Best Albums !: Pink Floyd. Wish You Were Here (1975)

Wish You Were Here is a concept album by Pink Floyd. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios between January and July 1975 and released on September 15, 1975 (see 1975 in music), the album would later be regarded as one of Pink Floyd's greatest albums and was ranked 209 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. Its lyrics, composed by Roger Waters and concerning the music industry, question the market-oriented record companies' lack of understanding and interest for musicians. The album also pays tribute to Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd's former guitarist and chief songwriter, especially "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and the title track itself.

During the first week of 1975, the band (once again producing) along with engineer Brian Humphries returned to Abbey Road Studios to begin work on their follow-up to the hugely successful The Dark Side of the Moon. Although the band had three pieces of music already sketched out ("Raving and Drooling" (which later became "Sheep"), "You Gotta Be Crazy" (which later became "Dogs") and the centerpiece "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"), all was not well within the band. The overwhelming critical, commercial and financial success of Dark Side had left the band physically and emotionally drained. The band spent the first few weeks recordings just sitting around. When the band did get around to recording, their bodies went through the motions while their minds and feelings were elsewhere.

The initial plan was to record the three tracks they had played live on their 1974 European tour (which were "Raving and Drooling", "You Gotta Be Crazy" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond") but Roger Waters decided to change the vision of the album and split the two halves of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" and write three shorter songs relating to the theme of absence (two of which ("Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar") were attacks on the music business and one of which (the title cut) was about fallen Floyd member Syd Barrett). This move was one of the first debates between Waters and David Gilmour. Gilmour wanted to record what they were playing live while Waters wanted to create a concept album. Gilmour was outvoted three to one. Despite this disagreement plus the hardships that occurred during the recording, Gilmour and keyboard player Rick Wright revealed on the radio show In the Studio with Redbeard in 1995 (which devoted an entire episode to the making of Wish You Were Here) that Wish You Were Here is their favorite Pink Floyd album.