Wish You Were Here - Overrated

DISCLAIMER:

This is purely down to personal opinion.

Anyway, this was the first PF album that truly blew me away - about 7 years ago. DSOTM - sure, a good album, deservedly part of rock history, but nothing truly mindblowing. It was an extremely welcome surprise to listen to Shine On You Crazy Diamond and have one of the best songs ever written infiltrate my ears. Such was the amazement 'SOYCD' had imbued in me, the rest of the album flowed without hitch. There was the drone of Welcome To The Machine, the proto-funk Have A Cigar, the beautifully touching Wish You Were Here and the reprise of SOYCD. Bliss.

So, the shock was massive when I picked this title up again and listened to it.

SOYCD still amazed. But it only came across as a well put-together jam - not the incredibly tight, well orchestrated classic I had thought it to be.

Welcome To The Machine bored the hell outta me. A dull, dull, dull 7 minute drone-a-thon. Boredom abounds in a constantly repeating soundscape. Ick.

Have A Cigar is another song that gets used up quickly, and then just starts repeating. Despite slight moments of interest (and some pianoey bits that sound like they were nicked from Echoes), it strikes me as not particularly great.

The title track surprised me. The radio-bridge in and wind-bridge out just serve to make the song seem more coherent - remove them, and it's just a decent enough acoustic ditty that doesn't sound finished.

SOYCD 2 seemed particularly bad. There are moments which are thoroughly unkind on the ear, and the band sounds like they were half asleep.

WYWH is not an album that excites me or interests me anymore. Like DSOTM, it strikes me as a decent album which is heinously overrated, and has sadly become cliched.

Forget the album, leave it for years and then listen to it again. That should help. I`m doing that with The Wall right now.
Wish You Were Here is a beautiful album, but the title track is played on the radio too much.

Your not a big fan of WYWH & DSOTM anymore???

If you dont think these albums are brilliant anymore then what Pink Floyd album do you think still are???

It just seems like your not a big fan of the band anymore


Anyway im a new fan & bought WYWH a couple of weeks ago & im loving the whole thing

You have some interesting points there Kris, check your Pm's and/or answer them.

I periodically go through the same sort of thing with all Floyd's stuff, I'm currently in a period of disinterest and haven't listened to any of their albums for ages. It will pass in time I suppose.

1. I never really was a big DSOTM fan.

2. ANIMALS, Final Cut, ITAOT?, MORE, UmmaGumma - the less obvious albums.

3. I'm a massive fan. They are my favourite band, pretty much.

4. A new fan. EXACTLY. It's a good CD for beginners, but once you hear some rawer, more caustic PF albums you soon forget it.

Another thing, the lyrics on WYWH really aren't that great. On ANIMALS and TFC, the lyrics are stunningly thought provoking. On WYWH, they're pretty dreary and mundane.

I agree with Perry... leave it for a few months, don't listen to ANY of it AT ALL. Then set some time aside, return to it with open arms and a pair of loud headphones, and you'll feel like you've come home.

That's exactly what I did.

It's not like I played it to death.

For godness sake NO!

i get the same feelings, except with albums that are actually bad

Sorry to say this, but there's something wrong with you. I agree that DSotM is a bit overrated, so much so that it often overshadows other, better PF albums. But it is mindblowing. And so is WYWH. And yes, the lyrics are quite nice...even if they aren't about war and death.

Heh.

WYWH is pretty good but gets a little boring and dreary, I agree. It's definately far from my top few favorite Floyd albums.

Whenever I think that WYWH is less than perfect, I just focus on Rick's keys during the entire album - just brilliant!

You kinda have to be in a certain mood to dig WYWH. I haven't listened to it in a very long time. If I listen to Floyd at all these days it's usually Animals.