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Wish You Were Here (album)

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For the 1974 Badfinger album, see Wish You Were Here (Badfinger album).

Wish You Were Here is a concept album by Pink Floyd, widely regarded as one of their greatest albums. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios between January and July, 1975 and released on September 15, 1975 (see 1975 in music).

Contents

Overview

The album is largely a tribute to Pink Floyd's former guitarist and chief songwriter Syd Barrett (Barrett died on July 7, 2006). Barrett's mental illness and erratic behaviour made it impossible for him to contribute effectively to the band after the album A Saucerful of Secrets. Originally, Wish You Were Here was to consist of three songs that the band had been playing live over the previous two years: "Shine On", "Gotta Be Crazy" and "Raving and Drooling." "Shine On" was preserved as "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", while Roger Waters decided to drop the other two, which later became, respectively, "Dogs" and "Sheep" on the Animals album. In their place, Waters wrote new material that documented the band's current condition (the title track) and caricatured the negative aspects of the record business ("Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar").

The crafting of the album saw tensions rise in the ranks of the band. Dark Side of the Moon proved to be a phenomenal success, bringing Pink Floyd back into public spotlight, and the band members were worried about how they could ever follow up such a record. Wish You Were Here would be the last Pink Floyd album to see a writing credit for Richard Wright until The Division Bell in 1994, and essentially the last Pink Floyd album where the whole band actively contributed to the process of creation. An angry Waters strengthened his grip on the band's output, and this increasing pressure and hostility would eventually tear Pink Floyd apart.

The packaging for the original vinyl release was intended to be an anonymous, completely black cover. Record companies didn't like the idea, so an additional image sticker featuring the band name with a robotic handshake over a theme of four elements was included. Tearing through this stickered, all-black wrapper would then reveal the proper artwork with its now-famous man-on-fire handshake. The U.S. publisher of the album (Columbia Records) was utterly appalled that they had to hide the album art with a wrapper (which on the U.S. release was blue). They wanted to sell an obviously Pink Floyd record.

The picture label on the album had the robotic handshake logo with a black and blue background.

Syd Barrett's studio visit

According to the book Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey, Barrett himself actually turned up at the studio in the middle of a recording session of the backing vocals for "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" on 5 June 1975, which was also the day David Gilmour married his first wife, Ginger. He arrived unannounced and had put on so much weight that some of the band did not recognize him at first. He also shaved off all his hair, including his eyebrows (which was alluded to in The Wall). Jerry Shirley mistook him for a Hare Krishna devotee. Others were close to tears; Waters later confided that he cried. They played a song for him (Mason says he doesn't remember which but mentions some "legends" alluding that it was Shine On You Crazy Diamond). When they were done, Barrett sat motionless. When someone said to play it again, Syd asked what would be the point, as they had already just heard it. They also played him "Wish You Were Here", and asked him what he thought, to which he replied, "Sounds a bit old". He asked at one point if there was anything he could do and that he was available if needed. Later on one of the band's technicians, Phil Taylor, saw Syd looking for a lift. Avoiding an awkward situation, Taylor ducked down in the car as he passed and it is not known how Barrett managed to get back home. Barrett hadn't been seen by the band in five years, and wasn't seen again after that point. Echoing Barrett's presence, Rick Wright plays a subtle refrain from See Emily Play in the final seconds of the album.

In a 2006 interview with a New York City radio station before Barrett's death, in July 2006, Gilmour indicated he had not talked with Barrett since 1975.

Picture sleeve

Columbia originaly released the LP with a slightly different sleeve, using an alternate picture showing the burning man leaning backwards (instead of leaning forward the businessman) taken from a lower angle. Columbia start using the original artwork from EMI in 1984 for their CD reissue and kept using it, with the only exception of the SBM MasterSound Collector's Editions.

