Pink Floyd - Echoes - The Best Of

[Rockclassics]

The best thing about this release was that it was promoted as "mixed into one continous piece of music" which I was very excited about.

Then it turned out that all they had done was just leave no space between the tracks, with no mixing or overlapping, and some very questionable choices about what follows what.

So I went and made my own "Best Of" CD's, in which I DID mix the tracks into one continuous piece of music. 2 CD's - one covering everything up to and including Dark Side, and one for WYWH onwards. And although I don't use CD's any more, I still listen to my compilations a lot, each CD as one single track in my collection.

I would be interested in seeing your track list for each of the CDs. Any chance you might share that?

[Ashes andDiamonds07]

The song selection was done in a voting process between them all

Consequently Fletcher Memorial Home and Keep Talking.

I don't think it's a great album for introducing new listeners to pink floyd. DSOTM is a more exciting "introduction" to pink floyd than this album.

DSOTM and The Wall are how I usually introduce someone to the music of The Floyd, but never Echoes or A Foot In The Door. It just doesn't make sense to use this album to introduce. I mean, Echoes is on the album (duh). Not many first time listeners, especially today, aren't going to want to sit down for 23 minutes (although I think they shortened it down to 16 minutes for this) and listen to 5 minutes of whale noises.

[scmods]

The best thing about this release was that it was promoted as "mixed into one continous piece of music" which I was very excited about.

Then it turned out that all they had done was just leave no space between the tracks, with no mixing or overlapping, and some very questionable choices about what follows what.

So I went and made my own "Best Of" CD's, in which I DID mix the tracks into one continuous piece of music. 2 CD's - one covering everything up to and including Dark Side, and one for WYWH onwards. And although I don't use CD's any more, I still listen to my compilations a lot, each CD as one single track in my collection.

I would be interested in seeing your track list for each of the CDs. Any chance you might share that?

Sorry about the delayed response, I've been out of town for a month.

My tracklistings are below. As mentioned, I mixed the tracks with crossfades and overlaps. I also edited a few tracks for length, as I was at the time restricted to the 80 minute length of a CD. I know some people will foam at the mouth over this, but shove it, this was done purely for my own listening.

I called it "Best of", but it's true to say that as much as picking the "best" songs, I was also trying to put together a representative set. So, for example, I think they have "better" songs than Green Is The Colour and Careful With That Axe, but those pieces (presented here in the way they featured in live shows) are an excellent representation of an important period in the band's history.

Inspired by Live At Pompeii, I split Echoes in half to bookend the first disc, and similarly opened and closed the second with Shine On.

The other thing I did was, during the lead-in to the second half of Echoes (the wind/seagulls bit), include a few snatches of things I couldn't fit in full, such as Atom Heart Mother and Saucerful. And at the very end of the first disc, on a last minute whim, I put the "and the sea isn't green..." verse from Jugband Blues.

Final comment: I did this 20+ years ago. If I was doing it today, I would no doubt make different choices. But I still listen to these regularly, far more often than any "official" compilation the band has released (ie far more than "never").

Best of Pink Floyd (part 1)

Echoes (part 1)
Arnold Layne
Astronomy Domine
Breathe
Green Is The Colour
Careful With That Axe, Eugene
Childhood's End
Time
Cymbaline
Fat Old Sun
Money
One Of These Days
Brain Damage
Eclipse
Echoes (part 2)


Best Of Pink Floyd (part 2)

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (part 1)
Hey You
Wish You Were Here
Marooned
Dogs
Learning To Fly
Have A Cigar
The Gunner's Dream
Sorrow
High Hopes
Comfortably Numb
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (part 2)