01	Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V)						13:30
	02	Welcome to the Machine						07:26
	03	Have A Cigar						05:08
	04	Wish You Were Here						05:40
	05	Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX)						12:22

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, January to July 1975
Remastering supervised by James Guthrie
Digitally remastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab, LA

CXK 53180 / CK 53185Part of the 8-CD Set "Shine On"1992 Pink Floyd Music Ltd. / 1975 Pink Floyd Music Ltd.

Released September 15 1975.

Produced by The Pink Floyd

Recorded at EMI Studios, Abbey Road.


Wish You Were Here
Columbia ()
UK 1975

coverscan from the recently released (1997?) CD remaster

David Gilmour, guitars, vocals;
Roger Waters, bass, vocals;
Rick Wright, keyboards, vocals;
Nick Mason, drums, percussion;
with Dick Parry, sax; Roy Harper, vocals

Jon Byrne:
I have a really odd relationship with Pink Floyd. I don't really consider myself a fan, the way I consider myself a Yes or Rush fan, but I like every album I have. I just don't have a real motivation for getting any more. I picked this album up because it was on a Top 50 poll of the best progressive rock albums of all time done on the Net a year or so ago. I'm glad I did.
Oddly, I was familiar with most of the stuff on here before I got the album. The first hunk of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and "Wish You Were Here" are both staples of the Floyd live set, and the other two vocal tracks are frequent visitors to local radio. But I'd never heard them all together before.
The album is, supposedly, a tribute to original Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett, who basically had a breakdown in the band's early days and has been rather reclusive ever since. The first hunk of "Shine On..." begins with a very lush sea of keys and a melodic and simple synth line on top. This leads to a very effective Gilmour guitar solo that blends into the lyric, about basically how bright Syd was and how he burned out too fast. The thing about Floyd is that their music is never the most technically challenging or complex in the prog world but it is almost always done in such a way that anything more complex would be overkill. "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have A Cigar" are both indictments of the music industry and how this biz side of things work (complete with the classic line "by the way, which one's Pink?") "Cigar" fades to where it sounds like it is playing on a very small transistor radio in the next room. The listener flips around and lands on the opening acoustic chords of "Wish You Were Here," still very distant sounding, and drowned out by a solo acoustic guitar line. Lyrically, "Wish" is one of my Floyd favs, an obvious attempt by Roger Waters to somehow express his desire to Syd that he could join in the success, both critical and financial, that the band was enjoying at the time while doing things on their own terms. It's really an ode to everyone who has ever been chewed up and spit out by the music biz. The album concludes with another long, mostly instrumental, "Shine On...", which somehow doesn't seem to work quite as well as the opening section.
I was struck by how well the album hung together, and the story it told without it overtly being a rock-opera type piece. In that sense it has more coherence than Dark Side of the Moon, and in writing for those dearly departed (so to speak), the lyrics have more sincerity than The Wall. A must for any fan of well structured rock music that touches as well as entertains.

Bob Eichler:
Back when I was in college, and CDs were still a relatively new invention, a friend of mine who had a fairly nice stereo set up in his dorm room invited a bunch of us over to hear the Wish You Were Here CD he had just bought. All of us were already very familiar with the album, but when he cranked up the volume and that opening keyboard chord came bubbling up from the silence without the usual tape hiss we had all grown accustomed to, a sigh of satisfaction came out of nearly everyone in the room. It's just that kind of an album.
Some prog fans seem to be of the opinion that Pink Floyd isn't really prog, or that anything after Meddle isn't really prog, or anything before such-and-such album, etc. But if this disc, with its nearly half-hour long "Shine On", creative lyrics and wall of keyboards isn't prog, then I don't know what is. Perhaps the band's lack of "chops" is what disqualifies them to some people. But for my money, Gilmour says more with the slow four-note theme that begins around four minutes into the first track than most guitar shredders say in an entire album full of hundred-notes-a-second solos.
Waters' lyrics manage to tell the story of Syd Barrett, the way the music industry chewed him up and spit him out, and how much the band missed him, all within the space of a few verses and choruses on what is a largely instrumental album. And he keeps things general enough that, while the lyrics definitely apply to Syd, they could also be read however you want to read them. "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar" could be about nearly any successful band, and most people who hear "Wish You Were Here" can think of someone from their own lives that it could apply to.
A bit of trivia: At the very tail end of the title track, if you listen really closely, you can hear three or four violin notes way in the background. Apparently the band hired some famous violinist (I forget who) [the late Stephane Grappelli -B] to play on that track, but in the end they weren't wild about the result so they buried it so far back in the mix that it became mostly inaudible. I wonder how the song would have sounded with the violin.
I'd say that this is an album that all prog fans should hear eventually, but maybe my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt because I'm a big Pink Floyd fanboy. There's not a single Floyd album that I'd say is out and out bad, and most of them are fantastic.

