Punk Floyd - Wish You Were Here


Is Wish You Were Here my favorite Pink Floyd album? It certainly could be, but not because i agree with Gilmour's feeling that Dark Side Of The Moon lacked the musical "magic" its ideas deserved. I'll also argue that the concept means something different for the band and the listener. For the band, Wish You Were Here is about a dichotomy, the critique of the business of music and the missing Syd are separate things happening at the same time. For the listener, however, we can plainly hear that they are one singular problem. 

Absolutely, i'm unfairly psychoanalizing the band, but we're right smack in the middle of Waters's bipolar pendulum swing toward mania. After all, it's not Waters wishing Syd was there, it's Gilmour wishing Syd was there in the form of an overarching 9-part meditation on rememberance. No, he didn't really want it to structure the entire album the way it does, but i don't think you can argue with the result. Post Syd Barret Pink Floyd is two terrible Wright albums, a couple soundtracks, Roger becoming a complete lunatic, and Gilmour just trying to keep the ship sailing in any direction that vaguely resembles forward. The band had a life of its own, regardless of how any of its members felt at the time. At the moment they all clearly feel lost and a fair bit cynical. 

And funky, i totally forgot how downright funky Have A Cigar Is. Fascinating choice; the funk doesn't represent the sleaze of business happening around them, Funk is the sarcastic reaction to the sleaze, but it completely loses that meaning as an out of context radio single. 

I don't think it's all that surprising that it received little critical affection at the time, or for quite a while afterward. It's not an immediately understandable album. Dark Side Of The Moon, however you feel about it, is immediately understandable. Likewise, The Wall. Wish You Were Here, though, can be a tough nut to crack. It presents itself as an EP, but gradually becomes a complex concept album as it unfolds. 

Nuance. Possibly more than any other Pink Floyd album, Wish You Were Here is an album built almost entirely out of nuance. Give it a spin with fresh ears, i think you'll be surprised.

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