E' possibile fare una compilation di uno dei più grandi gruppi della storia come i Pink Floyd? La risposta è NO. Certo che di per sé una compilation è progettata unicamente con lo scopo di vendere, indirizzata specialmente verso chi della suddetta band conosce sì e no i singoli passati alle trasmissioni televisive (come nel caso di "One of these days"). Di conseguenza è impossibile riuscire ad imbattersi in un Greatest Hits perfetto, anche perché chiunque può criticare l'assenza di brani essenziali della carriera di un artista, il più delle volte per problemi di spazio.
"Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd" esce nel 2001, accompagnato da una bellissima copertina del visionario e copianto Storm Thorgerson, che realizzò anche le immagini contenute nel booklet. Si presenta già subito bene, sono spinto dalla curiosità di esplorare il disco. Anzi I DISCHI, visto che si sono presi la briga di farne due come minimo. Notando la tracklist, e inserendo i dischi nello stereo, dopo anni che ho sentito anche altre raccolte come "Relics" (non piena quanto questa ma forse più interessante), sono arrivato alla conclusione che i Pink Floyd sono un gruppo impossibile da racchiudere concettualmente in un banale Best Of, poiché ogni loro lavoro si basi su di un concept ben preciso, e limitarlo in un'operazione commerciale non è solo inopportuno, ma un'impresa suicida, sebbene le intenzioni ci fossero tutte; a quanto disse Waters le tracce della prima facciata rappresentano metaforicamente le costrizioni che opprimono l'uomo, mentre della seconda il suo desiderio di riscatto. Le canzoni, rigorosamente non in ordine cronologico (come Waters avrebbe in realtà voluto) sono unite mixate l'una all'altra, un po' come se si trattasse di un concept-album stesso.
I fan dell'era Barrett potranno sentirsi accontentati, visto la presenza di ben cinque brani del Diamante Pazzo: il viaggio tra le stelle di "Astronomy Domine", la giocosa "See Emily Play", la marcia di "Jugband Blues", una bella versione singolo di "Bike" e perfino "Arnold Layne", fino ad allora apparsa solo in "Relics". Certo si nota la mancanza di gemme quali "Interstellar Overdrive", ma Barrett per tutto il disco è omnipresente, come volere dei Pink Floyd stessi. Fa storcere il naso la mancanza di un brano da quel capolavoro immane di "Atom Heart Mother" (almeno una "If" potevano mettercela), così come dello sperimantale "Ummagumma", sebbene prendere un brano che rappresenti a pieno quest'ultimo non sia un'impresa facile; ci hanno provato con "A Saurceful Of Secrets", includendo l'ipnotica danza intorno al fuoco di "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun", uno dei loro brani paradossalmente meno commerciali della loro discografia, ma che fortunatamente hanno incluso, anche perché è uno dei primi lavori dove Waters inizia timidamente a cantare oltre che suonare il basso.
Il resto del disco parla da solo: del prisma sono stati presi i brani più iconici, pezzi come "Time", The Great Gig In The Sky", "Money" e "Us And Them", anche se all'appello mancherebbe "Brian Damage", visto che si parlava di Syd fino a qualche momento fa. Sorprendente la presenza di "When The Tigers Broke Free", presente nell'incipit del film "The Wall", nonché contenuta nel criticato "The Final Cut", insieme alla splendida "The Fletcher Memorial Home", che ci riporta indietro in un paesaggio da Barry Lyndon. E a proposito di "The Wall" abbiamo ovviamente l'immancabile "The Happiest Days Of Our Lives/Another Brick In The Wall Pt.2", sebbene si faccia un salto di quasi 12 anni dal brano precedente, ma di questo ne parleremo a breve. Ho apprezzato la presenza di "Comfortably Numb" allungata con il finale di "Bring The Boys Back Home", in modo da poter sentire ancora una volta quel lugubre "Is there anybody out there". Sebbene anche qui per il sottoscritto una "Run Like Hell" non avrebbe guastato così come una "Mother", ma "Hey You" mi batte sulla spalla da dietro e mi fa sentire un po' meglio. Ci sono stati anche degli sciacallaggi non da poco, a cominciare dalle due "suite" se così vogliamo definirle in maniera banale: la magnifica "Echoes" ridotta da 23 minuti a 16!, abbreviando violentemente l'intermezzo di orgie dei suoni di un'altra galassia provenienti dalla chitarra urlante di Gilmour, così come "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", da essere divisa in due parti nel magnifico "Wish You Were Here" qui si arriva fino alla settima, levando lo splendido viaggio finale del brano originale. Stesso discorso per "Marooned", uno dei momenti migliori di "The Division Bell" (insieme ad "High Hopes", fortunatamente qui inclusa, e la bellissima "Keep Talking"), da 5 minuti ridotta a 2 come una sorta di passaggio fine a se stesso per la canzone successiva. Almeno "Sheep", tratta dal controverso "Animals", non l'hanno stuprata troppo (ci fu un braccio di ferro tra lei e "Dogs", grave il fatto che comunque quest'ultima manchi).
