Wish You Were Here - A Flawed Diamond

As Pink Floyd’s 1975 opus Wish You Were Here gets its obligatory 50^th anniversary re-release, I feel duty-bound to reflect that I've always been ambivalent about it.

It's undeniably an outstanding record in parts. Sonically, an advance on its predecessor, Dark Side Of The Moon, and containing two absolute Floyd classics in Shine On You Crazy Diamond and the title track.

I've just never warmed to the rest of it, despite the fact that I saw them perform it live twice in the mid-1970s and again 20 years later.

By 1974, having produced the aforementioned Dark Side - their masterpiece – and hit the big time, the members of Pink Floyd were in a bit of a bind. The record company wanted more product. The band freely admit they struggled coming to terms with having peaked creatively and commercially. Roger Waters especially, began to feel like he was being treated as a commodity to be exploited. 

Live at Wembley Arena, November 1974

In the course of working up new material and road testing it on tour in 1974, they came up with three new songs. It was clear that a cynical mood had descended.

"You gotta keep everyone buying this shit"
– lyrics from ‘You Gotta Be Crazy’, one of the new songs.

It’s well documented that Waters, as the chief lyricist and conceptualist, was increasingly at odds with David Gilmour over the material and arrangements. Having written all the lyrics for Dark Side Of The Moon, the sessions for Wish You Were Here mark the point at which Waters pushed for even greater control.  

Of the songs being developed for what would become Wish You Were Here - Shine On You Crazy Diamond, You Gotta Be Crazy and Raving and Drooling - only the first one would make the cut. Despite Gilmour’s protestations, the latter two were held over, used in slightly different form on the 1977 album Animals. 

Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Waters' tribute to the Floyd's fallen leader, Syd Barrett - was certainly the most impressive of the new songs I heard when I saw them at Wembley's Empire Pool in November 1974.

In its early form, in those 1974 live shows, the four note guitar figure, the chiming signature motif at the start of the song, was already well on the way to being iconic. In the studio, the band and the engineers took it to another level.

Gilmour recording the Shine On riff in Studio 1 

The Floyd recorded mostly in Studio 3, the smaller of the studios at Abbey Road. To gain maximum ambience for Gilmour's iconic guitar figure, the engineers had his amps placed in the cavernous Studio 1, where Sir Edward Elgar had recorded many of his orchestral classics. 

Waters wanted the next album to have a thematic core, based around the  concept of isolation, the loss of friends and family. Shine On You Crazy Diamond was a heart-felt plea to a talented former colleague, brain-damaged and sidelined owing to his over-indulgence in LSD. The music more than does that tribute justice. It's a sad, mournful tune at times, but with a hopeful message, and stands as one of the top 5 Floyd tracks ever recorded. 

The song Wish You Were Here would also be in many people's top 5. Its universality is a stroke of genius. A simple guitar riff and words inspired by the loss of Waters' father in WW2 (not forgetting his grandfather who died in the Great War) and his friend Syd. But the lyric can be appreciated by everyone.

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell?
Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange, a walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
Running over the same old ground, what have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here

lyrics © Roger Waters Music Overseas Ltd, Pink Floyd Music Publishers Ltd

The sessions at Abbey Road in 1975 were made all the more poignant by the strange episode of Syd Barrett's unexpected appearance. Fat, bald and with no eyebrows, he went unrecognised for a while; truly a stranger in their midst. Realising it was him must have been quite upsetting for them. 

The reason for Syd's visit was never fully explained and that was the last time some of them ever saw him. A tragic conclusion to their lives together and confirmation that the Syd they knew was gone, never to return.  

Waters' other main theme for the album was the sense of being manipulated by the system; reflective of Roger's sense that as a band they were now just "riding the gravy train".

The early lyrics to You Gotta Be Crazy (renamed Dogs on the Animals album) indicated a dark sarcasm already prevalent in the classroom.

Lyric page from '74 tour program

"You gotta keep climbing, you gotta keep fit, you gotta keep smiling, you gotta eat shit".

