Pink Floyd’s album “Wish You Were Here” – a must-hear for music fans (album review) by Bob Rich
If you patiently let Pink Floyd’s 1975 album “Wish You Were Here” reveal its depths to you, you will discover that it is authentically breathtaking and one of the most emotionally potent experiences you can ever have while listening to music.
The album is largely a tribute to Pink Floyd’s original leader: singer/songwriter Syd Barrett. Barrett was the guiding force behind the album’s superb first album, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” released in 1967. One listen to “Piper” and you will instantly discover that Barrett had a true passion for music — along with a true gift for musical expression. Barrett also contributed to a very minor extent to Pink Floyd’s second album, “A Saucerful of Secrets,” but, by then, Barrett’s life was already falling apart.
Syd Barrett brought a stratospherically high amount of energy to Pink Floyd’s music, along with a radiant joy for life that the band would never re-capture again. But, what “Wish You Were Here” certainly does re-capture in full effect is Barrett’s utterly moving sense of awe. Barrett’s music has a consistent childlike sense of wonder within it, and the album “Wish You Were Here,” which remembers him, is the musical and emotional equivalent of journeying through the various stages of a lightning storm.
“Wish You Were Here” celebrates Barrett’s musical gifts while also mourning his loss. Yet, the album is not depressing. The energy Barrett brought to the band is commemorated throughout the album, and harnessed into a pulsing, shimmering musical world so elaborately and painstakingly constructed that the bristling passion behind all the songs is inescapably uplifting.
“Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” which begins the album, is as symphonically transporting as Mozart’s “Requiem,” and no less grand than Puccini’s aria “Nessun Dorma.” “Shine” directly addresses Barrett with heartbreakingly honest descriptions of his talent and personal deterioration. Then, “Welcome to the Machine” journeys through the grandeur of music and the dangers of the music industry to spellbinding effect. “Have a Cigar” is a sorrowful, stunning commentary on the potential for soullessness in the marketing of music, which segues gracefully into the title track: one of the most comforting yet desolate songs ever written.
When the listener finally reaches the second half of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” at the album’s conclusion, the effect is moving and revelatory. By now, the listener feels as if he/she has come to know Barrett’s story at least a bit, and so, by the album’s end, “Shine”‘s musical fireworks and spectacular sound effects are certainly not received as merely a showcase of the band’s skill at creating orchestral rapture; rather, “Shine”‘s luminous textures and thrilling musical laser-light show are clearly a heartfelt tribute to Barrett’s towering ambition, staggering talent, and unmet potential to record even more beautiful achievements like the band’s first album, “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.”
In fact, the album “Wish You Were Here” ultimately feels like an ode to the potential for the expression of artistic giftedness from anyone, with a lingering hopefulness that artists might be able to document their gifts with the classic, encouraging success that Barrett had with Pink Floyd’s first record.
The album “Wish You Were Here” serves as a solemn warning for entertainment executives to never ignore the soul of an artist, and the album also stands as a touching reminder of the eloquent yet troubled soul who first set Pink Floyd’s career into motion, thanks to his gloriously untainted ability to communicate awestruck emotion through music.
— by Bob Rich, September 2010
