EDIT: This review is increadably niave and insulting toward those who make use of narcotics. Please forgive me for writing something so stupid.
Pink Floyd consists of:
Syd Barrent: Lead Vocals and Guitar (only on Astronimy Domnine, See Emily Play, Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun, and Arnold Lane)
David Gilmour: Guitar and Lead Vocals
Roger Waters: Bass and Lead Vocals
Richard Wright: Keyboards and backing vocals
NIck Mason: Drums, Percussion, and backing vocals
Echoes is a compilation of the best of Pink Floyd. While one would normally expect a greatest hits compilation to be great, much of the joy of listening to Pink Floyd is lost when not listening to the whole album. Also, its a shame not to see On the Turning Away, Run Like Hell, and Brain Damage not on, but some of their earlier super stoned music is. Still, its a good compilation overall.
Disk One:
Astronimy Domine: Easily the best of their early stuff with Syd, this is still a very weird song. The drums and guitar are actually quite good, but the lyrics are incredibly odd. Still, fairly good. 8/10
See Emily Play: This is one of the songs I'm pretty sure they just put on so they'd have stuff from Syds time with the band. Still, I can't see the point as I'm not, nor will I ever be, stoned. 6/10
Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick in the wall: Now we get into Pink Floyd in their prim! The reason I grouped Happiest Days and Brick together is simply because they're always played together on the radio, and its the way they should be heard. Its easy to see how this became such a huge hit. The opening bass/drums part is very good and catchy, as are the lyrics. The famous "We don't need no education" chorus is awesome! 10/10
Echoes: Ah, the amazing Echoes! Not very well known to the casual listener, Echoes is truly a masterpiece! I could go on for hours about this song, as its twenty thee minutes long and more like four separate songs strung together. The albums its from, Meddle, also saw the introduction of David Gilmour on the guitar. The opening keyboard part with the ping sound effect intercut is great, and as the song picks up with bass and guitar coming in, it gets even better! Mason's drumming ranges from solid to excellent throughout. The lyrics (which only total about three minutes of the song) are song brilliantly by a duo of Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Truly a superb song! 10/10
Hey You: Another one of the best songs on the wall, Hey You features a soft opening acoustic guitar part. Waters istantly comes off as pleading, desparate, and plantive as he sings as Pink (the main character of the wall) desparatly yelling for help from someone beyond . The guitar solo is excellent as the song gets heavier and Waters sings a great verse in the form of: "But it was only fantast/the wall was to high, as you can see/no matter how he tried he could not break free/and the worms ate into his brain!" A great song from a great album 10/10
Marooned: A nice breasy song from Floyd's last album The Division Bell (one of the two made without Roger Waters) The guitar and piano parts a quite good, The backround wind sets the stage quite well 8.5/10
The Great Gig In the Sky: A beautiful piece from Dark Side of the Moon. The opening and closing piano pieces are great, but the real jem of the song is the wailing screams of Clare Torry, which replace any lyrics song by the band. The famous dialoug lines at the begginging about dieing are also very interesting. 10/10
Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun: Considering this is most obviously stoner music from their time with Syd, this song is actually pretty good. A mellow piece that falls just short of being raelly good. 7/10
Money: Easily Pink Floyd's biggest hit after Another Brick In the Wall, Money is a quite racouse song. The opening bass part is one of the most famous in history, for a very good reason. The lyrics are very good, particularly: Money, or so they say/is the root of all evil today. The sax solo is great, as is the rockin' guitar one. Still I'm rather surprised this song took of so much, when Time and The Great Gig In the Sky are both (in my opinion) better songs from Dark Side of the Moon. Don't get me wrong, Money is still a great song, I just think others are better. 9.5/10
Keep Talking: Another pretty good song from The Division Bell. The Gilmour/chorus interaction is pretty good, just nothing amazing. I far prefer it on the live from Pulse. 8/10
