"What does it mean?" I don't know. But I have an idea. I think the sounds you're hearing are an elevator going up to a penthouse, and there's a party going on. But it's a party you're not invited to, aren't a guest at. All you can do is watch all these people who are richer than you, who get to decide what albums you get to make, enjoying themselves with the money you earned them. All you can do is watch from the outside, and wait for the elevator doors to close again, and take you back down... Down into the Machine.
I always thought of it as you are entering the party but now you're the big rock star and everyone goes quiet at your entrance ... and that is totally isolating to you.
And after the recording industry welcomes you (Welcome to the Machine) and then the greedy agents get involved in the situation (Have A Cigar) and then a longing for the old days (Wish You We’re Here)
This entire album is a sonic masterpiece. It's like a movie for your mind made out of sound, filled with intricate, complex and subtle detail that gives it tremendous depth and evokes non-stop pure emotion. It just *feels* incredible to listen to.
I am not certain which is my favorite album of Pink Floyd is, but your comment is exactly why Wish You Were Here is going to be in the discussion every time.
Frank Zappa said that the old cigar chomping executives were better for the art than the younger, more hip executives that took over in the 1980's. The old men didn't know what worked, so they approached hunting for talent as throwing spaghetti at the wall, until they found something that would stick. The newer executives came in, thinking they knew what was good, and now, everything sounds the same.
22:05 - Dude... "It's like an acoustic guitar playing with an AM radio"... this is, verbatim, the explanation that David Gilmour himself gave in an interview. A young kid in his bedroom hearing this song on the radio, grabbing his guitar and playing along. Dude, Y'all, you fuckin nailed it bro!
The feeling I get when I listen to Pink Floyd is unmatched by any other band. The music resonates so deep it's like it recharges my soul. I truly believe we will never hear another band like Pink Floyd.
And they had very limited musical skills when they started out... Its a musical miracle! And then the split of the band was sad but perfect for music... Roger Waters had to make those albums... We would be so much poorer if he didn't make them!
I love that Pink Floyd fans say that their fav band is unique, meanwhile Deep Purple guys say that their band is "the best ever". Different ways of lookign at music.
@@reefpondman5632 - A walk-on part is a small part in a play, show or movie... as opposed to a lead role. So did you give up playing a small part in the grand cause you were fighting for... and exchange it for a lead role in a cage (where others were controlling you)? It kind of describes the music industry. Will you trade your values for fame? Will you let the industry dictate what kind of music you'll make in exchange for wealth and influence? Will you become a pop sellout, enslaved to the machine?
I think that line neatly prefigures the themes of The Wall - the dead father's "walk on part" in the war and Pink's "lead role in a cage" as part of a music industry that has turned creativity into a money making machine. The Wall itself was born of Roger Water's unease at the role that was thrust on them and the kind of person that it was in danger of turning him into. There are lots of links between the two albums - and in a way I wonder whether whether Roger's deepest fear in The Wall was that the machine he was in would drive him to the same kind of collapse that Syd Barrett had experienced. As always, Waters and Gilmore brilliantly draw universal ideas out of their person experience.
The sounds you heard at the end of "Welcome To the Machine" that you couldn't identify are: the closing of elevator doors, the elevator going up to the penthouse, and the doors opening up to a cocktail party; an introduction to "the machine". Roger Waters revealed in an interview that the line, "Which one's Pink?", in "Have a Cigar" was a real-life experience with a record company rep. In the beginning of "Wish You Were Here" I believe they attempted to convey the idea that someone was searching for music on an old AM radio, finding a channel playing an acoustic piece, and the listener playing his own melody over it.
I agree. Way back, it's how a lot of us (including me) got started on guitar, play along with the radio and records. I too always thought that was what the beginning of the song represented. Where that early playing ultimately led, and questioning what it was all about. Lyrically of course, Waters always leaves much to the listeners own interpretation. He does this brilliantly. How many postcards were sent with those words? Literally implying that the experience is poorer than it could be if that person were there, as opposed to a desire for that person to also experience the pleasure of it. How full was Water's glass following the unprecedented success of Dark Side of the Moon? The pressure to produce a worthy follow up must have been intense. Much of his writing with the band became increasingly introspective (even on Animals) through to The Wall, where he took this to a deeper extreme. Genius, all of it.
@@petergoddard1960 and even more extremely introspective and focussed onto Waters state of being in The 'Final Cut. Which it was, the end for the fragmenting group. Still a flipping good album, but clearly the end of that road. There was no coming back after 1983, but what we are left with is truly the classic repertoire that will be as revered as Mozart in 200 years time, if there is anyone left to appreciate it. "Two suns in the sunset", and all that Orwellian jazz from the Final Cut.
@@matthewhackett1710 The section with the elevator creeped me out as a kid. I imagined the doors opening and being confronted by a room full of people chatting and laughing.. then they all begin to look at the newcomer in the lift and gradually fall silent and expectant, all looking slightly threateningly at you.
It’s my all time favorite. Animals and dark side are right there, but something about this album just does it for me all the way through. The build to the slide solo in the second shine on is PERFECT. The album is perfect lol
Sid and David's family used to take holiday together as kids, so it's not just the loss of a bandmate, it's remembering a shared childhood. Brilliant work, I think my favorite album of theirs.
No other band has been able to pull my emotional strings like Pink Floyd. Powerful. Way back to Interstellar Overdrive, Set the Controls, to Wish you were here, to The Wall, to Division Bell and everything in between.. they just pull it off over and over.
Syd Barrett turned up in the studio unexpectedly during the recording of the album. No one recognised him at first. Gilmour & Waters cried when they discovered it was him.
I remember that story. I believe he sort of looked like Pink from the Wall movie after he shaved himself. It is so sad for him and for his friends to see him like this!
The reason PF left space in their compositions was because they wrote albums. They didn’t make any effort to cram everything into a three and a half minute song for radio play.
Exactly. There's a great interview with Roger Waters for the making of "Dark Side of the Moon" where he talks about leaving space in songs. This was something they were very consciously aware of doing.
I’ve really enjoyed your reactions to “Shine On”, “Atom Heart Mother”, and “Echoes”. You have an amazing talent to discern how the band structure their works. Enjoy the tympani flourishes! If you like puzzling out chord progressions as much as you seem to, you should definitely listen to the acoustic guitar work on Pink Floyd’s “Dogs”.
@@LuigiPantaleoni He have already done that on Patreon, but it would be real neat if he did a edited version for the rest of the "world", like just the Dogs number.
What amazes me about Pink Floyd, is they were all in their early 20's when they made all these masterpieces. Just great deep lyrics with unheard of orchestral arrangements combined with rock/blues progressions. No-ones really ever replicated them . And here we are 50 years later still listening to them.
Pink Floyd is one of those bands that a single song or two just isn't enough. A whole album listen is most effective to feel what they were feeling in that moment.
Yes, whenever I hear an individual song from any of the Pink Floyd albums being played without hearing the rest of the album I experience an OCD event that won't go away until I listen to the whole album. Then I'll spend the next few days listening to Pink Floyd albums until I have satisfied my craving.
Pink Floyd made concept albums, the whole album tells a story. They are intended to be listened to in their entirety. Sad this is no longer done. I was lucky to be buying albums during the seventies. Many bands did this. I heard someone say the dumbest album ever. Pink Floyd Greatest Hits. Apparently it exists, anyone that bought it really is missing the point.
Roy Harper sings on "Have a Cigar" because neither David nor Roger were nailing it. They were both hitting the notes but not the "feel" of the song so Roy, who was recording on the same studio on that day, offered to do the part. They talk about it on the WIsh You Were Here documentary, which I'd definitely recommend you watch.
I read that David didn't feel comfortable singing those lyrics, cause he didn't agree to that point of view, and Roger wasn't satisfied with his own performance, and later regreted not trying some more takes. He said that he doesn't like Roy Harper version that much, cause It was too sarcastic, but I think that's why It fitted so perfectly on those lyrics
Yes, I heard Roger's voice wasn't particularly strong that day, and the tight times in the studio produced Roy Harper. Question: Is it the same guy that Zeppelin wrote about?
I’ve always felt there is something very Orwellian about “Welcome to the Machine“. Although “the machine“, undoubtedly, was initially intended to represent the music industry, I feel that it takes on a much larger meaning within the soundscape of that song. Ever since I first heard it in the late 80s, I’ve always had images of “1984“ or “Metropolis“ swim around in my mind when I listen to it.
@@denxero 1984 was modeled after Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. But the immense corporate conglomerates merging with government into a police surveillance state is rooted in capitalistic nature going un checked
Undoubtedly a top ten album for anyone who appreciates natural rock. One of the few fantastic guitarists who did not need to play fast solos to be considered exceptional. Love Pink Floyd.
Please please do an entire listen through of their Animals album. Its truly wonderful, and im tempted to say i prefer it to their Wish You Were Here album. It is wonderful, and the animal sounds they do in the background are all made via their various instruments. I really want to hear your breakdown on it.
Well. Animals isn´t a PF album anymore - it´s the first Roger Solo-Album, PF feat. Pink Floyd. Still it is good. Still it is underrated. But. For me, there is not much PF left on that album, It´s RW and some musicians. It marks clearly the end of Pink Floyd.
