| Wish You Were Here (album) |
Article Index for Wish You |
Website Links For Wish |
Information AboutWish You Were Here (album) |
''Wish You Were Here'' is a Concept Album by Pink Floyd . Recorded at Abbey Road Studios between January and July 1975 and released on September 15 , 1975 (see 1975 In Music ), the album would later be regarded as one of Pink Floyd's greatest albums and was ranked 209 on Rolling Stone 's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. Its lyrics, composed by Roger Waters and concerning the music industry, question the market-oriented record companies' lack of understanding and interest for musicians. The album also pays tribute to Syd Barrett , Pink Floyd's former guitarist and chief songwriter, especially "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and the title track itself. OVERVIEW '' and at the behest of Waters the band split it into two halves, composing new material to fit between them. Waters convinced the band to temporarily drop the other songs (a decision that guitarist David Gilmour fought against), which later became, respectively, " Dogs " and " Sheep " on the '' Animals '' album. Waters' newer compositions documented the band's current condition (with the lyrics of the title track "Wish You Were Here" alluding to their boredom and frustration with music) and caricatured the negative aspects of the record business (on "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar"). ''Wish You Were Here'' was Pink Floyd's first album with Columbia Records , their new label for the rest of the world (in Europe they remained with EMI ), which they signed with in 1973 for a reported $1 million after the success of '' The Dark Side Of The Moon ''. This change in labels stemmed from the band's dissatisfaction with Capitol Records , who had under-promoted the band in America prior to ''Dark Side''. The deal with Columbia (and its subisidiaries outside the US CBS Records and later Sony Records ) gave the band complete artistic control and also ownership of their own compositions and albums from this point forward would be copyrighted to the band instead of the label. The crafting of the album saw tensions rise within the band. ''Wish You Were Here'' would be the last Pink Floyd album to see a writing credit for keyboardist Richard Wright until '' The Division Bell '' in 1994, and essentially the last Pink Floyd album where the whole band actively contributed to the process of creation; hereafter Roger Waters was to strengthen his grip on the band's output, writing the bulk of their material. Despite these difficulties, band members Gilmour and Wright confirmed on the radio show '' In The Studio With Redbeard '' that ''Wish You Were Here'' remains their favorite Pink Floyd album. REISSUES AND REMASTERING ''Wish You Were Here'' was originally released on label in the US, and on the EMI label for the rest of the world again using the 1994 remaster artwork but the remastering job was the 1997 Columbia remaster. It is rumoured that ''Wish You Were Here'' was to be re-released as a dual-layered Super Audio Compact Disc in late 2005 to commemorate the album's thirtieth anniversary, but the release has been pushed back into 2007. ''Dark Side of the Moon'' received the same treatment in 2003 for its own thirtieth anniversary. ARTWORK The packaging for the original vinyl release was intended to be shrouded in an anonymous, all-black plastic wrapper. This idea was rejected by the record companies, who were appalled at the suggestion that they deliberately hide their product, so an additional image featuring the band name over top of two robotic hands in front of the (water). All four photos in this design appeared to have each element 'breaking' (or burning) into the surrounding white margins. The vinyl record's custom picture labels depicted the robotic handshake (as on the wrapper) with a mainly black with blue prisms background. This picture label was then used again for the 1995 SBM Mastersound reissue and the 1997 Columbia/Sony remastered CD. Beneath the outer cover, which on the U.S. release was dark blue, Columbia originally released the LP with a slightly different sleeve, using an alternative picture showing the burning man standing up straight (instead of leaning toward the other businessman) and taken from a lower angle. Columbia started using the more familiar EMI photo in 1984 for their first CD issue and kept using it in subsequent reissues, the only exception being the " SBM MasterSound Collector's Edition". There are other, subtler differences in the artwork of the more commonly-found remastered CD: the naked female is clearly visible behind the veil in the LP artwork, but is almost completely obscured in the remastered CD booklet; the photo of the diver used in this booklet is larger, and shows more of the background salt formations; additional black-and-white photos of the band working in Abbey Road Studios were added to this booklet