Musically this album is a bit of a return to pre-Dark Side with long instrumental passages, at least in the suite. The attack on the musical industry theme is grafted on that Syd theme (since the former is the culprit in Syd's fall) and would be the centre of the album, the Crazy Diamonds book-ending it. The absence part is a bit of an autobiographical theme, with Syd Barrett's ghost appearing a second time (see my review of Dark Side's Brain Damage), further accredited by the interested party's impromptu visit, by the Floyd members not really recognizing him (so the legend has it), but it also about Floyd own emptiness in recent tours and laborious (as if they were elsewhere) studio sessions. From this new blueprint, the general line of the album will be absence and an attack on the music industry. But in the middle of the recording sessions, Waters will toss out the Raving and Gotta Be pieces, keeping the Crazy Diamond pieces that will become the new backbone. As often the case with Floyd, all three tracks had been tested live during their tours, but in January 75, the group went in the studio to record the future album. Indeed by early 74, three tracks had been written, including Raving And Drooling (future Sheep) and You Gotta Be Crazy (future Dogs) and what would become the Crazy diamond suite. This is not to say that the genesis of this album was an easy one, contrarily to Dark Side's. How does one follow the success of DSOTM without making a carbon copy of the successful album? Well, you reinvent yourself completely, something that Floyd constantly did throughout their first two decades: you'd be hard pressed to find two albums that are similar until their early-80's breakdown. Posted Tuesday, Janu| Review this album | Report (Review #8791) Floyd was not interested in "topping" themselves after Dark Side they were simply interested in expressing new thoughts and feelings - and in that they succeeded brilliantly. Not only did Shine On and Wish You Were Here become anthems on a global scale, but the sales of Ovation guitars went through the roof when everyone old enough to play a guitar began playing these songs at every acid-laced party in the world. But WYWH is also a scathing remonstration of the music industry - a deliberate, mocking attempt to "bite the hand that feeds." And the album succeeds on both levels, as well as, most importantly, on the compositional and musical levels. If WYWH is a "tribute to Syd Barrett," it is so because Barrett saw that insanity first. If Dark Side is about the uncatharted madness caused as a result of living in an insane world, Wish You Were Here is about the added madness that ensues as a result of having the world embrace that uncatharted madness on such an absurd scale.
How do you follow-up a global masterpiece like Dark Side? You change the rules. SACDh EMI - 522 4332 (2011, Europe & US) Stereo Remastered and Mixed to 5.1 Surround by James Guthrie & Joel Plante (Limited edition w/ different cover) Venetta Fields / backing vocals (1,5?) Releases informationĪrtWork: George Hardie with Hipgnosis (design & photo) Carlena Williams / backing vocals (1,5?)
Nick Mason / drums, percussion, tape effects Roger Waters / bass, guitar, VCS3, tape effects, lead vocals (1,5) Richard Wright / keyboards, VCS3, clavinet, backing vocals
David Gilmour / guitar, lap steel guitar, Synthi AKS, tape effects, lead vocals (2,4) Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts 6-9 (12:31) Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1-5 (13:40)ĥ.