Remember when you were young? You shone like the sun. Shine on you crazy diamond!

~~~Introduction~~~

How do you follow what many consider the greatest album ever made? With an even better one if you're Pink Floyd!

'Wish You Were Here' is a tribute to Syd Barrett. Syd was the original leader of Pink Floyd when they were an underground psychedelic act. Sadly all the acid and his Schizophrenia didn't mix very well at all and his stint as leader was forced to end as his mind turned to mush! At first Roger, Nick and Rick got their friend David Gilmour to join the band with Syd and basically to make up for Syd's diminishing ability to play the music. - And I should point David was also a very good friend of Syd's before Floyd too, I read somewhere that it was Gilmour who taught Syd how to play guitar, but don't quote me on that one. - On one occasion whilst The Floyd played a gig Syd just stood center stage detuning his guitar and flicking his strings. I remember a quote about this incident from the band which said something like "that was too strange even for a Pink Floyd show!"
So eventually the time came when the other four members decided that they simply wouldn't collect Syd on the way to their gig. And so that was it, Syd was out of the band. They didn't do it out of dislike for him though. In fact it was more likely the exact opposite, they loved Syd and cared about him. So to see him disintegrating and crumbling, and to see him dying before their eyes and knowing it was because of the band he was in and lifestyle he courted, that must've been hard for the guys to deal with.

This deterioration of a once shining example of intellect and fun, and a potentially great artist is what this Album is about. It's like the Floyd's reaction to what they had seen happen, and a tribute to the man who made the original Pink Floyd. Roger Waters also says it's about the deterioration of Pink Floyd post Syd too, and a reflection of the sorry state of relationships within the band at that time. All this adds up to mean that 'Wish You Were Here' is an emotionally charged powerful album. There are many who say this is their best work, and it's hard to dismiss. So to the music then!

~~~Music~~~

Shine On You Crazy Diamond I-V (Part one) is the opening track of the album. Out of silence it gradually, ever so gradually rises. With the ambient organ ever present the music acts like an immediate mind capturer, taking you away from the normal dimensions of life and onto another place, this is the Floydian canvass in action. There is no other group of musicians who have ever been able to create such coherent new dimensions for the human mind within music as the Floyd. There is a beautiful guitar solo meandering away until the organ sinks and we are left floating on top of a twanging distant guitar. Then the drums descend and carry your mind from your mortal body and into the music. The lead guitar is sparse and divine. The track glides forward with a steady drumbeat supported by ego less bass (which is ironic coming from Roger Waters!) and organ. During which David Gilmour provides some sharper and piercing guitar work.

Oh and now the song actually starts! Even though the song is split into two parts, opening and closing the album, part one stands well on it's own and there's certainly no damage done keeping the two parts separated. There is a definite sad undertone to this song, musically and in the tone in which the words are sung. The words are sung softly and on certain lines and the choruses in the old classic Floyd 'spacey-bendy' harmony for want of a technical word.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part One) - Gilmour, Waters, Wright

"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,
Shine on you crazy Diamond,
You were caught in the cross-fire of childhood and
Stardom, blown on the steel breeze,
Come on you target for far away laughter, come on you
Stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon,
You cried for the moon,
Shine on you crazy Diamond,
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light,
Shine on you crazy Diamond,
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
Rode on the steel breeze,
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and SHINE!"

The song is lead out by a fast paced saxophone that gradually fades away into some inevitable yet unique Pink Floyd 'weird noises' or rather a strange hum.

This hum soon becomes 'Welcome To The Machine' as it sounds more like a helicopter buried in sand, no gaps between songs of course! Beeps and doors, and then a bouncy side swapping synth pattern. There isn't a long intro on this song unlike the last and the first verse soon gets underway. It is sung in a strained manner, on purpose of course. It also sounds slightly distant. As soon as this verse ends the music proper starts with a nice strumming of acoustic guitar. Naturally there are also lots of crazy noises going on but it all fits together really well.

This is a Waters written song, which probably shows by the fact it's a song about the awful nature of human beings being conformed to fit the machine's image. By no means the greatest song the man has ever written but it's certain a good one and with a slight change of context you feel could well have been on The Wall. There is a reasonably length musical outro which makes the song feel the right length and not rushed.

The third song is 'Have A Cigar' a song covered by the Foo Fighters for MI2 in case your memory is nearly remembering that trivia! This is the second Waters solo penned song and really it's not significantly different territory from the previous song. In fact it's the same ground, they are two songs about the same thing but I suppose you can get away with that on a concept album, maybe. The most significant difference really is that this song is much more clever, or at least I think so. The ironic tone on not just the singing or the very way the lyrics are worded but somehow Pink Floyd have made the music stink of irony; it is a remarkable achievement.

Roy Harper sings this song, for no other reason than he was recording in the studio next door. Why they decided to use this vocal version I'm not sure because personally I feel it is lacking in power. Yes it sounds ironic, but it isn't as strong as some of the pained voices Roger manages to pull off on The Wall, or Animals for that matter. The guitar is quite low down in the mix, as are the vocals. But it isn't too quiet to realise that David Gilmour is playing mighty fine!

