Before I begin, I am going to start updating my old Epinions since they were pathetic. So here is the first of my new updated Epinions and I hope you enjoy it.

Wish You Were Here is undoubtedly one of, if not, the best Pink Floyd album! It is great from start to finish. After listening to Dark Side of the Moon, I wondered how wish you were here would sound like and I have to admit, after hearing this album, I was amazed by the musical quality of the album.

Before I begin, I will start off by listing the band members, other musicians used and the song order of the album:

Band Members:
David Gilmour - Guitar, Vocals
Roger Waters - Bass, Vocals
Nick Mason - Drums
Richard Wright - Keyboards/Synthesizers

Other musicians used:
Dick Parry - Tenor Saxophone in Shine on You Crazy Diamond Part V
Roy Harper - Vocals in Have a Cigar
Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams - Backing Vocals in Shine on You Crazy Diamond

The Song Order
Shine on You Crazy Diamond (parts I-V)
Welcome to the Machine
Have a Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Shine on You Crazy Diamond (parts VI-IX)

So what is special about this album? Well I will go through each song and analyze the musical quality in each of them:

First, we hear silence. The silence is suddenly broken by synthesizers and this starts off Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts I - V). This song is a tribute to Pink Floyd's former lead guitarist, Syd Barrett, who was dismissed from the band because of his drug habits. This is shown in the songs lyrics, which are presented very beautifully by Roger Waters. These are backed up by fantastic harmonies from the band's members and some backing vocals from Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams. However, the lyrics do not come in until a good 8 minutes into the song, so you might be wondering, what is in the first 8 minutes of this song? Well, the first part of this song is filled with keyboard solos from Wright's keyboards and some phenomenal guitar work from David Gilmour. Waters' bass and Nick Mason's drums take a back seat in this song, and they act simply to complete the full Pink Floyd sound, a sound that is so unique that it is hard to describe. The song then finishes with a very complex, yet pleasant sounding saxophone solo from Parry, which fades into the next song, Welcome to the Machine.

The first minute of Welcome to the Machine is very...strange, if you want to put it nicely. This starts off with the keyboard producing machine-like sounds. This is, however, done very well and it's evident that this song is related to machines. The lyrics are very oddly written, but I am still convinced that this song is about how machines will eventually take over the world (that's what I think!). Despite that, the harmonies between Gilmour and Waters are amazing here and work perfectly well. Between every line in the verse, we hear the keyboards punching out these machine-like effects, something Pink Floyd is best known for. We ocassionally here Gilmour's guitar, but the guitar only strums out chords and the bass backs the guitar up. There is one thing: Mason's drums are not anywhere to be heard, but I thought that Pink Floyd deliberately did this as an experiment. The song ends very strangely with some footsteps and you wonder what is coming next.

We then suddenly hear a guitar and bass playing the riff of Have a Cigar. The tightness of Waters and Gilmour's bass and guitar is superbly done. We also soon here Mason's drums pounding out various complex rhythms. Soon after that, we hear the keyboards come in and this plays the same thing both the guitar and the bass are playing. The way they flow together is just simply amazing. But there is one thing about this song: this is not sung by anyone in Pink Floyd (this is proven by the line, The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which one's Pink?). The lyrics are sung by Roy Harper. This song is basically about the music business and Harper does a good job in presenting the lyrics. Although many bands like the Foo Fighters have tried to do a cover for this song, the original is definitely the best version out there.

At the end of the song, we hear a radio being adjusted and soon after we hear classical music and some dialogue, we move into Gilmour's guitar riff of Wish You Were Here. After hearing 30 seconds of the electric guitar riff being sounded out of a radio, we soon here a similar version of the riff on an acoustic guitar. Soon after hearing some fantastic guitar work on the acoustic guitar, we soon hear Gilmour's voice bringing out the lyrics of the song, which shows that this is another tribute to Barrett. The bass, keyboards and drums don't come in until the chorus. The bass line is dynamically soft, but is a nice accompaniment to the guitar. The drums are simple and quiet, which creates this song's mellow feeling. The keyboard doesn't really have a prominent role in this song, but there is a nice solo for the keyboard at the end, which moves right into the final song of this album.

Shine on You Crazy Diamond (part VI-IX) is the final song and is the last part of the band's tribute to their former band member (Barrett). This song showcases the best of David Gilmour and his octave increasing solo in part VI of this song is perhaps, one of the best guitar solos I have ever heard. After this long guitar solo, we move into the lyrics, where Waters sings his last lines to Barrett and is backed up by Fields and Williams. After this single verse in the song, we hear Gilmour's guitar producing some excellent harmonic and finger work from Gilmour. We also hear some fantastic keyboard work from Wright and this fades out the album and ends it. Mason's drums are dominant throughout the song, while Waters has a small part in the beginning of the song. A great way to finish off an excellent album.

If you have not heard this album, you MUST (and I mean must) hear it for yourself, and buy the album, because I can guarantee that you'll be addicted to this album! You might think the length of the songs might be a bit too long, but after listening to this, you might think the song is too short! Anyway, I hope this was helpful and I hope you enjoyed reading this.

Recommended: Yes