Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd

Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd is a compilation album by Pink Floyd. It was released by EMI Records in the United Kingdom on 5 November 2001 and the following day in the United States through Capitol Records. It debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart on 24 November 2001, with sales of 214,650 copies.[1] It remained on the chart for 26 weeks.[2] The album was certified Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum on 6 December 2001 in the US by the RIAA. It was certified Triple Platinum in the US on 8 January 2002, and Quadruple platinum on 10 September 2007.

Contents

 * 1 Contents
 * 2 Cover
 * 3 Release
 * 4 Track listing
 * 4.1 CD version
 * 4.1.1 Disc one
 * 4.1.2 Disc two
 * 4.2 Vinyl version
 * 5 Rejected songs
 * 6 Sales chart performance
 * 7 Sales certifications
 * 8 Credits
 * 9 Notes
 * 10 External links

Contents[edit]
The compilation spans the career of Pink Floyd from their first single "Arnold Layne" in 1967, through to "High Hopes", the final track from their 1994 studio album The Division Bell. Four of their albums—Soundtrack from the Film More, Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother and Obscured by Clouds—are not represented whatsoever, though multiple tracks from Atom Heart Mother[3] and Ummagumma were planned to appear on the compilation. Each of the 26 tracks fades from one to the next with no break in the music, courtesy of longtime producer–engineer James Guthrie, to help recreate the concept album feel of the band's mid-period work. All 26 tracks were newly remastered specifically for this compilation and are not sequenced in chronological order.

Cover[edit]
Storm Thorgerson, best known for creating the majority of album covers for Pink Floyd, worked with the band Dream Theater on their 1997 album Falling into Infinity and submitted to the band two sketches for possible covers. One became the cover that was used on the release. The second ended up being used by Pink Floyd for Echoes four years later. The two original sketches are framed and hanging in the home of former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy and is pointed out by Portnoy in his Hudson Music instructional drum DVD In Constant Motion.[4]

Release[edit]
Echoes is the first album released on Compact Disc that includes "When the Tigers Broke Free", which appeared in the film version of Pink Floyd—The Wall (the song later appeared on the 2004 re-release of The Final Cut in a slightly re-mixed form). It is the first compilation that includes songs from their previous three albums—The Final Cut, A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell—and is also the only compilation album so far that includes "Echoes" from the 1971 album Meddle. A week after the band's one-off reunion at Live 8, HMV said the sales of Echoes rose by 1343%.[6]

Vinyl version[edit]

 * Disc one
 * Disc two


 * Disc three
 * Disc four

Rejected songs[edit]
According to James Guthrie, the following songs were considered for inclusion:[7]
 * "Interstellar Overdrive" (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason)  The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 1967
 * "Scarecrow" (Barrett)  The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 1967
 * "Chapter 24" (Barrett)  The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 1967
 * "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason)  B-side of "Point Me at the Sky", 1968; also appears on Relics
 * "Grantchester Meadows" (Waters)  Ummagumma, 1969
 * An edited version of "Atom Heart Mother" (Waters, Wright, Gilmour, Mason, Geesin)  Atom Heart Mother, 1970
 * "If" (Waters)  Atom Heart Mother, 1970
 * "Fat Old Sun" (Gilmour)  Atom Heart Mother, 1970
 * "Fearless" (Gilmour, Waters)  Meddle, 1971
 * "San Tropez" (Waters)  Meddle, 1971
 * "Breathe" (Waters, Gilmour, Wright)  The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973
 * "Brain Damage" (Waters)  The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973
 * "Eclipse" (Waters)  The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973
 * "Dogs" (Waters, Gilmour)  Animals, 1977
 * "Mother" (Waters)  The Wall, 1979
 * "Young Lust" (Waters, Gilmour)  The Wall, 1979
 * "Nobody Home" (Waters)  The Wall, 1979
 * "Your Possible Pasts" (Waters)  The Final Cut, 1983
 * "The Gunner's Dream" (Waters)  The Final Cut, 1983
 * "Paranoid Eyes" (Waters)  The Final Cut, 1983

Credits[edit]

 * Pink Floyd
 * Syd Barrett – guitar and vocals on "Astronomy Domine", "See Emily Play", "Arnold Layne", "Jugband Blues" and "Bike"; guitar on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".
 * David Gilmour – guitars; fretless bass guitar on "Hey You"; bass guitar on "Sheep", "High Hopes", and "One Of These Days"; keyboards; drum programming on "Sorrow", lead vocals on "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II", "Echoes", "Hey You", "Money", "Keep Talking", "Sorrow", "Time", "Comfortably Numb", "Us and Them", "Learning to Fly", "Wish You Were Here", "High Hopes".
 * Nick Mason – drums, percussion, tape effects, vocalisations on "One of These Days"
 * Roger Waters – bass guitar, rhythm guitar on "Sheep", tape effects, lead vocals on "The Happiest Days of Our Lives", "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II", "Hey You", "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", "Sheep", "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", "Comfortably Numb", "The Fletcher Memorial Home", "When the Tigers Broke Free"
 * Richard Wright – keyboards, organ, piano, synthesisers, clavinet, co-lead vocals on "Astronomy Domine", "Echoes", "Time", "Us and Them".
 * Additional personnel
 * Sam Brown – backing vocals on "Keep Talking"
 * Jon Carin – keyboards on "Marooned", "Keep Talking", "Learning to Fly" and "High Hopes"
 * Lesley Duncan – backing vocals on "Time" and "Us and Them"
 * Venetta Fields – backing vocals on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
 * Donnie Gerard – backing vocals on "Sorrow" and "Learning to Fly"
 * James Guthrie – remastering, percussion on "The Happiest Days of Our Lives"
 * Islington Green School – choir on "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"
 * Michael Kamen – orchestrations
 * Carol Kenyon – backing vocals on "Keep Talking"
 * Darlene Koldenhaven – backing vocals on "Sorrow" and "Learning to Fly"
 * Tony Levin – bass guitar on "Learning to Fly"
 * Durga McBroom – backing vocals on "Keep Talking"
 * Dick Parry – saxophones on "Money", "Us and Them", and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
 * Pontarddulais Male Voice Choir led by Noel Davis – choir on "When the Tigers Broke Free"
 * Guy Pratt – bass guitar on "Marooned" and "Keep Talking"
 * The Salvation Army (The International Staff Band) on "Jugband Blues":
 * Ray Bowes (cornet)
 * Terry Camsey (cornet)
 * Mac Carter (trombone)
 * Les Condon (E♭ bass)
 * Maurice Cooper (euphonium)
 * Ian Hankey (trombone)
 * George Whittingham (B♭ bass)
 * One other uncredited musician
 * Phyllis St. James – backing vocals on "Sorrow" and "Learning to Fly"
 * Barry St. John – backing vocals on "Time" and "Us and Them"
 * Liza Strike – backing vocals on "Time" and "Us and Them"
 * Storm Thorgerson – cover design
 * Clare Torry – vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky"
 * Doris Troy – backing vocals on "Time" and "Us and Them"
 * Carmen Twillie – backing vocals on "Sorrow" and "Learning to Fly"
 * Gary Wallis – percussion on "Keep Talking"
 * Carlena Williams – backing vocals on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"