Wish You Were Here (3CD, 2DVD & Blu-Ray Immersion Box Set)

After the artistic and financial success of Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd were bereft of ideas for their followup Wish You Were Here. Similarly after the richest of the bonus and unreleased material in the Immersion Edition of DSOM most fans will find the Immersion Edition of WYWH disappointing.

The original WYWH album was released in September 1975 only 3 years after DSOM hit the shops; it is not unusual now for many new and well established artists or groups to take twice as long between releases. During 1974 and 1975 Pink Floyd undertook extensive tours of France Britain and USA with a suite of three new songs and accompanying films.

The BBC recorded the entire concert at Empire Pool Wembley in London on Saturday November 16 1974. The first half of this concert included three work in progress versions of Shine On You Crazy Diamond and Raving & Drooling and You Gotta Be Crazy. The second half was a note-for-note representation of DSOM with Echoes as the encore. The BBC broadcast the entire Dark of the Moon on the Alan Freeman Show on Saturday January 11 1975 and it is now available on the Immersion Edition of DSOM. The second CD presents Shine On You Crazy Diamond as one continuous piece. Raving & Drooling opens with a backing tape excerpt from BBC Radio One DJ Jimmy Young followed by a pounding bass riff and slashing guitar and insensitive lyrics about Floyds new mass audience. You Gotta Be Crazy also includes negative lyrics about corporate greed set to a jazzy Gilmour chord sequence. All these recordings are presented in new stereo mixes with all the flaws of a live performance resolved. By the time the tour reached the USA in summer 1975 Shine On You Crazy Diamond was split into two parts with Have A Cigar sang by Roger Waters as the filler. The second CD also includes an outtake of Have A Cigar with Roger Waters on lead vocal which the other band members felt was inadequate. Another surprise on the second CD is a version of Wish You Were Here featuring the violinist Stephane Grappelli that was previously thought to have been lost. When the Floyd reconvened to record WYWH they revisited their ongoing Household Objects project which produced the wine glasses outtake on CD2. This sound effect also appeared on the final version of included Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

The first CD contains James Guthries 360 degree mix of the original album which sounds amazing with every note and lyric and sound effect clearly audible. This latest mix will satisfy the expectations of new listeners in this digital era. However there will be a few diehards that will long for the original.

The audio only DVD which will be grist to their mill of all audiophiles with the standard & high resolution audio versions of James Guthries 5.1 surround and uncredited quadraphonic mixes. The visual only DVD contains Peter Medaks and Ian Eames concert screen films and animations for Pink Floyds 1974 and 1975 tours. The Blu-Ray is a compilation of these two DVDs.

This box set includes a selection of related paraphernalia to compensate for the disappointing musical content. However the opportunity to hear the three song suite from the 1974 & 1975 Tours is worth the admission fee.