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Digitally remastered by Doug Sax (The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, California).
The breakthrough success of Dark Side of the Moon made Wish You Were Here a crucial follow-up in strictly commercial terms. Further pressure came from it being Pink Floyd's first recording for a new label, Columbia. Yet the demands on the band only provided Roger Waters more fodder for his lyrics, which glanced at the band's roots as well as their new responsibilities. The mechanized throb of a VCS3 synthesizer, fed through a repeat-echo unit, signals the opening bars of "Welcome to the Machine," a diatribe against an industry more concerned with money than creative music-making. "Have a Cigar" further establishes Waters' contempt by bringing in singer Roy Harper to play the role of a "faceless suit," who none-too-innocently asks, "Which one's Pink?" The remaining songs indirectly look back to the first casualty of Pink Floyd's growing fame, the group's founder, Syd Barrett. The 20-minute-plus "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" has its roots in earlier pieces like "Atom Heart Mother Suite" and "Echoes." But rather than just another Floydian soundscape, its lyrics make it a paean to Barrett's genius and a requiem for his subsequent breakdown. The first five of the song's nine movements open the album with sax player Dick Parry wailing as effectively as he did on Dark Side of the Moon. The final four sections, which close the album, form a reprise that starts with the sound of wind and David Gilmour's guitar screaming and crying. The band then settles into a laid-back jam that ends with Richard Wright's billowing synth delicately fading out. The title track deals also with Barrett, as well as the tension the idealist Waters was feeling in battling the greed that surrounded the band's success. The themes of disillusionment planted throughout Wish You Were Here would eventually sprout full-blown on The Wall.
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England from January-July 1975.
Personnel: David Gilmour, Roger Waters (vocals, guitar); Richard Wright (vocals, keyboards); Venetta Fields, Carlena Williams (vocals, background vocals); Roy Harper (vocals); Dick Parry (saxophone); Nick Mason (drums).
Recording information: EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England (01/1975-07/1975).
Illustrator: George Hardie.
Photographer: Hipgnosis.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Jeff Smith ; Peter Christopherson.
Pink Floyd: David Gilmour (vocals, guitar); Richard Wright (vocals, keyboards, VCS3 syntheszier); Roger Waters (vocals, bass); Nick Mason (drums).
Additional personnel: Roy Harper (vocals); Dick Parry (saxophone); Venetta Fields, Carlena Williams (background vocals).
Q (6/00, p.72) - Ranked #43 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "Stuck with the impossible task of following DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, Pink Floyd did it with panache....'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' is the mellifluous rock-gospel opener, but there's weirder stuff here..."
Q (Magazine) (p.120) - "[The music] has a magnificently ethereal quality, with David Gilmour's guitar and Rick Wright's keyboards sounding like meteorites gently pinging around some far-off galaxy."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.87) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "WISH YOU WERE HERE remains the classic mid-period Floyd album that still partially clung to their MEDDLE template; but two of the album's four songs revealed the bleakness that would be part of Floyd's new vision."
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here Songs
Wish You Were Here Music Review
Average Rating: (4.7 out of 5 stars)    List All 42 Reviews My first PF experience
This is the first PF album I have heard, and now I´m very anxious to listen to the rest, because this album is simply brilliant and original.Excellent music, excellent lyrics, a great atmosphere...If I had to choose one word to describe this album, I´d choose...Magic?? Yes, why not? This is ... MAGIC!!
Submitted by Ventor (Madrid,Spain)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 7 of 10 found this helpful.
Welcome To The Machine
It is difficult to argue with those who think Dark Side Of The Moon was Floyd's best album. But what do they know. It was merely their best album to date. Wish You Were Here was Floyd's creative pinnacle. The band had washed away all the surplus rubbish and silly little effects that constantly interupt Dark Side. By now Dave Gilmore's guitar is the most prominent feature - and he plays majestically throughout the entire album. On 'Here' Pink Floyd concentrate on three songs - and they simply cannot be improved upon. The lyrics, sometimes alluding to the legendary Syd Barrett, are Roger Waters most masterful and sarcastic. Everything came together perfectly for this album. It has stood the test of time and I love it just as much now as when I heard it on the day of release in a London record store. When you are sick and tired of 'Dark Side' , listen to this again to rejuvenate your acceptance of Pink Floyd at their undoubted peak.
Submitted by Chris. (Sarasota FL.)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 4 of 5 found this helpful. Definitive anti-record industry album
This is a beautiful album from start to finish, full of longing for lost innocence, anger at the commercialisation of artistic expression in general, and painful reflection on the banality of modern life. The reprise of Shine on You Crazy Diamond Part II ranks as one of the most touching and emotive extended rock pieces ever written. Perhaps Floyd's best album after Dark Side of the Moon, in terms of overall cohesiveness of vision and durability.
Submitted by boris_boy (Brisbane, Australia)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 6 of 9 found this helpful.  This is a great album.
Wish you were here is one of Pink Floyd's popular albums. Shorter in duration and track listing, but it contains more then one lengthy song. I would not recommend "The Wall" if you like this album because that album is a rock opera and sounds different. If you enjoy this album I highly recommend Pink Floyd's album "Meddle", you know the one with the Nose on the cover, actually it's an Ear (for those educated with the band ;) ). Pick up "Meddle" if you have not heard it, it's awesome. Otherwise if you want a full length album go for "Dark Side of the Moon" or "Animals". If your deciding weather or not to buy "Wish you Were Here" I would say get it, it's really good and it's a must for all Pink Floyd Collections.
Submitted by J. (Seattle)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 2 found this helpful.
Shine On, You Crazy Diamond
WISH YOU WERE HERE is one of the best albums Pink Floyd ever made. Even though people say this is supposed to be about Syd Barrett, it could be about any artist who suffers when people care more about the money that their art brings in rather than about the art being made (mainly for the artist's enjoyment). The album contains five songs that show Pink Floyd's mastery. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (a nine-part, two track affair; Parts I-V beginning the album, Parts VI-IX ending the album) showcases the complexity and lays the groundwork for the theme of the album. "Welcome to the Machine" shows how the music industry (or any other industry dealing with art) molds the artist into "their" vision of an image. "Have a Cigar" provides a look into the record producers who focus on money and partying. "Wish You Were Here" would serve as a continuation of the idea in "SOYCD." All in all, this album is worth listening to.
Submitted by Aaron (Alvordton, OH, USA)
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