Pink Floyd “Wish You Were Here”

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#377 in the Series) is Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here.

What can you say about Wish You Were Here that hasn’t been said already? This is one of the iconic albums in rock and roll.  This is one of Pink Floyd’s best.  It was released in 1975 which was right in the middle of their “meat era.” The period where they produced four of their most popular releases, they being of course The Dark Side of the Moon (‘73), Wish You Were Here (‘75), Animals (’77) and The Wall (’79.)

That was four of the most popular albums of the seventies, and yes, I do feel that they were their best albums.  That also was the era that produced some of the best live shows of any band’s careers as well.

There was one reason also why this album always had a soft spot in my heart.  That would be that this is the last time we hear the great Dick Parry’s saxophone work.  He added so much to the Pink Floyd sound. Think about his work on “Money,” “Us and Them” and “Shine On.”

Overall however, I love WYWH, there’s not a ton of songs here, basically “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” “Welcome to the Machine,” ” Wish You Were Here” and of course, “Have a Cigar.”

Much of this album was written about and as a tribute to Pink Floyd’s original leader, Syd Barrett.

You can hear the full album below in the first video playlist. I’ve added some live goodies in another below that.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Roger Waters.

Side one

1. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (Parts I–V) 13:38
2. “Welcome to the Machine” 7:30

Side two

1. “Have a Cigar” 5:24
2. “Wish You Were Here” 5:17
3. “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” (Parts VI–IX) 12:29

Personnel

Pink Floyd

• David Gilmour – vocals, guitar, lap steel guitar, EMS Synthi AKS, keyboards, tape effects
• Roger Waters – vocals, bass guitar, guitar, VCS3, tape effects
• Richard Wright – keyboards, VCS3, clavinet, background vocals
• Nick Mason – drums, percussion, tape effects

Additional musicians

• Dick Parry – saxophone on “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”
• Roy Harper – vocals on “Have a Cigar”
• Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams – background vocals
• Stéphane Grappelli – violin on “Wish You Were Here” (uncredited)

Production

• Brian Humphries – engineering
• Peter James – engineering, assistant engineering
• Bernie Caulder
• Phil Taylor – additional photography (remaster)
• Hipgnosis – design, photography
• Peter Christopherson, Jeff Smith, Howard Bartrop and Richard Manning – design assistants
• George Hardie – graphics
• Jill Furmanovsky – additional photography (remaster)
• James Guthrie – remastering producer
• Doug Sax – remastering

Links

• So you like Pink Floyd, then you might like some of these albums we’ve featured as well.
• See more that we’ve featured from 1975

Back to the Cool Album Home Page

Give it a listen below