Label: CBS Records / Sony Records (Japan), 32DP 359
Style: Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 44:18
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 256 Mb
As
the follow-up to the Floyd’s iconic, record-breaking 1973 concept album
The Dark Side Of The Moon, this album is often unfairly overlooked.
With the benefit of hindsight, Wish You Were Here has the same faultless
pacing and sequencing of its predecessor, but a more coherent musical
narrative, structure and tone, as well as greater lyrical
sophistication. Here, the ‘concept’ is more down-to-earth, since much of
the record is an extended tribute to the late Syd Barrett the genius
behind their early works, who flew too high and burned too bright,
becoming one of rock’s most infamous drug casualties before Pink Floyd
emerged from London?s psychedelic underground scene to become one of the
biggest success stories of the 1970s. It’s also the last great album by
a band that would produce something as adolescently puerile as The Wall
by the end of that decade.
Barrett is the subject of the epic “Shine
On You Crazy Diamond, parts One and Two” of which take up more than
half the playing time and bookend just three other shorter tracks.
Despite some questionable keyboard tones from Richard Wright, the
majestically unhurried instrumental intro is a triumph of suspense. It?s
nearly nine minutes before Roger Waters starts singing and the effect
is startling, as are the words: ‘Remember when you were young?/ You
shone like the sun / Shine On You Crazy Diamond!/ Now there’s a look in
your eye / Like black holes in the sky’. It’s debatable whether the
‘iPod generation’ will get all of the eerie, almost visual sound detail
in the more melodramatic “Welcome To The Machine”, which presages some
of the pomp of their later work. Guest vocalist Roy Harper is a gritty
presence on the music industry-bating “Have A Cigar” and the breathless
title track finds Waters’ lyrics at their most soul searching. Some may
baulk at Dave Gilmour’s long, bluesy guitar workouts, which form the
backbone of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” and crop up throughout the
album. Hey, these were the dying days of prog. rock. Punk was just
around the corner and it’s easy to see why, but mid-seventies
post-psychedelic angst seldom sounded so chilled.
(bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/b8dp/) Review by Jon Lusk. 2007
Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog.
D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The
second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the
format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).
01. Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Part I, II, III, IV, V (13:31)
02. Welcome To The Machine (07:33)
03. Have A Cigar (05:24)
04. Wish You Were Here (05:22)
05. Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Part VI, VII, VIII, IX (12:25)

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