HITS

"Hits" is a compilation of Pink Floyd and was released in 1983. The 1983 greatest hits compilation LP was released only in Brazil. The track list is very similar to the international compilation album "A Collection Of Great Dance Songs" which was released in 1981. However, "One Of These Days" has been replaced with "The Gunner's Dream" from "The Final Cut", which was also released in 1983. Still, the track order on "Hits" is completely different from the track order of "A Collection Of Great Dance Songs". Like on "A Collection Of Great Dance Songs", all tracks were previously released.

"Hits" has six tracks. All six tracks on "Hits" go from 1973 to 1983. Thus, most of the tracks belong to the golden musical era of the group, including songs from some of their best studio albums, plus a song from "The Final Cut". The firs track "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" was originally recorded on their ninth studio album "Wish You Were Here" which was released in 1975. The second track "Wish You Were Here" was also originally recorded on their studio album "Wish You Were Here". The third track "Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)" was originally recorded on their eleventh studio album "The Wall" which was released in 1979. The fourth track "The Gunners Dream" was originally recorded on their twelfth studio album "The Final Cut" which was released in 1983. The fifth track "Money" (1981 version) was originally recorded on their eighth studio album "Dark Side Of The Moon" which was released in 1973. The sixth track "Sheep" was originally recorded on their tenth studio album "Animals" which was released in 1977.

"Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Wish You Were Here" are two of the five tracks that belong to "Wish You Were Here". Both songs are a tribute to the former band member Syd Barrett and his breakdown. These are two exceptional songs of an exceptional album. They are both beautiful and simplistic songs with some fantastic lyrics and some great instrumental melodies. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is divided into nine parts. This is a great piece with an undeniably melancholic mood and that documents the musical talent of the band. The song is very beautiful and brings a perfect feeling to that album. "Wish You Were Here" is the simplest song on that album and the most beautiful too. It's mostly an acoustic song that features some of the most memorable musical and vocal moments on that album. "Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)" makes part of the track "Another Brick In The Wall", which is the title of three songs on the album, set to variations of the same basic theme subtitled "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1)" with the working title "Reminiscing", "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" with the working title "Education" and "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 3)" with the working title "Drugs". This is one of the band's most famous and commercial songs. "The Gunner's Dream" is an emotional and very well written anti-war song. It's another good track on "The Final Cut" which carries on the global sad feeling all over the album. It has some nice piano playing and a very good guitar solo. It has also a sax solo, which is, probably, one of the best things of the whole album. Lyrically and vocally, this is Waters at his best. "The Gunner's Dream" starts out quiet, but reaches several climaxes all over it. One of them is a dark and powerful guitar solo by Gilmour. "Money" is one of the ten tracks on "Dark Side Of The Moon". It's one of the most known songs from the band and represents one of their best commercial successes. It's the most successful song from the band and reached the top ten in the US. Despite be a commercial success and we have been constantly bombarded by this song at the time by the radio stations, "Money" is a great song and has one of the best bass lines in the classic rock and has a great guitar solo too. This is a re-recorded version made in 1981. "Sheep" is one of the five tracks on "Animals". It's probably the best track on that album with more diversity, more strong melodies and an excellent final section. It's the heaviest track on that album too and represents the powerful climax on it. It has a delightful Wright's keyboard work, while Waters sings and plays rhythm guitar and Gilmour plays an outstanding bass guitar brilliantly on a simply and amazing way. With "Animals", Pink Floyd ended their great trilogy started with "Dark Side Of The Moon".

Conclusion: As I mentioned above, "Hits" is nothing more than "A Collection Of Great Dance Songs" with the same songs but in a different track order and one of the songs replaced by another. So, what I can say on my review about "A Collection Of Great Dance Songs" applies perfectly well to "Hits". However, the substitution of "One Of These Days" by "The Gunner's Dream" doesn't brought anything really better to "Hits". "One Of These Days" is an excellent track that belongs to one of their best studio works, "Meddle". By the other hand, "The Gunner's Dream", despite can be considered a good song of "The Final Cut", isn't as good as "One Of These Days". Anyway, this isn't really a surprising thing. All we know that "The Final Cut" isn't as good as "Meddle". So, as a final conclusion, despite "Hits" be a compilation that doesn't bring anything new really important, it remains, at least for me, a good compilation album with a nice selection of tracks. Thus, I'm going to give to it the same 3 stars I'll give to "A Collection Of Great Dance Songs".

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)