Heather MacKenzie:
This disc has been pretty well covered by all the other reviewers and the rest of the universe, but since it has been one of my favorites ever since I started to get serious about music, I'm reviewing it anyway. Also, it is the only album remaining from my early-teen collection that I still stick to.
"Shine On", which takes up most of the album, is a mood masterpiece, with atmospheric and mellow guitar and keyboards, and occasional flourishes of drama. The reserved drumming and bass also benefit the mood. There's occasional sax, vocals, and cool strange melodic synth lines as well. The guitar style here is epic: linear, slow, smooth, and sparse, with interesting phrases that hold out some notes or emphasize silence. Occasionally, rather than the leads, there are some simple repetitive guitar motifs that are very effective as well. Overall some of my absolute favorite guitar work here, up there with King Crimson material.
I think the three songs are also pretty good, but most of Wish You Were Here is primarily instrumental. So, more song-oriented music fans might want to investigate something else, but I have a feeling that most prog fans would appreciate Wish You Were Here a great deal.

Joe McGlinchey:
Even thought it was Dark Side of the Moon that stayed on the charts for over 100 dog years, and The Wall that gobbled up all the attention, most hardcore followers of the Floyd consider this album to be the band's truly finest hour, and rightfully so. It is here that the contributions of Mssrs. Waters, Gilmore, and Wright blend together in the most harmonious manner, while reflecting upon the band's past ghosts, namely that of founding member Syd Barrett. In comparing all the Floyd albums saturated with Waters' depressing visions, Wish You Were Here is the one that rings most sincere and least overblown to me. No maniacal screaming or 'loony' laughter, no 'he leadeth me to the slaughterhouse' readings on vocoder, no "The Trial." The message is despairing, but clear, direct, and not self-aggrandizing or self-pitying.
Every song on here, whether taken together or apart, is a staple of classic rock radio, whether you like that fact or not. My favorite is "Welcome to the Machine," one of the most incredible works the band ever accomplished from a construction standpoint. Never has a rock song sounded so hollow and effectively zombie-like to me, with Gilmour's octave-separated wail caught like a fly in a spider's web of musique concrete. "Have a Cigar" contains some of Waters' best lyrics and features an unexpected guest vocal from cult artist Roy Harper. Harper turns in a magnificent performance, perfectly capturing the portrait of the Gordon Gecko'd record exec and orgasmically cooing: "Everybody else is just greeeen, have you seen the charts?" and "We're so happy, we can hardly count."
I could comment on the anthemic title track and the album's epic "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" as well, but instead I'll keep this reasonably short, figuring most everybody who's a prog rock fan has probably heard this album already. If you haven't, shame on you. This is a magnum opus of rock music in general, not just the prog rock genre; the sort of album that gets made only when the planets are in a certain conjunction.

Eric Porter:
The follow-up to the monumental Dark Side Of The Moon sets a standard which few, if any, bands can match. The challenge and pressure to repeat Dark Side's success was there, I'm sure, but what is most impressive is that this is a great album that is no mere clone of its predecessor. The opening strains of Rick Wright's keyboard for "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" set the tone, creating an eerie mood for Gilmour to add his fluid guitar lines over the top while Waters spins a yarn.
The band's effortless-sounding songs have a strange beauty to them, oddly melodic and mesmerizing. You get lost in a Floyd record; it provides an incredible 45 minute escape from the world. I can't think of a band that is better at creating subtleties and nuances that make good songs great. "Welcome To The Machine" has a harsh mechanical feel, and contains some of Wright's most effective keyboard work on record. Unfortunately his contributions to the band would greatly diminish on the next few albums. The nine sections of "Shine On..." all have their own feel, but fit perfectly opening and closing the record.
One could argue that the two popular FM radio songs "Have A Cigar" and the acoustic based "Wish You Were Here" are problematic, but again everything just fits perfectly. I admit to usually skipping those tracks due to overplay. Those of us who have listened to Floyd over these many years probably do not put this in the player much anymore, but when the mood hits and you dust these off to listen to, there is no place you would rather be. A classic, and essential to your collection.