@@rafaelnuncatiempo353 Not sure where you are getting that. Every source i just checked clearly states it was an album "by Pink Floyd" Roger is promoting a new mix, but thats all i see.
The story with Roy Harper, which I'm sure someone else has already explained, was that both David and Roger had tried to lay down the vocals and it just wasn't working. Roy knew the band well and was recording in another of the studios so they brought him in and he simply nailed it. I think he went uncredited initially and most people thought it was Roger.
Look at the big brain on Chris! According to my friend, Ian Tilbury, who was producing Roy at the time, Chris got the story right. Apparently, Roger had a sore spot about this for quite a while after the fact. Ah, life imitates art imitates life!
@@mikecurtis3114 In one of the seemingly endless documentaries about the band on RUclips, they interviewed the band and Roy Harper. They corroborated this tale. Roger indeed had a sore spot about it, to the extent that the interview was in the 00's and he STILL said he thought he would've got it and done it better. Roy got the vocal in one take apparently and (semi) jokingly said he should've asked for a percentage, rather than the £500 they paid him!!! To be honest, Roger seemed to have a sore spot about virtually everything the other three did from here on until he finally left the band!!
Yes this is Roy Harper. Led Zeppelin has a song called hats off to (Roy) Harper. He was a session musician in London in the sixties and seventies I believe
They always had great lyrics. "And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older Shorter of breath and one day closer to death" - Pink Floyd: Time (from Dark Side of the Moon)
I've only just discovered Doug's channel. I'm a big Rick Beato fan, but I find Doug's downright humanity (for want of a better word) so beautifully refreshing. Thank you, sir!
Dark side of the moon ,is another ,maybe even more a critically acclaimed masterpiece. For me Dark side of the moon ,is the greatest album ever recorded in the modern era . Your reaction s are absolutely spot on by the way ,thank u.
Not only my favourite album of all time but my favourite lyric of all time….. “We're just two lost souls Swimming in a fish bowl Year after year Running over the same old ground What have we found? The same old fears Wish you were here” If I was to make a film of Syd Barrett I’d make this album integral to the the script and the soundtrack.
The sound at the end of "Welcome To the Machine" is an elevator. The de-personified rock star leaves the concert and takes the lift to the penthouse party, where no one is really present. Mindless chatter. "Have A Cigar" is a follow-up to that theme. The agent/manager/record exec who has no idea about the band. "Which one's Pink" sums it up. The working title of the album was "Variations on the theme of absence." The album artwork reflects this, as well. Nobody is here. Wish you were. Roger said that the title track was not so much about Syd, as it was about himself. "Wish I Were Here." The band were under enormous pressure to follow up Dark Side of the Moon, the world was in chaos, they were falling apart collectively and individually. The only way to get over the obstacles was to make the album about the what they were going through. At first, two songs that got rewritten for "Animals" (You've Gotta Be Crazy; Raving and Drooling) were going to be on the album. It's a good thing they weren't. Their rewrites are superior, and they had no place in "Wish You Were Here." That radio at the beginning of the title track is a microphone recording of the radio in David Gilmour's car. They ran a cable and a mike out there, and he randomly flipped the dial. There was probably some selective editing. They did the same thing on The Wall, with the TV stations flipping. In concert, they had an actual TV, and they'd flip through the channels.
I alway heard that Gilmour was smoking at that time, and his coughs before Wish You Were Here were real. After hearing those coughs recorded, he decided to quit smoking! I thought I heard Gilmour say this in an interview, but take it with a grain of salt!
When the band Genesis was looking for a guitarist to replace Anthony Phillips, they put an ad in the local paper that said, "Looking for a lead guitar, who plays in atmospheres, rather than chords." Steve Hackett answered that ad, and the rest is rock history. Pink Floyd, the entire band, plays in atmospheres, and the rest is rock history.
This is the first time I’ve listened to wish you were here since it was played at my late wife’s celebration of life 4 years ago. Thank you for getting me to listen again.
Quite possibly the greatest album ever made on both a musical level & in relation to the circumstances surrounding its creation. From a listening perspective it is without equal from start to finish it is just perfect, it holds your attention, it is incredibly moving and you feel the emotion in the playing. I dont think the 4 members ever played better individually or collectively. On top of that Waters lyrics are beautiful, the sense of loss, distance & alienation are so vivid. As good a lyricist you think Roger Waters is, he's actually better. I think here he was at his pinnacle. The way they remembered Syd was so moving but done in a way that anyone who has lost could relate to. I cannot listen to this album without shedding a tear as the album fades out & Rick Wright drops a few notes from See Emily Play. I saw The Floyd on the Animals tour when they played Wish You Were Here in its entirety, my abiding memories as a stoned 17 year old in an afghan coat is seeing Gilmour stooped over his pedal steel with a spotlight descending on him and an ocean of dry ice pouring off the stage and waterfalling into the audience. His solo at the start of Shine On pt 2 was just staggering. The image that last longest is the closing section of Shine On when the band left the stage & Rick played the final section alone on the piano, it was hauntingly beautiful, a mirrorball sent light beams all around the hall. Probably my finest moment in 50+ years of concert going. If The Beatles owned the 60's, Pink Floyd owned the 70's after that nothing really matters
@@alldayadventures5418 Exactly! WYWH is a masterpiece. Animals is just a greater masterpiece and Dogs might be the finest song put to tape in the last 60 years.
@@MrStarchild3001 for me, it’s Dark Side Of The Moon then Wish You We’re Here. But ask me again tomorrow and I’ll probably have it the other way around!
Saw Roy Harper play solo guitar whilst the stage was being set up between acts at Knebworth many years ago in the '80's. One guy in front of thousands of people...just incredible.!!!
I feel like this album is so…cohesive? I can’t explain properly, I’m linguistically challenged, lol. I love how Pink Floyd gives you space in the songs. Every song is like a journey, an experience. They are my all time favorite band. I relate and identify to their vibe so much. Absolute masterclass band of genius in my opinion. I feel every song, so deeply. I am often moved to tears. Still get chills listening to their music over and over. I love Pink Floyd and I adored your video. I raced home from work last week and this week to watch your videos with a little cocktail and also some herbal supplements, because it’s been a long two weeks. So thank you so much for helping me unwind and please Doug will you do some more pink Floyd soon? I love your videos! 🤍
Oh I just have a hard time getting out exactly what I’m thinking from brain into words. The more passionate I am about something usually the more I can’t describe things the way I’m trying to, or can’t come up with the right words. Thank you guys.
DSOTM was my first. But through my high school metal days, I preferred Animals. Now I really appreciate this one as the most enjoyable, cohesive, and well written works. The jazz feel of SOYCD and Gilmour's guitar tone is timeless.
It's worth mentioning that David Gilmour is singing along to his solos as he plays them in the title track. He does this live, too. He has said before that he often writes solos by singing or scatting along to the backing track into a tape recorder, then transcribing it to guitar.
Pink Floyd always seemed like they were in no hurry to go anywhere, and I think that is why their music has so much space.They are like a Sunday drive, going on back roads, seeing the sights that everyone else misses. You learn about the historic places, the scenic overlooks, the architecture, the best places to eat, the roadside stands, all at a leisurely pace. Maybe that is why I listen to Fat Old Sun when I take a long drive, it sets the mood.
Sitting here, listening, and thinking, that's a new sound, I've never heard that on the track before.... Only to realise there is a truck up the road using some hydraulics.. but it blended in.... Lol
The crowd/party sounds follow an elevator ride to a place or floor where glad handing music biz people are gathering to meet the band. Hangers on. Anyway, that's my interpretation and Have a Cigar follows on this. I interpret the epynomous Wish You Were Here track as the most direct communication with their friend and comrade, Syd. He showed up at the studio during recording of this album. The Floyd members were shocked by his appearance and demeanor. My sense (informed by reading commentators over the years) is that the album is an expression of profound grief for the loss of a friend who is no longer "here" due to mental illness. Didn't know any of this in '75. I just thought it was a head trip with head phones.
The opening bars of "Wish You Were Here" were recorded from Gilmour's car radio, with somebody turning the dial (the classical music heard is the finale of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony).
I have often tried to imagine how many hours they must have sat in the studios writing arranging editing recording to give us these masterpieces,and they are masterpieces. Many of the great prices of music comes out of pain and tragedy but Gilmore, Waters and others took it to another level that in my opinion will never be matched. I am 67 and have been there from the beginning. Thank you Pink Floyd for touching my emotions for all these years.
The segue way from Have a Cigar to Wish You Were Here is one of the most ingenious bits I've ever heard in music. Cuts to a guy listening to the radio, then he starts playing along to the damn radio and in comes WYWH! Absolutely brilliant.
Adding to that : just before that is Have a Cigar, where the artist is being told how his work is about to become a commodity and he'll be rich. Then the magic happens. A big zap, and suddenly his music is on the radio, and we hear it there.
I don't normally care about lyrics, the music is what gets me. But 'wish you were here' really resonates, and what a song. But then I regard this album as a major masterpiece, up there with the very best that rock music has produced. There are few better records in any genre.
Wish You Were Here is an amazing, transcendent song. The best, most heartfelt and humane lyrics Roger ever wrote. Any person in the world can relate to it, because one way or the other, we all become separated from someone we love!
