Rating: 5/5
Reviewed by: Ashley Frieze
Buy it now.

Why did I not review this album first? I've been humming it all day? I've been trying to learn sections of it on the guitar for years, it was one of the first albums I replaced when my CD collection was stolen, I play it on a constant loop while working, I play it in the car, hell, I even know the guitar solos well enough to sing along to them in scat... I've even been known to emulate the saxophone.

This is probably Pink Floyd's greatest album. I cannot say with any certainty that it's my favourite album of all time, since my musical taste varies daily, but it's definitely in the top five. 

This is not a conventional album. If I told you that there was around seven minutes of introduction to the first song, you'd start thinking that it was a self-indulgent work, or along the lines of Meat Loaf's albums, where there's almost a need to whip the listener up into a frenzy by an elongated opening. With Pink Floyd, however, the reason for this album seeming to take so long to start is owing to the fact that the first track on the CD was written as several movements in a modern-day musical symphony. When they mixed the album, they split the eight or so movements into an album intro/outro which form the two "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" tracks at the start and end of the CD. By today's standards, the stream of consciousness throughout the entire album (calling the bridges between tracks mere segues would be understatement) may be unconventional, but it's a classic formula and it works well for me.

The songs "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have A Cigar" are my least favourite on the album, though they are more along the lines of the regular rock track. "Wish You Were Here" is one of the most emotive songs I know. Lyrically and musically this album is a masterpiece. If you do not own this album then go out and buy it.

This album has nothing to do with Judith ***ing Charmers.

16 December 2001
Ashley Frieze