Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here 50
SONY
How would you like to be the album that follows the mind-bending, crowd-pleasing Dark Side of the Moon? That’s the dilemma the newly gazillion-selling Pink Floyd faced in their move from avant-psych-prog ensemble formerly fronted by an acid burnout toward their immediate future as a mainstream rock quartet. Their answer: a languid yet damaged five-track album dedicated in part to their fearful leader—the already-legendary Syd Barrett—and capitalizing on their newly won status as quirkily contagious melody-makers, yet also as alienated, caustic lyricists devoted to plumbing the depths of lifelong shredded psychoses, the meaning of fame, and the shiftiness behind the cultures of commerce, socio-politics, romance, and the business of music itself.
Long-awaited in circles far beyond Pink Floyd’s stalwart fan base, this multi-disc (LPs, Blu-ray, 45s) box set captures the band in the last gasp/final grasp of full-member collaboration as composers (especially soon-to-be-discarded keyboardist Richard Wright), additionally spotlighting Roger Waters’ then-freshly minted disgust-filled ruminations on all things chilly, ephemeral, and sardonic. Those devoted to Pink bootlegs will recall the several demos of “The Machine Song” (a patchy yet grand-sounding take on what would soon be “Welcome to the Machine”), the rawly emotional likes of “Wish You Were Here,” and the eerie entirety of the nine-part “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” in once mouthful.
Also included is a previously released, more-manic version of “Wish You Were Here” featuring jazz-manouche violinist Stéphane Grappelli at his gnarliest and most elegant. And though the pre-Wish album Live at Wembley 1974 has been around for a minute, and the new, 5.1 production brings out every tic in the original LP, the true star of this box set is Live Bootleg—a massive-sounding concert rarity, gorgeously and warmly remixed and remastered by prog’s favorite son, Steven Wilson—captured by notorious rock bandit/bootlegger Mike Millard at Pink Floyd’s Los Angeles Sports Arena gig on April 26, 1975. As far as lost treasures (or unrealized ones) go, this is Pink Floyd’s true great gig in the sky.