as well. A CD edition released overseas in 2000 coupled the album with the remastered ''Early Singles'' collection (first released as a bonus disc in the '' Shine On '' box set), using the original front cover art with the robotic handshake sticker (as one picture layer) and the burning man photo on the back of the CD booklet. The inlay of this booklet included the diver photo from Mono Lake and a photo not used elsewhere — a deserted beach with a caged schoolboy — and some notes on the cover art from one of the Hipgnosis artists who had overseen it. SYD BARRETT'S STUDIO VISIT According to drummer , but did not speak to him. Echoing Barrett's presence, Wright plays a subtle refrain from " See Emily Play " in the final seconds of the album. PRESS COVERAGE This happened twenty-eight years after the magazine initially panned and trashed the recording (which is not uncommon), when reviewer Ben Edmonds wrote in the November 6, 1975, issue that "Passion is everything of which Pink Floyd is devoid." In 1998, ''Q'' Magazine 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 1986, ''Slitz'' (at that point the leading pop/rock magazine of Sweden, with strong new wave/post-punk credibility) invited its readers to vote for the best produced rock album of all time. ''Wish You Were Here'' was voted #1 and ''Dark Side of the Moon'' #2. TRACK LISTING Original LP, cassette and CD Side one # " Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V) " ( David Gilmour , Roger Waters , Rick Wright ) – 13:31 # " Welcome To The Machine " (Waters) – 7:30 Side two # " Have A Cigar " (Waters) – 5:08 # " Wish You Were Here " (Gilmour, Waters) – 5:26 # " Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI-IX) " (Gilmour, Waters, Wright) – 12:28 8-track cartridge Program one # "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (parts 1–4 and intro of part 5) Program two # "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (conclusion of part 5)/"Welcome to the Machine"/"Have a Cigar" (part 1) Program three # "Have a Cigar" (conclusion)/"Wish You Were Here"/Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (intro to part 6) Program four # "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (remainder of part 6, parts 7–9) SINGLES
PERSONNEL
CHART AND SALES SUCCESS ''Wish You Were Here'' peaked at #1 on Billboard 's USA Pop Albums chart in October 1975 (dethroning Jefferson Starship 's '' Red Octopus '' from the top spot for two weeks before being unseated by John Denver 's '' Windsong '') and stayed on the charts for a year. The album has, to date, sold over 12 million copies (6 million in the USA). It was certified Gold on September 17 , 1975 in the US and as Sextuple Multiplatinum in the US on May 16 , 1997 by the R.I.A.A. Album QUOTES "I definitely think that at the "Wish You Were Here" recording sessions most of us didn't wish we were there at all, we wished we were somewhere else. I wasn't happy being there because I got the feeling we weren't together. The album is about none of us really being there, or being there only marginally. About our non-presence in the situation we had clung to through habit, and are still clinging to by through habit - being Pink Floyd." :- Roger Waters, Unidentified press article c.1977 "Wish You Were Here was a very good title for that album. I've often said what that album should have been called was Wish We Were Here because we weren't really." :– Roger Waters, July 1989, In the Studio with Redbeard for the making of The Wall. "It was a very difficult period I have to say. All your childhood dreams had been sort of realized and we had the biggest selling records in the world and all the things you got into it for. The girls and the money and the fame and all that stuff it was all...everything had sort of come our way and you had to reassess what you were in it for and it was a confusing and sort of empty time for awhile but...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," :– David Gilmour, December 1992, In the Studio with Redbeard for the making of Shine On (parts 1 and 2 aired in December of 1992) and In the Studio with Redbeard for the making of Wish You Were Here (first aired in September of 1995). "It's hard to say but it just happens to be the album for me that from the moment it starts 'til it finishes, it flows, the songs flow into each other and it just has a wonderful feeling in it". :– Richard Wright, March 1994, US World Premiere of The Division Bell with Redbeard and In the Studio with Redbeard for the making of Wish You Were Here (first aired in September of 1995). "The line sounds like a weak joke, but it used to be a fairly common question". :-Richard Wright commenting on the line "Oh by the way, which one's Pink?" in ''Have A Cigar''. From an interview cited in ''Pink Floyd - through the eyes of the band, its fans, friends and foes'', ed by Bruno MacDonald, Da Capo Books, N.Y.C. 1997. EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|