HAVE A CIGAR

'Have A Cigar' - Pink Floyd (Single)

Out of Pink Floyd's 'masterpieces,' I would have to say 'Wish You Were Here' is the one I like the least. I still find it quite enjoyable and better than most albums you're going to find out there, but it just seemed a bit too inconsequential for it's own good. The two 'epic' length tracks where definately the highlights, and the three songs in between had mixed reactions from me. I really like the title track, 'Welcome To The Machine' is decent with it's vocal harmonies, and 'Have A Cigar' is decent too, but not a real favourite.

Here we get 'Have A Cigar' in all of it's glory and a significantly shortened version of 'Shine On' which essentially takes out most of the jamming, which was the highlight of the track. 'Have A Cigar' is a good track when you take into account the commentary it is having on the music industry itself, and 'Shine On' is still an enjoyable trip, but I would rather listen to these on the album itself.

Yet another PF single that sits proudly in any PF collector's vinyl pile. This time "Have a Cigar" is certainly one of the greatest tracks on WYWH and it continues the cynical examination of the music business; full of clichés and innuendos, the lyrics stab at the way the industry elevates artists to drain every cent out of them only to destroy them at the first sign of individual innovation. The rotting carcass of the music artist is left in a smoldering heap so that the new talent can rise out of the ashes in its place. PF likely felt like this after the success of DSOTM - suddenly a band that was shunned is sought after by every label. Thankfully PF refused to sell out on the WYWH album and it still managed to carve a place on the charts for a number of weeks.

Flip over to an edit of "Shine on", that is tighter but nowhere near the brilliance of the album version. The album track is an ode to the twisted genius of Syd and moves through several sections as a multi movement suite orchestrated to perfection. On the edit, the echoing guitar is here and represents a four octave motif that Floydians have grown to adore. Its pure beauty is complimented when Gilmour chimes in "Remember when you were young..." The fragmentation of the beat midway through alludes to the fragmented status of the group since Barret's departure. Indeed this is a beatific paean to the troubled artist who recently travelled to "the great gig in the sky".

The sleeve art is terrific on this single and worth the price of admission alone. Another one to look out for next time you visit the flea market.