PF had planned a wildly experimental album called "Household Objects" recorded entirely with... well, household objects. After touring exhaustively for Dark Side of the Moon, this idea was scrapped to instead record this album, reflecting on the isolation of fame, and kicking against the industry that had put them there. "Shine on you crazy diamond" was, as most people know, written for ex-Floyd guitarist/singer/songwriter Syd Barrett. He came by to visit them while they were recording and none of them recognised the fat, bald, wrecked man before them.
I've seen interviews where Waters has slammed people's perception of Syd as this romantic figure. The musical genius lost in a haze of drugs. He pointed out that Barrett's experience was a negative one not one to be glorified and romanticised.
Musically it's the mix that Floyd albums seemed to be at this time, long form musical experimentation (the opening and closing of '...Diamond') mixed with some concise rock songs like 'Have a cigar' or the title track... the segue-way between the two is ingenious, with 'Cigar' disappearing into a tinny little rattle of muzak, from which (after some channel/station surfing) appears the opening of 'Wish you were here'. The elevator music sound a further reference to the perceived commercialisation of the band's music.
No comments:
Post a Comment