Inoltre il fatto che manchi un ordine cronologico tra le canzoni è una cosa che può lasciare confusi più che estasiati, specie per chi si approccia per la prima volta ai Pink Floyd. Passare per esempio da "Sheep" a "Sorrow", e fare un salto temporale in una dimensione in cui Waters è già bello che a farsi i cavoli suoi, mentre è Gilmour a prendere il timone, è paradossale come cosa, e potrei fare lo stesso esempio di "Learning To Fly" seguita dopo un brano del Dark Side. Ma ammetto che in verità non è una questione del tutto grave, poiché il mixaggio tra i brani, se si provasse a vederla sotto un'ottica esclusivamente da concept, pur strizzando l'occhio può essere tutto sommato tollerabile, rispetto alla questione per me giustamente criticabile dei tagli fatti ai brani sopra citati. Ci sono infine casi come "Wish You Were Here", che sono stati trattati con assoluto rispetto senza collegarli ad alcuna traccia, sebbene sia l'unico episodio.
In conclusione "Echoes" è un best of che può innegabilmente essere un punto di partenza per chi vuole interessarsi a questa band, ma consiglio caldamente di studiarsi i brani che si sta ascoltando prima di mettere play, per essere consapevoli dei salti temporali presenti all'interno della raccolta. Dopodiché recuperatevi la loro discografia, che male di certo non fa.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Astronomy Domine (04:10)
Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground.
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda
And Titania, Neptune, Titan.
Stars can frighten.
Blinding signs flap,
Flicker, flicker, flicker blam. Pow, pow.
Stairway scare Dan Dare who's there?
Lime and limpid green
The sounds surrounds the icy waters underground
Lime and limpid green
The sounds surrounds the icy waters underground.
02 See Emily Play (02:47)
Emily tries but misunderstands, ah ooh
She often inclined to borrow somebody's dreams till tomorrow
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for may
See Emily play
Soon after dark Emily cries, ah ooh
Gazing through trees in sorrow hardly a sound till tomorrow
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for may
See Emily play
Put on a gown that touches the ground, ah ooh
Float on a river forever and ever, Emily
There is no other day
Let's try it another way
You'll lose your mind and play
Free games for may
See Emily play
04 Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 (04:01)
The opening quote is from the 1933 light heavyweight boxing match between Max Baer and Max Schmeling
We don't need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave the kids alone
Hey! Teacher! Leave us kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
We don't need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave the kids alone
Hey! Teacher! Leave us kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.
Spoken:
'Wrong, Do it again!
Wrong, Do it again!
If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding.
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat yer meat?
You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds, stand still laddie!'
05 Echoes (16:30)
Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine
And no-one showed us to the land
And no-one knows the where or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light
Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can
And no one calls us to move on
And no one forces down our eyes
And no one speaks and no one tries
And no one flies around the sun
Cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning
And no-one sings me lullabies
And no-one makes me close my eyes
so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky
06 Hey You (04:39)
Hey you! Out there in the cold
Getting lonely, getting old, can you feel me?
Hey you! Standing in the aisles
With itchy feet and fading smiles, can you feel me?
Hey you! Don't help them to bury the light
Don't give in without a fight.
Hey you! Out there on your own
Sitting naked by the phone, would you touch me?
Hey you! With your ear against the wall
Waiting for someone to call out, would you touch me?
Hey you! Would you help me to carry the stone?
Open your heart, I'm coming home
But it was only a fantasy
The wall was too high as you can see
No matter how he tried he could not break free
And the worms ate into his brain.
Hey you! Out there on the road
Always doing what you're told, can you help me?
Hey you! Out there beyond the wall
Breaking bottles in the hall, can you help me?
Hey you! Don't tell me there's no hope at all
Together we stand, divided we fall.
