Wish You Were Here is the ninth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd, released in September 1975. Inspired by material they composed while performing across Europe, it was recorded over numerous sessions at London's Abbey Road Studios. The album explores themes of absence, the music business, and former band-mate Syd Barrett's mental decline. Early sessions were a difficult and arduous process but it was Roger Waters' idea to split the centrepiece track "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" in two, and join each half with three new compositions. "Shine On" was a tribute to Barrett, who, coincidentally, made an impromptu visit to the studio while it was being recorded. The band failed initially to recognise Barrett, who had gained weight and changed in appearance.

As in their previous work, The Dark Side of the Moon, the band made use of studio effects and synthesizers. Roy Harper was a guest vocalist on "Have a Cigar". The album packaging, again designed by Storm Thorgerson, featured an opaque black sleeve inside which was hidden the album artwork. Wish You Were Here premièred at Knebworth in July 1975, and was released in September that year. It was an instant success; record company EMI was unable to print enough copies to satisfy the demand. Initially receiving mixed reviews, the album has since been voted to the 209th place on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Band members Richard Wright and David Gilmour have each declared Wish You Were Here their favourite Pink Floyd album.

Background

Concept

The album is also a critique of the music business; "Shine On" fades seamlessly into "Welcome to the Machine", which begins with the opening of a door—described by Waters as a symbol of musical discovery and progress betrayed by a music industry more interested in greed and success. The song ends with sounds from a party, epitomising "the lack of contact and real feelings between people". Similarly, "Have a Cigar" scorns record industry "fatcats", its lyrics containing well-used clichés such as "can hardly count", "they call it riding the gravy train", and "by the way, which one's Pink?"—a question actually asked of the band on at least one occasion. "Wish You Were Here" contains lyrics which relate not only to Barrett's condition, but also to the dichotomy of Waters' character, as an idealist, and a domineering personality. The album closes with a reprise of "Shine On", and further instrumental excursions.

Recording

Alan Parsons was the EMI staff engineer for Pink Floyd's previous studio album The Dark Side of the Moon, but following its release he declined their offer to continue working with them (instead becoming successful in his own right with The Alan Parsons Project). The group had worked with Brian Humphries on More—recorded at Pye Studios—and again in 1974, where he replaced a somewhat inexperienced concert engineer hired at short notice. He was therefore the natural choice to work on the band's new material, although as a stranger to EMI's Abbey Road set-up he encountered some early difficulties, including one instance where he was inadvertently responsible for spoiling the backing tracks of "Shine On"—a piece that Waters and Mason had spent many hours perfecting. The entire piece, corrupted with echo, had to be re-recorded.

Working from Studio Three, the group found it difficult at first to devise any new material, especially as the success of Dark Side of the Moon had left all four physically and emotionally drained. Richard Wright has since described these early sessions as "falling within a difficult period", and Roger Waters found them "torturous". Drummer Nick Mason found the process of multi-track recording drawn out and tedious, and David Gilmour was more interested in improving the band's existing material. He was also becoming increasingly frustrated with Mason, whose failing marriage had brought on a general malaise and sense of apathy, both of which interfered with his drumming.

However, after several weeks Waters began to visualise another concept. Gilmour had composed the phrase entirely by accident, but was encouraged by Waters' positive response. Waters wanted to split "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and sandwich two new songs between its two halves. Gilmour disagreed, but was outvoted three to one. "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar" were barely-veiled attacks on the music business, their lyrics working neatly with "Shine On" to provide an apt summary of the rise and fall of Barrett; "Because I wanted to get as close as possible to what I felt ... that sort of indefinable, inevitable melancholy about the disappearance of Syd."

Crazy diamond

One of the more notable events during the recording of Wish You Were Here occurred on 5 June 1975. Gilmour married his first wife, Ginger, and it was also the eve of Pink Floyd's second tour of the US that year. The band were in the process of completing a final mix of "Shine On", when an overweight man—replete with shaven head and eyebrows, and clutching a plastic bag—entered the room. Waters, who was working in the studio, initially did not recognise him. Gilmour presumed he was an EMI staff member, Storm Thorgerson later reflected on Barrett's presence: "Two or three people cried. He sat round and talked for a bit but he wasn't really there."

