Wish You Were Here (2016 Edition)

I won't go on about it's remastering using as many audiophile descriptions as possible to show you how knowledgeable I am because it's all subjective, it depends on your ears, your equipment and your room, enough said. This review is for cd my preferred medium, my equipment is 22 years old technics system. It sounds amazing, by far the best engineered cd I have listened to, the music is also brilliant. I find it relaxing and inspired. To steal a comment from another review, ' it rips my soul out'. As noted by others the disc is a little tight in the cardboard sleeve which is however beautifully made with a top quality booklet including the lyrics which unusually are printed big enough to read. It arrives in a little resealable black bag with a small paper label stuck on it like a small record centre label. It all adds up to a top quality feeling making it a cd to treasure. On the plus side the hinges won't snap off the crystal case and I can get a lot more cardboard sleeves on my shelves, it's also one less piece of unesesary plastic floating around. I can't recommend it enough and whatever your system this will show you what it's capable of. The card case has loosened off with use and is now a perfect fit. I've just picked up this album on a original 1975 cassette tape, anyone telling you the remastered CD is not as good as the original on vinyl or cassette is either delusional or deaf, perhaps both. The cassette is nostalgic and nice to own but music quality wise the CD outperform it in every way. The cassette has less compression than the record as well so vinyl will be even worse. I'm playing both CD and cassette through the same vintage Technics rig so it's a direct comparison.

Wish You Were Here is simply Pink Floyd's greatest album. The dark, angry Kid A to Dark Side's OK Computer, its five tracks are all among the band's greatest work. The remastering job on these albums is... barely noticeable to anyone except an audiophile, to the surprise of precisely no-one. However, the money here is from hearing the extra material, which Pink Floyd have in the past been insanely shy about releasing. There must be so many great songs in the EMI vaults that would make for fascinating listening - not least the tail end of Syd Barrett's tenure, much of which is only available on bootlegs. So what do we get on this bonus disc? One of the more interesting curious is a little ambient piece left over from the failed Household Objects album that later ended up mixed into the intro of 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'. Interesting for about one listen, that is, as you can see why it was thrown out. An alternative version of 'Have A Cigar' is... well, pointless, not as good as the original and frankly forgettable. Drummer Nick Mason noted in his autobiography that the violin playing they overdubbed onto the title track was lovely, but just didn't work for some reason, and listening to it it's hard not to agree. The real attraction here is in the three 1974 live tracks, 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' and then two embryonic versions of songs from their next album, Animals, that wouldn't see the light of day until 1977. 'Gotta Be Crazy,' later to be known as 'Dogs,' is a competently played but clearly unfinished track. The verse melody is notably different, and the closing breakdown is lacking a chord change that would strongly benefit the final version; Gilmour struggles to keep up the pace with the vocal and it ends up sounding rushed. 'Raving And Drooling' is almost identical to 'Sheep,' with some lyrical changes, and is a pleasing listen. The highlight of this entire set, though, is 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond.' While still not completed, this version strongly resembles those later played live by both Roger Waters solo and the Waters-less Floyd. But shorn of backing musicians and having to pick up the whole of the slack themselves, the band put in a career-best performance, reaching a peak in its closing overs with a jazz-funk instrumental workout. For just 'Shine On' live, Wish You Were Here is worth buying a second time even if you can't hear the remastering on the first disc.

This was a surprise birthday present from my partner (we share our Amazon account), we've recently got a vinyl player and have decided to buy our favorite albums on vinyl for our living room - ideally ones we can both listen to. I have 300+ CD's and want to buy a few handfuls of my very favorite albums that are, in my opinion, flawless albums from the first note to the last, and this one certainly fits the bill, she knows me so well! 'WYWH' just about beats the other 'Big Four' Pink Floyd albums ('Dark Side...,' 'Animals,' and 'The Wall,') in my opinion. There's just something about it, it's both very engaging and the ultimate chill out album at the same time. Its backstory regarding Syd Barrett's mysterious appearance adds to the legend, and you somehow get the feeling it affected the writing and recording process no end. It should've been their fall from grace following the massive success of 'Dark Side...' (like basically any successful rock band ever) instead, in my opinion, they found a whole new level of songwriting, returning to a more stripped down and simpler sound but also slightly more heartfelt and pure. All 5 songs are brilliant. The title track and the first 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' are well known and are probably among the most celebrated in their entire discography, but that does a serious disservice to the futuristic atmospherics of the excellent 'Welcome To The Machine' (my personal favorite under-rated 'Floyd tune) and the laid back, nasty blues of 'Have a Cigar' and that's without praising the epic conclusion! Why write more than 5 when the 5 you got are flawless? The vinyl release just sounds better to me than my CD version, it might be some placebo effect - I don't know - but there's some indescribable audible improvement on vinyl that's hard to describe, plus it has the added bonus of having all the different artwork/covers various 'parts' featured on it (the CD version pretty much ignores the 'animated/robot' handshake on the seal cover. This album is a work of art on so many levels!