''{spoken} [Click of TV being turned on]
Well, only got an hour of daylight left. Better get started.
Isn't it unsafe to travel at night?
It'll be a lot less safe to stay here. You're father's gunna pick up our trail before long
Can Loca ride?
Yeah, I can ride... Magaret, time to go! Maigret, thank you for everything.
Goodbye Chenga.
Goodbye miss...
I'll be back''
08 The Great Gig in the Sky (04:40)
''{spoken} And I am not frightened of dying, any time will do, I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it, you've gotta go sometime.
I never said I was frightened of dying.
{the rest of this song is an instrumental}''
09 Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (05:20)
Little by little the night turns around
Counting the leaves which tremble at dawn
Lotuses lean on each other in yearning
Under the eaves a swallow is resting
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Over the mountain watching the watcher
Breaking the darkness waking the grapevine
One inch of love is one inch of shadow
Love is the chateau that ripens the wine
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
The heart of the sun...
Witness the man who raves at the wall
Making the shape of his question to heaven
Whether the sun will fall in the evening
Will he remember the lesson of giving?
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
The heart of the sun...
10 Money (06:29)
Money, get away.
Get a good job with more pay and you're okay.
Money, it's a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team.
Money, get back.
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack.
Money, it's a hit.
But Don't give me that do goody good bullshit.
I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet.
Money, it's a crime.
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're giving none away.
''{spoken} HuHuh! I was in the right!
Yes, absolutely in the right!
I certainly was in the right!
You was definitely in the right. That geezer was cruising for a bruising!
Yeah!
Why does anyone do anything?
I don't know, I was really drunk at the time!
I was just telling him, he couldn't get into number 2. He was asking why he wasn't coming up on freely, after I was yelling and screaming and telling him why he wasn't coming up on freely.
It came as a heavy blow, but we sorted the matter out.''
11 Keep Talking (05:57)
For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals
Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination
We learned to talk
There's a silence surrounding me
I can't seem to think straight
I'll sit in the corner
No one can bother me
I think I should speak now
I can't seem to speak now
My words won't come out right
I feel like I'm drowning
I'm feeling weak now
But I can't show my weakness
I sometimes wonder
Where do we go from here
It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
Where do we go from here
It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
I feel like I'm drowning
You know I can't breathe now
We're going nowhere
We're going nowhere
12 Sheep (09:46)
Harmlessly passing your time in the grassland away
Only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air
You better watch out
There may be dogs about
I've looked over Jordan and I have seen
Things are not what they seem
What do you get for pretending the danger's not real
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
Down well-trodden corridors into the valley of steel
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes
Now things are really what they seem
No, this is not a bad dream
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie
Through pastures green he leadeth me the silent waters by
With bright knives he releaseth my soul
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places
He converteth me to lamb cutlets
For lo, he hath great power, and great hunger
When cometh the day we lowly ones
Through quiet reflection and great dedication
Master the art of karate
Lo, we shall rise up
And then we'll make the bugger's eyes water
Bleating and babbling we fell on his neck with a scream
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream
Have you heard the news?
The dogs are dead!
You better stay home
And do as you're told
Get out of the road if you want to grow old
13 Sorrow (08:45)
The sweet smell of a great sorrow lies over the land
Plumes of smoke rise and merge into the leaden sky:
A man lies and dreams of green fields and rivers,
But awakes to a morning with no reason for waking
He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough
His blood has frozen & curdled with fright
His knees have trembled & given way in the night
His hand has weakened at the moment of truth
His step has faltered
One world, one soul
Time pass, the river rolls
And he talks to the river of lost love and dedication
And silent replies that swirl invitation
Flow dark and troubled to an oily sea
A grim intimation of what is to be
There's an unceasing wind that blows through this night
And there's dust in my eyes, that blinds my sight
And silence that speaks so much louder that words,
Of promises broken
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di pier_paolo_farina
"Provaci tu a fare della musica semplice, tranquilla anzi si può dire moscia, condita di effetti effettucci ed effettini, e riuscire a farla arrivare a TUTTI, anche a mia mamma."
"Echoes è uno sballo, forse il pezzo preferito per gli amanti dei Floyd, mentre per i detrattori rappresenta una noia notevole."
Di MeddleForRock
Per fare una raccolta completa dei Pink Floyd non servirebbero due soli CD, ma forse pure cinque.
Roger Waters aveva suggerito di inserire le canzoni in ordine cronologico... ma questa cosa non è stata fatta.
