"Best ofs" and "Greatest Hits" as an introduction

BaldJean wrote: I just had a look at that album and noticed that "Echoes" is only 16:31 long on it, while on "Meddle" it is 23:27 . what happened to the other 7 minutes? what was cut out?

A few minutes from the first half (several sections edited), most of the trippy 'seagull' section, and a bit from the end.  The whole song still flows, and if you had not heard the original, you would not know there is anything missing.

A collection of great dance songs got me into the Floyd, it has an edited version of Shine On - an edited version of part 1 with the added verse from part 2 spliced in. It was often the version you would hear on the radio as it is a cut down version of the complete song. - The version on Echoes extends it out a bit more but is a similar thing.
When I bought WYWH a year later, I was quite amazed when I heard the song(s) in the original format.

Dance Songs also contains a re-recording of Money, so there is some novelty value in that.



Edited by enigma - March 07 2008 at 15:17

In 1999 I discovered that a prog rock revival was going on. In fact prog rock had not died in the 70's. With the exception of Marillion in the 80's, I had no idea that neo-prog had started. When I found this out I was keen to check out new bands who already had an impressive back catalogue. I have always tried live albums first as I believe if a band can do it live and I like the music, then it will be worthwhile investing in their studio albums. Thsi worked well for The Flower Kings as I bought Alive on Planet Earth, and I was knocked out when I heard Church of your Heart in particular and the rest of the tracks in general. Mind you I could never understand why they covered The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway considering their impressive recording list. Needless to say I bought everything by the band.

The next I tried was Forever Live by IQ. Another impressive work and again led be to buying everything they had released.

A B Negative wrote:     And don't tell me I don't love prog because I'm not listening to the tracks in the order the artist intended on the original album. If someone skips past More Fool Me when they listen to Selling England by the Pound they're guilty of the same crime.

My only way to introduce myself to new prog bands is to buy their highest rated album... I don't tolerate Greatest hits or Live albums unless is for other kinds of music, for example for more popular rock or metal bands that actually do have hits and their other songs are not that great, then I can live with just a compilation. But for all my PA-certified discs (), as well as for some other artists, I only go with albums... Compilations don't give you the whole idea of an artist's ouvre, and Live recordings are usually different, faster-played, sound is poor, there's audience noise... I just can't take them.

the_rider wrote: IMO, the best way to get into a band nowdays is to download for own listening, then buy what you think is the best albums, slowely, one a a time, beginning with the one you from your download-experience find the best and most tracks on.

Assuming of course such downloads are 100% legal - after all, we don't support illegal downloads, do we?

When I started buying records in the late 1960s early 1970s,all that I could afford were label sampler albums.In those days,labels like Vertigo,Island and Charisma would release albums made up of tracks by the artists on the labels roster.
The first of these that I bought was an Island sampler called.Nice Enough to Eat.This contained tracks by Jethro Tull,Nick Drake,Fairport Convention,Mott the Hoople and King Crimson.I know that the odd track by a band isn't necessarily a reflection on the rest of their output but it was enough to influence me to buy the studio albums by the bands that I was intrugued by.

Island and Charisma released some excellent sampler albums other than the one I've already mentioned.For instance,Charisma brought out a sampler called One More Chance.This included the 7'' single version of Genesis' Seven Stones,tracks by Monty Python,Capability Brown,Joburg Hawk and many more.

More samplers I say.

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: Yes, I skip some fillers once in a while luike More Fool Me, but what sense would make  a great song like Into the Cage outside The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway even if it's followed by The Musical Box? There must be a reasobn why The Lamb was played completely on stage.   Iván

Pink Floyd's Echoes had too much emphasis on The Division Bell and there are songs from many albums missing :/

I agree with many that compilations are no good, but live albums sure can be.

moodyxadi wrote: fighting sleep wrote: Finnforest wrote: I believe "best ofs" are always the wrong approach to getting to know a band because they are not the artistic vision of the band and don't convey the songs in proper context.   Instead of buying an illigitimate release that cannot convey the full content of any one given album theme, musically or lyrically, just do this.  If you can't afford to buy many titles by a band, do a little research and you can quickly find out what fans consider the "definitive" releases by each band.  It's not tough to do.  Then, buy one of their good albums.  You'll get a legit piece of art, and you'll find out whether you like the band.  There is no need to buy some hodgepodge of songs that have no organic relation to each other, other than record company doofs assured they were the chosen tracks on the radio.       words that my heart means to say.   However, as happenstance goes, it was a compilation album, Pink Floyd's "Echoes" that launched me into Prog in the first place. The third disc of Genesis' Platinum Collection gives a great taste of our favorite Gabriel stuff, and I personally believe that with ELP, there is no better place to start then the Best of or Essentials (if you like the smorgasbord of quirkiness there, then their actual albums will be a real treat).   One of my favorite methods of amassing music is get an Essentials album of a band that I'm unsure about, and if I like it, begin gradually to collect their albums, deleting the repeats from the Essentials list on my iPod as I go. That way I appreciate their songs individually, as well as better appreciating their place on their respective albums.   Well, If I'm aware of some band's artistic value and general style (based on reviews from people that seems to get a taste next to mine and samples) I never buy a 'best of'. But if the band in question seems to be interesting but there is strong disagreement about its value (in my case: Styx) I try to get acess to a best of like the "Essential"s collection or a live album - what is a lot better in most cases. But Imagine if someone wants to discover what's the noise about Deep Purple and buy the Made in Japan album; all the pre-Gillan and Coverdale-Hughes material are off. Made in Japan is probably one of the three best live albums ever, but don't you think that the albums Burn, Stormbringer and at least Hush and some songs from their third album have importance?   I know that in progressive rock terms a representative "best of" is complicated to build, and that's the reason why I'm used to buy compilations only from pop-rock or hard rock bands. Nazareth's GH and Grand Funk's 21st century masters presented these bands very well to me, and gave me clues to start exploring their regular albums.  That's one of the reasons that make me believe that, after a good research, it's possible to start exploring a new sound within the limits of a best of album.

Very true. If I hadn't grown up with my father playing songs off of "Echoes", but still got into prog rock, i would never start there with Pink Floyd. I'd probably get Dark Side of the Moon, and see how it went from there.