WISH YOU WERE HERE

It's about time I dive into one of rock music's most praised and celebrated albums of all time, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. If some of you don't know by now, Pink Floyd is easily one of my favorite bands of all time (top 3 actually), and their four-album run from 1973's "The Dark Side of the Moon" to 1979's "The Wall" is one of the greatest runs in music history. But today we are talking about Wish You Were Here, because... s incredible.

Wish You Were Here is the band's seventh studio album. Its predecessor "The Dark Side of the Moon" is obviously one of the most iconic albums of all time, arguably Pink Floyd's most celebrated effort in their discography, and also their commercial breakout, gaining the band massive recognition. Dark Side of the Moon was the band first true masterpiece, and it resonates with listeners even 50 years after its initial release So yeah, after such an enormous success with Dark Side Of The Moon the expectations were high, and the band's label pressured them to deliver another great project sooner rather than later. Of course, Pink Floyd blew expectations out of the water, and answered their label in a classic Pink Floydish way, with an album mainly revolving around the corruption of the music industry. The album is now considered one of the most essential albums of the 70's.

Production-wise, this album is prog rock at its peak. Although arguably not as ambitious as the band's predecessor, on a technical level, this album is more impressive, displaying even further the band's talent in creating complex compositions, intricate song structures and of course it showcases David Gilmour's stellar guitar work, with chord progressions that are more adventurous than the ones presented on Dark Side Of The Moon. The band is genuinely the definition of a musical machine on the project, forming sonic highs and dense dynamics that are so mind bending that they almost didn't manage to deliver such a cohesive project musically once again in their career (Animals exists).

Some of the most timeless melodies of all time are on this album, if we are talking about the band's most popular song with the title track "Wish You Were Here", which features some of David's most memorable melodies, or the 9- part opus "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", that you'll recognize immediately thanks to its repeated musical motifs, iconic riffs and transcendent melodies. Talking about musical motifs, the album is a masterclass at creating these repeating nuances that are giving the album its personality sound-wise, like the bombastic noisy synthesizers on tracks like Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar, the blues elements or the similar melodic lines throughout most of the songs.

The vocal performances from the band are stunning. There are three vocalists throughout the project, which are the two band leaders David Gilmour and Roger Waters, and there is also a guest appearance on the song Have a Cigar, that features the amazing Roy Harper. The three of them did an impeccable job, each one delivering a different type of emotion according to the song, if it's Roy's mockery vocal delivery on Have a Cigar, David's hunting singing on Welcome to the Machine or Roger's gorgeous vocals on Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

Thematically, the album is presenting a loose yet clear concept revolving around the exploitative nature of the music industry. Now, I want to get something out of the way, many people believe that this album is a tribute to the band's past member Syd Barrett, who was the lead singer of the band on their debut, then later replaced with David Gilmour, because he suffered from serious mental health issues. But he was always a source of inspiration for the band.

This album is NOT about Syd Barrett in the way that In the Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel is NOT about Anne Frank. The two albums have something in common, both of them took a lot of inspiration from different people, and what happened to them, even dedicating songs to these persons, but in the grander scheme of things none of these albums are about the actual person that they are taking inspiration from.

Syd Barrett certainly influenced Wish You Were Here, hell, the 9-part Shine On You Crazy Diamond is clearly a homage to him. However, Syd is only playing a role in the concept of the album, he represents what can happen to a musician due to the merciless and carless nature of the music industry. Wish you were here is an important commentary on the exploitative music industry, labels are seeing the musicians as dollar bills, and not as human beings. It's also about the alienation, loneliness and disconnection from society that one can experience from stardom, losing yourself in the industry and in the fame. It's represented through Syd's experiences as well, alongside Roger's own feelings of alienation on the title track Wish You Were Here. It's about longing, if it's for a long gone friend or for your past-self.

The album cover represents the theme of the album perfectly. With the left person being the music industry, and the right person being the innocent artist, that is burning himself alive when he's shaking hands with the "industry", metaphorically selling his soul and artistic desires in the moment that he's getting into a label.

The songwriting on the album is fantastic as well. Most of the lyrics were written by Roger, which is known as the lyrical mastermind behind Pink Floyd. His writing is incredibly emotional with heartfelt timeless metaphors such as the iconic line on the title song: "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year". I always see people argue on who was more crucial to the band, Roger or David, when it's quite obvious that the band wouldn't be the same without either one of them. Both of them contributed equally, Roger with the ambitious thematic concepts, and David with the phenomenal ear for beautiful melodies and production choices. So this whole argument is completely pointless.

Although the album's relatively short runtime of 44 minutes might be concerning to some new listeners, the album is the definition of "all killer no filler". With 5 lengthy tracks it manages to get across exactly what it wants in the most efficient way possible, without any room for underwhelming moments.

Wish You Were Here is an essential listen, a larger than life masterpiece by one of the best bands of all time. It's a crucial fearless commentary about the exploitatively soulless use of the music industry in its artists, and it's an emotionally powerful expression of longing for a lost friend and for the innocence before stardom.

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