ECHOES - THE BEST OF PINK FLOYD

Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd. A 2-disk collection of 26 definitive songs from all of Pink Floyd's multiple eras. I give this album 3 stars because while it does have many of the magical songs that I love, I don't care much for its structure, and certainly, as a fan who already has all their albums, I don't need to get it to hear anything new... obviously being an OCD collector I got it anyway.

I certainly think that this album has lots of great songs on it, but I think that there are certain songs that aren't needed, that are on the album, and certain songs that are essential that are missing. Songs that in my opinion aren't needed, are Hey You, The Fletcher Memorial Home, The Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick in the Wall part 2, (they obviously were aiming for the mainstream listeners with this one), and Learning to Fly. These songs are good, but they are mediocre in comparison to some others. Some songs that should've been here but aren't present are Careful With that Axe Eugene, Fat Old Sun, A Saucerful of Secrets, Cymbaline, Atom Heart Mother (would be hard to fit it on, I know...) the Embryo, Interstellar Overdrive, etc. Songs like THESE are the true essence of progressiveness in Pink Floyd, and they are absent.

Another problem I have with this is the fact that there are a lot of good songs on there, and they are cut short. I would rather have released 3 or 4 CD's together, and have the full lengths. I mean seriously... a 16 minute Echoes?? Marooned cut in half... Shine on You crazy Diamond missing the last 2 parts... nah, it doesn't cut it with me.

On a more positive note, all the songs are in random order, jumping from early to late, to middle, to whatever, and they all sync to each other seamlessly, somewhat making a concept. Another amazing thing is the album artwork, which truly captivates me... everything Pink Floyd has been summed up! Flying pigs, hammers, prisms, Two faced statues, air planes, stacks of money, farm animals, war soldiers, it has symbols from every Pink Floyd album, even those not represented such as Umma Gumma.

Personally, I am against the release of compilation albums, especially when they have extra tidbits on them, because that means you're paying all the money for one extra thing. An example is I paid 13 dollars for Pink Floyd's Works only to get the song The Embryo.

For a new person listening to this, they would be quite confused... hearing psychedelic Syd Barrett compositions with whimsical lyrics, and then dark Roger Waters jams and lyrics from animals and the wall... In a way, that's a good and bad thing. I know to hear all my favourite essential pink Floyd songs, it would take more than 2 disks, I would not edit them at all and all that stuff. Personally, it's great, but it's redundant to a fan who has all their stuff already, who will buy it only to find that not only does everything sound the same as the studio recordings, but some parts are edited out, making it even worse. For new users, obviously it's kinda like a waste of money because once they hear the majesty of Pink Floyd, they'll probably want to get every album and then the 20 something dollars they spent on it would go to waste.

The music itself is amazing, as always. It's just the selection and editing of the album that bug me. Then again, I never really liked Best ofs In my opinion, each album has its own best song or piece of Pink Floyd history that makes it a great album, and you can't take it out of the album. If you want Echoes, listen to Meddle. If you want A Saucerful of Secrets, listen to the album. Among the editing, it's annoying and ruins some things, and several of their greatest progressive masterpieces are missing. The music is 5 stars, but the uselessness and annoyance of the album is 1 star. It balances out into 3. Get it if you want, It has good stuff, but I'm just saying... I only got it because I'm a super OCD Pink Floyd collector.