Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here is a song cycle dedicated to Pink Floyd's original frontman, Syd Barrett, who'd flamed out years before: two grimly funny songs about the evils of the music business ("By the way, which one's Pink?"), and two long, touching ones about the band's vanished friend. The real star of the show, though, is the production: sparkling, convoluted, designed to sound deeply oh-wow under the influence--and pretty great sober too--with David Gilmour getting lots of space for his most lyrical guitar playing ever. And, though the album is big and ambitious, even bombastic, it somehow dodges being pretentious--the Barrett tributes are honest and heartfelt, beneath all the grand gestures and stereophonic trickery. --Douglas Wolk Amazon.com Essential Recording

Wish You Were Here: An Amazing Tribute.

Not to many bands have made entire albums dedicated to a former band member. Pink Floyd does just that here and turns what could have been a show of sorrow and regret into a serious artistic statement and a celebration of the contributions of former member, Syd Barrett. Though there is some sorrow, most notably on the heart-breaking title track, much of the album honors barrett, not just through its uplifting lyrics, but through the music which, being quite grand and theatrical, is what Syd's life was all about. The surreal textures reveal a creative but also tortured mind that has become all to common for visionaries and artists.

Indeed, much of the blame is put on society, most notably the record business or the "Machine",. The track, "Have A Cigar" perfectly illustrates the way record execs turn the true life blood of the music business, the musicians themselves, into a disposable commodity. So, in a way, the album is not only a tribute to Syd Barrett but also a serious jab at the corrupt record business. If the "Machine" is the villian than certainly, Syd and his music are the heroes. Even though Barrett is ultimately defeated through his own excess his music lives on and that is what makes him a legend.

The music here is all driven by texture. Each song is a textured portrait of some aspect of the album's theme. The spacey, surrealism of, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", the lifeless, mechanical, synths of, "Welcome To The Machine, and the warm acoustic guitars of the title track: all add up to a serious masterwork that has stood the test of time just as well as, "Dark Side Of The Moon", or, "The Wall". Through out the 70s, Pink Floyd has put out one masterpiece after another. Wish You Were Here, is their most personal and, quite frankly, most warm and inviting. August 24, 2008

A high water mark for Pink Floyd

This 1975 album is a favorite of mine by Pink Floyd for any number of reasons; the band was in top form, the tracks are very imaginative and on a more personal note, my Pink Floyd obsessed (high school) graduating class selected the track Wish you Were Here to accompany the graduation procession. As I recall, I had suggested Welcome to the Machine...

As far as the overall mood of the album goes, it is very somber and spacey synthesizer washes along with a plodding, 4/4 meter dominate. The real magic of the album however, is the clever layering of a seemingly endless parade of synthesizer, guitar and percussion parts. As such, the music hold my interest even when not much is going on, which is very rare I might add.

The group is in top form and Gilmour's guitar playing and singing are fantastic throughout. Rick Wright does a fantastic job of maintaining the spacey atmospherics that drew me to band in the first place with his banks of synthesizers and Nick Mason provides some understated drum parts that work perfectly with the material. The one marked difference from previous albums is the appearance of Roy Harper on the track Have a Cigar, where he sings lead vocal. Evidently, Roger was a bit dismayed that everybody agreed to have Roy sing the lead vocal - I think it may have been Roger's suggestion in fact. Speaking of Roger, it was with this album that he started to explore his disenchantment with the recording industry and the group's success, as has been well documented elsewhere.

The real centerpiece of the album is the nearly 26 minute long, largely instrumental Shine on You Crazy Diamond suite, which is split into two equal parts that bookend the album. This really is an impressive large scale composition by the band and features loads of great synthesizer tone colors - Rick Wright had purchased a lot of new equipment and it shines on this track. Although 99% classic "Pink Floydian" space rock, this track does feature a short section that features some funky/jazzy "comping" by Rick Wright on a clavinet which is accompanied by some solid bass playing. It is pretty cool overall. Sandwiched in between the two large tracks are three shorter tracks including the gloomy and haunting Welcome to the Machine, the somewhat more upbeat Have a Cigar, and the acoustic track Wish You Were Here. Although I wish they had kept Shine on You Crazy Diamond as a single track, the way each of the five tracks are stitched together works pretty well too. I should note that musicologist Edward Macan presents an excellent structural analysis of the Shine on You Crazy Diamond suite in his text "Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture (1997)".

