DCC Archive Echoes - Best of Pink Floyd

Well.... It took 21 hours... while I'm watching "24 hours"... was wondering how long it would take to ask this question... I held it in my hand today... but I did not buy...

 

a little quote I found/stolen:

"Due in November on Capitol in the USA and EMI elsewhere, the double album includes nearly 2 1/2 hours of remastered tracks mixed as one continuous piece of music. Songs include See Emily Play, Money, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb, One of These Days, Arnold Layne and, for the first time on CD, When the Tigers Broke Free, a song from The Wall film that was released only on a limited-edition vinyl single. The 26-track set, to be available on CD, cassette and vinyl, was assembled by producer and engineer James Guthrie with input from Floyd alumni David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright."

My guess it won't sound bad, but it'll have lots of xfades and edits (obviously had reduce the size of Echos).

 

I was wondering when this thread was going to show up.

The new set is produced by James Guthrie, but you already knew that. He's made an attempt to make all these songs an organic experience, so, yeah, it's all crossfaded. And they cut about 7 minutes out of Echoes. As I understand it, the band was agreeable to all this and said if they had Echoes to do over again, it would be shorter/tighter.

I don't own it, actually, but there's a long article in the 12/01 Guitar World about it.

As much as I dislike compilations, Best Buy is running a nice sale and it's the only way you can get "Tigers" except for that 45. (It's split in two pieces in the movie.)

 

Straight from the booklet:
To compile this album, the original analogue master tapes were played back on custom tape machines built by The Mastering Lab (1/4 inch) and Tim de Paravicini (1/2 inch). Custom valve EQ was by Esoteric Audio Research. 24 bit Analogue to Digital converters by dB Technologies fed the SADiE workstation. Monitoring DACs were by dCS.

No Peter Mew here.

It appears the version of "When the Tigers Broke Free" on this compilation is not the 45 version but the movie version, which is slightly longer and has a different arrangement (i.e., no drum rolls throughout the quiet verses).

I found the crossfading to be nicely done, although the sequencing doesn't really work well towards the end, where it ping-pongs from Syd to Division Bell to Syd again.

Kym

 

Hey, I wasn't the one who said Mew worked on it!

I'll probably pick it up Thursday, along with Obscured (if the store has it).

 

F.Y.I. Target department stores have it on sale for like $15.

 

Looking over the tracks, my first question is: why not "Not Now John" over "The Fletcher Memorial Home"?

I know people will always nitpick track selections, but I really love "Not Now John." Although, to be honest, I'm surprised anything from Final Cut made it on there in the first place.

 

I'm already compiling my own companion set to Echoes, tracks that were left off and some of my more obscure favorites. I'll be playing with edits and crossfading, too.

Kym

 

I bought Echoes and it came across to me like an expanded Collection of Great Dance Songs. We still get only Sheep from Animals, not Dogs or Pigs (three different ones).

Yes, I can quibble over song selection. Where is Grantchester Meadows from Ummagumma?

And I don't much care for the sequencing. Roger Waters stated that he would have perferred it sequenced in chronological order. He didn't much care for his work intermingled with the songs after he left. I totally agree with him. In fact, most websites did have the track selection listed that way.

The segue of Learning to Fly going in to Arnold Layne doesn't work for me. Especially the force fade of Us and Them going into Learning to Fly.

Still for a career overview, it's ok.

 

Well, if that's the case, Syd's songs shouldn't be mixed with Roger's either.

Kym

 

Quote Kym:

Well, if that's the case, Syd's songs shouldn't be mixed with Roger's either.

Well, not really. Roger and Syd were both original members of the band along with Wright and Mason. Even Piper had a Waters song in between Syd's.

However, Roger stated he wanted the Syd bits, then the post Syd bits, and so forth. So, if we put it in chronological order the eras would be separated.

 

I can't image this generic set being superior to MSFL releases.

 

I can't image this generic set being superior to MSFL releases.
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No. It's just different that's all. An expanded greatest hits package married with the concept of trying to segue things together.

I heard it tonight. Not bad I guess. Some of the songs naturally blend together and the ones that don't they left a liitle bit of a gap between them.

There are a couple of glaring song omissions, but that's typical record company marketing. If this set had everything you wanted there would be no need to buy the rest of the Pink Floyd catalog!

All-in-all a nice package, with lyrics, and at least they aren't overpricing it.

 

I think my "Pulse" & "Delicate Sound of Thunder" LDs will remain my mainstays for some time to come. They still sound somewhat superior to my CDs, but they all have their charm.

EG: my "Dark Side of the Moon" MFSL has a bass track that is seismic when reproduced from my twin Velodyne 18s.

[ November 11, 2001: Message edited by: Mart ]

 

Hi everyone. I assume you are all speaking about the CD release of echoes. I actually was interested in purchasing the lp version and was just told by CDNOW that the lp release date has been pushed back to December. If anyone owns the lp version, please share your thoughts on the sound quality.

 

Nor can I imagine it costing as much as the MFSL releases either.

[ November 11, 2001: Message edited by: Jono ]

 

Well I just recieved it as a gift, so I was duty bound to open it and listen to it right? I think I have to echo (sorry) what has already been said. The sound quality is improved or changed a little over the standard releases. They definitely tweaked the soundstaging; it's pretty cool. I haven't listed to it critically, but it seems they've done a bit of remixing. Sheep is tweaked and possibly edited.

It's an interesting mix, but the sequence just throws me off. I'd describe it this way. Remember Jimmy Page's first boxed set with the crop circle on the cover? You're listening to Heartbreaker...and then it just ENDS. No Living Loving Maid, no nothing.

Echos is not quite that severe though (LZ fanatic talking). I'm happy I have it, it being a neat concept and all. Pink fanatics steer clear. Fans should get it, I think. Thank you dear.

 

Just as an aside, Led Zeppelin never perfomed Living Loving Maid in concert; Heartbreaker was always played by itself.

 

I'm sure Page gave much thought to the sequencing of that boxed set.

After listening to it more closely, I really like Echos. It's interesting what they've done to the sound. But then again, I'm not the Pink Floyd purist I used to be. LZ is another story.

 

Pig,
I went for the 10 CD studio sessions box set rather than the 2 earlier sets because I like the cover reproductions and tracks in the correct order compared with the crop circles box sets.

 

What are the details of that box (label, etc)? Was Jimmy Page the producer/engineer? Is it newly remastered? If it's 10 discs is each CD a seperate album? I bought my boxed set when it was first released, so it was good for its time. Besides, that was the only way I could get Hey, Hey, What Can I Do. I may have to look into that, but I'm kind of leaning to the Classic lps. I need some good LED ZEPPELIN.

[ November 23, 2001: Message edited by: pigmode ]

 

Okay, I just checked it out. I'm going with the Classic lps, because I need all the albums intact. When I listen to Physical Grafitti it has to be each side intact etc. I already have the vintage lps but I want the audiophile stuff. It's an affliction.