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Pink Floyd
Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (Capitol/EMI)

Echoes provides a two disc overview of Pink Floyd's ouvre and stands as the first collection to document all three phases of the band's evolution: the Syd Barrett era (1965-67), the Roger Waters era (1968-83), and the David Gilmour era (1984-1994). The choice of the 26 tracks on Echoes also marks the first point of agreement between Waters and Gilmour since their acrimonious parting after 1983's The Final Cut, although such agreement was allegedly brokered through middlemen, not by the estranged combatants themselves. The results, though, do tend to represent what you'd expect when two people who aren't talking to each other have to reach a creative consensus. Few provocative items from either side of the table get through on Echoes, while points of agreement tend to be those that most closely adhere to a neutral middle ground--or, in this case, represent both Waters' and Gilmour's interests, say with a Gilmour lead vocal on a Waters composition, or an important Gilmour guitar solo on a Waters-sung song. While Waters gets a couple of cuts (not enough, actually) off of The Final Cut (the album with the least creative input from Gilmour), and Gilmour gets a few cuts (too many, actually) off of A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell (the two Waters-free albums), most of Echoes is comprised of obvious tracks taken from the discs that comprise the crucial heart of the canon: Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. Founding member Syd Barrett is represented on five cuts, including the sadly deranged "Jugband Blues," recorded just before madness took him away from the band. It's an odd choice for this "Best Of" disc, and I can't help but think that Waters and Gilmour picked it to remind us all that Barrett wasn't all that good, after all, now was he? It's interesting, though, to note how the other two members of the band come across on this collection. Drummer Nick Mason (the only person to appear on every Pink Floyd disc) appears to have guaranteed his longevity by his unobtrusiveness: the most quintessentially Pink Floyd moments on this album find him silent behind his drum kit, the most rock-oriented ones find him adequately keeping the beat, little more. Keyboardist Rick Wright, however, emerges from the collection seeming more essential than he ever did during the band's run: his sweet lead or backing vocals, evocative/spacey/haunting keyboards and (in the early days) songwriting contributions tend to define many of the best moments on Echoes. Maybe that's what happens when two titanic talents cancel each other out, letting the contributions of those who carried them for years emerge unexpected from behind the creative rubble they left behind. Copyright 2002: J. Eric Smith.

A very strange hobby . . .