Customer Reviews
we don't need no education - By: for whom the bell tolls, 25 Jan 2008 
i like this compilation as it contains most of pink floyd's classics. i'm not a big fan of them but my favorite songs are the two 1980s hits learning to fly & sorrow. then comes another brickin the wall, money, wish you were here & shine on you crazy diamond which i like better on the wish you were here album. but for classic rock fans, this is a must have!
A BIT HIT AND MISS BUT STILL GOOD - By: stuart, 14 Aug 2007 eing the quintessential album rock band, Pink Floyd hasn't had much luck with "best-of" & "greatest-hits" compilations, like A Collection of Great Dance Songs & the bizarro follow-up, Works. Since both of those were releasedin the early '80s (and time travel being unavailable even to Pink Floyd), they obviously left out any tracks from the post-Roger Waters era albums. While countless hoursin dorm rooms have been spent laboring over whether or not the post-Waters recordings should even be considered the "real Floyd," the later albums nonetheless stand as a further progressionin the band's evolution & warrant recognition. The 2001 release Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd does just that, sequencing the tracks non-chronologicallyin an effort to place more emphasis on the individual songs as opposed to the era they're from. Unfortunately, the effect is rather jarring when the songs transition from the clinical mid-'90s sound of "High Hopes" directly into the psychedelic groove of the much earlier "Bike." Interestingly, as is the case with most of their albums (but a rarityin "hits" compilations), most of the tracks fade into one another; the hum of "Keep Talking" segueing into the bleating of "Sheep," making for an intriguing listen from one song to the next.
There are many highlights on this collection: the inclusion of the Floyd holy grail "When the Tigers Broke Free," a sweeping Waters military dirge that has only appearedin the film The Wall, & the fascinating "Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 1-7," which has never before been released without the breakin the middle (but conspicuously missing parts eight & nine). The confusing inclusion of "The Fletcher Memorial Home" (possibly just to cover something from The Final Cut) & three songs from the decidedly mediocre Division Bell stand out as obvious head-scratchers, making the die-hard Pink Floyd fan wonder if compiler James Guthrie was really clear on what this album should represent. Guthrie's job was unfortunately doomed from the start; since Pink Floyd's strength has always beenin the band's rich, sprawling albums, listening to selections cut & chopped from here & there makes it almost like watching three-minute segments from Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, & Apocalypse Now, knowing full well that they hold together much better as whole works. Still, Echoes is nearly the best possible assembly of the band's individual songs one could hope for, & collectors & completists should be overjoyed. That being said, anyone just getting into this group's fascinating sound would be much better off starting with Dark Side of the Moon, then working forward, then backward from there: the time honored system of hungrily consuming the Pink Floyd catalog that has stood for generations.
A good introduction - By: Secret Peter, 27 Jun 2007 If you don't know Pink Floyd at all or only a little, this is definitely a good place to start; it's a fair representation of their whole career & all the real classics are here, all beautifully mastered & segued.
Just a few minor complaints about track selection: 'Keep Talking' & 'The Fletcher Memorial Home' should have been nowhere near this; who wouldn't rather have had 'Cirrus Minor' & 'Careful with that Axe, Eugene', for example? But as I say it represents their whole career fairly evenly, & as such works better as an introduction than as a 'best of'.
Don't start here - By: Brian O'Hanrahanrahan, 24 Dec 2006 
There is some phenomonal music on here, but they ere several errors. Why have 'Echoes' & 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' been shortened? They are two of their best songs. Also, 'Marooned' & 'High Hopes' have been shortened, & they are fantastic songs. They have left out some amazing tracks, such as 'Run Like Hell', 'Coming Back To Life', 'On The Turnng Away', 'Lucifer Sam' etc. If they wanted some Barrett stuff, they shouldn't have used 'Bike', they should have used, say, 'Matilda Mother' or something.
If you are new to Pink Floyd, then don't look here. Go to their studio albums, which are much better.
Well worth buying - By: Pete, 15 Aug 2006 This is like the bible for music.
Context: The Beatles & the Who were about all I listened to. Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads was the most arty CD I had, & at the time I hated it. I also wasn't much of a fan of my Led Zep best of. In short, I really didn't much like music.
A friend had heard his dad's copy of Dark Side & described it as weird. I went to his house & he played the opening parts of the songs. I hated it. We joked about how it would be impossible to actually stand & listen to this at a live show. Where had they put the lyrics, because I struggled to find any on any of the songs. It was so slow & pretentious.
The sound effects on Money were just plain weird. "This is not music. I don't know what it is, but it ain't music", I probably said.
So we laughed at it & decided a lot of people are idiots if they actually listen to this. And I was aware that an awful lot of people did.
A doc on Syd Barrett was screened on BBC2. The bits & pieces of Floyd songs on the soundtrack sounded great. The next day I went & bought Echoes, the new best of. It had all the tracks I knew from the doc.
It was horrid. Practically no lyrics. Boring slow music. And frankly, it was too gentle to be described as rock. And don't get me started on the length of the songs. For some reason I kept at it & listened to it on a regular basis.
After about six months I loaned it to my friend who had played me Dark Side. He tore it apart next time I saw him. For some reason, instead of agreeing with him I defended it by saying that it isn't quite that bad.
After he left I was intrigued by it. So I put it on & this time I had a more open mind about it. For some reason it started to click. If I didn't exactly get it, I at least heard some redeeming qualityin it for the first time. So I listened to it on a regular basis & it started to work. With time I realised that I really liked it. And I became aware that it was the CD I most listened to.
So I bought the albums & I admitted my dark secret to myself: Floyd was my favourite band.
In a way I learned to like music through the Floyd. I learned to like long songs etc. Led Zep started to make sense for example.
Also I discovered an awful lot of good musicin my search for something that sounded a bit like them. While I no longer listen to the Beatles I still listen to Pink Floyd.
