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Personnel: David Gilmour (vocals, guitar, keyboards, programming, sequencer); Syd Barrett (vocals, guitar); Roger Waters, Roy Harper, Clare Torry (vocals); Michael Landau, Tim Renwick (guitar); Dick Parry (saxophone, tenor saxophone); John Halliwell (saxophone); Tom Scott (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Scott Page , Raphael Ravenscroft (tenor saxophone); Michael Kamen (piano, harmonium); Bob Ezrin (keyboards, percussion, sequencer); Jon Carin (keyboards, programming); Patrick Leonard (synthesizer); Nick Mason (drums, percussion, sound effects); Jim Keltner, Andy Newmark, Carmine Appice (drums); Gary Wallis (percussion, percussion programming); Ray Cooper (percussion); Andrew Jackson & The Cyc Choir (sound effects); Phyllis Saint James, Darlene Koldenhoven , Jackie Sheridan, Doris Troy, Rebecca Leigh-White, Donnie Garrard, Lesley Duncan, Liza Strike, Venetta Fields, Carol Kenyon, Carlena Williams, Carmen Twillie (background vocals). Audio Mixers: David Gilmour; Chris E. Thomas; Andrew Jackson & The Cyc Choir. Audio Remixer: James Guthrie . Illustrator: Sally Morris. Photographers: Willie Christie; Aubrey Powell; Rob Brimson; Nick Tucker; Robert Dowling; Bob Ellis; Robert Truman; Peter Christopherson; Tony May; Colin Jones. Arranger: Michael Kamen. The mammoth 16-disc box set OH BY THE WAY was released to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's first album. It contains every one of Floyd's studio albums, each packaged in a miniature-LP-style sleeve. It's the most exhaustive overview one could ask for, chronicling the band's beginnings as pioneering psychedelic scenemakers through their '70s tenure as prog-rock merchants and their latter-day reincarnation as grand old men of British rock. While rarities-seekers should be advised of the lack of bonus/previously unreleased tracks here, there's so much dazzling material that it doesn't really matter. Pink Floyd were the original psychedelic space cadets, and the thrill of their early acid-rock forays under Syd Barrett's baton is all the more intense when it brushes up against Roger Waters-helmed concept pieces like ATOM HEART MOTHER and DARK SIDE OF THE MOON. The band's post-Waters material adds a dignified final chapter to the story, with David Gilmour shining in the spotlight. The Floyd catalog, considered as a whole, contains some of the most innovative music ever released under the umbrella of rock, and OH BY THE WAY is a classy and convenient way to absorb it all.