Echoes - The Best Of Pink Floyd

(Capitol Records)

Just in time for lengthy holiday travel comes a lengthy compilation most bands can only dream of producing.

Somewhere between the perches of devastating creativity and the hallowed halls of stoned immaculateness comes Echoes, a 26-song collection of Pink Floyd tracks so specifically arranged that it winds up sounding like a double album of new material. This thematic sequencing was no accident, as all four original Floyd members (excluding Syd "Who Am I" Barrett) chose, and eventually agreed upon, the final track listing for this two-disc retrospective.

Echoes delves back to when the band was just starting out, when it had an almost Beatles-esque sound, as on the poppy track "Bike." What developed within the group to create its masterpieces of classic rock, such as "Comfortably Numb," "Wish You Were Here" and "Time," is not specifically known, but it is thought that mind-altering substances of some kind were involved. OK, many, many mind-altering substances were involved. OK, basically take the highest grade of mind-warping chemicals one can imagine, multiply it by 10 and it might barely come close to what was rushing through the member's cerebellums while composing most of this album.

Drugs and this band are as closely associated as Ted Kennedy and hangovers. But that's not to say one can't enjoy this album sober. Echoes can be played whenever, wherever and still have similar effects. These songs will never get old. Nothing will change the way one hears the trio of "One of These Days," "Us and Them" and "Learning to Fly." The lining up of all these songs just so is like a well-timed breath of fresh air with the beginning and ending of every track - the fresh air everyone could use right about now.