"Wish You Were Here" was the long awaited follow-up to "Dark Side Of The Moon", released in September 1975. Being late to jump on the Floyd bandwagon I purchased my copy sometime in the summer of 1976, and thought the album was at least on a par with Dark Side, if not better.
I really liked David Gilmour's guitar playing on the album, ranging from the tremendous different blues flavoured licks on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", to the rock hero playing on "Have A Cigar" and the crisp acoustic guitar sounds on "Welcome To The Machine" and "Wish You Were Here". Richard Wright's keyboard playing throughout the album was also fantastic, as were the lyrics, some of the best written by Roger Waters.
It is often reported that the central theme of this album is one of absence, most notably that of former band member Syd Barrett, who left the band after suffering mental health issues after the release of Floyd's debut album, and the 26 minutes mostly instrumental nine part opus "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a homage. "Shine On" is the main substance of the album, which sandwiches the three other songs on the LP.
The album came inside a black plastic wrapper, of which mine was discarded after a couple of years.
I was fortunate enough to see Pink Floyd play the entire album in Berlin in January 1977 as part of the "Animals" tour, "Wish You Were Here" comprised the second half of the show.
Part 1 of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is perhaps an appropriate beginning with a slow mournful synthesizer before the guitar plays the individual notes of the motif. Part 2 introduces a new motif guitar then the drums, bass and organ come in. Part 3 consists of a slow mini moog followed by a guitar solo accompanied with an organ.
The vocals arrive in Part 4, which has accompanying female backing vocals, but it's Dave Gilmour's guitar playing the melody that is the highlight. "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun, shine on you crazy diamond. Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky"
Part 5 features Dick Parry on saxophone and the time signature changes as the pace increases mid-way through. The sax fades out and segues into "Welcome To The Machine" and the throbbing sound of a machine. A single strum of an acoustic guitar is eventually played after which Gilmour's vocal enters. The song has an acoustic guitar break then synthesizer and strings before the second verse and more synths to finish. I don't think there is any drumming on this track. "What did you dream ? It's OK were told you what to dream".
Side two opens with "Have A Cigar", which has a guest vocal by Roy Harper, who I had previously known for being an English folk singer. Its a mid tempo rock song, written by Roger Walters about the greed and cynicism of the music industry and the allegedly true story of an record label executive asking "By the way, which one's Pink ?" There is a guitar and organ intro before Harper starts singing "Come in here dear boy, have a cigar". There is a trademark Gilmour guitar solo, and the track concludes with a guitar solo which is abruptly interrupted as the music reduces in volume to a tinny, radio-like sound then the sounds of someone moving between stations on a radio. This effect is used as a transition to the title track, with initially the same treatment for the intro acoustic guitar.
"Wish You Were Here" is acoustic ballad and is considered by many to be one of Floyd's most popular songs. It was famously covered by Ed Sheeran, with Nick Mason on drums, during the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. The outro of the song is the acoustic guitar lines, piano, and winds for a fade out leading in to the next parts of "Shine On". "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year"
Part 6 of "Shine On" features more moog over a throbbing bass line, before the guitar and drums eventually take over. Part 7 is a reprise of the the vocals whilst part 8 has a plucked electric guitar intro before electric organ, piano and bass join with a Jazz like feel. Electric guitar and synthesizer then take over.
"Shine On" closed with a funeral like synth over piano for Part 9, and finishes with a short, slow excerpt from "See Emily Play" as a final nod to Syd Barrett.
Listening to "Wish You Were Here" again, I now think it is a much better album than "Dark Side Of The Moon", with every second of music being brilliant, whereas there are some duff moments on "Dark Side". It is now my favourite Pink Floyd album.
Track Listing :
Side One :
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond ( Parts 1 to 5 )
2. Welcome To The Machine
1. Have A Cigar
2. Wish You Were Here
3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond ( Parts 6 to 9 )
Released 1975
UK Chart Position : 1
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