I was today years old when I learned that the short string clip playing on the radio at the beginning of Wish You Were Here was from Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony - IV Movement. Mind blown!!! (Instant subscribe. Fantastic job, Doug!)
You got it! That was indeed the opening of the finale for tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony. My girlfriend was getting me into pink floyd, and as a classical musician I really had never listened to more than classical music. I heard that and thought “Oh shit really?” I had such a fun reaction.
People tend to worship The Dark Side of The Moon as Pink Floyd's best album. But if you do a thorough analysis like Doug does in his videos, you'll find that a few parts of some songs on The Dark Side could still be better musically resolved. Lyrics are perfect. On the other hand, if you listen to the Wish You Were Here album with the same attention for how it fits musically, you realize that there is absolutely nothing out of place. It's a masterpiece. Everything is flawless resolved. The sound is absolutely stonishing and captivating, as are the lyrics of each song. So, for me, Wish You Were Here is Pink Floyd's best album.
"It's like an acoustic guitar playing along with an AM radio" I think I remember reading that that's exactly why Gilmour did it - to encourage the listener to play along. Definitely worked though!
I thought the line, " Did you exchange, a walk-on part in the war for a leading role in a cage?" was referring to Mohammad Ali's refusal to fight in Vietnam. I know the song is about Syd Barrett, but Ali was the person who came to mind.
Saw a documentary with David, he talked about Have a Cigar. He mentioned that Roy was in another studio room, they asked him to come sing it and both David and Roger were struggling with getting up to that key to sing this song. Roger wasn't happy about having someone else sing this song, but they felt Roy did a much better version singing this song. There's a lot more to tit but that is the jest of the discussion.
@@skypekai Yes but I think I read that at the time of recording his voice had gone and he couldn't do it justice. I also read that Harper didn't want payment but a season ticket to Lords cricket ground for life - how cool is that:-)
Wish You Were Here - was the song that caused me to pick up the guitar at age of 27 and because Scotland, the same year I played with new met folks at pubs all over the Highlands, mostly Pink Floyd stuff - this Ultimate Band really have the power to change people and their lives. It's much more than just music. Thanks for great review, especially for the supreme ear to pick up the progressions - especially in Atom Heart Mother, very few can show the complex music piece the way you do.
"which ones pink" is actually something that the band got asked quite often by producers who didn't know anything of the band except that they were making a lot of money at the time, so roger put the line in the lyrics
They talk in the documentary as to why they used Roy for vocals on Have a Cigar. Both Roger and Dave tried it, but it wasn't working out. Roy, was in another studio at the time, said *_I'll do it, for a price_* Roger never liked it, David said it's the perfect version. I LOVE it.
Great album. I'm 69 and remember listening to A.M. radio as the transition to FM and higher fidelity recording/playback was becoming affordable. The part at about time 21:00 is one of my favorites. The first time I heard it was around 1976, I think and that transition from the radio in the background to the clarity of the acoustic guitar was almost jarring in it's beauty.
When I was a little kid, I got exposed to Pink Floyd through a guy dating one of my older sisters. I remember that not once did my brain process their music as some guys playing instruments. There were always some sort of dreamlike visions going on, I wish I had clear memories of them. It was many years later that it sort of dawned on me that these were indeed people playing instruments and I started becoming keenly aware of (and started asking questions about) production, reverb, synthesizers, etc. I never developed the golden ears to be a good engineer or producer, but I love that the internet has allowed us to see so many old documentaries, live footage, interviews, etc of artists & the people who recorded them like Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, Elton John, Queen, Led Zeppelin - so many that achieved such excellence on record, hopefully giving millions of little kids amazing mental movies long before music videos began stripping away that gauzy abstract wilderness of what you “see” when you hear music.
Right on Doug. The space they leave is intentional. It’s what makes their compositions both unique and artistically remarkable. Their lyrical point of view here comes from disillusionment following the success of Dark Side. Originally less well received by critics, fans loved it. I’ve always considered both albums as bookends to a particular moment in the career of Floyd. Beautiful logic, both lyrically and musically.
Yes sir, "space" is the whole key to Floyd. Their sparseness is a huge part of what made them great. Never fast or crowded just to be fast and crowded, never filling up sonic space they don't need to.
One of the greatest concert experiences of my lifetime to date was seeing Roger Waters under a full moon, in the middle of the desert with a reported million dollars worth of sound equipment during the 2016 Desert Trip Festival. It was truly amazing! I grew up on Pink Floyd and continue to listen to them to this day. So many masterpiece songs. Thanks for doing this one.
Got to see Roger touring Dark Side years back. At Brain Damage\ Eclipse, there was a rotating laser prism.... I had an out of body experience. Once in a lifetime. Would love to see David and make it two!!
For the ten years we were together this album, an all time favourite, was on every one of my birthday and Christmas, CD list’s. Two weeks after Andy died prematurely, age thirty two, a package of six albums came through the post. Among them was, “Wish You were here.” I’ve never cried so much in my entire life. Thirty years on, Andy and Wish You Were Here, are still on my all time hit list. I love them both and the two of them still make me cry.
It's because of reactions like this I joined your Patreon. You keep mentioning the soundscapes that Pink Floyd make. You really need to check out Live at Pompeii (the original). They set up in an ancient amphitheater in Italy, and played some of their best material without an audience. It's my favorite live recording I've ever heard.
Listening to this reminds me of a discussion about how scientists appreciate a flower. Because they understand a little more about how it is composed and how it came to be, and what it does, does _not_ make it any less beautiful or wonderful. Exactly the opposite, in fact. Same with music, surely? Understanding the mechanics does not deflect from what is a creative expression of our small lives. Truly great music endures because it touches our souls and says things. And it says that in both technical theory terms, and in 'feels'. But I've forgotten any music theory I learnt back in the day by this point. What I can relate to is that Pink Floyd music conveys the 'feels' like almost no other.
Must agree with you. I was never a student of music theory but knew what I liked and always appreciated the way Pink Floyd music made me feel back in the day (and still does). Have always connected with certain music but could never describe how or why it made those connections. Hearing a classical composer describe some of the ingredients in the “secret sauce” of this music is interesting and gives an even deeper appreciation for the talent and genius of Roger Waters.
Hi Doug, I am 58 years old, I have been to more than 1000 rock shows in my life. I have played the drums since 1973. I am a huge Led Zep fan, but. Pink Floyd has over taken all others. I was lucky to see them in 1977 in Cleveland. The show was by far the best I ever saw. If I had to pick one album to listen to for the rest of my life it would be this album. It shall go down in history as the greatest of all time.
Some bands make one great song. Floyds entire spectrum is a living masrerpiece, every song on every album. Im over 50 now and began loving this since 13. I had the good fortune to attend 2 floyd concerts in my early teens. It only gets more beautiful intense and profound w age and time. The only song i ever learned on the guitar is the intro to wish you were here. Pure perfection. I really enjoyed watching you get into my all time favorite music. I know every note every word every riff by heart. I have never loved any music more. Their shows were phenomenal. Complete sensory immersion into pure perfectection.
This is my favorite Pink Floyd album, I have the mechanical handshake artwork from it tattooed on my arm. Rick Wright’s synth work is what really makes this record special to me. I’d also like to add the “by the way, which one’s pink?” is a reference to an actual experience the band had: an executive really did ask them “by the way, which one is pink?” once in the late 60s
@@rcpsammy7186 You go for your sleep while the rest of us enjoy DSOTM another masterpiece from PF and listen to Doug's insights - Rick Wright created some terrific 'jazzy' (his words) chord sequences to link certain of the songs together.
Pink Floyd was as good as it gets! Roger Waters was and continues to be a genius! If you haven't listened to his Amused To Death concept album you've missed one of the most incredible albums of all times.
One more... I heard a long radio interview with David and Roger, in the early 80s. They nearly brought tears to me twice: ~ they received a letter, from a mother who thanked them profusely. Her son died in a hospital from cancer, and he requested they play in endless loop "Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun". ❤️😭❤️ Her son took hours and hours to pass away on his final day with that 'voyage' singing to him. Roger and/or David were humbled to help. ❤️ ~ secondly, with Maggie Thatcher as their PM in UK, they demanded, rhetorically to her draconian proposals reversing social benefits: "There are people who just can't cope, with the Society surrounding them; they just cannot cope! What's so bloody wrong about giving them a roof, a cot and blanket, a bowl of soup and bread every day? What's wrong with that?" ==== I've tried to trace (doesn't appear to be an archived "King Biscuit Flour Hour" interview) that.
What a band of amazing musicians. Creating another masterpiece in Wish You Were Here after one of the greatest albums of all time, Dark Side Of The Moon. And two albums are quite different to each other too. Pure genius.
I've been listening to Pink Floyd since 1973 and was lucky enough to see them in concert several years later. That lyric about "by the way, which one's Pink?" actually happened between the band and a record company executive in the U.S.
Have A Cigar is, ironically (and intentionally, no doubt), the most commercial track on the album. Which I absolutely LOVE. EDIT: Also, yes, they are totally a long listen, album at a time kind of band....
Hot tip Dougy 😃😃😃 Head phones on.. Relax in Bean Bag Close your eyes.. And play from the begging to the end of the album!! It's like one song, broken into different parts.. That's how you get the most out of your Pink Floyd sonic experience!! Enjoy my favourite PF album ❤❤❤
Pink Floyd is my favorite example of space in music. I love how you mention it in every Pink Floyd listen. I think it is possibly the biggest reason people love them wheather they realize it or not. It is always the thing I talk about when I explain to people, who have never heard them, why they are so special.
