Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
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Free Music Notes for Wish You Were Here
Free Music Review: Extremely dull
Hit: 2 Stars
I've read textbooks on 16th century Dutch social reform that are more interesting than this album. Even after twenty years I still can't remember offhand much about this album. Let's see...it starts off with an insistent high pitched synth, which goes on for.....what seems like forever, but in reality is only about 2 minutes or so. Then there's some very very restrained, mellow guitar "noodling", then a segment that consists of.. get this....four guitar notes played in a row! Which is repeated again and again. Fascinating! There's even a touch of the ole Roger Waters self pity about how much he hates being in the music business with Have A Cigar.(Or is it Welcome To The Machine? I can't remember) Poor Roger.
I think that that there are two basic mindsets that will enjoy this album;
1) "It's good dope music, man". But what kind of compliment to the music is that? Why should I need to be in another state to enjoy it? Next time instead of The Floyd try studying some wallpaper with some swirly patterns, it may be more effective.
2) The mindset that if a "rock band" doesn't actually "rock", they must be doing something profound and deep. If they keep it quiet, it must be intelligent stuff. This might be termed the "pretentious poseur" mindset. Don't feel too bad, I suffered from it myself when I pretended to like this band as a teenager.
I can't honestly rate this album 1 star, as it's not actually "bad". Being bad has as a pre requsite something to actually happen.
Free Music Review: Tribute to a friend...
Hit: 5 Stars
... as well as railing against madness. "Wish You Were Here" is thought of by many fans and reviewers as the best work of Pink Floyd's career. While it never outran "Dark Side of the Moon's" sales figures ( how could it? ), it seems more heartfelt, personal and beautiful. As most know, the idea of asking the diamond to shine on was directed at the genius-madman-founder Syd Barrett. A story goes that while Floyd were recording this album the now-mentally unstable Barrett dropped into the studio unannounced, his head and eyebrows shaved and grossly overweight. Legend continues that his old pals and bandmates could not help but cry at the sight.
At a time when the film "Control" is being released about the life of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, we are reminded that another band performed melancholia even before J.D. with just as much grief and a tad more hope. Neither Syd nor Ian are alive now, and in the vein of Van Gogh, it seems some of our greatest art comes from madness and its effects on others.
Shine on you crazy mothers. We are sorry for your suffering but thankful for the brilliance of your work. And "Wish You Were Here" by the survivors in Pink Floyd is one of those remarkable works.
Free Music Review: A great follow up to one of the greatest albums of all time....
Hit: 5 Stars
As some have already suggested, Floyd was under so much pressure to make a worthy follow up to Dark Side of the Moon. Most other bands would have faded under the pressure. Not these gentlemen. Wish You Were Here is a worthy follow up to Dark Side, and is its equal. The song Shine On You Crazy Diamond gets deeper and more poignant everytime you hear it. Musically, it's as adventurous as anything Floyd has ever done. The lyrics are some of Roger's greatest, and you can't helped but be moved by the song, especially when you take into consideration the fate of Syd Barrett, and the band's obvious and sincere dedication to him. The other tracks, Welcome to the Machine, Have a Cigar, and the title track are just as good. Machine is a very powerful song, with a great synthesizer line by Rick Wright. Have a Cigar is an amusing song, and the title track is another majestic, moving song. It's in the same league as Shine On You Crazy Diamond. The title track also has some of Roger's best lyrics. This was probably the last truly collobartive effort in Pink Floyd, as Waters started to dominate the band after this with Animals, The Wall, and The Final Cut. While those albums are excellent (especially the underrated Animals), they do not have the same Floydian sheen that Dark Side and Wish You have. I adore this album and this band. Pink Floyd is simply of the greatest rock bands ever. Free Music Review: One of the Floyd's most honest, most personal albums, a fitting tribute to Syd Barrett
Hit: 5 Stars
If DARK SIDE is about insanity, and ANIMALS and THE WALL is Waters working out his own neurosis brought on by fame, WISH YOU WERE HERE could be the most sentimental thing the band ever recorded.
After DARK SIDE broke in 1973, the band surely must have felt the pressure to record that monster's followup. So what did they do in light of all the success they recieved? Why, revisit their roots of course, and issue a concept album about the loss of their first lead singer. And while "concept album" has so many negative connotations, or at least pretension, self-important "art", WISH YOU WERE HERE is none of these things. While certainly self-styled as a tribute, it doesn't get as bogged down in its "concept" as THE WALL, and is truly one of Pink Floyd's most personal, most honest albums that the band ever cut.
WISH YOU WERE HERE returns to the longer song format dominant on the earlier PF records. At only five songs, two of them take up around 27 minutes of the album's 40 minute running time.
Lyrically, WISH YOU WERE HERE is primarily a tribute to the band's now long departed lead singer, Syd Barrett. His story is well known. He had a long history of mental illness, peaked with the Floyd's first album PIPER AT THE GATES OF DOWN, did some singles and two unreleased songs (Scream Thy Last Scream and Vegetable Man), and had some participation on SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS. After that, Barrett was out and Gilmour was in full time. Barrett then went on to release two solo albums (Madcap Laughs and Opal), and then, like Graham Parsons and Nick Drake, his career was cut tragically short. While the other two died, Syd Barrett became a recluse, and for the last thirty plus years of his life (he died summer 2006) lived as a recluse with his sister in England (my mother country).
Much of the remorse and sorrow on WISH YOU WERE HERE is regarding Barrett's fate. Here's a man who was in Pink Floyd, one of the biggest bands ever, and now he's gone. The Illness took over. Some of Waters' most poignant lines come from the title cut, especially the lines about trading a walkon part in the war for a lead role in the cage, meaning he left fame and rock life to become something much more reclusive.
As far as being a followup to DARK SIDE, though there aren't that actual many songs on WISH YOU WERE HERE, there is some great aural qualities. "Welcome to the Machine" really points the way to Waters' paranoia that would culminate in ANIMALS and THE WALL. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", both parts, is vintage Pink Floyd, and some of the best Floyd around. Great instrumentals, great lyrics, heart-felt tribute to Barrett. "Have a Cigar", sung by Roy Harper (you Led Zeppelin fans would now him by the song off LED ZEPPELIN III, "Hats Off To Roy Harper"), is all about the music business, and how clueless record executives can be in regards to the bands their companies represent. Of course, I'm referring to the classic question of which person in the band is named Pink Floyd, not realising that's the name of the band, not a person in the band. Deep respect indeed.
Ironically enough, Syd Barrett showed up for an afternoon in 1975 during the recording of this album. He listened to the band play "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". He was fat and bald, and the band didn't recognize him. His appearance really shook everyone up.
For me, Strom Thorenson's cover art truly captures the spirit of the album. The man, representative of the band, is shaking the truly incendary man's hand. The band must continue on, and though the other man is on fire and a brilliant star, he simply cannot continue on their world. And so they bid adieu.
Overall, this is one of Pink Floyd's better post DARK albums, and serves as a great followup to a fantastic album. It's a nice concept album, and a very fitting tribute to one of rock's great lost icons, Syd Barret. We all wish you were here Syd.
Free Music Review: great stuff
Hit: 5 Stars
wish you were here may be only 5 tracks long but it still clocks in at 45 minutes and is regarded as pink floyds, 'second', best album more like a follow up to dark side of the moon. anyways the songs all rock on here every one of em' has a cool beat this is just a great album its essential for anyone who listens to pink floyd to own and its essential for anyone who listens to rock music in genral,
a must have if you still dont own
LONG LIVE ROCK
R.I.P. SYD BARRET