WISH YOU WERE HERE

One of the first prog albums that I heard, and probably one of the best ones. Many people (Prog Archives, for instance) agree in considering it an essential album. Is it Pink Floyd's best album? Probably. The five (really, four) songs in it are completely amazing, a prodigy of melody, ambients and feelings. A lesson of know-how. An example of how progressive and complex music can also be accesible.

The album starts with the first part of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. A long, melancholic song, which advances in crescendo, starting with some low keyboards and David Gilmour's unique guitar in a slow and kind of mysterious mood. As the song grows, it starts a simple and catchy guitar riff and some guitar and saxophone solos. When they finish, the vocals start. Sad vocals. Sad lyrics. The song, and the whole album is dedicated to Syd Barret, the former Pink Floyd's leader, devastated by drugs and madness. So it isn't a happy topic. The song continues growing, with a memorable chorus and some more amazing solos.

The second song is a really bizarre song. Welcome To The Machine, an explicit title for a song dedicated to our industrial society and to the musical industry in particular. I don't know exactly how to define this song, as the instrumentation is completely odd, based in some guitar chords played in upstrokes, and the sound of steam going out from a machine. Even the vocals are odd. But it does not mean that the song is not good. It's a great song. Probably, the most complex one in the album, and not so catchy, but it's great on it's own way. As it finishes with a machine noise, the next song starts.

Have a Cigar is a rocker song, the most rocker in the album. Another good guitar work (can Gilmour do a bad work anytime?) and another not-so-catchy song. It's also a complicated song, a great addition to the album.

Wish You Were Here is the most well-known song in this album and, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful songs in the word. A low intro, mixed with radio noises, a gorgeous solo and some acoustic verses, until the band enters to help with the song. Another beautiful solo and a totally catchy, epic, melancholic chorus. Whoever hears this song anytime, he'll remember it forever.

The album closes with the second part of Shine On You..., a perfect ending to an album like this, a twelve-minute song, almost intrumental, with few lyrics and recognisable riffs. A slow, dark song. A nice form of concluding a masterpiece of music history, one of the best (if not the best) Pink Floyd's albums and preobably my favourite album alltime.