Oh, what greatness! So, Doug, if u enjoyed Pink Floyd with their eerieness and spacious sound, you are bound to love CAMEL. That's another British band, formed a bit later as they come from the generation of Rush & Queen. There's so much to discover in their music apart from great musicianship: there are some elements of psycho, definitely of prog/art-rock, but mostly just great songs, interspersed b/w longer instrumentals, often highly complex with 5/4s, 7/4s, 9/8s and so on. Perhaps u could start off with "Echoes" or "Song within a song", leading you to a "The snow goose" suite off a LP of the same title, famously performed with an orchestra in 1975 in The Royal Albert Hall. Highly recommended! So, go CAMEL!
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.” - HST
18:34 🤣😂🤣 You had the exact same response as me when I was 15. I'd bought the album and rushed home to play it and when I got to this point I thought the album was damaged, so I took it back to the shop. When the sales guy listened to it, he said, "Nah, that's just Pink Floyd".
You've added several new dimensions to the way this plays, and how it sounds to me. Thankyou. A touch of irony here: Back in 70, as art students we crashed the line-up to a Floyd concert, and had front row seats. Floyd realised they were getting to be too expensive for the average student, so their manager offered them out at 10/-. The promoter wouldn't believe his ears ...could only say "I'll call you back" (That '10/-' is 10 shillings, British currency at the time, probably about $12 today!). Not all music men are greedy. Roy Harper is a relatively obscure - but revered - folk singer (Zep have a song "Hats off to (Roy) Harper" on their 3rd album). When he was recording in the next studio, he was asked to do the vocals - his response "How much are you paying?" Irony rules again! And a party... watch the party in the Spinal Tap movie - the vacuous girl greeting everyone as if they were good friends, without a clue as to who they were.
Per Wikipedia, Roger Waters had strained his voice recording "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and Gilmour didn't want to sing it, so since Roy Harper was recording in the next studio, he offered or was asked to sing it.
Roger's lyrics aren't just "witty". They are often an acerbic reflection on humanity as he sees it. True, that can come across as somewhat jaundiced, but that is Roger - the album Animals is the definitive example of that mindset.
How can that be. Allready 50 percent of a song are te lyrics and Waters wrote the lyrics. Maybe Gilmour wrote the whole musical part or most of it, I don't think so, though, there are many Waters like sound effects in the song, but since Waters is credited with all of the lyrics of the album it is mathematically imposible that Gilmour had written 90 percent of the song.
More specifically, It means what it means for each individual's interpretation. I've never worried about delving too deeply into analysis. I just enjoy the ride when I listen. That being said, there are some commonly known general issues at the time. First of all, this album came after Floyd's phenomenally successful Dark Side of the Moon (One of the bestselling albums ever with 45 million units sold, and it stayed on the charts 958 weeks. That's over Eighteen years!). Previous to that album, the band had decent success, but after Dark Side, their success went ballistic. That level of fame and fortune not only messed with the chemistry of the band but the relationship between the band and Colombia Records, which is the machine Rodgers is referring to. On the next album, The Wall, Rodgers wrote a concept album based on the growing distance he then felt between him and the audience. It culminated one night when he go so pissed, he spit on the crowd. He also mentions that at one point, he had such a serious nervous breakdown, he thought he would go mad or die or both. He said it was an out-of-body experience that totally freaked him out. So you want to achieve maximum success? There IS a price to pay, and to a degree, that's what he was talking about in these albums.
Since you were talking you missed one of the most amazing things about "Wish You Were Here" (the song): Before he starts playing the guitar (while the radio is still running) you can hear him sniff his nose. And suddenly you realize, someone is there. Iconic...
The last few times I saw Roger in concert on the screen behind behind the band they opened with a cigarette burning in an ashtray in front of transistor radio in monotone then the guitar starts playing and switches to stereo. As much as I loved those vinyl LP's listening to them with my headphones seeing them live was was truly a treat . 🤩
I bought and heard this in 76 the week it came oud on my stereo and I was tripping at the time. And when I hear it now I still am. Still amazing. Hard to top Dark Side, but I feel it was equal in greatness. A band that went from chaos to greatness.. Quite an excursion.
Marvelous insights. You could dedicate your entire channel to listening and commenting on every Pink Floyd song from every album and it would take years. I’ve researched the music, the arraignments, the production, and followed the history of The Floyd and the members for all of my adult life and I’m still learning and being delightfully surprised.
As a massive fan of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters music, it gives me great pleasure to listen to your breakdown. Very accurate. Pity music like this no longer exists, only in the history Floyd left us.
i was & still am glad to have grown up with all the Pink Floyd music back in the mid to late 80s & im glad to see that theres no time limit or age limit on the music.Lots of things start then stop but PF is eternal : ))
Pink Floyd have used every device and instrument to create fields of sound full of emotion. They incorporated piecing lyrics aimed and fired at their passions at the time. They created spectaculars with light in sell out concerts. Their music is now timeless but at the same time a reflection of the era in which they existed, both good and bad.
![Jack Harlow - Hello Miss Johnson [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q86_nlRoIGw/mqdefault.jpg)
"What does it mean?"
I don't know. But I have an idea. I think the sounds you're hearing are an elevator going up to a penthouse, and there's a party going on. But it's a party you're not invited to, aren't a guest at. All you can do is watch all these people who are richer than you, who get to decide what albums you get to make, enjoying themselves with the money you earned them. All you can do is watch from the outside, and wait for the elevator doors to close again, and take you back down...
Down into the Machine.
You're there to be the Guest of Honour except no one honours what you do.
Whot ah lovlay pahtay! I can just picture the elegant cigarette holders(etc).
Oh gosh that's a thoughtful interpretation.
I always thought of it as you are entering the party but now you're the big rock star and everyone goes quiet at your entrance ... and that is totally isolating to you.
And after the recording industry welcomes you (Welcome to the Machine) and then the greedy agents get involved in the situation (Have A Cigar) and then a longing for the old days (Wish You We’re Here)
This entire album is a sonic masterpiece. It's like a movie for your mind made out of sound, filled with intricate, complex and subtle detail that gives it tremendous depth and evokes non-stop pure emotion. It just *feels* incredible to listen to.
I am not certain which is my favorite album of Pink Floyd is, but your comment is exactly why Wish You Were Here is going to be in the discussion every time.
Especially the SACD 5.1 or blu-ray 5.1 version.
@@scorpiusbalthazar4327 I have the SACD of everything re-released that way. Elton John did the same. Sounds amazing.
I want some of that bowl!! 😋
Pink Floyd's 70's albums are like mini rock operas, perfect length for a comfortable listen, excellent sounds
Frank Zappa said that the old cigar chomping executives were better for the art than the younger, more hip executives that took over in the 1980's. The old men didn't know what worked, so they approached hunting for talent as throwing spaghetti at the wall, until they found something that would stick. The newer executives came in, thinking they knew what was good, and now, everything sounds the same.
The ironie 😔
Let us call them by their names: Stock, Aitken and Waterman, the masters of manufactured 80s pop stars. :)
So true and so sad.
Wow thanks for sharing. Music nowadays is ghastly
Have a listen to arcade fire.
22:05 - Dude... "It's like an acoustic guitar playing with an AM radio"... this is, verbatim, the explanation that David Gilmour himself gave in an interview. A young kid in his bedroom hearing this song on the radio, grabbing his guitar and playing along. Dude, Y'all, you fuckin nailed it bro!
That IS how I learned - albeit FM Radio ...........
The feeling I get when I listen to Pink Floyd is unmatched by any other band. The music resonates so deep it's like it recharges my soul. I truly believe we will never hear another band like Pink Floyd.
And they had very limited musical skills when they started out... Its a musical miracle! And then the split of the band was sad but perfect for music... Roger Waters had to make those albums... We would be so much poorer if he didn't make them!
I could not have done my job as a train driver in the 80s without Pink Floyd, they helped out to cancel the boredom of a mundane job
Best band ever. There would never be another one like Pink Floyd...
I love that Pink Floyd fans say that their fav band is unique, meanwhile Deep Purple guys say that their band is "the best ever". Different ways of lookign at music.
@@rhalfik yeah but we're right Floyd's the beat
"Did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage" is one of the most powerful lines in all of rock and roll.
I've often thought of framing it. Probably my favorite line in any song. It's a sobering line.
How do you interpret this line?
@@reefpondman5632 - A walk-on part is a small part in a play, show or movie... as opposed to a lead role. So did you give up playing a small part in the grand cause you were fighting for... and exchange it for a lead role in a cage (where others were controlling you)?
It kind of describes the music industry. Will you trade your values for fame? Will you let the industry dictate what kind of music you'll make in exchange for wealth and influence? Will you become a pop sellout, enslaved to the machine?
Truly...
I think that line neatly prefigures the themes of The Wall - the dead father's "walk on part" in the war and Pink's "lead role in a cage" as part of a music industry that has turned creativity into a money making machine. The Wall itself was born of Roger Water's unease at the role that was thrust on them and the kind of person that it was in danger of turning him into. There are lots of links between the two albums - and in a way I wonder whether whether Roger's deepest fear in The Wall was that the machine he was in would drive him to the same kind of collapse that Syd Barrett had experienced. As always, Waters and Gilmore brilliantly draw universal ideas out of their person experience.
