Pink Floyd

The Best Of Pink Floyd

Oh By The Way, Which One's Pink?? Answer: Syd Barrett!!!

Review Score:

(10/10)
Echoes, that historical double-CD collection of the band's greatest numbers, can hardly be called a "greatest hits" collection by normal standards. Oh, sure, most of the Floyd classics are here: "Arnold Layne", "Money", "Us and Them", "Wish You Were Here", "Learning to Fly", etc. Also, there are songs missing that many of their fans wish were present: "Have a Cigar," "Welcome to the Machine," "Brain Damage/Eclipse," and any selections from Atom Heart Mother (aka, The Cow Album). Also, two of their greatest songs here have been edited: the title track and Shine On You Crazy Diamond. So why is this still-impressive collection worth five stars? In two words: unified concept. Pink Floyd have always been a thinking listener's band, and they have managed to take two dozen or so of their greatest songs, meld the tracks together, and juxtapose the tracks in such a fashion that the songs, when played in this order, reveal fresh, sometimes startling new layers of meaning concerning their unified concept. And what is this key concept, the hidden, madcap thread that weaves through most of the songs on this album? Answer: Syd Barrett!!! Yes, the band's original guitarist, acid-eating freak turned genius-lunatic either composed most of the songs on this album ("Arnold Layne," "Jug Band Blues") or is in fact the subject matter of songs composed by the band's other members on later albums ("Wish You Were Here," "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"). Barrett's real-life descent into near-madness runs throughout the band's later material, particularly affecting bassist Roger Waters, who also suffered from a particularly strict childhood ("Another Brick in the Wall") and loss of his father at an early age (the stunning, previously unreleased "When the Tigers Broke Free"; when this song is heard back to back with the very angry piece "One of These Days," the effect is absolutely bone-chilling.) Other such amazing song juxtapositions are "The Happiest Day of Our Lives" backed with "Another Brick In The Wall," and "Set the Controls For the Heart of The Sun" backed with "Money". Listening to the Floyd's music in this fashion gives the listener an excellent picture of the band's collective consciousness in general and Syd Barrett's (and Roger Water's) twisted unconsciousness in particular. The listener is left literally stunned in the process as these 26 seemingly unrelated songs are coalesced into one luminous, incandescent whole. Get this collection today and listen to this old band with fresh new ears. You might just agree that indeed, Syd Barrett is and always will be the Pink in Pink Floyd.

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