

We knew his idea was very much about absence and Shine On You Crazy Diamond really came from the loss of Syd Barrett. Powell reveals, ‘We’d heard tracks up at Abbey Road Studios and we knew what Roger Waters’ concept of it was. He was very nervous showing them but when he finished he got a round of applause from the band.’

We flew to California and Storm had already presented the band with the ideas, which were sketches that I’d done, at Abbey Road Studios. They were shot in ’75 during a Pink Floyd tour of America. Powell explains, ‘I photographed all of the pictures on the album. It was also, in places, a searing critique of a cynical music business.Īs with the iconic light prism design for Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon the design was handled by the Hipgnosis agency, which had been co-founded by the late Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell.

Wish You Were Here, the ninth studio album by the legendary rock band Pink Floyd, saw chief songwriter Roger Waters exploring themes of absence, alienation and the band’s melancholy following the departure of former guitarist Syd Barrett, due to his mental health issues, in 1968.
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He progressed on to making music videos, TV commercials, documentaries and corporate films but in 2014 returned to album design for Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell 20th anniversary box set. Hipgnosis thrived and produced many LP covers. He shared an apartment with Storm Thorgerson and the two co-founded Hipgnosis in 1967. We’d just done this dangerous fire stunt and here we were coming from a party and the car caught fire.’Īubrey ‘Po’ Powell began his career in the mid-1960s as a set designer. The car exploded and burnt to the ground. Powell reveals, ‘Peter said, “your car’s on fire”. 1 in the US, UK, Australia, The Netherlands, New Zealand and Spainįascinating fact: At 4am on the evening of the cover shoot Powell left a party with assistant Peter Christopherson and noticed mist at the front of the Cadillac. Released: 12 September 1975, UK (Harvest Records), 13 September 1975, US (Columbia Records)Ĭharts: No. Musicians: Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Richard Wright, Dick Parry (saxophones, Shine On You Crazy Diamond), Roy Harper (lead vocals, Have a Cigar), Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams (backing vocals). He left the band in April 1968 and was briefly hospitalized amid speculation of mental illness exacerbated by drug use.Steve Fairclough uncovers the story of the legendary image for Pink Floyd’s 1975 album cover for Wish You Were Hereįact File: Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here Barrett was a founder member of the band Pink Floyd. Like most of the album, it refers to former Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett and his breakdown. The lyrics of "Wish you were here" encompass Roger Waters' feelings of alienation from other people. Wish you were here by Pink Floyd Levelīeginner and intermediate students. This page provides information about the song and links to the lyrics and the official video. "Wish You Were Here" is a song by the English progressive rock group Pink Floyd.
