Sublime Floyd. Review on Wish you were here - Pink Floyd

Wish you were here, is one of the most poignant of the Floyd albums. It is dedicated to Syd Barret, once the heart and soul of Pink Floyd, who gave them a psychedelic identity. Syd was addicted to LSD and that addiction proved out to be his downfall. But the enigmatic genius of Syd had already charted out the early path of the band. Much of their (early) post Syd work is still distinctively influenced by the Syd-era.

The album is remembered mainly due to the long guitar solos in Shine on you crazy diamond, and of course, the title song, which is the most touching Floyd song, ever. Shine on, is really a masterpiece, with simple and meaningful lyrics ( You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon..), and probably their second best guitar solos. Just thinking about it takes me to another world. Ideally Shine On should be listened to with your eyes closed, and in total dark.

Speaking of lyrics, Wish you were here, is the best. ( And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?..). The song got me hooked on to Pink Floyd, even though, it's really not a typical PF song. With minimal instruments, and a steely voice of Gilmour (I'm glad that Waters didn't sing this, although I have a very high regard for his singing abilities -- it's just that Gilmour's voice suites the requirements here ideally), it reaches straight into your soul.

In a sense, Wish you were here is an almost normal Floyd album (Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?). It has some pleasant sounds, and rarely a trace of their self-indulgent psychedelic repertoire. Plus, it is pretty much an overtly emotional album. Pink Floyd purists might just scorn at it, if not for the deep trances Shine On could take you into. As if to please their die-hard fans, Welcome to the Machine has the usual Floyd gimmicks, albeit too much. Have a Cigar, which is otherwise ordinary, has a rare smoothness to it.

All in all, it has something or the other for everybody. I'd recommend it even as an entry point to the Floyd.. If the barrier needs to be broken, this is a soft barrier.