WISH YOU WERE HERE

Wish You Were Here is the second in Pink Floyd's trilogy of masterpiece albums and probably the best of the lot! The album centrex around the Shine On You Crazy Diamond suite , the two halts of which bookend the album very effectively. This suite is IMO Pink Floyd's magnum opus and it proves the band had fully maturedin terms of composing a long song. It's not perfect (some parts of the second half are a bit slow and/or recycled from the first half) but it's damn near. This album is not generally thought of as having a concept but there is one of sorts. A lot of the lyrics are critical of the music industry. The 'Machine' is the music business itself and Welcome To The Machine describes a young musician who's 'been in the pipeline' and emerged into society with no idea of the reality of life in the music business and his naivety allows him to be exploited. This story is reminiscent of Syd Barrett's story who is of course the subject of the Shine On suite. Sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson believes the concept was that of 'unfulfilled presence' and designed the artwork around that idea. I also like the way all the songs segue into one another, especially Have A Cigar into Wish You Were Here, with it sounding like a radio being tuned into the track. Very unique! The title track is one of the most flawless piece of music I've ever heard and it really does chill me out every time I hear the quiet 12 string introduction. I remember my dad playing this album when I was very young so I suppose that made me like it even more and whenever I hear it, it makes me feel calm. It's a personal thing I suppose but this album is good enough for you to like even if you didn't grow up with it.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED AND ESSENTIAL!