Brandon Wu:
How many prog fans are out there that haven't heard at least one or two of the pieces on this album? Wish You Were Here was my absolute favorite album for several years, and still occupies a very, very high spot in my hierarchy of Good Music. I generally hate it when people say that so-and-so song is "The Best Song Ever Written", but when people say it about "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", I can understand. "Shine On..." is an incredible piece, all nine parts of it, ranging from gorgeous, lyrical guitar playing over nearly motionless keyboard washes (the modulations are so simple, so obvious, yet so beautiful) to wistful rock-oriented vocal sections to somewhat weirder synth-led instrumental. Beautiful and evocative.
Of the rest, well, I'm not the world's biggest fan of "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar" - I think Wright's synths are rather too over-the-top, for one thing - but they're not bad pieces by any means. The title track, on the other hand, is an amazing piece, with excellent acoustic guitar playing and even better lyrics. I don't think I've ever heard a better ballad than this one.
Although overall it may be too simple for many prog fans, Wish You Were Here is undeniably a classic of whatever genre in which you wish to place it. It is my favorite Floyd effort by far, and I'd recommend it to just about anyone.

Other resources:
If you can't find Floyd info on the Web, you need to learn how to use a search engine. Here is a limited selection.
Ridiculous amounts of Pink Floyd merchandise can be found at Pink Floyd Direct.
The Wall of Links is the best starting point for Pink Floyd info.
Shitloads of info, including millions of links, can be found at the Pink Floyd Archives.
For bootleg info, check out the Pink Floyd RoIO Database.



Track Listing:

1) Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts I-V) (Gilmour, Waters, Wright)
2) Welcome To The Machine (Waters)
3) Have A Cigar (Waters)
4) Wish You Were Here (Waters, Gilmour)
5) Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts VI-IX) (Waters, Gilmour, Wright)




Tentative Review #27
Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here
(released 1975)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Track: Rating:
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
(Parts I, II, III, IV, V)
2. Welcome To The Machine
3. Have A Cigar
4. Wish You Were Here
5. Shine On You Crazy Diamond
(Parts VI, VII, VIII, IX)

Personnel:
David Gilmour: guitar, vocals
Nick Mason: drums
Roger Waters: bass, vocals, lyrics
Richard Wright: keyboards

Roy Harper: vocals on "Have A Cigar"
Dick Parry: saxophone
Credits:
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part I" by Wright/Waters/Gilmour
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part II" by Gilmour/Waters/Wright
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part III" by Waters/Gilmour/Wright
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part IV" by Gilmour/Wright/Waters
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part V" by Waters
"Welcome To The Machine" by Waters
"Have A Cigar" by Waters
"Wish You Were Here" by Waters/Gilmour
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part VI" by Wright/Waters/Gilmour
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part VII" by Waters/Gilmour/Wright
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part VIII" by Gilmour/Wright/Waters
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond Part IX" by Wright


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments:
Wish You Were Here represents a high point in Pink Floyd's post-psychedelia period. Although Dark Side Of The Moon is an excellent album as well, Wish You Were Here is the album which most exemplifies what PF capable of creating with a more purely "progressive" sphere.

Regarding the history of Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here may very well represent the last time that Gilmour and Waters actually seemed to be collaborators on music in question, not to mention the last time that Wright had a truly substantial role to fill (Mason, not surprisingly, is generally irrelevant). With Animals, Waters and Gilmour began carving out more distinct territories for themselves; with The Wall and especially The Final Cut, Waters had completely taken over the direction of the band. Wish You Were Here, however, actually shows a band working with some sense of solidarity, and benefits as such.

