Pink Floyd has just released a deluxe 50th anniversary edition of its classic 1975 album Wish You Were Here. As previously reported, the reissue is available in multiple formats and configurations, including as a deluxe box set, a two-CD set, a three-LP vinyl collection, on Blu-ray, and digitally.
Videos by American Songwriter
To celebrate the arrival of the Wish You Were Here 50 reissue, Pink Floyd’s YouTube channel is hosting a non-stop, weekend-long streaming event. The presentation features classic Pink Floyd songs, new tracks from the reissue, and more. Fans are encouraged to share their Pink Floyd memories and reactions to the tunes in the comments section.
In addition, Pink Floyd has partnered with News & Coffee Studio to launch special pop-up shops at News & Coffee street kiosks in four major cities— London, Paris, Los Angeles, and Barcelona, Spain. The shops will be open through Monday, December 15. Additional pop-ups also will be open for a limited time at record stores in Berlin and Milan, Italy.
Each location is selling an exclusive Wish You Were Here 50 edition of the Brain Damage fanzine. Five editions of the fanzine are available worldwide; each of the four kiosks will be offering 250 individually numbered copies. In addition, a limited-edition white-vinyl LP pressing of Wish You Were Here 50 will be sold exclusively at the pop-up shops, as well as various pieces of commemorative merchandise. All items have limited availability. Visit PinkFloyd.com for more information.
Also coinciding with the reissue’s arrival, Pink Floyd has debuted a visualizer video of an unreleased instrumental version of Wish You Were Here’s title track on its YouTube channel. The track showcases David Gilmour’s shimmering pedal-steel guitar work.
More About the Wish You Were Here 50 Reissue
All versions of the Wish You Were Here 50 reissue feature the original five-track album, plus nine alternate takes and demo recordings. Six of the bonus tracks are previously unreleased.
The digital and Blu-ray versions of the Wish You Were Here reissue also feature a recording of a 16-song Pink Floyd concert at Los Angeles Sports Arena on April 26, 1975. The recording will receive its first official release as part of the reissue.
The Blu-ray features all of the aforementioned recordings, and includes multiple mixes of Wish You Were Here. Among them is the first Dolby Atmos mix of the album, created by longtime Pink Floyd studio collaborator James Guthrie. The Blu-ray also boasts concert-screen films from Pink Floyd’s 1975 tour, and a 2000 short film by Storm Thorgerson, co-founder of the famed Hipgnosis design agency.
The box set features the CDs, LPs, and Blu-ray. It also boasts a clear-vinyl LP featuring performances from a 1974 show at Wembley Empire Pool in London, and a 7-inch vinyl replica of a Japanese single featuring the Wish You Were Here tracks “Have a Cigar” and “Welcome to the Machine.”
The package also comes with a hardcover book containing unseen photographs, a comic-book tour program, and a Knebworth concert poster.
About Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here was Pink Floyd’s ninth studio effort, a follow-up to the band’s massively successful 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.
In addition to the classic title track, Wish You Were Here features “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” a multiple-part tribute to Pink Floyd’s original frontman Syd Barrett. Barrett was ousted from the band in 1968 because of mental-health and drug issues. The album also includes two songs that turn a critical eye on the shallowness and greed of the music business—“Have a Cigar” and “Welcome to the Machine.”
“Have a Cigar” features guest lead vocals by British folk artist Roy Harper.
Wish You Were Here topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks in October 1975. It also spent a week at No. 1 on the U.K. albums chart that same month. The album has gone on to sell more than 6 million copies in the U.S.
(Courtesy of Sony Music)
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.