PINK FLOYD/WISH YOU WERE HERE SHVL 814 (-75) UK

Got nothing to add on the enormous bulk of info surrounding the record. This is personal. Up to the 1972 "Obscured By Clouds" Pink Floyd was one of the bands I had easiest to connect to - they were experimental, quirky and sometimes unintelligible, but always with a kind of intimacy like it was directed especially to me. But from "Dark Side Of The Moon" and on as they set aim on a more commercial and arena friendly expression I started to lose contact. It wasn't "my" band anymore, from being the most important listener I was now degraded to an anonymous face on a back row (not trying to be dramatic here, just describing the feeling). On this I can admire the long guitar parts, feel moved by the Syd Barrett bond and so on, but still only half-in. Three of the cuts saves it for me and makes it a keeper almost worth the overprice. First and formost Roy Harper's singing on "Have A Cigar" - a true piece of vocal art, turning a rather ordinary song into something else. Title track is tophole too with the very emotional guitars as is the catchy vocal core of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", but that's it. I rather return to a time when he actually was there. Frequently issued and reissued, as two-channel or quad, through the years on vinyl, 8-track, cassette and CD. First UK had label as shown here, matt cover wrapped in stickered black plastic, picture/lyric/credit inner and postcard. (PÅX*) (HÄVL*)