The sounds you heard at the end of "Welcome To the Machine" that you couldn't identify are: the closing of elevator doors, the elevator going up to the penthouse, and the doors opening up to a cocktail party; an introduction to "the machine". Roger Waters revealed in an interview that the line, "Which one's Pink?", in "Have a Cigar" was a real-life experience with a record company rep. In the beginning of "Wish You Were Here" I believe they attempted to convey the idea that someone was searching for music on an old AM radio, finding a channel playing an acoustic piece, and the listener playing his own melody over it.
And at the end of Have a Cigar, you are getting sucked into the radio, the machine.
I agree. Way back, it's how a lot of us (including me) got started on guitar, play along with the radio and records. I too always thought that was what the beginning of the song represented. Where that early playing ultimately led, and questioning what it was all about. Lyrically of course, Waters always leaves much to the listeners own interpretation. He does this brilliantly.
How many postcards were sent with those words? Literally implying that the experience is poorer than it could be if that person were there, as opposed to a desire for that person to also experience the pleasure of it. How full was Water's glass following the unprecedented success of Dark Side of the Moon? The pressure to produce a worthy follow up must have been intense. Much of his writing with the band became increasingly introspective (even on Animals) through to The Wall, where he took this to a deeper extreme. Genius, all of it.
@@petergoddard1960 and even more extremely introspective and focussed onto Waters state of being in The 'Final Cut.
Which it was, the end for the fragmenting group.
Still a flipping good album, but clearly the end of that road. There was no coming back after 1983, but what we are left with is truly the classic repertoire that will be as revered as Mozart in 200 years time, if there is anyone left to appreciate it.
"Two suns in the sunset", and all that Orwellian jazz from the Final Cut.
@@matthewhackett1710 The section with the elevator creeped me out as a kid. I imagined the doors opening and being confronted by a room full of people chatting and laughing.. then they all begin to look at the newcomer in the lift and gradually fall silent and expectant, all looking slightly threateningly at you.
At the end of the song he is driving his Jaguar and finally arrives at a place wher he is going to perform and is greeted as a superstar by the crowd.
People say this all the time, but this actually is one of the best albums of all time. Truly. The entire piece is a story.
It’s my all time favorite. Animals and dark side are right there, but something about this album just does it for me all the way through. The build to the slide solo in the second shine on is PERFECT. The album is perfect lol
Sid and David's family used to take holiday together as kids, so it's not just the loss of a bandmate, it's remembering a shared childhood. Brilliant work, I think my favorite album of theirs.
No other band has been able to pull my emotional strings like Pink Floyd. Powerful. Way back to Interstellar Overdrive, Set the Controls, to Wish you were here, to The Wall, to Division Bell and everything in between.. they just pull it off over and over.
Syd Barrett turned up in the studio unexpectedly during the recording of the album. No one recognised him at first. Gilmour & Waters cried when they discovered it was him.
1st I've heard of it. Well, someone let Him in. Touche'!
I remember that story. I believe he sort of looked like Pink from the Wall movie after he shaved himself. It is so sad for him and for his friends to see him like this!
Yes, he was almost unrecognizable. R I P Syd
@@robertakerman3570 I believe he was fat and bald or shaved head. I've heard this story a billion times.
@@jdirt2019 he was overweight and had shaved off both his hair and his eyebrows (the latter referenced in The Wall)
The reason PF left space in their compositions was because they wrote albums. They didn’t make any effort to cram everything into a three and a half minute song for radio play.
Exactly. There's a great interview with Roger Waters for the making of "Dark Side of the Moon" where he talks about leaving space in songs. This was something they were very consciously aware of doing.
I’ve really enjoyed your reactions to “Shine On”, “Atom Heart Mother”, and “Echoes”. You have an amazing talent to discern how the band structure their works. Enjoy the tympani flourishes!
If you like puzzling out chord progressions as much as you seem to, you should definitely listen to the acoustic guitar work on Pink Floyd’s “Dogs”.
Dogs is brilliant! (formerly know as "You Gotta Be Crazy"). Love the whole Animals album. One of their best works.
If you haven't yet, check out Doug's reaction and analysis to the entire Animals album on Patreon. It's worth the price of admission.
He should listen to "Animals" in its entirety, I think it makes more sense as one piece
@@LuigiPantaleoni He have already done that on Patreon, but it would be real neat if he did a edited version for the rest of the "world", like just the Dogs number.
I agree, that is one of their best albums too
What amazes me about Pink Floyd, is they were all in their early 20's when they made all these masterpieces. Just great deep lyrics with unheard of orchestral arrangements combined with rock/blues progressions. No-ones really ever replicated them . And here we are 50 years later still listening to them.
Best. Album. Ever. This album goes deeper than my soul: it is part of my genetic makeup now. It will always be a part of me.
Pink Floyd is one of those bands that a single song or two just isn't enough. A whole album listen is most effective to feel what they were feeling in that moment.
Yes, whenever I hear an individual song from any of the Pink Floyd albums being played without hearing the rest of the album I experience an OCD event that won't go away until I listen to the whole album. Then I'll spend the next few days listening to Pink Floyd albums until I have satisfied my craving.
Pink Floyd made concept albums, the whole album tells a story. They are intended to be listened to in their entirety. Sad this is no longer done. I was lucky to be buying albums during the seventies. Many bands did this. I heard someone say the dumbest album ever. Pink Floyd Greatest Hits. Apparently it exists, anyone that bought it really is missing the point.
I feel you there. You can't just listen to one track.
@@edstewart367 Moody Blues King Crimson Emerson Lake and Palmer England was the place
Roy Harper sings on "Have a Cigar" because neither David nor Roger were nailing it. They were both hitting the notes but not the "feel" of the song so Roy, who was recording on the same studio on that day, offered to do the part.
They talk about it on the WIsh You Were Here documentary, which I'd definitely recommend you watch.
exactly! i was about to post the same thing. awesome how pink floyd is always trying to find their best by looking to unconventional ways
Roger Waters version of Have A Cigar is on spotify.
I read that David didn't feel comfortable singing those lyrics, cause he didn't agree to that point of view, and Roger wasn't satisfied with his own performance, and later regreted not trying some more takes. He said that he doesn't like Roy Harper version that much, cause It was too sarcastic, but I think that's why It fitted so perfectly on those lyrics
Yes, I heard Roger's voice wasn't particularly strong that day, and the tight times in the studio produced Roy Harper. Question: Is it the same guy that Zeppelin wrote about?
@@kickdrum09 Yes.
I’ve always felt there is something very Orwellian about “Welcome to the Machine“. Although “the machine“, undoubtedly, was initially intended to represent the music industry, I feel that it takes on a much larger meaning within the soundscape of that song. Ever since I first heard it in the late 80s, I’ve always had images of “1984“ or “Metropolis“ swim around in my mind when I listen to it.
It's Capitalism. Today more obviously dystopian than ever since they stopped sending kids to work in mines.
@@denxero 1984 was modeled after Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. But the immense corporate conglomerates merging with government into a police surveillance state is rooted in capitalistic nature going un checked
I think you're right. I read it more broadly as the government, school, industrial complex.
Plenty of Orwellian stuff in Animals and The Wall, too.
Yes, me too .. Zuckerberg wanted the wrong song!
Undoubtedly a top ten album for anyone who appreciates natural rock. One of the few fantastic guitarists who did not need to play fast solos to be considered exceptional. Love Pink Floyd.
Wish You Were Here always brings tears to my eyes. It's stunning.
Please please do an entire listen through of their Animals album. Its truly wonderful, and im tempted to say i prefer it to their Wish You Were Here album.
It is wonderful, and the animal sounds they do in the background are all made via their various instruments.
I really want to hear your breakdown on it.
Doug did Animals in his extended play series on Patreon. Check the Daily Doug Directory in this video's description for a list of reactions and links.
I agree wholeheartedly. I want him to do more Floyd albums and this one is so close to my heart.
Agreed^^^
Well.
Animals isn´t a PF album anymore - it´s the first Roger Solo-Album, PF feat. Pink Floyd.
Still it is good.
Still it is underrated.
But.
For me, there is not much PF left on that album, It´s RW and some musicians. It marks clearly the end of Pink Floyd.
@@rafaelnuncatiempo353
Not sure where you are getting that. Every source i just checked clearly states it was an album "by Pink Floyd"
Roger is promoting a new mix, but thats all i see.
"Wish You Were Here", that melody is one of the greatest in rock history. Plus the lyrics, so deep...
"Dark Side Of The Moon", "Wish You Were Here", and "Animals" are the three greatest albums of the 1970s.
It's honestly really hard to argue against that statement, but it's only true because Abbey Road was '69.
"Meddle"
Definitely the three best album run by any band or artist of that or any other generation....all phenomenal.
Animals is overrated.
Sure they’re absolutely fenomenal, however, let’s not forget about „Let It Be”
The story with Roy Harper, which I'm sure someone else has already explained, was that both David and Roger had tried to lay down the vocals and it just wasn't working. Roy knew the band well and was recording in another of the studios so they brought him in and he simply nailed it. I think he went uncredited initially and most people thought it was Roger.