The first appearance of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is divided into five parts: (i) a late-psychedelic keyboard line (with what appear to be sine waves of some sort in the background) with minor accompaniment from the other instruments, (ii) Gilmour's famous guitar solo, (iii) a more restrained section, featuring a curious bluesy passage by Gilmour, (iv) the lyric-dominated section, (v) the saxophone solo which leads to the next track. All of these sections are excellent. As regards the lyrics, it has become perhaps to convenient by this time to simply fall back on the "they're about Syd Barrett" line -- although Barrett's mental regression was certainly one aspect of Waters's lyric, there may have been other aspects as well. For my own part, I would wish to present the hypothesis that the original lyrics for "Echoes" (which were about a space journey, rather than the undersea journey that the final product depicted) may possibly have made a reappearance here -- certainly, the juxtaposition of Barrett and a distant space entity is not too much of a stretch. One way or the other, though, the lyrics make their point extremely well.

"Welcome To The Machine" begins with a alarm buzzer and industrial sound effects; the intent probably isn't difficult to fathom. The "machine" sounds don't hold up terribly well by today's standards, but that isn't really the point -- and, anyway, the ascending synth riff (and the synth solo towards the end) are the primary strengths of the song. If the protagonist's desires often seem rather prosaic, that was probably the point in Roger Waters's regretful essay on his own developing solipsism.

"Have A Cigar", with vocals by Roy Harper, is the most conventional track on the album, and the weakest (although still good). The lyrics are manifestly about the co-opting of Pink Floyd by faceless record executives, and require no further explanation; one manner which does deserve some attention, given later Pink Floyd developments, is the fact that Gilmour, Wright & Waters all take mini-solos of about the same length towards the end of the piece.

"Wish You Were Here" is among the greatest prog ballads ever written, with a haunting guitar line and lyrics suggesting a dangerous mystery (unquestionably referring to Barrett, in this case) which still have the slightly elusive quality which they possessed on the initial release of the song. A triumph.

The return of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" contains (vi) an overtly progressive instrumental section, (vii) a sudden return to the main lyrical setting of the piece, (viii) an interesting prog-jazz diversion, and (ix) a dark, foreboding keyboard line, with the sine-waves returning (at greater intervals apart, suggesting structural breakdown). It puts the entire album in a proper perspective, and brings an end to a mystery that still hasn't quite been solved.

This is one of the more important progressive albums of the 1970s, and any prog fan who has somehow managed to go this far without purchasing the album is recommended to redeem their situation quickly.

The Christopher Currie
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 24 July 1997)






Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 1-5
Composed By David Gilmour/Roger Waters/Richard Wright
Performed By Pink Floyd
Length 13:40
Appears On Wish You Were Here [1975]


AMG REVIEW: "A case could be made that, both musically and lyrically, "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" was [ Pink Floyd's] finest single achievement" since founder Syd Barrett left the group in March 1968, wrote biographer Nicholas Schaffner in Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (New York: Harmony Books, 1991). The lengthy song, which dominated Pink Floyd' s seventh regular album release, 1975's Wish You Were Here, marked the culmination of tendencies in its work for many years. Since its beginning, the band had specialized in largely instrumental suites in which various movements introduced essentially unrelated but complementary musical ideas. "Echoes" on 1971's Meddle ran 23 and a half minutes and took up one entire LP side, for example. The group's commercial behemoth The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) had contained more lyrics and shorter songs than usual, even though it was, in a sense, a single long composition. In 1974, Pink Floyd began to work up material in order to have something new to play on a short upcoming tour of France, and among the new pieces they constructed was "Shine on You Crazy Diamond." The genesis of the piece was a slow, melancholy guitar lick brought in by David Gilmour that inspired Roger Waters to write unusually pointed lyrics about their old bandmate, Syd Barrett. Waters described Barrett's descent into madness and fall from leadership of the group, but also paid tribute to him, reflecting the remaining group members' mixed feelings. Pink Floyd turned "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" into one of its lengthy works, adding sections, though it remained unusually well-organized, anchored by Gilmour's bluesy guitar playing. When the group began formal work on its next album in January 1975, they decided to break up "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" into two parts that would begin and end the record, with a few new songs in between. Thus, Wish You Were Here opened with the 13-and-a-half-minute "Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Pt. I-V)" and closed with the 12-and-a-half-minute "Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Part VI-IX)" (the latter sometimes listed as "Part 2"); taken together, its 26-plus-minute running time made it the group's longest single song. Ironically, while they were mixing it in June 1975, Barrett turned up in the studio unexpectedly, the first time the bandmembers had seen him in years. Wish You Were Here was released in September 1975 and topped both the U.S. and U.K. charts, selling upwards of five million copies in America alone. "Shine on You Crazy Diamond," which had been performed extensively prior to the album's release, was also used in their 1977 In the Flesh tour promoting their next album, Animals. A ten-and-a-half-minute edit of the song appeared on the 1981 compilation A Collection of Great Dance Songs. When a reconstituted version of Pink Floyd went out on tour in 1987 to promote A Momentary Lapse of Reason, "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" was initially used as an encore, then moved to the opening slot on the set lists, and it was the lead-off track on the 1988 concert album Delicate Sound of Thunder. Reflecting the song's subject matter, Mike Watkinson and Pete Anderson's biography of Syd Barrett was entitled -Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett & the Dawn of Pink loyd (London: Omnibus Press, 1991). The 1992 box set of seven remastered Pink Floyd albums was called Shine On. "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" was again used to open Pink Floyd concerts promoting the 1994 album The Division Bell, and the song was the lead-off track on the 1995 concert album Pulse, also being featured in the accompanying video. - William Ruhlmann



