions of it, like there is from Atom Heart, Set the Controls, Embryo etc.). 

Echoes