All-Time Albums: #84

PINK FLOYD Wish You Were Here
(1975)

1 Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part 1) 13:33
2 Welcome To The Machine 7:26
3 Have A Cigar 5:07
4 Wish You Were Here 5:40
5 Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part 2) 12:21

 

Following Dark Side Of The Moon was bound to be a thankless task, as its popularity continued to cast a shadow over the rest of Floyd’s 1970s output. It’s a bit of a Sgt. Pepper vs Revolver thing, though; as seminal as Dark Side was, and remains, there’s a good case to be made for Wish You Were Here as the superior record.

I came late to Pink Floyd, via the post-Roger Waters 1987 comeback A Momentary Lapse Of Reason in fact. Waters might deem that album a very clever forgery, but I love it. The older stuff held no interest for me though, even then.

In the ’90s, I got the 20th Anniversary release of Dark Side Of The Moon, and The Division Bell sounded extremely good to me. Come the 21st Century, I got more into the whole catalogue (the early Syd Barret psychedelic stuff isn’t really my bag, mind) and this was the one which became my favourite. Shine On You Crazy Diamond is a top-drawer Floyd classic, obviously, and the title track has become one now as well.