Welcome to the Machine
Composed By Roger Waters
Performed By Pink Floyd
Length 7:31
Appears On Wish You Were Here [1975]


AMG REVIEW: "So you want to be a rock & roll star?" asked the Byrds in their song of the same name, a rhetorical question, really. Well, as they and others would advise, be ready for a possible rise to fame, if not fortune, followed shortly by bitterness and disillusionment, and then prepare to write songs about said bitterness and disillusionment roughly three records into your career (only after the second album's obligatory "missing you from a hotel room," band-on-the-road songs [tour bus and backstage footage applicable in the music-video era only]). But rarely has success seemed so disheartening, with such vitriol directed at the record industry, as on Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine." As if aiming to expose the literal nature of the word "industry," the song opens and closes with the sound of mechanized doors opening and closing and is set over an unremitting, pulsing hum, a machine-like sound that throbs from side to side in a stereo-panning effect. The groundbreaking production, from the 1975 album Wish You Were Here, continued the ambitious scale that the band plotted out with the album's immediate predecessor, Dark Side of the Moon (1975). Both were enormously successful commercially - a rare feat for albums that are also extraordinarily innovative - and sounded as adventurous and relevant years later as they did in the early to mid-'70s. The tension on "Welcome to the Machine" is palpable; over the incessant industrial pulse, acoustic guitars shift from sweeping arpeggios and 4/4 strums to ascending chord progressions and a 6/4 rhythm, while synthesizers drone, pound, and buzz away in stereo. Synthesized strings well up in rich pads and drums/percussion are limited to dramatic tympani rolls and cymbal crashes. One expects an electric guitar and rock rhythm section to burst in at any given moment, particularly as the band drones on one chord for one and a half minutes to end the song, but no such event occurs to release the tension. The cumulative effect of the uneasy drone is to increase the acidic sentiment of the song. Roger Waters sings the lead vocal at the top of his range, the audible strain contributing further to the seething angst - unlike the satire and humor of another of the record's looks at the music business, "Have a Cigar." David Gilmour sings a unison backing part down an octave, thickening the part and again contributing to the drone. The lyrics themselves are a bit pedestrian: "You bought a guitar to punish you ma/And you didn't like school/And you know you're nobody's fool/So welcome to the machine," but Waters' passionate delivery is convincing. - Bill Janovitz



Have a Cigar
Composed By Roger Waters
Performed By Pink Floyd
Length 5:08
Appears On Wish You Were Here [1975]


