WISH YOU WERE HERE

This is one of the Floyd's most poignant moments. Moody synthesizers, shimmering organ parts, tight guitar parts, well thought-out arrangements, careful songwriting, various timbres and harmonies going hand in hand, the sincere lyrics about longing for the old company, and different levels of perceiving the emotional rock bottom really fill up the album. As far as I can see, these are the very things that define this album as an immortal classic every human being with enough soul must have in possession. This is definitely a step above "Dark Side of the Moon", in my opinion.

By the way, I must have been really lucky that I discovered this album when I was 16-17 years old. I bet that if I heard it now, it would sound like some sappy and inadequately shaped toilet dump to me. But then again, maybe I'm wrong.

There is something else I want to mention: note that on parts 1-5 of 'Shine On' David Gilmour is the singer, and on parts 6-9 it's Roger Waters singing. I wonder why they did that. Maybe they did it because they also treated the album as a work of art, that is just to make the album interesting. I don't know. Oh, well.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

1. 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond, pts 1-5' - ***** (although I can't remember now why exactly I loved it.)

2. 'Welcome to the Machine' - **** (I guess those grim synths just wasn't enough.)

3. 'Have a Cigar' - ***** (There is just something really spastic about that intro to the song that brings the song even closer to the title of a winner.)

4. 'Wish You Were Here' - *** (Maybe that's because I haven't really lost anyone special or thought of anyone as special, even if it is my mom. I really like the synth work, though. It goes well with driving in "GTA 3".)

5. 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond, pts 6-9' - ***** (Oh, I think I remember why I liked that one, even if I don't remember why I loved it - awesome arrangements and moody synths. Yes. The finale is just something that nearly forced me to shed a tear.)

Stamp: "Highly recommended."