Although that seems fairly consistent with the 'riding the gravy train' sentiments expressed on WYWH, Waters was adamant You Gotta Be Crazy didn’t fit with his concept for the album. Having got his way, Waters then delivered Have A Cigar and Welcome To The Machine. This is where I start to have issues.

I like Roy Harper and he does a great job on Have A Cigar in conveying the insincerity and cynicism of a certain type of record business executive. But it's that very cynicism that makes the track so unedifying for me. The "by the way, which one's Pink?" line fits well, but only adds to the dark sarcasm at the root of the song.

Waters and Gilmour fought over the inclusion of Harper’s vocal and on this occasion Gilmour prevailed. Roger Waters dislikes the vocal to this day, saying Harper laid the smarminess on too thick. 

The tune itself is charmless, and this mood of relentless cynicism is compounded by Welcome To The Machine, a clear indication of where Pink Floyd's music would go on their next two albums, Animals and The Wall.

One of Scarfe's images for
Welcome To The Machine

Enhanced in their live shows by the nightmarish visualisations of Gerald Scarfe, Welcome To The Machine is a doom-laden dirge, sonically brilliant but not remotely uplifting lyrically or melodically.

Which was the point, I suppose, and I think this is my issue with the album. I have always found it hard to empathise with Waters’ protestations that he was now a slave to the music business – a business that had supported him and the band for several years in the late 60s and early 70s when Pink Floyd were noodling about looking for a fresh direction, after their initial success with Syd.  

The contrast with Dark Side Of The Moon is striking - there's an empathy behind the cod philosophy of Water's lyrics on their 1973 masterwork. But by 1975, there was only despair and rage. Woe is me, I'm a millionaire rock star tied to a life of mass adulation and million-selling albums (regardless of their quality). 

So, for me, Wish You Were Here is a good album, but not their masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination.

I'll be checking out the new mixes of Shine On You Crazy Diamond, though. That's definitely worth a listen. 

Here's the full audio of the Pink Floyd show at Wembley Empire Pool in November 1974
Starts off with everyone's first hearing of Shine On You Crazy Diamond and continues with Dark Side of the Moon, in full and an encore of Echoes. What a treat, and I was there. 

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Also On This Blog:
Pink Floyd On Tour in 1974 and 1977

Reviewing Pink Floyd at the V&A: Their Mortal Remains

March 1973 - 'Dark Side of the Moon' enters the charts https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2018/11/march-1973-dark-side-of-moon-enters.html?m=1

Vegetable Man - Syd Barrett's last Floyd recordings

Reviewing Pink Floyd at the V&A: Their Mortal Remains

We don't need no Edu-cayshun

The enduring nature of classic rock music and its connection with popular culture is reassuring for an aging hippy like me. While my kids may mock a lot of the Dad Rock I still listen to, they do actually listen to it of their own accord and with open ears. That's what brings us to London's Victoria & Albert Museum to see the exhibition Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains. It was my daughter's idea, so I'm curious to know what she will make of it, especially the early stuff. 

As we enter the exhibition, headphones up high, we are transported into the world of the 1960s, passing into a psychedelic subterranean scene, with exhibits from the band's earliest days, including examples of Syd Barrett's art and writing. Even for a seasoned Floyd fan such as I, there are some fascinating exhibits and each phase of the band's career (especially the classic period) is brought to life with dramatic set-pieces, interviews and live footage.

Syd Barrett's guitars from 1967

Nick Mason's drumkit from 1974

Throughout, we get to see the actual instruments used during their career, including Syd's mirrored Telecaster, Rick Wright's various primitive electric pianos and Nick Mason's tsunami double bass drum kit. Naturally, Dave Gilmour's guitar playing features prominently throughout the exhibition, including the finale.

If you weren't familiar with the arc of their career, you might miss the significance of the developments that led to The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here. The demise of Syd due to his over-indulgence in LSD and the band's fragmented journey to their second wind in the 1970s are rather glossed over, which is a shame because these are important aspects of the story. But there are illuminating interviews with Waters and Gilmour scattered around to keep the narrative going.