This reissued version of the CD is a far cry from the LP I owned a billion years ago, although it does attempt to recreate the record jacket and some of the stickers that came with the original LP. There are lyrics and a few additional archival photos of the band members scattered throughout the CD booklet. The sound quality is pretty good.

All in all, Wish You Were Here is what I personally regard as a high water mark for Pink Floyd and is a personal favorite. Highly recommended. August 13, 2008

The Long Goodbye

If Dark Side of the Moon was pink Floyd trying to come to grips with the mental deterioration of Syd Barret, then "Wish You Were Here" was the not so always fond farewell. Making a contentious jump from Capitol Records to CBS, the band talks about the machinations of the music biz ("Have a Cigar") and the destructive process of creative fame when it collides with a creatively unstable mind ("Wish You Were Here").

It also begins the trajectory that Roger Waters would ultimately hit his pinnacle with on The Wall, a pessimistic morose look at life and mankind. Even though the title track is meant as a tribute to Barret, it also ends on a bitter note.

"How I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl,
year after year.
Running over the same old ground.
What have you found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here."

Yet the song plays out so emotionally, that it's easy to miss the creeping cynicism. Not so with "Welcome To The Machine" or the nasty slap at the record exec in "Have a Cigar" ("By the way, which one's Pink?"). The production all along is still stellar enough to cushion the bile - as there's a certain sense of humor that would have David Gilmour's guitar solo sucked into a compressed "AM Radio" tinniness at the song's fade.

The album opens and ends with the multi-part "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," which will give any Pink Floyd fans pretty much what they were looking for. Spacey, texturally-dimensional and expansive, with some of Gilmour's lyrical and stately guitar. In short, it's a great follow-up to "Dark Side of The Moon" and less scathing than the bitter Animals. August 11, 2008

Shine on, you, crazy 70s rock

I bought this CD since I've always liked Pink Floyd. Hearing "Shine on you crazy diamond" on the radio one night sent me to Amazon to find the album. In its two parts this song provides 25 minutes of a reflective, somewhat calmer, but still quintessential Pink Floyd with liquid electronics, soaring guitars, and angsty vocals enhanced by their tribute to a fallen band member. "Wish you were here" is in the same vein. "Welcome to the machine" and "Have a cigar" are nice to have for old time's sake. A calmer Pink Floyd to play on the family stereo. August 5, 2008

An emotional, heartfelt tribute to Syd Barrett; maybe the band's best album

Until they hit it big with Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd was a prolific band, cranking out at least one album every year. But it took a long time -- two and a half years -- before they released a sequel to their surprise smash hit.

After Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd's music began to change. Roger Waters took over all lyric writing. The music itself became less of a collaborative effort - Nick Mason stopped contributing, followed by Rick Wright and eventually David Gilmour. The experimental edge that Floyd had in their early days was already fading fast, and disappeared completely by the late 1970s to be replaced by a more radio-friendly format. And the group's sound began to change, with the gritty and rough sound present on Meddle and Dark Side becoming more slick and clean.

That transition was still in its early stages. Waters's lyrics, while cynical at points, do not yet have the extreme bitterness present on ensuing albums; indeed, his tributes to Syd Barrett on "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and "Wish You Were Here" show a side to his writing that would recede in a few years.

Both halves of "Shine on" -- the album's highlights, despite receiving less airplay than the middle 3 songs -- showcase the power of the Rick Wright/Roger Waters/David Gilmour team. It would be the last time those three names would share composer credit, in my opinion to the detriment of the music. Rick Wright's substantial contributions to Floyd's music were sharply curtailed after this album. Musically each does his bit as well - Wright's keyboard playing, particularly in Part I and in Part IX, is among his finest with the band; Gilmour's biting, passionate guitar solos, are among those that created his reputation; and Waters's singing, which is more assertive and rich than on earlier albums but without the narrow emotional and tonal range of later work.

The other three songs provide a nice interlude. The synth-heavy "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar" rail against the musical industry, one grim and the other cynically humorous. "Wish You Were Here", despite being interpreted by many as a love song, is really just a heartfelt tribute to their former colleague; the combination of Waters's lyrics and Gilmour's rough voice completely avoids the schmaltzy blandness of later live versions.

Highly recommended. Dark Side may or may not be better overall, but to this listener Wish You Were Here is the more meaningful album. July 26, 2008

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