#95...

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Only Pink Floyd, with all the pomp of Withnail and the audacity of an aloof Frenchman, could release a two-part nine-part song on this, a 45-minute long album with five songs. And in "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", we have one of 'the Floyd's' seminal works, one that may be cut down and adapted for shows (Er...why?), but on this album, is just beautiful. The simple introduction of four notes at the end of the third minute send chills up your spine, before the drums come in and one of the most relaxing little guitar solos pops along for the listener's delectation. Oh, yeah, then a saxophone solo; as you do.

"Welcome To The Machine" and "Have A Cigar" both have similar themes, involving the band's dislike at the very idea of "the Machine", which is ultimately, the music industry. Crazy-mad synth on "Welcome.." adds to the band's experimental ideas, with more regularity ensuing throughout the third track.

But my favourite track, without doubt, is "Wish You Were Here". Everything about this song - the simulated radio knob-twiddling at the start; the opening riff, expanding onto two guitars to increase the depth, the melody, the sweetness, of what Gilmour et al were creating; the first words Gilmour himself speaks ("...so you think you can tell..."); simply everything about it has made "Wish You Were Here", without doubt, an absolute stand-out song so far on this musical journey I appear to have burdened myself with. But this song makes it all worth it; my first Favourite Song of 2011.

With Pink Floyd, one feels that the only way to truly appreciate these songs is to go back to them again and again, picking apart each individual instrument, each vocal piece, each tiny seemingly insignificant part, and not so much analysing it, but appreciating it fully; celebrating a dynamic of music that will probably never be brought to the fore again. Or at least, in not such a ground-breaking way.

Key Tracks: All of them. Why not? There's only five. Or four, depending on how you look at it. Or twelve, if you want to be picky. But still, all of them.

The Crazy Diamond In Question: It has been said that "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" - and partly, "Wish You Were Here" are direct tributes to the band's former singer-songwriter and guitar, Syd Barratt, and his drug-induced mental breakdown. But even stranger was an event that occurred on 5th June 1975. Whilst the band worked on their final mix of "Shine On...", an large shaven-headed man entered the recording suite, much to everyone's surprise. At first, noone knew who it was, but were horrified to realise it was Barratt himself, but dramatically changed. Waters and Gilmour were deeply affected by this visit, but especially Waters, who was completely overcome with tears at how much his old bandmate had changed. After that day, they didn't see him until his death in 2006.