ECHOES - THE BEST OF PINK FLOYD

An excellent overview of PINK FLOYD music, "Echoes - The Best of Pink Floyd" (originally supposed to be called "Some of the Parts"), this is the preferred way to introduce someone new to the phenomenon that is FLOYD. It is what you buy your nephew for his 13th birthday. It has a broad expanse of songs that spans each FLOYDIAN era and everyone will find at least something on here that they enjoy.

For the purist or longtime FLOYD fan though, "Echoes" is a difficult thing to ever really get into. We have become so used to hearing the tunes in their traditional arrangement and order that we tend to get weirded out when we hear 'Sheep' followed instead by 'Sorrow' and not 'Pigs on the Wing Pt 2". Also the segueways between songs (always a FLOYD trademark) take a while to get used to. But these things won't bother newer fans.

Every band needs a 'Greatest Hits' and this definitely fits the bill quite nicely. All the 'hits' are here. There is even a bonus track ('When the Tigers Broke Free' - a WATERS "The Wall" / "The Final Cut" type of song) not found anywhere else that will make this album a necessary buy for the completist/collector.

The accompanying artwork and liner notes designed by Storm Thorgerson are, as always, classic. For longtime fans you can play 'spot the item - identify its album association' as there are veritably dozens of little artistic references to be found.

A few negative aspects to the collection is the edit of 'Echoes' (the song) down to a more managable time, and the inclusion of 'Sheep' (once again just like on "A Collection of Great Dance Songs") to represent the "Animals" LP instead of 'Dogs' or 'Pigs'.

Clocking in at over 2 hours and 35 minutes, it is the most FLOYD 'bang for your buck' you can get. Recommended to new fans primarily.