Reissues and remastering

Wish You Were Here was originally released on Harvest Records in the UK and Columbia Records in the US. It was first digitally remastered and released in 1992 for the box set Shine On. Then, the 1992 remaster was made available as a CD in its own right in 1994 in the UK and Europe on the EMI label. In 1997, an updated remastered version was released by Columbia for the rest of the world. In 1993, Sony Mastersound released 24 Karat Gold CD of the album which was remastered from the original master recording, and also had all of the original art work from the record LP. Sony Mastersound issued these gold in both a longbox and regular CD form with a cardboard covering. The album was subsequently re-released in 2000 for its 25th anniversary, on the Capitol Records label in the US, and on the EMI label for the rest of the world using the 1997 Columbia remaster.

Wish You Were Here was planned to be re-released as a dual-layered Super Audio Compact Disc in late 2005 to commemorate the album's thirtieth anniversary, but the release has been pushed back into 2006. Dark Side of the Moon had received the same treatment in 2003 for its own thirtieth anniversary.

Press coverage

In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Wish You Were Here the 34th greatest album of all time.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 209 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. This happened twenty-eight years after the magazine initially panned and trashed the recording. Reviewer Ben Edmonds wrote in the November 6, 1975 issue "Passion is everything of which Pink Floyd is devoid."

Track listing

  1. "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts I-V" (Gilmour/Waters/Wright) – 13:34
  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, Parts VI-IX" (Gilmour/Waters/Wright) – 12:31
Various re-issues will simply list both "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"s as "Part 1" and "Part 2", respectively.

Credits

with plus

Singles

Chart and sales success

Wish You Were Here peaked at #1 on Billboard's USA Pop Albums chart (where it stayed for two weeks in October, 1975) and stayed on the charts for a year. The album has, to date, sold over six million copies in the US and was certified Gold on September 17, 1975 in the US and as Sextuple Platinum in the US on May 16, 1997 by the R.I.A.A.

Album - Billboard (North America)
Year Chart Position
1975 Billboard's Pop Albums 1

Quotes

"Wish You Were Here was a very good title for that album. I've often said what that album should have been called was Wish We Were Here because we weren't really."
– Roger Waters, July 1989, In the Studio with Redbeard for Making of The Wall.
"It was a very difficult period I have to say. All your childhood dreams had been sort of realized and we had the biggest selling records in the world and all the things you got into it for. The girls and the money and the fame and all that stuff it was all...everything had sort of come our way and you had to reassess what you were in it for and it was a confusing and sort of empty time for awhile but...I for one would have to say that it is my favourite album, the Wish You Were Here album. The end result of all that, whatever it was, definitely has left me an album I can live with very very happily I like it very much,"
– David Gilmour, December 1992, Shine On box set 2-part episode of In the Studio with Redbeard(parts 1 and 2 aired in December of 1992) and Wish You Were Here episode of In the Studio with Redbeard(first aired in September of 1995).
"It just happens to be the album for that from the moment it starts 'til it finishes, it flows, the songs flow into each other and it just has a wonderful feeling in it".
– Rick Wright, March 1994, World Premiere of The Division Bell and Wish You Were Here episode of In the Studio with Redbeard(first aired in September of 1995).

External links

Pink Floyd
Syd Barrett | David Gilmour | Nick Mason | Roger Waters | Richard Wright
Discography
Studio albums: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn | A Saucerful of Secrets | Ummagumma | Atom Heart Mother | Meddle | The Dark Side of the Moon | Wish You Were Here | Animals | The Wall | The Final Cut | A Momentary Lapse of Reason | The Division Bell
Soundtracks: More | Zabriskie Point | Obscured by Clouds
Live: Ummagumma | The Man and the Journey | Delicate Sound of Thunder | P*U*L*S*E | The Wall Live
Compilations: Relics | A Nice Pair | Works | A Collection of Great Dance Songs | Shine On |
| The Wall | Delicate Sound of Thunder | La Carrera Panamericana | P*U*L*S*E
Bob Klose | Steve O'Rourke | Alan Parsons | Storm Thorgerson/Hipgnosis | Live performances | Trivia | Pigs | Publius Enigma
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