Look at the big brain on Chris! According to my friend, Ian Tilbury, who was producing Roy at the time, Chris got the story right. Apparently, Roger had a sore spot about this for quite a while after the fact. Ah, life imitates art imitates life!
@@mikecurtis3114 In one of the seemingly endless documentaries about the band on RUclips, they interviewed the band and Roy Harper. They corroborated this tale. Roger indeed had a sore spot about it, to the extent that the interview was in the 00's and he STILL said he thought he would've got it and done it better. Roy got the vocal in one take apparently and (semi) jokingly said he should've asked for a percentage, rather than the £500 they paid him!!!
To be honest, Roger seemed to have a sore spot about virtually everything the other three did from here on until he finally left the band!!
Thats not what Roger said. He said he could have done it better had he not been sick at the time.
@@kevin.afton_yep, Roger strained his voice and David declined to sing. Hats off to Harper though!
Yes this is Roy Harper. Led Zeppelin has a song called hats off to (Roy) Harper. He was a session musician in London in the sixties and seventies I believe
I love Welcome to the Machine. Incredible piece of music.
They always had great lyrics.
"And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death"
- Pink Floyd: Time (from Dark Side of the Moon)
Best album in rock and roll history.
Yes
I bought that album in 1975 and I still never get tired of listening to it.
A good hifi, decent turntable, any pink floyd record, darkened room and a big fat spliff. At one with the universe.
I've only just discovered Doug's channel. I'm a big Rick Beato fan, but I find Doug's downright humanity (for want of a better word) so beautifully refreshing. Thank you, sir!
I like Beato too!
Yeah rick Beato is the bollox too.
Agreed, but Beato is so dry. Or something. he obviously cares, but it doesn't come across with the same enjoyment as Doug
@@DogmaticPyrhhonist you need to watch more. He gets pure joy from just really good beats and riffs. Awesome interviews too.
like both rick n doug they just have different takes on things.
Dark side of the moon ,is another ,maybe even more a critically acclaimed masterpiece. For me Dark side of the moon ,is the greatest album ever recorded in the modern era . Your reaction s are absolutely spot on by the way ,thank u.
Not only my favourite album of all time but my favourite lyric of all time…..
“We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here”
If I was to make a film of Syd Barrett I’d make this album integral to the the script and the soundtrack.
The sound at the end of "Welcome To the Machine" is an elevator. The de-personified rock star leaves the concert and takes the lift to the penthouse party, where no one is really present. Mindless chatter.
"Have A Cigar" is a follow-up to that theme. The agent/manager/record exec who has no idea about the band. "Which one's Pink" sums it up.
The working title of the album was "Variations on the theme of absence." The album artwork reflects this, as well.
Nobody is here. Wish you were.
Roger said that the title track was not so much about Syd, as it was about himself. "Wish I Were Here."
The band were under enormous pressure to follow up Dark Side of the Moon, the world was in chaos, they were falling apart collectively and individually. The only way to get over the obstacles was to make the album about the what they were going through.
At first, two songs that got rewritten for "Animals" (You've Gotta Be Crazy; Raving and Drooling) were going to be on the album. It's a good thing they weren't. Their rewrites are superior, and they had no place in "Wish You Were Here."
That radio at the beginning of the title track is a microphone recording of the radio in David Gilmour's car. They ran a cable and a mike out there, and he randomly flipped the dial. There was probably some selective editing.
They did the same thing on The Wall, with the TV stations flipping. In concert, they had an actual TV, and they'd flip through the channels.
I alway heard that Gilmour was smoking at that time, and his coughs before Wish You Were Here were real. After hearing those coughs recorded, he decided to quit smoking! I thought I heard Gilmour say this in an interview, but take it with a grain of salt!
Good synopsis.
The album originally came in a pitch black shrink wrap too, so that even the album art would be "absent"
When the band Genesis was looking for a guitarist to replace Anthony Phillips, they put an ad in the local paper that said, "Looking for a lead guitar, who plays in atmospheres, rather than chords." Steve Hackett answered that ad, and the rest is rock history. Pink Floyd, the entire band, plays in atmospheres, and the rest is rock history.
Not really. It was Steve Hackett who put an ad looking for a band to join. And Peter Gabriel had answered.
@@TheDodos85 I remember that!!
This is the first time I’ve listened to wish you were here since it was played at my late wife’s celebration of life 4 years ago. Thank you for getting me to listen again.
Buddy ripped the rig in the middle of a breakdown. Legend. Officially my favorite reaction channel so far. Cheers.
Quite possibly the greatest album ever made on both a musical level & in relation to the circumstances surrounding its creation. From a listening perspective it is without equal from start to finish it is just perfect, it holds your attention, it is incredibly moving and you feel the emotion in the playing. I dont think the 4 members ever played better individually or collectively. On top of that Waters lyrics are beautiful, the sense of loss, distance & alienation are so vivid. As good a lyricist you think Roger Waters is, he's actually better. I think here he was at his pinnacle. The way they remembered Syd was so moving but done in a way that anyone who has lost could relate to.
I cannot listen to this album without shedding a tear as the album fades out & Rick Wright drops a few notes from See Emily Play. I saw The Floyd on the Animals tour when they played Wish You Were Here in its entirety, my abiding memories as a stoned 17 year old in an afghan coat is seeing Gilmour stooped over his pedal steel with a spotlight descending on him and an ocean of dry ice pouring off the stage and waterfalling into the audience. His solo at the start of Shine On pt 2 was just staggering. The image that last longest is the closing section of Shine On when the band left the stage & Rick played the final section alone on the piano, it was hauntingly beautiful, a mirrorball sent light beams all around the hall. Probably my finest moment in 50+ years of concert going.
If The Beatles owned the 60's, Pink Floyd owned the 70's after that nothing really matters
Except "Animals" is Better....
@@alldayadventures5418 Exactly! WYWH is a masterpiece. Animals is just a greater masterpiece and Dogs might be the finest song put to tape in the last 60 years.
I saw Pink Floyd on the Animals tour too! Man that was something else for sure. Soldier's Field in Chicago summer of '77
Wish you were here album is my favorite music ever, for the past 25 yrs.
@@MrStarchild3001 for me, it’s Dark Side Of The Moon then Wish You We’re Here. But ask me again tomorrow and I’ll probably have it the other way around!
The guy who sings “Have a cigar” is Roy Harper. You should listen his album “Stormcock”, especially the song “Me and my woman”. Great performer
Hats off!
I love Roy he’s pretty incredible
Saw Roy Harper play solo guitar whilst the stage was being set up between acts at Knebworth many years ago in the '80's. One guy in front of thousands of people...just incredible.!!!
What ever happened to jugula
In rhe 70s there was some cooperation between Harper and Gilmour. One of the results was the fine album "HQ" with the fantastic "The Game".
I feel like this album is so…cohesive? I can’t explain properly, I’m linguistically challenged, lol. I love how Pink Floyd gives you space in the songs. Every song is like a journey, an experience. They are my all time favorite band. I relate and identify to their vibe so much. Absolute masterclass band of genius in my opinion. I feel every song, so deeply. I am often moved to tears. Still get chills listening to their music over and over. I love Pink Floyd and I adored your video. I raced home from work last week and this week to watch your videos with a little cocktail and also some herbal supplements, because it’s been a long two weeks. So thank you so much for helping me unwind and please Doug will you do some more pink Floyd soon? I love your videos! 🤍
I don’t think you are linguistically challenged, I think you described it perfectly. It’s always been my favourite Floyd album
Doug did Animals in his extended play series on Patreon. Check the Daily Doug Directory in this video's description for a list of reactions and links.
I can definitely relate to this comment.
How the hell are you linguistically challenged? Most English speaking people don't even know what linguistic means.
Oh I just have a hard time getting out exactly what I’m thinking from brain into words. The more passionate I am about something usually the more I can’t describe things the way I’m trying to, or can’t come up with the right words. Thank you guys.
The first vinyl I purchased for myself. Turned out to be a high bar for any subsequent albums. Absolute _masterpiece_ .
DSOTM was my first. But through my high school metal days, I preferred Animals. Now I really appreciate this one as the most enjoyable, cohesive, and well written works. The jazz feel of SOYCD and Gilmour's guitar tone is timeless.
It's worth mentioning that David Gilmour is singing along to his solos as he plays them in the title track. He does this live, too. He has said before that he often writes solos by singing or scatting along to the backing track into a tape recorder, then transcribing it to guitar.
Pink Floyd always seemed like they were in no hurry to go anywhere, and I think that is why their music has so much space.They are like a Sunday drive, going on back roads, seeing the sights that everyone else misses. You learn about the historic places, the scenic overlooks, the architecture, the best places to eat, the roadside stands, all at a leisurely pace. Maybe that is why I listen to Fat Old Sun when I take a long drive, it sets the mood.
spot on, that is a good way to look at it i think
Thanks for your comment I loved it
Well said
Sitting here, listening, and thinking, that's a new sound, I've never heard that on the track before.... Only to realise there is a truck up the road using some hydraulics.. but it blended in.... Lol
Whenever the neighbour's dog barks while I'm listening to Floyd: "Hmm, never noticed that dog in this track before..."