Now we find ourselves listening to a TV or Radio being flicked over from station to station. Finally we come to a station with a beautiful acoustic guitar tune, and we listen to that through the muted bad quality distant TV or Radio. It goes on but is joined by another sparse and delicate David Gilmour acoustic lead performance at normal volume/level. Finally the song arrives and from the very first few chords you know this is going to be a special song indeed.

There is a great 12 string acoustic vibe throughout the song, and I can't help but feel David Gilmour steals the show here. This for me is without any doubt Gilmour's greatest vocal performance.

Wish You Were Here - Waters, Gilmour

"So, so you think you can tell heaven from hell, blue skies from pain,
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil,
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for cool breeze? Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for lead-role in a cage?

How I wish, How I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls, swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground. What have we found? The same old fears
Wish you were here."

The drums are heavy yet soft and there are some excellent additions made from Rick Wright on piano and syths. This is a favourite with many Pink Floyd fans and it's easy to see why, it is a very endearing song. In particular the line that used to get a massive reaction was "we're just two lost souls, swimming in a fish bowl" which seemed to strike a chord with so many, and yet remained a personal line about Syd Barrett. I won't try to hide the fact that Pink Floyd attracts a lot of people who aren't mainstream, because the Floyd were never about the mainstream they were about rebelling against it really. Something Roger Waters in particular hating giving up when they started playing big venues.
The song disappears in the wind, literally. They had a lot of wind did the Floyd!

"Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part 2)" comes along next. There is a slow mystic beginning, with a steady bouncing bass and drum beat. Listen out for these and imagine the guys slowly grooving, it is easy though to get lost in the wonderful syth of Rick Wright here. Whatever the noise is he's playing with it's totally fantastic and each note seems to fall down to the ground then gently bounce back up and fall down again a few times. Then bam! The music takes off at high velocity. It rocks along, guitars racing, bass line pumping.

Just before the lyrics it slows down to an almost blues feeling tune. The words are delivered exactly like in part one before they subside to Gilmour's guitar tingling it's little self all over the place. The song then goes into groove overdrive, with a steady drum and bass line making you tip your shoulders from side to side. Naturally this is joined by some spaced out Key work and gradually fades away into something new again. This time it's the real ending a slow ambient decline. This always provokes a mental image in my mind of Syd being wheel away down into a void in a shopping trolley, I don't know why but it just seems like a final journey being made of some sort. It's quite a long one too! It always amazes me how Pink Floyd could make different pieces of music fit together as one grander piece so well.

..Package..
The art with this album is exceptional. The cover image is one of the most memorable of any album, two men in suits shaking hands on a deal with one of them literally on fire. This handshake is revisited through the booklet of lyrics, the image for 'Welcome To The Machine' for example is of two mechanical, machine like hands shaking. The image for 'Have A Cigar' is my favourite though; it shows a man half buried in the desert with a swimming cap trying to swim through the sand. It just seems so perfect to go with the song and the album. And that's what makes this kind of cover art so good; it's all saying something just as much as the album is. You can sit down and look at an image and then spend potentially hours thinking about it's meaning. I love that; it gives an album added artistic appeal.
A faceless man in a suit representing the record industry says a lot, probably as much as the words Waters wrote about it in the actual songs. Good stuff!
The credits list on the last page is accompanied by a few pictures of the Floyd, always a very scary experience! Imagine what it must have been like trying to work with these guys, and Roger's wearing a flat cap too!

~~~Conclusions~~~

Wish You Were Here is probably the most tender of Pink Floyd's albums. The concept and lyrics aren't all soft and tender of course, but musically this is what many may call "delicate" or talk of its beauty. I also believe that this is the most approachable album for those not yet into the Floyd. Okay so there are only five tracks on the whole album and they include long instrumentals with added effects and strangeness, but hey this is almost 'normal' sounding compared to most Pink Floyd albums. If I wanted to introduce a friend to Pink Floyd I think I may well start here before moving backwards to its predecessor Dark Side Of The Moon. And the title track itself is the perfect example of this; it rides on a strange ground. On one side of the line it seems actually a little bit normal for a Pink Floyd song, it's lead by a 12 string acoustic guitar with no effects for heavens sake. Yet on the other side of the line it delivers a message in such a way that it's a song that could belong to very few artists. It is a strange ground because Floyd fans love this song; I love this song, yet at the same time we all love Astronomy Domine. Both songs have Floyd stamped on them yet are a million miles apart from each other and then still loved the same!

So this album is very much a post-Syd album, whilst it's a tribute to Syd himself it is the most distant - to that point - the Floyd had been from his style. It's a good tribute to Syd that they made an album based on wishing he were there, but it is about much more. The fact that the album owes nothing to Syd says it all really. They wish their friend hadn't been killed and turned into a zombie, but they have moved on. This album is clearly also a major attack on the very nature of the record industry and the men in suits who are only interested in money. They don't care who they destroy and they don't see art, they just see their own profit and they run for it.

It's a masterpiece, I'm sure we all know that by now as it's a much-hailed one. It's not my favourite Floyd album but I know many people who say it is theirs and I can understand why and how it could be. I rate it full marks because it's well worth it, but if I'm hyper-critical I would say that it doesn't move me as much as several other Floyd albums. But it's a coherent concept album that says a lot and gives you something to think about... Oh how I wish people made thought provoking music these days!

Oh how I wish THEY were here!