This will always be one of my favorite Pink Floyd
albums, even though my thoughts about it keep changing. It is a very
logical follow-up to DARK SIDE OF
THE MOON, having something of a continuation of the "we love
poor nutty Syd" theme, and the "feeling of loss" theme. The music
is often deliberate, though melodic,
and once in awhile borders on the soporific.
Still, it can rock from time to time, and there is the edge to some parts
of the songs that we have come to expect from Pink Floyd. If you
liked DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, you will probably like
WISH
YOU WERE HERE too, since there is a very logical progression of
growth in the band from one to the other. This album ended up #1
on the charts, fulfilling some of the prophecy of the character in the
song Have A Cigar.
One of the themes of this album is that of absence
{CPFS}.
Syd
is absent, though ironically, he appeared at the recording studio while
the band was making this album. (Sadly, he had changed so drastically
that it was rather traumatic for the band to see what he had become.)
Love and compassion are absent, since the band seems to have been finally
dragged by the recording industry into the same impersonal, money-oriented
world as so many other promising groups (with the exception that Pink Floyd
continues to fight back, successfully). According to the story, the
band itself was rather absent here, not really coming together well, spatting
sometimes, and goofing off a bit too much during recording sessions.
You might have to wonder whether the success of DARK SIDE
OF THE MOON thrust the band into unfamiliar territory, since they
had previously been much more used to being thought of as the artistic
{CPFS},
unusually experimental group {CPFS},
and now had become suddenly widely popular. (Another irony, after
this album was released, the band itself became absent, doing no concerts
for 18 months.)
Shine On, You Crazy Diamond
is an 8-part suite that leads off the album, and begins a typical Pink
Floyd loop{CPFS},
that builds slowly through the first 4 parts, and then returns to close
out the album. As usual with the Floyd, the parts are rather difficult
to separate. This is the first time an album actually begins with
a dreamscape, slowly building into a solid rock ballad that seems to be
their final love letter to Syd. In many ways, it encourages him to
rise up from his ashes and perhaps return to the life of creative artistry
he'd lost. (That would not happen.) Unlike many of their previous
dreamscapes{CPFS},
which often meander rather aimlessly through a variety of Rick
Wright experimentations, this one builds logically (though slowly)
into the main theme, and later recedes just as logically. The musical
heart of this tune is a simple 4-note pattern that Dave
had had on his mind for some time, and decided was now ripe for use. {CPFS}
Nobody since Beethoven has been able
to do as much with 4 notes as Pink Floyd can. The ringing sound of
these notes reverberates throughout the album, providing a sense of security
within the experimentation of the music. There is a defiant, triumphant
emphasis in the music - it is definitely good to shine. Remarkably,
Dave wrote most of the rest of the music after
Roger
had penned the lyrics. This part of the loop ends with another
marvelous Dick Parry saxophone solo, meandering
off into the distance, from whence he will return later...
Welcome To The Machine
is a song I always thought ought to be turned into a movie short.
It's mostly about the grind that bands go through in creating their albums,
which requires them to produce songs and ideas as though they were literally
an industry. As usual, with slide guitars{CPFS}
and flowing keyboard lines, the band kills us softly with their satiric
leanings. The driving, pounding rhythm of the machinery ambient behind
this soaring, melodic instrumentation {CPFS}
creates such an ambiguous tension within us that we are compelled to follow
through to the end. In the end, they "know where you've been", you've
been inside the machine!
Have A Cigar portrays
the music industry at its worst. The character in the song doesn't
understand what the band is trying to achieve, what they've been through,
or even who they are ("Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?").
This funk-rock piece also takes an unusual turn when we realize that Roy
Harper is singing the lyrics. Roger later said he wished he hadn't
used Roy, because that introduced an element to the music that just wasn't
Pink Floyd. Personally, I think it worked perfectly, because the
catch here is that the character HAS to be a sleazy, slimy agent type,
who is only interested in "the deal". No member of the Floyd could
have pulled that off as convincingly.
Wish You Were Here is
an
incredible acousticballad.
This is Pink Floyd at its best. The melodies, harmonies, and effects
are all top-notch, and it should be (and probably is) a cult classic.
It basically asks whether we have managed, through all the manipulation
and nonsense (read: B.S.), to hang on to our values and sense of purpose.
I think Roger is, in some ways, continuing to wonder how differently things
would have turned out if Syd were still around. If you only have
10 Pink Floyd songs on tape, make this one of them. (Heck, if you
only have 10 songs TOTAL on tape, make this one of them.)
...and then Dick Parry and
his saxophone return from limbo, complete the loop, and bring us the rest
of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. This is not strictly a coda,
since it continues, rather than repeats the initial concept. It also
brings the album to its logical conclusion, reminding us all to shine.
In all, it's a great album, that pretty much demands
that we set aside enough time to listen start-to-finish.
