WISH YOU WERE HERE

Well, well, so this is one of the two PF albums friends 25 years ago told me were mandatory (the other was Dark Side...). What happened when I finally gave those records some ten spins each was that I came to respect the Floyd, but never loved their music. It is good music, but not more - and that means it's far from being moving, breathtaking, exceptional or overwhelming - IMHO. To put it even more hereticly: the combined 22 minutes of SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND to me are just running, dripping cheese. The same goes for the title track. The only song I can enjoy without reservation is HAVE A CIGAR (musically and lyrically). So, in a superficial way it's a nice record, easy to listen to, lacking depth - and that's the whole secret. It didn't stand the test of time for me - Animals, the follow-up, did. 3 stars.