Music Banter - View Single Post - By the way, which one's Pink?-Pink Floyd reviewed

jackhammer · 03-30-2008, 05:48 PM

WISH YOU WERE HERE (1975)

How do you follow up the commercial and critical beast that was DSOTM? No mean feat considering it's success. Initial plans were for tracks such as Raving and Drooling to be included (which later became Dogs from the Animals album) but already Waters discontent with the music business was beginning to rear it's ugly head.

There was also a conscious decision to honour Syd Barrett, thus Shine On You Crazy Diamond was born and bookends the album with the track split over a 25 minute running time. The track has added poignancy due to Barrett turning up at the Abbey Road studios at the recording of Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

SOYCD has now become a staple in the Floyd's live set and is usually the set opener. The central guitar motif is recognisable to even the most casual fan, yet I actually prefer Part two. Although it is essentially a set of musical jams pinned together, it retains a little of what the band were in the first place: experimental, improvisational and (playing the music they want instead of what's expected of them).

Welcome To The Machine is the highlight on this album for me. Many people quote DSOTM as one of the finest produced albums ever. WTTM blows that out of the water. 33 years later it still sounds stunning. Listen to the track on the best quality A/V kit you possibly can and marvel at the soundscape. Utilising a synthesiser rythmn that replicates an industrial machine and sprinkled with a simple acoustic guitar riff that is still the best reproduction of said instrument ever and you have one of Floyd's most underated tracks.

Have A Cigar is lyrically brilliant and features the immortal line "by the way, which one's pink?". Which was supposedly uttered to them by a music executive early on in their career who actually thought that someone in the band was called Pink Floyd! It is also an unusual track in that it featured Roy Harper on vocals instead of any of the band members. Initially Waters was to complete vocal duties on the track but had strained his voice on tour. Gilmour did'nt like the harsh vocal style (?) so Harper who was recording at Abbey Road at the time performed guest vocal duties. It is strange figuring out Gilmours reticence on this track as the end solo work is some of his best work for Floyd.

Wish You Were Here is a simple acoustic ballad greatly enhanced with possibly Waters most complete lyrics ever. "we are two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl" is one of my favourite lyrics ever. Unfortunately this introspection from Waters could be seen as an early terminal seed of destruction from Waters.

The production on WYWH is faultless yet it feels slightly sterile in SOYCD (Part One) and it's only when Gilmour kicks back in Have A Cigar or Wright glides on WYWH that you can appreciate the organic quality of a band that seems so desperate to get back to basics, yet are caught in the machinations of commercialism. Welcome To The Machine has never sounded so apt.

Welcome To The Machine:

03-30-2008, 05:48 PM	#34 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	WISH YOU WERE HERE (1975) How do you follow up the commercial and critical beast that was DSOTM? No mean feat considering it's success. Initial plans were for tracks such as Raving and Drooling to be included (which later became Dogs from the Animals album) but already Waters discontent with the music business was beginning to rear it's ugly head. There was also a conscious decision to honour Syd Barrett, thus Shine On You Crazy Diamond was born and bookends the album with the track split over a 25 minute running time. The track has added poignancy due to Barrett turning up at the Abbey Road studios at the recording of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. SOYCD has now become a staple in the Floyd's live set and is usually the set opener. The central guitar motif is recognisable to even the most casual fan, yet I actually prefer Part two. Although it is essentially a set of musical jams pinned together, it retains a little of what the band were in the first place: experimental, improvisational and (playing the music they want instead of what's expected of them). Welcome To The Machine is the highlight on this album for me. Many people quote DSOTM as one of the finest produced albums ever. WTTM blows that out of the water. 33 years later it still sounds stunning. Listen to the track on the best quality A/V kit you possibly can and marvel at the soundscape. Utilising a synthesiser rythmn that replicates an industrial machine and sprinkled with a simple acoustic guitar riff that is still the best reproduction of said instrument ever and you have one of Floyd's most underated tracks. Have A Cigar is lyrically brilliant and features the immortal line "by the way, which one's pink?". Which was supposedly uttered to them by a music executive early on in their career who actually thought that someone in the band was called Pink Floyd! It is also an unusual track in that it featured Roy Harper on vocals instead of any of the band members. Initially Waters was to complete vocal duties on the track but had strained his voice on tour. Gilmour did'nt like the harsh vocal style (?) so Harper who was recording at Abbey Road at the time performed guest vocal duties. It is strange figuring out Gilmours reticence on this track as the end solo work is some of his best work for Floyd. Wish You Were Here is a simple acoustic ballad greatly enhanced with possibly Waters most complete lyrics ever. "we are two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl" is one of my favourite lyrics ever. Unfortunately this introspection from Waters could be seen as an early terminal seed of destruction from Waters. The production on WYWH is faultless yet it feels slightly sterile in SOYCD (Part One) and it's only when Gilmour kicks back in Have A Cigar or Wright glides on WYWH that you can appreciate the organic quality of a band that seems so desperate to get back to basics, yet are caught in the machinations of commercialism. Welcome To The Machine has never sounded so apt. Welcome To The Machine: __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”