DISCOVERY

"Discovery" is a very special compilation of Pink Floyd that was released in 2011. It's an excellent box set that contains all the studio albums released by the group in their extraordinary musical career. It's very similar to "Oh By The Way", the other compilation of the group that also contains all their fourteen studio albums. The disks are all re-mastered as on the other compilation. Apart what I said before, there's nothing else new in here like, bonus tracks, early singles, some rarities, an extra disc with documentary material, photos from the band or live images from their live concerts.

As I've already reviewed all these albums previously on Progarchives, in a more extensive way, I'm not going to do it again. So, if you are interested to know, in more detail, what I wrote about them before, I invite you to read those my reviews. However, in here I'm going to write something about them in a more short way. So, of course, I'm not going to analyze them track by track, as I made before, but I'm only going to make a global appreciation of all those albums. I reviewed "Oh By The Way" already on Progarchives, few days ago and I wrote something simple and short about them.

First, we have the two first Pink Floyd's studio albums "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" and "A Saucerful Of Secrets". Despite all the differences between both albums, there are many similarities between both albums, because they're the two best representative works of the psychedelic musical phase of the group. However, "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" is a unique album in the entire Pink Floyd's discography. It's the only studio album under the leadership of Syd Barrett and explores the psychedelic music in its more intimate and complexes senses. "A Saucerful Of Secrets", despite have many psychedelic musical parts, it has also, for the first time, the beginning of the fundamental elements of their future space rock sound. It proofs that there were two different bands, the band with and without Sid Barrett. Both are two excellent albums. "More" and "Obscured By Clouds" are two very special Pink Floyd's albums, because both were made as two film soundtrack albums. I must confess that I never was a big fan of film soundtracks made by progressive rock bands. However, I can say that they're two good albums and are two interesting works to listen to. "Ummagumma" is a very special album in Pink Floyd's discography. It's divided into two distinct parts, a live and a studio part. The live part is great with its live versions superior to their studio originals. The studio part isn't a musical collective effort of the band but individual performances of their members. Despite being a good album, I must confess that I never was a great fan of those types of albums. "Atom Heart Mother" is, for me, an excellent Pink Floyd's album. I think that it's a very important transitional album for the group, with many progressive features and that it would be the turning point of the band's music. "Meddle" is the starting point of the band's sound, from the psychedelic to the space sound. It launched the roots of what would be the trademark of their music and became as one of the most important albums to the band. It was also the first masterpiece of the group. "Dark Side Of The Moon", "Wish You Were Here" and "Animals" are simply the best and most influential albums from Pink Floyd". They made part of a very important trilogy of the group that immortalized the band and they became as some of the better albums ever made. "The Wall" is the most ambitious, difficult, challenging, complex and powerful conceptual album released by Pink Floyd. With it, it starts the increase of the dominion of Roger Waters in the band and it became as a very personal musical project of him. It became as one of most known albums ever, with many live performances throughout the time. "The Final Cut" and "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason", despite being two distinct albums, they have a common thing. Both were personal bets. "The Final Cut" was a personal bet of Roger Waters and "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" was a personal bet of David Gilmour. So, in my opinion, they should never have been realised as Pink Floyd's albums. Despite being two good musical works, they remain as two of the weakest Pink Floyd's albums. "The Division Bell" is an excellent album. It's, undoubtedly, the best album released by Pink Floyd since 1979, the year of "The Wall". It's almost a perfect album but I sincerely think that it lacks something to it. It lacks the creativity and irreverence that Roger Waters gave to Pink Floyd.

Conclusion: "Discovery" is a great and a big compilation of Pink Floyd. It has the complete studio discography of the group, all remastered, plus a booklet. But, there's nothing else more than that. Thus, how to rate a compilation like this, especially for someone like me, who has already all those albums in its original version? So, sincerely, I think that the right thing to do is to rate this compilation with 4 stars, because all on it's good, great or even excellent. Of course that not all musical discography of Pink Floyd is really great. It has its lower points like "More", "Ummagumma", "Obscured By Clouds", "The Final Cut" and "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason", despite all are good albums. However, as a global appreciation, it has so many great albums that I sincerely think it deserves to be considered as an excellent box set.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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