The Sounds of Pink Floyd's Echoes
Pink Floyd's greatest hits was just realeased.  I kind of wish they would have put the entire cd in chronological order.  People always partition retrospectives by the band's history, why not this album?  Below are responses to the track selections.
Disc 1
 1.   Astronomy Domine - This is an okay song, but they are a little too hung up on this one, IMO.

 2.   See Emily Play - Good choice.

 3.   The Happiest Days Of Our Lives - I have always liked this one.  I'm glad they used it as a prelude to the next track.

 4.   Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) - Obvious.

 5.   Echoes - I like this track, but I always thought the original was too long.  I heard that they trimmed this one, but I'm afraid they took the more abstract stuff out.  That was my favorite part.

 6.   Hey You - I like everything about this song except the solo.  It's so predictable.

 7.   Marooned - Another good one I didn't expect to see here.

 8.   The Great Gig In The Sky - A good track.

 9.   Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun - Good one.

10.   Money - Obvious.

11.   Keep Talking - I like this one.  I wish they had worked a little more on it in the studio because it is a little too simple in structure.

12.   Sheep - This isn't that great an album, but this song it pretty good.  I wish they would have added Pigs on the Wing to this list.

13.   Sorrow - This is one of the most agonizing songs for me.  I absolutely love the sound, the guitars, the mood, but the lyrics are the worst in the band's history.  Sometimes they rhyme, sometimes they don't.  They don't really work melodically.  It was a mistake to record them in this form.  I would rather they have replaced this with "On the Turning Away."

Disc 2
 1.   Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-7) - Obvious.

 2.   Time - Obvious.  Have they ever toured without playing this?

 3.   The Fletcher Memorial Home - This was a big surprise.  This track is the last one I would have expected them to pull from this album.  The Final Cut (song) contains my favorite guitar solo.  Any track with a sax solo from this album is great.  I really wish they would have picked almost any other song from this album so people could be exposed to it.

 4.   Comfortably Numb - Obvious.

 5.   When The Tigers Broke Free - Don't get me wrong, I love this song, but I don't think it fits in here.  It certainly has a different sound than the rest of the tracks.

 6.   One Of These Days - Obvious.

 7.   Us And Them - Another surprise.  I always thought this track was a bit slow.  It's good, but doesn't fit in with the rest of this grouping.

 8.   Learning To Fly - Obvious.  I wish One Slip had a guitar solo.  It's a good song, but lacks the punch to be a hit, per se.

 9.   Arnold Layne - Cute.

10.   Wish You Were Here - This is another obvious one, but I wish they would have included Welcome to the Machine instead.  The end section starts to annoy me.

11.   Jugband Blues - This was another surprise.  I really liked this song, although I don't know is this is really a "hit."

12.   High Hopes - This is another great one.

13.   Bike - Oh, well, what else could they have ended it with that wasn't already used as a coda?

Other notable ommisions (not mentioned above): I'm only thinking in terms of which songs I like.  I would have to make a different list if I was trying to make a "historically representative" prespective of the band's output.  I think a better approach than this constant repackaging would be to release a box set of alternate versions, etc. that chronicle the band's history with a special emphasis on tracks that hint at some alternate paths they might have taken.  David Bowie released a set like that about 10 or 15 years ago and it was very interesting.  Multiply that several times over for a Floyd version.


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