Iconic pop rockers Pink Floyd have confirmed the release of a 50th anniversary edition of their iconic Wish You Were Here full length.
Slated to drop on December 12 via Sony Music, Wish You Were Here 50 promises to give fans a new perspective into one of the legendary band’s most popular LPs.
Featuring several discs of rarities, the core of the special five-decade retrospective collection will include six previously unreleased alternate versions and demos presenting Pink Floyd’s ninth studio album in a new way.
Released in several formats including 3LP, 2CD, Blu-ray, digital and a Deluxe Box Set, the digital release includes the original 1975 record with a new Dolby Atmos mix by James Guthrie, whose work with Pink Floyd dates back to the 1979 album The Wall.
The forthcoming collection also features 25 bonus tracks made up of nine studio rarities and 16 live recordings captured by renowned bootlegger Mike Millard at the Money band’s Los Angeles Sports Arena concert in April 1975.
The Blu-ray edition will give listeners the opportunity to see three concert screen films from the band’s 1975 tour as well as a Storm Thorgerson short film, and the 3LP and 2CD formats as well as the original record and nine studio bonus tracks.
The Deluxe Box Set includes the above mentioned repertoire and a fourth clear vinyl LP, Live At Wembley 1974, a replica Japanese seven-inch single of ‘Have A Cigar’ b/w ‘Welcome To The Machine,’ a hardcover book including unseen photos, a comic book tour program and a Knebworth concert poster.
To mark the album’s announcement and preempting the anniversary package, a never-before-heard early demo version of ‘Welcome to the Machine’ (originally titled ‘The Machine Song’) has been released. Shorter in length than the original epic, ‘The Machine Song (Demo #2, Revisited)’ gives fan an exciting preview of what to expect from Wish You Were Here 50.
Other studio rarities being released include ‘The Machine Song (Roger’s demo),’ the first home demo of the track that Roger Waters originally brought to the band, a previously unheard instrumental version of the title track ‘Wish You Were Here’ featuring David Gilmour’s pedal steel guitar and, for the first time, a complete version of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts 1-9)’ that joins together the song’s two halves that have been newly mixed in stereo by James Guthrie.
With its themes of absence and isolation as a powerful response to Pink Floyd’s global fame,Wish You Were Here has been a fixture of all-time greatest albums lists for decades.
Along with limited edition product release, exclusive 50th anniversary merchandise will also be available at PinkFloyd.com
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Hit Parader magazine – Public Domain