The role of Hipgnosis is highlighted through their cover art, with an infinity mirror used to particularly good effect to accentuate the impact of the Ummagumma cover image from 1969.

Ummagumma to infinity

Since Dark Side is such a pivotal album, and an image that resonates even for my daughter's generation, the making of the record is at the centre of the exhibition. Again, the technology they used is on show and the band members describe how the recording developed. There are also candid photos from the sessions. We then pass into a room with a 3-D depiction of the pyramid prism image, while The Great Gig In The Sky plays through the 'phones.

The increasingly dark nature of the Floyd's album concepts and lyrics around the time of Animals and The Wall is explained in the context of the social and cultural changes that occurred in the 1970s, particularly in the UK with punk rock and the economic blight that ushered in Thatcherism. The set pieces include giant stage-size versions of the Gerald Scarfe characters from the Wall, a recreation of Battersea Power Station and the flying pig, plus various other props from the Animals tour.

A contact sheet from the Animals cover shoot at Battersea Power Station

For me, post The Wall, there is little of the Floyd's music that grabs me in the same way their classic 1960s and 70s albums and shows did. I was lucky enough to see them playing Dark Side, Wish You Were Here and Animals live in the 70s, topped off typically by an encore of Echoes from Meddle. Nonetheless, the Gilmour-led Floyd era is handled well and there is a touching section just before the end dedicated to the Rick Wright tribute album, The Endless River, which is my daughter's favourite.

The final room is an immersive 3-D effect experience with screens on all four walls showing the reformed original band's last performance together at Live-8. You are welcome to sit, lie down or just stand and watch as the band plays Comfortably Numb. It's a fitting way to end an absorbing show. (if you find this clip is unavailable for copyright reasons, there are other similar ones to be found on youtube).

It's difficult for me to assess what a young person or someone unfamiliar with the Floyd would make of it. I would like to have seen them go into more detail on the early phases and explore the music in more depth. But I'm pleased to say my daughter wasn't overawed by it. Even though I'm sure a lot of the earlier experimental stuff was not to her taste, she picked up a lot of cultural references from the exhibition. She seemed genuinely interested in the Floyd's story and eager to understand their place in the history of classic rock music.

IF YOU LIKE MY BLOG, PLEASE HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON ON THE SIDE PANEL THANKS

ALSO ON THIS BLOG:

Pink Floyd - On tour in 1974 and 1977

March 1973 - 'Dark Side of the Moon' enters the charts

Wish You Were Here - A Flawed Diamond

Vegetable Man - Syd Barrett's last Floyd recordings

 

Vegetable Man - where are you?

(NOTE: Since I wrote this, it has been announced that a new boxed set of early Floyd material is being made available, including Vegetable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream. All you need is a spare $550!)

Also please note that this blog post has been taken down twice by the service provider under threat of copyright infringement. So if the links don't work, that is why.
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In this age, when any well-known artist's every last demo and throw-away has been dredged up for completist fans to pore over, it remains astonishing to me that there was never an official release of Syd Barrett's last recordings as the leader of Pink Floyd. 

After all this time, why not let those fans who might be interested have a listen?

Vegetable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream were both readied for release in 1967, but were rejected by the record company for being too strange and uncommercial.
 
As anyone who has heard them will probably agree, they are indeed raw and somewhat unhinged, but so is 'I Am The Walrus' and that didn't do too badly. Syd's final songs for the Floyd are, regardless of their commercial appeal, an important part of the band's history, illustrating Syd’s state of mind as his excessive LSD intake tipped him over the edge.

The Pink Floyd, as they were known at first

The songs could only have been written by Barrett. Like his earlier material on The Piper At The Gates of Dawn, they reflect a peculiar attitude to the craft of songwriting. Even without the drugs, his songs were oddly formed, combining nursery rhyme lyrics, the 'psychedelic' sounds of the time and added bars where the lyrics didn't scan properly.