I saw Pink Floyd live at Texas Stadium in 1995 and to this day, its the most incredible concert I've ever attended. By a large margin.
I've loved Pink Floyd for a very long time. They are true geniuses and their music is timeless.
The crowd/party sounds follow an elevator ride to a place or floor where glad handing music biz people are gathering to meet the band. Hangers on. Anyway, that's my interpretation and Have a Cigar follows on this. I interpret the epynomous Wish You Were Here track as the most direct communication with their friend and comrade, Syd. He showed up at the studio during recording of this album. The Floyd members were shocked by his appearance and demeanor. My sense (informed by reading commentators over the years) is that the album is an expression of profound grief for the loss of a friend who is no longer "here" due to mental illness. Didn't know any of this in '75. I just thought it was a head trip with head phones.
One of the funniest lines in rock music .. "we're so happy we can hardly count".
Savage
This is by far the best music reaction channel on RUclips. The analysis provided is so far beyond anybody else's attempt.
Cause he's a professional (classical music professor).
The opening bars of "Wish You Were Here" were recorded from Gilmour's car radio, with somebody turning the dial (the classical music heard is the finale of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony).
It was also used by BBC Radio 1 DJ Alan Freeman on his Saturday show in the 70's.
I have often tried to imagine how many hours they must have sat in the studios writing arranging editing recording to give us these masterpieces,and they are masterpieces. Many of the great prices of music comes out of pain and tragedy but Gilmore, Waters and others took it to another level that in my opinion will never be matched. I am 67 and have been there from the beginning. Thank you Pink Floyd for touching my emotions for all these years.
The segue way from Have a Cigar to Wish You Were Here is one of the most ingenious bits I've ever heard in music. Cuts to a guy listening to the radio, then he starts playing along to the damn radio and in comes WYWH! Absolutely brilliant.
Adding to that : just before that is Have a Cigar, where the artist is being told how his work is about to become a commodity and he'll be rich. Then the magic happens. A big zap, and suddenly his music is on the radio, and we hear it there.
Was this album produced by Alan Parsons?
I don't normally care about lyrics, the music is what gets me. But 'wish you were here' really resonates, and what a song.
But then I regard this album as a major masterpiece, up there with the very best that rock music has produced. There are few better records in any genre.
Wish You Were Here is an amazing, transcendent song. The best, most heartfelt and humane lyrics Roger ever wrote. Any person in the world can relate to it, because one way or the other, we all become separated from someone we love!
I was today years old when I learned that the short string clip playing on the radio at the beginning of Wish You Were Here was from Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony - IV Movement.
Mind blown!!! (Instant subscribe. Fantastic job, Doug!)
I was today years old when I learned that.
You got it! That was indeed the opening of the finale for tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony. My girlfriend was getting me into pink floyd, and as a classical musician I really had never listened to more than classical music. I heard that and thought “Oh shit really?” I had such a fun reaction.
People tend to worship The Dark Side of The Moon as Pink Floyd's best album. But if you do a thorough analysis like Doug does in his videos, you'll find that a few parts of some songs on The Dark Side could still be better musically resolved. Lyrics are perfect. On the other hand, if you listen to the Wish You Were Here album with the same attention for how it fits musically, you realize that there is absolutely nothing out of place. It's a masterpiece. Everything is flawless resolved. The sound is absolutely stonishing and captivating, as are the lyrics of each song. So, for me, Wish You Were Here is Pink Floyd's best album.
"It's like an acoustic guitar playing along with an AM radio" I think I remember reading that that's exactly why Gilmour did it - to encourage the listener to play along. Definitely worked though!
I knew you couldn't get enough. You were absolutely enamored with Shine On.
I thought the same thing haha
I thought the line, " Did you exchange, a walk-on part in the war for a leading role in a cage?" was referring to Mohammad Ali's refusal to fight in Vietnam. I know the song is about Syd Barrett, but Ali was the person who came to mind.
Saw a documentary with David, he talked about Have a Cigar. He mentioned that Roy was in another studio room, they asked him to come sing it and both David and Roger were struggling with getting up to that key to sing this song. Roger wasn't happy about having someone else sing this song, but they felt Roy did a much better version singing this song. There's a lot more to tit but that is the jest of the discussion.
Actually Waters said he still thinks he could have done it better
@@skypekai Yes but I think I read that at the time of recording his voice had gone and he couldn't do it justice. I also read that Harper didn't want payment but a season ticket to Lords cricket ground for life - how cool is that:-)
Daves guitar solo on "Have a cigar" gives goosebumps to me, absolutely breathtaking!!
Wish You Were Here - was the song that caused me to pick up the guitar at age of 27 and because Scotland, the same year I played with new met folks at pubs all over the Highlands, mostly Pink Floyd stuff - this Ultimate Band really have the power to change people and their lives.
It's much more than just music.
Thanks for great review, especially for the supreme ear to pick up the progressions - especially in Atom Heart Mother, very few can show the complex music piece the way you do.
My favourite Pink Floyd album. This is the album I first heard from them, when I was a teenager, and I was hooked. Can't wait to hear the reactions.
"which ones pink" is actually something that the band got asked quite often by producers who didn't know anything of the band except that they were making a lot of money at the time, so roger put the line in the lyrics
Nick's composition of his drum parts on this track are criminally under rated.
Rich the Ancient Metal Beast
Not by me. A lot of attention is paid to Gilmore and Waters but take any one of the 4 out of the equation and it doesn’t work.
They talk in the documentary as to why they used Roy for vocals on Have a Cigar. Both Roger and Dave tried it, but it wasn't working out. Roy, was in another studio at the time, said *_I'll do it, for a price_* Roger never liked it, David said it's the perfect version. I LOVE it.
Great album. I'm 69 and remember listening to A.M. radio as the transition to FM and higher fidelity recording/playback was becoming affordable. The part at about time 21:00 is one of my favorites. The first time I heard it was around 1976, I think and that transition from the radio in the background to the clarity of the acoustic guitar was almost jarring in it's beauty.
When I was a little kid, I got exposed to Pink Floyd through a guy dating one of my older sisters. I remember that not once did my brain process their music as some guys playing instruments. There were always some sort of dreamlike visions going on, I wish I had clear memories of them. It was many years later that it sort of dawned on me that these were indeed people playing instruments and I started becoming keenly aware of (and started asking questions about) production, reverb, synthesizers, etc.
I never developed the golden ears to be a good engineer or producer, but I love that the internet has allowed us to see so many old documentaries, live footage, interviews, etc of artists & the people who recorded them like Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, Elton John, Queen, Led Zeppelin - so many that achieved such excellence on record, hopefully giving millions of little kids amazing mental movies long before music videos began stripping away that gauzy abstract wilderness of what you “see” when you hear music.
Right on Doug. The space they leave is intentional. It’s what makes their compositions both unique and artistically remarkable. Their lyrical point of view here comes from disillusionment following the success of Dark Side. Originally less well received by critics, fans loved it. I’ve always considered both albums as bookends to a particular moment in the career of Floyd. Beautiful logic, both lyrically and musically.
Yes sir, "space" is the whole key to Floyd. Their sparseness is a huge part of what made them great. Never fast or crowded just to be fast and crowded, never filling up sonic space they don't need to.
One of the greatest concert experiences of my lifetime to date was seeing Roger Waters under a full moon, in the middle of the desert with a reported million dollars worth of sound equipment during the 2016 Desert Trip Festival. It was truly amazing! I grew up on Pink Floyd and continue to listen to them to this day. So many masterpiece songs. Thanks for doing this one.
Got to see Roger touring Dark Side years back. At Brain Damage\ Eclipse, there was a rotating laser prism.... I had an out of body experience. Once in a lifetime. Would love to see David and make it two!!
For the ten years we were together this album, an all time favourite, was on every one of my birthday and Christmas, CD list’s.
Two weeks after Andy died prematurely, age thirty two, a package of six albums came through the post. Among them was, “Wish You were here.” I’ve never cried so much in my entire life.
Thirty years on, Andy and Wish You Were Here, are still on my all time hit list. I love them both and the two of them still make me cry.
Dark Side of the Moon is a perfect album, but on Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd did something unexpected, they upped their game and found their heart.
It's because of reactions like this I joined your Patreon. You keep mentioning the soundscapes that Pink Floyd make. You really need to check out Live at Pompeii (the original). They set up in an ancient amphitheater in Italy, and played some of their best material without an audience. It's my favorite live recording I've ever heard.
Supposedly 4 locals snuck in to watch & listen. Would have been 5 if I had been around.
Listening to this reminds me of a discussion about how scientists appreciate a flower.
Because they understand a little more about how it is composed and how it came to be, and what it does, does _not_ make it any less beautiful or wonderful. Exactly the opposite, in fact.
Same with music, surely?
Understanding the mechanics does not deflect from what is a creative expression of our small lives.
Truly great music endures because it touches our souls and says things. And it says that in both technical theory terms, and in 'feels'.
But I've forgotten any music theory I learnt back in the day by this point. What I can relate to is that Pink Floyd music conveys the 'feels' like almost no other.
Must agree with you. I was never a student of music theory but knew what I liked and always appreciated the way Pink Floyd music made me feel back in the day (and still does). Have always connected with certain music but could never describe how or why it made those connections. Hearing a classical composer describe some of the ingredients in the “secret sauce” of this music is interesting and gives an even deeper appreciation for the talent and genius of Roger Waters.