Arrived a day early which is always nice in good solid packaging. The Vinyl itself arrived in an outer cellophane wrapper with the Remastered info Label attached. The Wish You Were Here sticker is attached to a black outer polythene cover which itself houses the Vinyl with the classic cover, inner sleeve and postcard. All in pristine condition, so far. I got to playing the vinyl, Shine sounded great, I'm in no way an audiophile, but it sounded great. That was until the needle approached those 4 guitar notes as the drums build and then, a horrible crackle, like someone had knocked the station off on a radio and quickly retuned. Seconds later, the same thing but not as strong. Gutted. I read the reviews and comments about issues with the pressing, but decided to take a chance. Played it 2, 3, 4 times, hoping it was just a blip. Nope. Same crackle, same place, everytime. Almost kept it but had to send it back. Wish You Were Here sounded great, and there's a fair chance the rest of the album did too but I just couldn't get over the issues on Shine Pt 1. Shame really, but I guess I'll have to wait for another reissue. **** EDIT I couldn't wait and re-ordered, this one is PERFECT! Bumped to 5 stars, an incredible album sounds great and thnakfully this timed round no issues!

Having already bought and really enjoyed the Dark Side vinyl reissue, I thought a new copy of Wish Your Were Here was worth acquiring. Once again this is the 2011 digital remaster transferred onto vinyl, a somewhat controversial approach given some of the reviews here but I expect that dredging out the original tapes to create a new analogue pressing would have meant too much time and expense for what is after all a niche market. Therefore I expected that I could live with a possible lack of sonic integrity in exchange for obtaining a clean press and new packaging for under £20. So what does this release have to offer? I have a previous vinyl edition (I must check the matrix numbers one day) so I do know what WYWH looks and sounds like. As for this version though, first the packaging. It's nice to have the outer-lining, stickers and postcard as well as a cool new poster. The colours on the cover are beautifully rendered on this edition and the photos are pin sharp. As others have pointed out though, the inner sleeve is too tight as is the spindle hole on the vinyl. As for the sound, would I be able to tell the difference in a blind listening between my analogue and digital editions? Well to be honest I couldn't be bothered to take part in some faux Pepsi Challenge exercise just to prove what a terrible decision the record company had made by going digital. Instead I put the record on, listened to the music and it sounded great - no noise, no rumble, just fantastic music. So there you have it. If the thought of digitally corrupted audio drives you insane, then avoid, otherwise there's a lot worse things to spend your £20 on.

Moved to rediscover my interest in Pink Floyd by the recent BBC4 rockumentaries I decided to purchase the new "discovery" edition of Wish You Were Here being my favourite album when I was a teenager. Centrepeice Shine on Your Crazy Diamond is not as great as I recall, rather cliched and light weight in places, although it is hard to shake that 4 note guitar motif from one's mind! Title track Wish You Were Here also suffers a little from over exposure and familiarity but nevertheless was a superb song. But what really stands out in these recordings for me are the less celebrated tracks - Welcome to the Machine gains new power with pulsing synthesizer jumping between speakers and reminds me of Kraftwerk (Autobahn) and Tangerine Dream (Cloudburst Flight)- comparisons I had never appreciated before, and quite a daring composition in its time, and Have a Cigar is a soaring rocker. Keyboards have more prominence and there are even some funky rhythms in places! The album is much closer to the follow up Animals than it's predecessor Dark Side... With the individual tracks knitted together by the Floyd trademark sound effects and spoken word interludes this is a satisfying concept album bookended by the largely instrumental Shine On... Some have criticised the packaging. I think it's great. I love cardboard sleeves and the booklet is fine with the original artwork and one or two pictures I don't recall (although both the booklet and the CD are very snuggly fitted that they do require some crow bar work to extract). Even the sticker can be peeled from the plastic and reinstated on the cardboard if one is so inclined. At under a £10 will definately purchase more, probably the underrated Animals next (thus doing my bit to help local boy David Gilmour replace his condemned beach hut).

Floyd at their best…..

For me, this two disc set has been a long time coming. This is one of my favourite albums of all time. As someone who has regularly played this album over several decades, James Guthrie has done an astonishing re-mastering job. The sound is pristine. The opening refrain of 'Shine On..' is sonically more expansive than ever, and the whole album is polished to perfection. Nick Mason's percussion in particular has never sounded so good. The overall sound has a new warmth, depth and clarity combined. Disc two starts with three stunning live tracks from 1974. 'Shine On', 'Raving and Drooling' and 'You've Got To Be Crazy'. All three tracks were due to appear on the following year's Wish You Were Here album - only 'Shine On' made the cut (the other two tracks were later re-worked to appear on their 1977 album 'Animals'). Track four 'Wine Glasses' is a real gem. You can hear the opening refrain from this track right at the start of 'Shine On', here, however the band doesn't kick in. This small piece of music to me, captures the essence of Pink Floyd - they are greatest purveyors of haunting, mournful, beautifully melancholic music... and they manage to perfectly capture that mood on just a few wine glasses. Track five is a great alternate version of Have a Cigar, but track six is yet another jaw dropping gem that long time Floyd fans have always wanted to hear. An alternate version of 'Wish You Were Here' with virtuoso violinist Stephane Grappelli (who happened to be recording in the studio next door to the Floyd at the time). This is a fabulous version of a well known song, Stephane's playing is brilliant, but astonishingly, as great as this version is (and it really is!) I think the band were right not to use it on the final mix. Overall, this 2011 edition really sets the benchmark of how a classic album should be remastered.