It worked - on that first album at least - because the band believed in Syd and encouraged producer Norman Smith to deliver on Syd's Edward Lear-on-acid vision. Meanwhile, The Beatles were in the studio along the corridor at Abbey Road recording their own psychedelic masterpiece, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

After the success of See Emily Play in 1967, the Floyd's management put pressure on Syd, as the principal songwriter, to come up with more hit singles. But Syd's perspective had been warped by his acid intake, and his idea of what would make a good single was a little challenging. 

Spiced with generous helpings of LSD, he wrote Vegetable Man. Was her referring to himself? Or was he just taking the piss out of the need to follow fashion?

In yellow shoes I get the blues
Though I walk the streets with my plastic feet
With my blue velvet trousers, make me feel pink
There's a kind of stink about blue velvet trousers
In my paisley shirt I look a jerk
And my turquoise waistcoat is quite out of sight
But oh oh my haircut looks so bad
Vegetable man where are you?

So I've changed my gear, and I find my knees,
And I covered them up with the latest cut,
And my pants and socks all point in a box,
They don't make long of my nylon socks,
The watch, black watch
My watch with a black face
And a big pin, a little hole,
And all the lot is what I got,
It's what I wear, it's what you see,
It must be me, it's what I am,
Vegetable man

Syd was by this time, October 1967, losing his grip

Syd's increasingly erratic LSD-fuelled behaviour became intolerable for the rest of group. At one concert, it is said he mixed the oily hair ointment Brylcreem over his head to make it look like his head was melting under the stage lights.

Joe Boyd, who produced their first single, Arnold Layne, told how Syd passed him on the way into the UFO club one night, with eyes like impenetrable pools of blackness, a sign of just how far gone he was.

You can see the difference in his appearance in the second part of this See Emily Play clip (3 minutes in) where they are playing Apples and Oranges on the Dick Clark Show in the US. So the story goes, when they were taping one TV show in the US, he refused to move his mouth.

The writing was on the wall for the end of Syd's tenure, when EMI declined to release Vegetable Man or Scream Thy Last Scream as a single. It must have been clear to the band they could not carry on as they were. They were all still very young and inexperienced. More mature heads may have been more sympathetic to Syd, whose mental problems were all too real. 

They claim they didn't actually fire Syd and that bringing in Dave Gilmour wasn't an attempt to force him out. But after yet another night when he was unable or unwilling to perform, they just decided not to pick him up on the way to the next  gig, and that was the end of it.

And they moved on. It's possible the other members of Pink Floyd did not want to see Syd's last songs released. They are a document of one very talented man's descent into madness - as Gilmour said "never to return".

On the other hand, if it's acceptable to dredge up those last desperate recordings of Nick Drake, to reveal the dark despair of a song like Black-Eyed Dog, then I think it's equally valid for the world to hear Syd's last recordings with the Floyd, tracks that reveal not just his mental state, but the culmination of a musical journey.

For me anyway, there was an artistic statement being made here by Syd, however perverse. The band must have been in on it too, because both these tracks are essentially finished items. Acetates were made ready for the single's release. They also recorded a version of Vegetable Man for a BBC session in December 1967.

Syd post-Floyd, couldn't sustain his musical talent

There's no mistaking the psychotic whimsy here - it's the work of someone on the edge of madness; completely uncommercial and obviously for those close to Syd, too raw to be released, ever.

That's the strangest thing, though, for me. After all this time, when compilation after compilation was released, at great expense for the Floyd completists, the release of these tracks was never considered.

Really, no history of Pink Floyd could ever be complete until Vegetable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream take their rightful place in the collected works.

Psychedelic Light Show at UFO, 1967 

IF YOU LIKE MY BLOG, PLEASE HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON ON THE SIDE PANEL
THANKS

Also On This Blog:

Wish You Were Here - A Flawed Diamond 

Pink Floyd On Tour - 1974 and 1977

Reviewing Pink Floyd at the V&A: Their Mortal Remains

March 1973 - 'Dark Side of the Moon' enters the charts

LIFE Magazine reports on the 'New Far-Out Beatles' - June 1967