Hi Doug, I am 58 years old, I have been to more than 1000 rock shows in my life. I have played the drums since 1973. I am a huge Led Zep fan, but. Pink Floyd has over taken all others.
I was lucky to see them in 1977 in Cleveland. The show was by far the best I ever saw. If I had to pick one album to listen to for the rest of my life it would be this album. It shall go down in
history as the greatest of all time.
Some bands make one great song. Floyds entire spectrum is a living masrerpiece, every song on every album. Im over 50 now and began loving this since 13. I had the good fortune to attend 2 floyd concerts in my early teens. It only gets more beautiful intense and profound w age and time. The only song i ever learned on the guitar is the intro to wish you were here. Pure perfection. I really enjoyed watching you get into my all time favorite music. I know every note every word every riff by heart. I have never loved any music more. Their shows were phenomenal. Complete sensory immersion into pure perfectection.
This is my favorite Pink Floyd album, I have the mechanical handshake artwork from it tattooed on my arm. Rick Wright’s synth work is what really makes this record special to me. I’d also like to add the “by the way, which one’s pink?” is a reference to an actual experience the band had: an executive really did ask them “by the way, which one is pink?” once in the late 60s
Are you going to do the entire DSOTM album? I'd love to see you break it down with your knowledge and passion!
Zzzzzzzzzz
@@rcpsammy7186 You go for your sleep while the rest of us enjoy DSOTM another masterpiece from PF and listen to Doug's insights - Rick Wright created some terrific 'jazzy' (his words) chord sequences to link certain of the songs together.
@@rcpsammy7186 Not sure what you mean, but ok.
Pink Floyd was as good as it gets! Roger Waters was and continues to be a genius! If you haven't listened to his Amused To Death concept album you've missed one of the most incredible albums of all times.
What a masterpiece amuse is Roger at his finest
One more... I heard a long radio interview with David and Roger, in the early 80s. They nearly brought tears to me twice:
~ they received a letter, from a mother who thanked them profusely. Her son died in a hospital from cancer, and he requested they play in endless loop
"Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun".
❤️😭❤️ Her son took hours and hours to pass away on his final day with that 'voyage' singing to him. Roger and/or David were humbled to help. ❤️
~ secondly, with Maggie Thatcher as their PM in UK, they demanded, rhetorically to her draconian proposals reversing social benefits:
"There are people who just can't cope, with the Society surrounding them; they just cannot cope! What's so bloody wrong about giving them a roof, a cot and blanket, a bowl of soup and bread every day? What's wrong with that?"
====
I've tried to trace (doesn't appear to be an archived "King Biscuit Flour Hour" interview) that.
What a band of amazing musicians.
Creating another masterpiece in Wish You Were Here after one of the greatest albums of all time, Dark Side Of The Moon. And two albums are quite different to each other too. Pure genius.
I've been listening to Pink Floyd since 1973 and was lucky enough to see them in concert several years later. That lyric about "by the way, which one's Pink?" actually happened between the band and a record company executive in the U.S.
Have A Cigar is, ironically (and intentionally, no doubt), the most commercial track on the album. Which I absolutely LOVE.
EDIT: Also, yes, they are totally a long listen, album at a time kind of band....
Hot tip Dougy 😃😃😃
Head phones on..
Relax in Bean Bag
Close your eyes..
And play from the begging to the end of the album!!
It's like one song, broken into different parts.. That's how you get the most out of your Pink Floyd sonic experience!! Enjoy my favourite PF album ❤❤❤
I have seen these guys live I'am happy to say, albeit many years ago, there will be no other band like them ever..
Pink Floyd is my favorite example of space in music. I love how you mention it in every Pink Floyd listen. I think it is possibly the biggest reason people love them wheather they realize it or not. It is always the thing I talk about when I explain to people, who have never heard them, why they are so special.
Oh, what greatness!
So, Doug, if u enjoyed Pink Floyd with their eerieness and spacious sound, you are bound to love CAMEL. That's another British band, formed a bit later as they come from the generation of Rush & Queen. There's so much to discover in their music apart from great musicianship: there are some elements of psycho, definitely of prog/art-rock, but mostly just great songs, interspersed b/w longer instrumentals, often highly complex with 5/4s, 7/4s, 9/8s and so on.
Perhaps u could start off with "Echoes" or "Song within a song", leading you to a "The snow goose" suite off a LP of the same title, famously performed with an orchestra in 1975 in The Royal Albert Hall.
Highly recommended!
So,
go
CAMEL!
Yeah, Camel is pretty cool.
“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.” - HST
Funny but true.
Man that guy could turn a phrase!
@@robertakerman3570 Sad but true.
v good
18:34 🤣😂🤣 You had the exact same response as me when I was 15. I'd bought the album and rushed home to play it and when I got to this point I thought the album was damaged, so I took it back to the shop. When the sales guy listened to it, he said, "Nah, that's just Pink Floyd".
This is and always has been my favourite Floyd album.
You've added several new dimensions to the way this plays, and how it sounds to me. Thankyou.
A touch of irony here: Back in 70, as art students we crashed the line-up to a Floyd concert, and had front row seats. Floyd realised they were getting to be too expensive for the average student, so their manager offered them out at 10/-. The promoter wouldn't believe his ears ...could only say "I'll call you back" (That '10/-' is 10 shillings, British currency at the time, probably about $12 today!). Not all music men are greedy.
Roy Harper is a relatively obscure - but revered - folk singer (Zep have a song "Hats off to (Roy) Harper" on their 3rd album). When he was recording in the next studio, he was asked to do the vocals - his response "How much are you paying?" Irony rules again!
And a party... watch the party in the Spinal Tap movie - the vacuous girl greeting everyone as if they were good friends, without a clue as to who they were.
Per Wikipedia, Roger Waters had strained his voice recording "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and Gilmour didn't want to sing it, so since Roy Harper was recording in the next studio, he offered or was asked to sing it.
Roger's lyrics aren't just "witty". They are often an acerbic reflection on humanity as he sees it. True, that can come across as somewhat jaundiced, but that is Roger - the album Animals is the definitive example of that mindset.
That being said, 90% of "Dogs" was David Gilmour.
Definitely. Waters has always had a very pointed and opinionated outlook on things , and doesn't take any shit from anyone.
How can that be. Allready 50 percent of a song are te lyrics and Waters wrote the lyrics. Maybe Gilmour wrote the whole musical part or most of it, I don't think so, though, there are many Waters like sound effects in the song, but since Waters is credited with all of the lyrics of the album it is mathematically imposible that Gilmour had written 90 percent of the song.
More specifically, It means what it means for each individual's interpretation. I've never worried about delving too deeply into analysis. I just enjoy the ride when I listen. That being said, there are some commonly known general issues at the time. First of all, this album came after Floyd's phenomenally successful Dark Side of the Moon (One of the bestselling albums ever with 45 million units sold, and it stayed on the charts 958 weeks. That's over Eighteen years!). Previous to that album, the band had decent success, but after Dark Side, their success went ballistic. That level of fame and fortune not only messed with the chemistry of the band but the relationship between the band and Colombia Records, which is the machine Rodgers is referring to. On the next album, The Wall, Rodgers wrote a concept album based on the growing distance he then felt between him and the audience. It culminated one night when he go so pissed, he spit on the crowd. He also mentions that at one point, he had such a serious nervous breakdown, he thought he would go mad or die or both. He said it was an out-of-body experience that totally freaked him out. So you want to achieve maximum success? There IS a price to pay, and to a degree, that's what he was talking about in these albums.
Their debut album ‘The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’ would be a good one for weird Wednesday.
It's definitely wierd
Since you were talking you missed one of the most amazing things about "Wish You Were Here" (the song): Before he starts playing the guitar (while the radio is still running) you can hear him sniff his nose. And suddenly you realize, someone is there. Iconic...
The last few times I saw Roger in concert on the screen behind behind the band they opened with a cigarette burning in an ashtray in front of transistor radio in monotone then the guitar starts playing and switches to stereo. As much as I loved those vinyl LP's listening to them with my headphones seeing them live was was truly a treat . 🤩
I bought and heard this in 76 the week it came oud on my stereo and I was tripping at the time. And when I hear it now I still am. Still amazing. Hard to top Dark Side, but I feel it was equal in greatness.
A band that went from chaos to greatness.. Quite an excursion.
Marvelous insights. You could dedicate your entire channel to listening and commenting on every Pink Floyd song from every album and it would take years. I’ve researched the music, the arraignments, the production, and followed the history of The Floyd and the members for all of my adult life and I’m still learning and being delightfully surprised.
As a massive fan of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters music, it gives me great pleasure to listen to your breakdown. Very accurate. Pity music like this no longer exists, only in the history Floyd left us.
i was & still am glad to have grown up with all the Pink Floyd music back in the mid to late 80s & im glad to see that theres no time limit or age limit on the music.Lots of things start then stop but PF is eternal : ))
Pink Floyd have used every device and instrument to create fields of sound full of emotion. They incorporated piecing lyrics aimed and fired at their passions at the time. They created spectaculars with light in sell out concerts. Their music is now timeless but at the same time a reflection of the era in which they existed, both good and bad.