Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (High Resolution Remasters) (1975/2017)

For any band to follow up on a success is not an easy task, and even in the best circumstances, coming back from the massive success of "Dark side of the moon" could have been an impossible task for Pink Floyd . Unfortunately, when they returned to the studio in January 1975, conditions were far from favorable within the group, for various reasons, in particular the fact that, after having adapted their lives to their worldwide success, the members of the group found themselves more disoriented than satisfied. The problem was made worse by a growing disconnect between bassist Roger Waters and the rest of Pink Floyd, especially guitarist David Gilmour.

"We all had to assess what we were doing in this project," said Gilmour in the 2012 documentary, the story of "Wish you were here". "Whether we are artists or businessmen, having succeeded in obtaining the necessary success and the necessary money, that could answer the wildest dreams of teenagers. Why would we continue to want to do it? Roger had already said that he thought we were done by then, and he may have been right. "

It also didn't help, when drummer Nick Mason said in a separate interview filmed for a documentary, that the band did not have exactly the equipment they needed for the next album. After having spent years spinning in a cycle of tours and recordings, they fell back on the album "Dark Side Of The Moon", more precisely on some demos written during this period, basic, devoid of frills, and that had been rejected.

The songs in question, "Raving and Drooling" and "You gotta Be Crazy", were excised from the album after a disagreement between Waters and Gilmour, caused by Waters who felt that the songs they had did not go together towards something coherent. In his opinion, it was better to develop a particular track - entitled "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" - in a context that would have essentially defined the rest of the disc. As Waters later revealed, the song was largely inspired by the heartbreaking exile of the group's founding guitarist and first leader, Syd Barrett.

"I've never read a smart article about Syd Barrett in a magazine, never," said Waters in Mark Blake's book "Comfortably Numb - The Story of Pink Floyd Seen From Inside". I wrote and rewrote these lyrics because I wanted them to be as close as possible to what I was feeling. There is a feeling of truth in this room. This kind of indefinable and inevitable melancholy about Syd's departure. He has drifted so far that he is no longer there today. "

Waters’s feelings about Barrett’s absence could have applied, to some extent, to the rest of Pink Floyd. "Nobody really looked into each other's eyes" admitted Waters, "Everything was very mechanical".

"It was a disengagement," conceded Gilmour. "He was unwilling to put enough pressure on us. There were many times when many of us might be more interested in thinking about what we would do on the weekends […] The concentrated activity was pretty watered down, and I'm sure for someone like Roger, c "was more frustrating than anyone else, even if it was very frustrating for all of us, I guess."

Thus, preoccupied with feelings of alienation and disillusionment, the members of the group - mainly trained by Waters - have concocted a set of songs built around absence, starting with the withdrawal of their friend Barrett and arising from disappointment growing they had felt in the middle of the recording. Barrett himself made an unexpected appearance in the studio, he had changed so much that band members didn't recognize him at the time.

Drummer Nick Mason, for example, later remembered Barrett, looking like a fat guy, shaved head, carrying an old decrepit pimp in a plastic bag. Synth player Rick Wright recalled a sad ending to the surprise visit from their former leader: Syd got up and said, "Okay, when do I start playing the guitar? and of course he didn't have a guitar with him. We replied "Sorry Syd, the guitar session is over".

A group dissension over a song from the album, titled "Have A Cigar" was such that it ended up being sung by a member outside the group. After Waters and Gilmour tried and failed to get the vocal level required for their sarcastic ode, They ended up turning to singer Roy Harper, who shared the studio with them and was in the room one day when they were struggling to find a solution.

"Roger can write songs, but he will never be in the top 100 as a rock singer," said Harper. "He tries, however, he's a good boy. Anyway, none of them could do it. I just stood in the back, leaning against a machine and laughing, I said, "I'm going to sing it for you", and someone said "ok" and I said "it will be paying ”.

After being boxed in the summer of 1975, and after agreeing on an evocative cover design by the legendary Storm Thorgerson, the members of Pink Floyd sent out their ninth studio album titled "Wish You Were Here", to their production box with a David Gilmour and a Roger Waters who are particularly unhappy with their collaboration. Scheduled for September 12, it was one of the most anticipated albums of 1975.
Not that Pink Floyd had acted as an abandonment of their product, but in fact, their only concession to the promotional machine was a single live concert, recorded at the Los Angeles Sport Arena in the spring of 1975, which was broadcast in series to major majors just before the support tour reserved for "Wish You Were Here". The full set, which still included "Raving And Drooling" and "You Gotta Be Crazy", also included a long "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" as well as "Have A Cigar", "Echoes", and "Dark Side Of The Moon - as well as a growing list of special effects that now included expensive and unpredictable pyrotechnics.

Despite inevitably mixed reviews, "Wish You Were Here" reached the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, and although it could not hope to match the gargantuan sales of "Dark Side Of The Moon", it was a substantial success in its own right, selling more than six million copies in the United States alone. And while the Floyd machine would continue to produce albums on a regular basis in the near future - starting with "Animals" (1977), which would include the wanted but abandoned titles of "Raving And Drolling" and "You Gotta Be Crazy" - despite that, Waters was already focused on writing "The Wall" and began to talk about his possible departure from the group, as he pointed out in "The Inside Story of Pink Floyd". Even the biggest sales figures cannot compensate for a creative dysfunction.

"The dream" according to Waters in a shrug, "Is it when you are successful, when you are a star, that everything will be fine, that everything will be wonderfully fine. That’s the dream - and everyone knows it’s just a void. ”

Tracklist
Disc 1
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-9)
2. Welcome To The Machine
3. Have A Cigar
4. Wish You Were Here (Live 8 Version)
5. In The Studio With Redbeard - Interview

Disc 2
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part 1) (French Single Edit)
2. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Promo Single)
3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (1981 Edit Version)
4. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (UK Short Version)
5. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (US Short Version)
6. Shine On You Crazy Diamond ("Storm" Mix)
7. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Mixing Session)
8. Shine On You Crazy Diamond ("Hitchhiker's Guide To Galaxy" Radio Show)

Disc 3
1. Have A Cigar (Short Version - Italian Single Edit)
2. Have A Cigar (Stereo US Single)
3. Have A Cigar (Mono US Promo Single)
4. Have A Cigar (Roger & David Version)
5. Wish You Were Here (Mixing Sessions Breakdown)
6. Wish You Were Here (Stephane Grappelli Version)
7. Wish You Were Here (Backing Vocal Isolated)
8. David Gilmour On Wish You Were Here - Interview
9. Nick Mason On Wish You Were Here - Interview
10. David Gilmour Explains Wish You Were Here
11. Wish You Were Here (Roger Waters Solo Version)

Disc 4
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5)
2. Welcome To The Machine
3. Have A Cigar
4. Wish You Were Here
5. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6-9)