The Lead-In
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd — album cover
№ 50 of 100

Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd · 1975 · Rock

Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd (1975), № 50 in The Lead-In’s 100 greatest albums. Pink Floyd grieve Syd Barrett by writing him a forty-four minute letter. 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' is the most generous farewell rock has ever recorded.

Pink Floyd's ninth album. Recorded at Abbey Road in 1975. A tribute to Syd Barrett and a critique of the music industry.

Released
September 12, 1975
Label
Harvest (UK) · Columbia (US)
Producer(s)
Pink Floyd
Runtime
44:11 (5 tracks)
Chart peak (US)
#1 (Billboard 200, 2 weeks)
Chart peak (UK)
#1 (Record Retailer, 4 weeks)
Certifications
6× Platinum (RIAA); 13M units globally
Awards & honours
Library of Congress National Recording Registry (2017); ranked #167 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums (2020); often cited by the band as their personal favorite

Pink Floyd's follow-up to The Dark Side of the Moon. Recorded at Abbey Road in January-July 1975. The album that the band's members have often cited as their personal favorite.

After the commercial success of The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Pink Floyd had toured continuously through 1974. By early 1975 they reconvened at Abbey Road to record the follow-up. The album was conceived around two themes: a tribute to former bandmate Syd Barrett (who had left the band in 1968 due to mental health issues) and a critique of the music industry.

During the recording sessions in June 1975, Syd Barrett unexpectedly visited Abbey Road. He had changed dramatically, shaved his head and eyebrows, gained significant weight. The band did not initially recognize him. The visit was deeply unsettling for the band and is documented in band interviews ever since.

The album's five tracks bookend with the two parts of 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' (a 26-minute composition split across the album), with 'Welcome to the Machine,' 'Have a Cigar' (featuring Roy Harper on vocals), and 'Wish You Were Here' between them.

Wish You Were Here belongs at number fifty because it is the album the band considers their personal masterpiece. The title track has become one of the most-covered rock songs in the canon.

Pressing guide — the one to own

The 1975 UK first pressing is on Harvest, catalog SHVL 814, in a gatefold sleeve. It originally shipped sealed in opaque black shrink-wrap bearing a circular sticker of two mechanical hands shaking; the burning-man handshake itself is the cover image. A jagged-edged diving-man postcard (printed with SHVL 814) and a side-opening die-cut lyric inner are first-issue markers, and the earliest labels credit 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part 5)' to Waters-Gilmour-Wright. The canonical earliest matrix is A-1 / B-3.

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