Call me Mr. Ganz.
Let me explain, Mr. Ganz of Ganz, Laytom & Ganz LLC is a music collector. His library of recordings is unmatched by anyone I know, or know of. It is so large in fact that he just doesn't get around to listening to everything he has purchased. I used to think that was strange, that is until I fell victim to the same phenomenon.
I discovered something today which I did not know I had. On a recent visit to Amazon.com I saw that David Gilmour is to release a new live album later this month which will feature a live performance of Echoes from his 2006-07 "On an Island" tour. This was very exciting to me. I have always said that the guys did in 23 and a half minutes on Echoes what took them 43 minutes on Dark Side of the Moon. Echoes is simply a beautiful piece with lead vocals shared by David Gilmour and the late, great Richard Wright. It occurs in movements from the echoing opening notes to the classic Floyd sound in the first segment to the jazz transition piece to the whale sounds to the closing vocals and the gentle fade out finale.
On a whim I decided to take a look at 2007's "Remember that Night: David Gilmour Live at the Royal Albert Hall." I bought it as soon as it was released and watched and listened to the entire On an Island set. I, however, did not listen to the classic Floyd set. When I looked at the box tonight I saw that Echoes was a part of the second set. Why had I not seen this before? The best that I can come up with is that I did not spend much time reading the box in the store. I knew I wanted it and that was that. Now I know I viewed disc 2 and the above-mentioned parts of disc 1. I guess I just didn't care to hear Wish You Were Here and the like. At any rate I was completely blown away by Echoes.
As some of you may know on the 2001 release Echoes:The Best of Pink Floyd the fifth track is a shortened version of the title track. Echoes is pared down from 23 to 14 minutes (give or take). It was a staple of the Floyd shows throughout the 70s but very little has been heard of it since. So, you can imagine my surprise and great delight to watch and hear this favorite track being sung by Messrs. Gilmour and Wright in a 22 minute live performance. I only regret that I will not be able to see this done in a future show.
So I would like to thank Dave and Rick for recording what would turn out to be some of Mr. Wright's final performances. It gives us a glimpse of what it must have been like to see the Pink Floyd at their best.