AMG REVIEW: A slithery funk-blues with a guest lead vocal by Roy Harper - an English singer and ubiquitous fringe-dweller - and some spectacular soloing by guitarist David Gilmour, the song "Have a Cigar" is a biting satire of the music industry, specifically targeting record-label executives circa 1975, as rock music was really becoming a big business. The unexpected success of Pink Floyd's landmark album Dark Side of the Moon (1973) landed them firmly in the good graces of such apparently inept, tactless business men as the song's narrator: "Well I've always had a deep respect/And I mean that most sincerely/The band is just fantastic/That is really what I think/Oh, by the way, which one's pink?" It is the sort of sardonic biting of the hand that feeds that writer Roger Waters could get away with, as the intended butt(s) of his joke would likely fail to recognize himself - perhaps even thinking he was in on the joke. The band name faux pas was apparently a real occurrence during one of the band's tours of the States. The barbs are clearly humorous, unlike the album's other peek at the music industry, the vitriolic "Welcome to the Machine." Both songs examine Pink Floyd's newfound status in the context of their phoenix-like rebirth and reinvention following the departure of their mentally ill founder, Syd Barrett. The centerpiece of Wish You Were Here is "Shine on You Crazy Diamond," an outright tribute to the man, and the album's title track pines for the presence of their ex-partner during the chaotic success, with Waters perhaps feeling a little guilty that Barrett cannot share it with them, pitfalls and all. The working title of the album was actually Variations on a Theme of Absence. Gilmour further distinguished his style and sound on the album Wish You Were Here. The modulating riff of "Have a Cigar" oozes into the song, which is funky enough to distance itself from the term progressive rock, a term more often associated with groups that fused rock with classical and jazz forms. Pink Floyd keeps it down and dirty on "Have a Cigar," with Harper's lead vocal vibrant and bluesy, reminiscent of Bad Company's Paul Rodgers. - Bill Janovitz





Wish You Were Here
Composed By David Gilmour/Roger Waters
Performed By Pink Floyd
Length 5:34
Appears On Wish You Were Here [1975]


AMG REVIEW: Without a doubt the most heartfelt, honest, and impassioned song from Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here" starts off with a beautiful opening guitar piece from David Gilmour that perfectly invokes tranquility and warmth. Arriving as soon as the radio has finished switching stations, the guitar begins in what sounds like a monaural passage and then sweeps in with colorful glory, taking the speakers by storm. Riveting and haunting at the same time, the folk-induced guitar playing is only half of "Wish You Were Here"'s magic. Waters' abstract lyrics filled with symbolism and surreal images are actually references to the loss of Syd Barrett as a musician and a friend, as well as Waters' inner battle with stardom and his socialist viewpoints. Gilmour's singing is wispy and effectively coarse to carry over the subtlety and openness of the lyrics. The faint background vocals from Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams set a somber mood, along with the saxophone playing from Dick Parry. Although extremely difficult to decipher, violinist Stephane Grappelli plays a small piece amongst the swirling winds at the end of the song. Whether the song is an outright ode to Barrett or a tug of war between Waters' humanitarian principles, "Wish You Were Here" continues to be one of Floyd's most penetrating songs. - Mike DeGagne




Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Release Date: 1975

Track Listing
1) Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 1-5 (Gilmour/Waters/Wright) - 13:40
2) Welcome to the Machine (Waters) - 7:31
3) Have a Cigar (Waters) - 5:08
4) Wish You Were Here (Gilmour/Waters) - 5:34
5) Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 6-9 (Gilmour/Waters/Wright) - 12:31

Member: red

So here we are, after the magnificent Dark Side of the Moon. In 1975 Pink Floyd recorded Wish You Were Here, an album for the band founder, Syd Barret. It starts with the most beautiful and creative epic of the Floyd catalog: "Shine on You Crazy Diamond". This song is an example of the band's creative and musical power, with a very careful assembly of the notes. The lyrics are, of course, for Syd.

Then we have "Welcome to the Machine" a very exhaustive progressive song with some industrial sounds in it. This song talks about the capitalism and the entrance of every person to the capitalist system, it talks to about the triviality of the occidental world.

"Have a Cigar". This rock song is sung by Roy Harper greatly, he was recording a solo album, but the band asked him to record the vocals of this song.

Then there is "Wish You Were Here", a ballad, a tribute to Syd, this song sung by guilmour, is one of the best ballads of the band.

And then the great epic end of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", masterfully done and very smartly played.

Well this is one of the best Floyd albums, and for me is one of those must-have prog albums