WISH YOU WERE HERE

With "Dark Side of the Moon," Pink Floyd had already achieved their status as supergroup. No longer did they have to conform to sell albums, nor did they care. The success of Dark Side would give them a steady, strong income for years to come. This album is a fight back at the music industry for constricting their creative prowess in the past, as is evident in "Have A Cigar" and "Welcome to the Machine." The other songs have been known to be tributes to former bandmate gone mad Syd Barret, with "Wish You Were Here" as the signature song of the album.

The ten stanzas of "Shine On" are perhaps the greatest examples of Space Rock on the face of the Earth. Merely listening to the first stanza gives the impression of deep space on the mind, with its mysteries still unsolved by that of mankind. It puts the listenener in a deep state of meditation and thought, and provokes the oddest sensations. No other song has the kind of positive effect "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" on me, and I'm positive that no other song will be able to move me in such a way.

As far as the rating goes, the quality that makes this essential is its power to provoke the mind and stir the senses. Its outlandish sounds and the images it conjures break every barrier in the confines of the Space Rock genre.

No other band sounds like Pink Floyd, and Pink Floyd never made a better album.