WISH YOU WERE HERE

After their critical and commercial masterpiece, Pink Floyd returned to the same structure of Meddle, with not enough material to fill a complete record. Much like Meddle was comprised of One of These Days, Echoes and a bunch of fillers not up to Pink Floyd high-standards (not bad songs, but just ok), Wish You Were Here is comprised of the long multipart suite Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here and other weaker songs.

Good thing is that when they are at their best, they are better than ever: Wish You Were Here is a timeless ballad with excellent 12-string, slide solo and electric piano interplay in one of the most memorable Pink Floyd riffs, plus one of the most beautiful singing by Gilmour. The song would fit perfectly The Dark Side of The Moon greatness. Shine on You Crazy Diamond is an outstanding work with long instrumental passages featuring great riffs and solos by Gilmour and Wright (Waters and Mason also do a good work, but the guitar and keyboards shine). Although the second part is not so strong as the first, it is still a fantastic piece that never gets boring.

As for the other two songs, Welcome to the Machine and Have a Cigar, they are okay, but not remarkable, not what you would expect from Pink Floyd from this era. The former has a nice synthesizer solo, but nothing else, and the later not even that. They are there more to add to the song count and running length than because they were really necessary to the album.

Conclusion: After The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here had the impossible task to be at the same level or surpass it; and obviously it couldn't, but it is still a great progressive rock album from Pink Floyd, with more moments of greatness than flaws.