Waters was reportedly deeply upset by the sight of his former band-mate, who was asked by fellow visitor Andrew King how he had managed to gain so much weight. Barrett said he had a large refrigerator in his kitchen, and that he had been eating lots of pork chops. He also mentioned that he was ready to avail the band of his services, but on listening to the mix of "Shine On" showed no sign of understanding its relevance to his plight. He joined the guests at Gilmour's wedding reception in the EMI canteen, but later left without saying goodbye. None of the band members saw him from that day to his death in 2006. Although the lyrics had already been created, Barrett's presence on that day may have influenced the final part of the song—performed by Wright, a subtle refrain from "See Emily Play" is clearly audible toward the end of the album.}}

Instrumentation

As in The Dark Side of the Moon, the band used synthesizers such as the EMS VCS 3 (on "Welcome to the Machine"), but softened with Gilmour's acoustic guitar and percussion from Mason. Although Grappelli was not credited for his contribution (the band presumed that he might feel insulted), he was paid £300 for his contribution (£|0}} as of ). Dick Parry again played saxophone, on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".

Vocals

The album's back cover depicts a faceless "Floyd salesman", in Thorgerson's words "selling his soul" in the desert (shot in the Yuma Desert in California). The absence of wrists and ankles signifies his presence as an "empty suit". The inner sleeve shows a veil in a windswept Norfolk grove, and a splash-less diver at Mono Lake—called Monosee on the liner notes—in California (again emphasising the theme of absence). the band were reportedly extremely happy with the end product, and when presented with a pre-production mockup, they accepted it with a spontaneous round of applause.

The album was released on 12 September 1975 in the UK, and on the following day in the US. In Britain, with 250,000 advance sales it went straight to number one, and demand was such that EMI informed retailers that only 50% of their orders would be fulfilled. it reached number one on the US Billboard chart in its second week. As of 1991 Wish You Were Here was Pink Floyd's fastest-selling album ever, but initially received mixed reviews:

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Robert Christgau was more positive, writing "... the music is not only simple and attractive, with the synthesizer used mostly for texture and the guitar breaks for comment, but it actually achieves some of the symphonic dignity (and cross-referencing) that The Dark Side of the Moon simulated so ponderously." Melody Maker however was disparaging: "From whichever direction one approaches Wish You Were Here, it still sounds unconvincing in its ponderous sincerity and displays a critical lack of imagination in all departments." In 1998 Q readers voted Wish You Were Here the 34th greatest album of all time. In 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 43 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2007, one of Germany's largest public radio stations, WDR 2, asked its listeners to vote for the 200 best albums of all time. Wish You Were Here was voted number one. In 2004 Wish You Were Here was ranked number 36 on Pitchfork Media's list of the Top 100 albums of the 1970s.IGN rated Wish You Were Here as the 8th greatest Classic rock album.

Despite the problems during production, the album remained Wright's favourite: "It's an album I can listen to for pleasure, and there aren't many Floyd albums that I can." Gilmour shares this view: "I for one would have to say that it is my favourite album, the Wish You Were Here album. The end result of all that, whatever it was, definitely has left me an album I can live with very very happily. I like it very much." and Wish You Were Here was Pink Floyd's first album with Columbia Records, an affiliate of CBS. The band did, however, remain with EMI's Harvest Records in Europe. As a result in the label switch, this gave the band ownership of their recordings from that point forward—every album from Wish You Were Here onward has been copyrighted to either "Pink Floyd Music Limited" or (after Waters' departure) "Pink Floyd (1987) Ltd.", instead of the corresponding record label.

The album was certified Silver and Gold (60,000 and 100,000 sales respectively) in the UK on 1 August 1975, and Gold in the US on 17 September 1975. It was certified six times platinum on 16 May 1997, and as of 2004 has sold an estimated 13 million copies worldwide.||group="nb"}}

Reissues and remastering

References

;Footnotes

;Bibliography

;Further reading

External links

Category:1975 albums Category:Albums produced by David Gilmour Category:Albums produced by Nick Mason Category:Albums produced by Richard Wright Category:Albums produced by Roger Waters Category:Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis Category:Albums with cover art by Storm Thorgerson Category:Capitol Records albums Category:Columbia Records albums Category:Concept albums Category:EMI Records albums Category:English-language albums Category:Harvest Records albums Category:Pink Floyd albums Category:Albums recorded at Abbey Road Studios

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