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1 selections as Proggnosis Best of 1975 Release

Wish You Were Here

a Studio release
by Pink Floyd

Release Year: 1975

Date Label Catalog # Comments
1975 LP

Release Information

Capitol/EMI Records 29750
Added To Proggnosis Database on: 12/1/2000 12:00:00 AM
Entry Last Updated on: 10/31/2011 11:14:00 AM by: Rob

Track List

  1. Shine on you crazy diamond Part one (13:40)
  2. Welcome to the machine (7:31)
  3. Have a cigar (5:08)
  4. Wish you were here (5:34)
  5. Shine on you crazy diamond Part two (12:31)

Performer Credits

Roger Waters
Bass, Vocals
David Gilmour
Guitars, Vocals
Richard Wright
Keyboards, Vocals
Nic Mason
Drums
Guests:
    Dick Parry
    Saxophone
    Roy Harper
    Vocals
    Venetta Fields
    Carlena Williams
    Backing vocals

Reviews  1

Reviewed by Nuno on 06 Aug 2003

Along with 1977’s Animals this is my all time fav Pink Floyd album. I simply find the whole concept wonderful. From the music to the lyrics all is emotion here, all has a distinctive goal, an objective that is delivered so pure and brilliantly that it’s hard to find another album out there that does it with such eloquence.
The whole concept of the album is based on the thoughts and interpretations of the band members regarding the prior band mate Syd Barrett.
The lyrical side of the album has a distinctive and obvious meaning, for the lyrics, despite its poetic richness and apparently subtle messages, are easily understandable and the connection to Syd is more than obvious.
The band portraits the thin line between fame and the weight that it carries, a thing that can easily crush a complex lone ranger mind that urges for space and that does not patch with the novelty and lifestyle that sudden fame provokes.
Those same lyrics also appeal to the sense of loss and need to express that sentiment, trying to bring comfort and strength while expressing friendship and companionship that has been sadly broken by the weight of circumstance.
Musically the album is even stronger, for the band was able to perfectly accompany with music the sense of the lyrics. This meaning it brings harmony and melody when referring to the loss and grieving sentiments (Wish You Were Here), aggressiveness and anger when referring to the cruel and, in this particular case, unbearable reality (Welcome to the Machine), cynicism and skepticism (Have a cigar) and nostalgia and admiration (Shine on your crazy diamond.
Taking, for instance, the two parts that complement about half the album - Shine on your crazy diamond -, this is IMO one of the best ever made progressive tracks. All is confidently perfect here, the harmonics, the rhythms, the interplay and individual contributions (especially those of David Guilmour and Dick Parry).
But the aforementioned track just reflects the whole album that, like said, links music with feeling like no other album I know. This is the major reason for me to consider it one of the best albums ever made, though the instrumental beauty itself would probably make me to state this same. But really, it is the whole package that attracts me the most about it.
75 to 77 was, as I see it, the most brilliant phase of this band. The period where they were, most successfully, able to put together the two most important elements in music: instrumentation and feeling.

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