Review Summary: The perfect album, an instant classic, and an album that will change everything you think you know about music.
This is my second review on this site and I decided to shoot for the moon and attempt to tackle a classic album. I didn't want to do a standard review as there are 15+ on here, I more wanted to hit on my experience with album and how it has shaped my music choices.
Where to begin, when I was just an 18 year old kid listening to
Led Zeppelin,
The Rolling Stones, and
Aerosmith I made friends with a huge Pink Floyd fan. I didn't exactly understand it and never was a huge fan of Pink Floyd having only heard a few radio tracks and never actually listened to an album. This was the first Pink Floyd album I ever listened to and I haven't looked back since. I now own 8 PF albums and have seen Roger Waters perform Dark Side of The Moon (2007 I believe) and The Wall (2012) live. I have been blown away by Pink Floyd and would now consider them in my top 3 bands of all time. This album is likely my favorite album of all time. It is, in my opinion, a perfect album. Only 5 tracks and 2 of them take up over 26 minutes of the 44 minute album. That track is "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", a track written about ex-singer Syd Barrett. The song is a 26 minute song that is mostly instrumental and it begins nice and slow just teasing you with soft controlled sounds and building up slowly to what was about to come. This being the first Pink Floyd song I had ever truly listened to I was immediately intrigued, I remember thinking "what is this? Two minutes in to the song and no lyrics, what is happening?" I was blown away, it was beautiful what I was hearing. Shine On You Crazy Diamond, to this day, is what I consider the quintessential Pink Floyd song. I don't want to dig to deeply into this because there are a ton of reviews on this site that show the beauty of this song.
The next 2 songs really target the music industry. "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar", both tracks are, for lack of a better word, quirky. The music behind the lyrics is catchy and very different then the tone of the rest of the CD. It's almost as if they wanted to give your brain a break from the epic opening track and what you were about to experience on the last two tracks.
"Wish You Were Here", the title track begins after "Have a Cigar". It is the reason for the whole album. It is a heartfelt rock track that can be used in almost any setting and we have all heard it and thought of someone before that is no longer with you and you wish they were (Corny-Alert). My favorite line from any Pink Floyd song ever is in that song, "We are just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl", that friend that introduced PF to me is the person I immediately think of everytime this song comes on. I haven't seen the person in over two years because he decided to fight for our country so this album will always have a special place in my heart. The final track is the finale of Shine On You Crazy Diamond. The finale is a little heavier than the opening track but still the same theme and awesomeness.
If you haven't heard this album, do yourself a favor and listen to it. Also, if you haven't heard this what the f$%k have you been doing with your life?
