<P> Wish You Were Here is the ninth studio album by English rock band Pink Floyd . It was first released on 12 September 1975 in the United Kingdom by Harvest Records and a day later in the United States by Columbia Records . Inspired by material the group composed while performing in Europe, the album was recorded in numerous sessions at Abbey Road Studios in London . Two of its songs criticise the music business, another expresses alienation, and the multi-part composition "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is a tribute to Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, who had left seven years earlier due to mental health problems . As with their previous album The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), the band used studio effects and synthesizers, and brought in guest singers: Roy Harper, who provided the lead vocals on "Have a Cigar", and Venetta Fields, who added backing vocals to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". </P> <P> Wish You Were Here topped record charts in the United Kingdom and the United States, and Harvest Records' parent company EMI was unable to print enough copies to meet demand . Although it initially received mixed reviews from critics, the album went on to receive critical acclaim, appearing on Rolling Stone's lists of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and the "50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time". Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright and guitarist David Gilmour have both cited Wish You Were Here as their favourite Pink Floyd album . </P> <P> During 1974, Pink Floyd sketched out three new compositions, "Raving and Drooling", "You Gotta Be Crazy" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". These songs were performed during a series of concerts in France and England, the band's first tour since 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon . As Pink Floyd had never employed a publicist and kept themselves distant from the press, their relationship with the media began to sour . Following the publication by NME of a negative critique of the band's new material, written by Nick Kent (a devotee of Syd Barrett) and Pete Erskine, the band returned to the studio in the first week of 1975 . </P> <P> Wish You Were Here is Floyd's second album with a conceptual theme written entirely by Roger Waters . It reflects his feeling that the camaraderie that had served the band was, by then, largely absent . The album begins with a long instrumental preamble and segues into the lyrics for "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", a tribute to Syd Barrett, whose mental breakdown had forced him to leave the group seven years earlier . Barrett is fondly recalled with lines such as "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun" and "You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon". </P>

Pink floyd wish you were here album full