Partly an album dedicated to their former bandmate Syd Barrett as well as their growing dissatisfaction with the music business, 1975's Wish You Were Here was Pink Floyd's follow-up to their massive Dark Side of the Moon, and this intriguing Blu-ray from the Eagle Rock camp tells the story of the trials and tribulations that the band went through in putting together this seminal album. Complete with interviews with surviving members David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Nick Mason, as well as archival interview snippets of the late Richard Wright, you get a good sense of what a massive undertaking it was to create the successor to Dark Side of the Moon, and how the cracks in the Floyd machine first started to show around this time period which eventually led to Waters leaving the band a decade later. Engineer Brian Humphries, album sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson, and guest vocalist Roy Harper, who sang lead on "Have a Cigar", are also interviewed for the documentary.
For the avid Pink Floyd fan, seeing Gilmour and Waters play little guitar snippets of these classic songs during their interview segments will be priceless, and each adds insight into the creation of songs such as "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (a song about Barrett, who was deep into mental illness at the time), "Welcome to the Machine", and the iconic title track. Hearing the band, Humphries, and Thorgerson talk about Barrett, who dropped into the studio while they were recording the album and was barely recognized, is really sad, and when you see the photograph from that day, with a very heavy Barrett with shaved head, you can understand how it still brings up painful memories for all involved. Harper talks about how he came to sing on "Have a Cigar", as does Gilmour and Waters, and Roger still seems to regret that he didn't sing that one himself. As Eagle Rock has included in most of these album themed documentaries, we get Humphries breaking down some of the tracks so you can hear individual vocal sections and instrumental sections apart from the rest of the mix, taken from the original masters.
Throw in some vintage live footage of the band from that time period, as well as earlier with Barrett and more recently on the reunion show, and you have a very fun and informative look at one of rock 'n' roll's most enduring and legendary albums. Filmed in high-definition, the video presentation is sparkling and the audio stellar.
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