Wish You Were Here est vraiment l’un des meilleurs albums de tous les temps!!! Avec cet album, les Pink Floyd prouvent indiscutablement qu’il pouvaient égaler si pas même surpasser leur précédent album ; le celebrissime The Dark side of The Moon. C’est simple, dès les premières secondes cet album nous transporte dans une ambiance et un univers sonore incroyable! Le premier titre Shine On You Crazy Diamond qui est la pièce maîtresse de ce disque, vu qu’elle ouvre l’album et le termine; est tout simplement l’une des chansons les plus incroyables du groupes!!! Ensuite s’enchaîne l’intrigant Welcome To The Machine, chanson puissante portée par un David Gilmour vocalement très en forme. Sinon, évidemment il y a la chanson-titre Wish You Were Here chanson poignante qui évoque l’ancien chanteur du groupe Syd Barett! Dans cette œuvre, il y a vraiment des effets sonores époustouflants, c’est véritablement l’un des plus grands chefs d’œuvre de la musique!!! Eh bien si vous achetez ce cd, je vous souhaite un très bon spectacle!

So cool to get this record, once I pulled it out of the sleeve I could feel the heaviness of the vinyl! All the bells and whistle were there too. Just like when it was originally released! Definitely going to keep the postcard this time! Only thing i hated was, during delivery the box got wrecked and the corner of the album has a slight bend crease … thank got the vinyl was okay! But still, if you buy for new/mint… you shouldn’t have to get slightly damaged items… but that doesn’t take a star off this masterpiece of a record

There's probably little reason to write a review about the studio album Wish You Were Here. What else can be said about this beautifully amazing album that hasn't already been prosed upon? So I'll concentrate on the 2011 remaster and, more importantly the second CD of the Experience Edition. I have to say that, so far, with the possible exception of Ummagumma, most of the 2011 Floyd remasters have been excellent. I do think that WYWH seems to benefit less than, say, Animals did. Why? I believe it's because that I think WYWH already sounded stellar to start with. There wasn't as much room for improvement as some of the other albums. What does that mean? It means this 2011 remaster of WYWH sounds incredible. If you already have any of the previous CDs and are thinking about getting the single CD Discovery Edition I might think twice. If you've never owned WYWH before you should just as well get the 2011 version to ensure top sound quality. However, the Experience Edition isn't just about the studio album. It's about the second live CD. Let me just spill the beans right here and say just buy it. The sound quality of the 1974 performance is stunning. With the Dark Side '74 live CD and this '74 live CD they are amoung the best I've heard from a live rock performance on CD. The bonus is you get to hear Pink Floyd strut their stuff in concert with Roger, David, Rick and Nick all at their peak. And peak it is. The entire ensemble cast together. What more can you ask for? Shine on You crazy Diamond (SYD) is just something you have to hear and sounds somewhat different than the studio version. I was never a huge fan of Have a Cigar but this alternate take is great and has an acoustic sound to it that adds warmth to the (intentionally) cold song. The title song Wish You Were Here (this is not a live version but an alternate studio version) is a wonderful rendition even if the violin is a bit too forward in the mix. Again, it doesn't seem to have a studion sound and comes through a bit more raw in the best sense of the word. The Household Objects track is interesting but a filler. EDIT: I forgot to add the songs Raving and Drooling and You've Got to Be Crazy live. These were Dogs and Sheep before they were finalized for the Animals album. I prefer You've Got to be Crazy. But that's just me. Either way both songs sound sweet and are a nice treat to hear. My only wish would have been to hear a different take on Welcome to the Machine. Other than that great stuff! I think WYWH and the DSotM Experience versions are essential if you're a Pink Floyd fan. 5 stars without hesitation.

Jaren 70-80 of jaren 2020 dat doet er niet toe . Dit is een plaat die nu nog , in 2024 , op nummer 1 zou staan in de lijst van beste albums van het jaar . GRANDIOOS

A mi personalmente es el trabajo de Pink Floyd que más me gusta. Tiene una calidad compositiva, ejecución musical, producción, etc, impecable haciendo que sea una obra maestra (otra más) del grupo. Habla de la pérdida de Syd Barrett, critica a la industria musical, apela a la melancolía y está a la altura de "The Dark Side of the Moon" y "The Wall". Pena que vega en una presentación pésima de nula calidad en formato digipack.