Sheep: The best song from Animals, Sheep starts off with a great keyboard solo. The lyrics are cool, with more interaction with the keyboard. The melody is very good. Definitly one of Pink Floyds best. 10/10
Sorrow: Sorrow is from the first of Pink Floyd's post Roger Waters albums, A Momentary Lapse in reason. Its a deep song with good lyrics and a great guitar solo. This is one of those songs scene or heard better live from Pulse or A Delicate Sound of Thunder. 9/10
Disk Two:
Shine on You Crazy Diamonds: This is song about Syd Barrent. Theres a famous story about when they were in the studio coming up with songs for Wish You Were Here (the album that Shine on is on) Syd stumbled into the studio looking an utter reck. Gilmour, thinking he was a fan, asked him to get out. When they figured out it was Syd, Waters burst into tears. What came out of that is an excellent, but sad, song. 9.5/10
Time: Absoloutly awesome song! Its one of my three favorites (along with Comfortably Numb and Wish You Were Here.) The begining clock noises are sudden and unexpected and the following drums/keyboard duet is excellent. The lyrics are some of the best in any song, ever! Most notibly being: And you run, and you run, to catch up with the sun but its sinking/and racing around, to come up behind you again/the sun is the same in a relitive way but you're older/short of a breath, but one day closer to death! The guitar solo is also one of the best in Rock history.
The Fletcher Memorial Home: I'm not really sure why this is one here, as it has no excuse to paying homage to their early leader like the Syd songs do. Its alright, I guess, its just not really that good. 6/10
Comfortably Numb: Another increadable song! The lyrics are very good, with Roger Waters singing the verses and Gilmour the chorus. The guitar solo is really what makes the song, though. Its (and I don't say the lightly) the best I've ever heard. Thats right, better then Jimmy Page in Dazed and Confused or Stairway to Heaven, better then Eric Clapton in White Room, better than Jimi Hendrix in Purple Haze. Its truely increadable. The Pulse version is even better as it features a much longer solo. Really, one of Pink Floyd's finest songs. 10/10
When the Tigers Broke Free: A surprisingly good, although increadably different song. It was originaly intended for The Wall, but was only used in the movie. The orchistrated intro is actually very good and the lyrics (particularly in the climax) are good as well.
One of These Days: Another cool song, featuring great instrumentals, but no lyrics. Although the lack of lyrics hurts a little bit, its still a fine song. 9/10
Us and Them: One of the best slow songs I know. It has great sax solos. The lyrics are intersting with a cool echoeing part. The parts were it gets bit hard are very good. Its definitly designed for slow dancing. 10/10
Learning to Fly: Considering Waters wasn't aboard for this song, its pretty good. The lyrics are some of my favorites and the beat is very good. The guitar and drums are also fairly good. 9/10
Arnold Lane: Why, why did this song have to make it on? Its another stoner song from the Syd era. Its about a cross dresser, just so you know... 5/10
Wish You Were Here: Another of Pink Floyd's best! The steal string acoustic is excellent, as is the lead guitar. The lyrics are simply amazing! How I wish, how I wish you were here/we're just, two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl/year after year/running over the same old ground/what have we found/the same old fears/wish you were here, is a great climax to the song. Really, one of the best songs ever recorded. 10/10
Jugband Blues: Another weird song from their Syd era. Pretty good, considering that, though. 7.5/10
High Hopes: An oustanding song, and by far their best after Waters left. The simple yet haunting opening piano part, signiture Pink Floyd Lyrics, and one of their best guitar solos they've recorded make this a great song. The music video is beyond weird, though. 10/10
Bike: Huh? thats what u'll be thinking when listening to this song. Its not really a fitting closure to the album, as its from the Syd era, but its still kind of funny. 7/10
Well, who's this album for, one might ask? Well I'd say this is best for casual to mid level fans. For new ones I'd say the whole Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall albums, and hardcore ones will definitly already have it.
Comments would be welcome!
