Floyd's 1981 second compilation effort

Pink Floyd's 1981 best-of A Collection of Great Dance Songs is very good compilation if you ask me. Released in November of 1981, the album has a nice mix of songs from the band's golden era from 1971-81. Half of the tracks are altered in one way or the other on ACOGDS, so it is a pretty good collectors album for people who have most Pink Floyd albums, as opposed to a lot of other compilation albums that are boring because the songs are the same exact version as they were on their original album. The reason for this album was that Floyd's label in America at the time, Columbia wanted a best-of. Since Floyd were not a band known for hit singles(they only had two in America with Money in 1973 and Another Brick in 1980), they were mainly an album orientated band. The Floyd album covers, this one included, are always cool to collect done by Storm Thorgerson whom Waters banished from the Floyd camp after Animals. There are a whole lot of Floyd compilations, but I'd have to say this is one of the best and was the only best-of to hit the US Top 40(until 2001's 2-disc Echoes set) hitting #31 and going Gold within two months, eventually Double Platinum. This compilation starts with the standard version of One of These Days (a/k/a One of These Days I am Going to Cut You Into Little Pieces) from Meddle and is a good classic spooky song, which is always a good song to be on an album. Money is great. The version of Money on Dance Songs is done by guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour (as he plays guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals and produces himself save Dick Parry's saxophone and James Guthrie's co-producing and engineering) because Capitol/EMI for the world outside Europe would not let the band have the rights to the song so Dave re-recorded this track note for note(some parts of the solos are different and you can tell the recording is from 1981 because the drum sounds are different than that of 1973). Sheep is the original version found on the album Animals. Shine on You Crazy Diamond is altered here to include only Parts 1, 2, 4 and 7 and edited very well. Wish You Were Here is the regular standard version from the album of the same name. Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) is different as it has the single mix intro and the album version ending so a unique version here. If you want to get a good Floyd compliation but don't want to pay $30 for Echoes, get this collection. In June of 2001, EMI in Japan re-issued the album with original vinyl art complete with inner sleeves, original vinyl labels and superb sound quality. The artwork on this issue reminds me of the original Columbia vinyl issue. This album is recommended!

Moby had nothing to do with this!

Just in case you think this is a remix for club-goers, it isn't. It is what the other reviewers said, it is a compilation.

Save Your Money, Buy Echoes

'A Collection of Great Dance Songs', a collection Pink Floyd tracks from the 1970's, released in 1981 is quite simply a compilation whose continued production is no longer really justified. At the time of its release, it was definitely better and more meaningful than it is now as CDs had not come to the fore and your 45 min approx max. length LP was the main source of music media. Since then, a few Floyd compilations have been released which supercede it in selection and length, most notably, the 2001 double CD 'Echoes' compilation. For just a little more than the price you can pay for this CD (yes thats how much a rip off this CD really is now!) you can get Echoes and enjoy over 2 and a half hours of extensive Pink Floyd brilliance which gives you tracks right across the band's career spanning 4 decades. This CD instead gives you just a 45 minute effort which contains just the best of their 70's stuff - the compilation should be just made obsolete.



So what is on the album? BY NO MEANS am I knocking the music on the album; Pink Floyd are one of my favourite bands and the music you are capturing on here is excellent, timeless stuff from their golden era, the 1970's. The album contains just 6 tracks. 'One of These Days' is from the 1971 Meddle album, which starts off this compilation. Following this is a 1981 version of 'Money'. Perhaps the idea of obtaining a different version of this 'Dark Side of the Moon' track is the only reason for possibly buying this compilation - it annoys me that it is always 'Money' that seems to be the flagbearer track for 'DSOTM' though when it is bettered by at least 4 tracks on the album - why isn't 'Time' on this compilation???? The other tracks on the album are 'Wish You Were Here' and 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' from 'Wish You Were Here', very much the Syd Barratt tribute album. 'Sheep' from 'Animals' is on here, as is 'Another Brick In the Wall Part II' from the Wall (why not Comfortably Numb instead??).



So the music is excellent BUT the compilation is a rip off by todays standards when you match it against the 'Echoes' compilation. The CDs of this work basically act now as an enticer to new listeners to the Floyd who may think it is one of their albums and fall into the trap of wasting their money on it. Capitol Records should withdraw this compilation and stop potentially exploiting buyers with this overpriced outdated compilation and instead should solely promote compilations such as 'Echoes' or even 'Relics'.