WISH YOU WERE HERE

After the tremendous success of Dark Side Of The Moon one would assume that Pink Floyd would try to replicate its themes to create an even bolder statement of a record. This scenario wasn't all too unlikely considering that the band did just that when they followed up Atom Heart Mother with Meddle. Fortunately, Pink Floyd had a few new tricks up their sleeve.

The album that we got looked more like a polished combination of the song format explored on Meddle and the conceptual themes of Dark Side Of The Moon. The lengthy piece titled Shine On You Crazy Diamond was split up in two parts that opened and closed the album and thus became a natural continuation of the previous exploration of the long track format. This epic might not reach the majestic realms of Echoes due to its more direct compositional style but it's easily the next best 10+ minute track that the band had conceived over the years.

The middle section of Wish You Were Here, featuring Welcome To The Machine and Have A Cigar, comes off sounding too polished and almost excessively mechanical to my ears. I'm also not so keen on the extended intro/outro sections that only seemed to get longer and longer with every new track. I realize that, when used in the right way, this effect can make the composition feel more smooth and fluent but I always though that Pink Floyd tended to overuse it to the point where it all became more of a gimmick than an enhancement of the sound. Unlike the two stale predecessors, the album's title track gives a perfectly executed intro section which doesn't rely on effects but instead gets its momentum from the prolonged acoustic guitar interplay intro. Originally I didn't care much for this little song but my opinion completely changed after seeing Roger Waters perform it on his In the Flesh Tour back in 2001. Nowadays it's an obligatory acoustic number that both Waters and Gilmour are almost obliged to perform on almost every set-list and its message gets more important with every passing year.

Even if the performances feel almost excessively polished on Wish You Were Here, which can be explained by the high pressure put on the band to follow up Dark Side Of The Moon, it still has the chops in the compositional department and can be called one of my favorite albums by Pink Floyd. A great album by an excellent band that deserves an addition to any prog rock music collection.

***** star songs: Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 1-5 (13:40) Wish You Were Here (5:34)

**** star songs: Welcome To The Machine (7:31) Have A Cigar (5:08) Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 6-9 (12:31)