Vitamin String Quartet - The String Quartet Tribute To Pink Floyd (2002)

The String Quartet Tribute to Pink Floyd is different from its peers in its instrumentation. While most of the Vitamin label's string tributes feature a lineup of two violins, a viola, and a bass, this release augments this arrangement with cello and guitar. While this technically makes the title mathematically invalid, it also gives the Pink Floyd tribute a fuller sound that's closer to the originals than many tributes of this sort. Guitarist Doug Munro (who also arranged the album) brings rhythmic structure to tracks like "Money" and "Comfortably Numb," freeing the violin and viola to handle most of the melodies. They render the drifting lull of the latter number especially well. A version of "Echoes" (from 1971's Meddle) is a standout, as is a spare, slightly urgent take on "Breath." Barring "Echoes" and a rendering of "Take up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" from Pink Floyd's 1967 debut that's neither here nor there, this tribute focuses exclusively on the hits, including "Wish You Were Here," "Another Brick in the Wall," and "Have a Cigar." There is also a curious Munro-penned number called "A Floydian Slip" that evidently is a tribute to Pink Floyd inside an album-sized tribute to Pink Floyd. Strange, but then again, the Floyd was never normal, so why should a tribute to them be?