Review: Pale Wizard Records - Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here 50 Years Later (Matt Bladen)

Pale Wizard Records - Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here 50 Years Later (Pale Wizard Records)

Let's go back. When I was a young'un I had old parents, both of them were brought up in the 60's and 70's so their music tastes reflected this. It meant that as a prepubescent I was fed a diet of Led Zeppelin, Status Quo, Black Sabbath, Genesis and Pink Floyd. Many of these bands still my favourites to this day. 

Floyd though? Floyd are special, I could easily take their entire discography to a desert island and never get bored of it. The four distinct eras of the band are all comparable to me, though of course it's that period from Darkside Of The Moon to The Wall, that many consider to be the 'classic' Pink Floyd period. From 1973 to 1979 Roger, David, Richard and Nick produced music that stands the rest of time, songs that are still regularly played on 'rock' radio and beyond to this day. 

So anything that is Pink Floyd related will never get a fully unbiased review from me. Neither will anything from Pale Wizard Records, the labours of love that Tim Hillerd and Dan Flitcroft out themselves through every year is admirable. They too are paying homage to their influences, to the bands of their childhood/adolescence by releasing one album from each year of the 1970's in the 2020's. 

In 2021 they began the 50 Years Later project with a tribute to Alice Cooper's Killer, bringing together the biggest and loudest in the stoner/doom/psych scene to recreate the songs of that record (and a few extras) in their own styles. In 2022 it was David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, 2023 came Budgie's Never Turn Your Back On A Friend and last year Sparks' Kimono My House got the Pale Wizard treatment. All of these were loved in these pages, I'm a sucker for a cover version but the way these bands interpret these songs while paying reverence to the originals is always brilliant to hear, recorded in release order each track seamless blends into the other as it did on the originals, just with heavier guitars, drums and vocals. 

In 2025 Pale Wizard do Floyd, taking Wish You Were Here, at that time their most personal record with a two part tribute to their fallen founding member Syd Barrett, alongside a lament to their new found fame with Have A Cigar, it's only five tracks but Shine On Your Crazy Diamond was Pink Floyd going back to their earlier psychedelic sound fused to their more direct approach, while the title track is an evergreen ballad to this day. 

Like me Wish You Were Here, is a favourite of both Dan and Tom and exactly 50 years later on 12th September Pale Wizard will be once again paying homage with another collection of road weary bands reimagining some absolute rock classics. 

So then to the album itself and let's start with Shine On; Parts I-V has the hefty throb of Portland trio Hippie Death Cult, this is the most played of the two and Eddie, Laura and Harry give it their own dirty doom sound, never really changing the bare bones of the track but just giving it the rock n roll drive of Motorhead, in particular Laura gives a great vocal performance on those now familiar lyrics. 

On Parts VI-IX, it's to Sergeant Thunderhoof to finish the album and with the more instrumental style of the second half of the song, their psychedelic style works well. It's probably the closer to the original you get here but it has that groovy Hoof rhythm beneath it. 

So Shine On You Crazy Diamond still has plenty emotion to it but delivered in a different way here. It's on to the middle section of the record and the industrial Welcome To The Machine comes from Mos Generator and has Tony Reed's signature all over it. Plenty of woozy, ethereal synths and some fuzz guitar tones behind his rich vocals, it's a less mechanical versions but still just as threatening, taking things to into classic rock with plenty of solos

Segueing into Somerset heavies Duskwood, who bring the brooding, acerbic Have A Cigar, to life with doom. Originally the only Pink Floyd song not sung by a member, here it's got a fat bass groove and Duskwood make it as if it's come of one of their own albums, there's a groove on this one, deep resonant riffs and a hearty chug with some Maiden harmonies for good measure.

Texans High Desert Queen get to give muscle to one of Pink Floyd's most endearing tracks Wish You Were Here, keeping the core beauty of the track but giving it their stoner/doom sheen, hooked on some fuzzy basslines, this one builds in a way that I would expect Crippled Black Phoenix to cover it, then those huge vocals kick sliding into the 'those' solos. Where they take a different route is with a drum solo and chorus repeated at the end to bring more stoner vibes. 

As is now tradition there are some bonus tracks too as Bristol sludge group Urzah take Fearless (one of my favourite Pink Floyd songs) from Meddle and shift it into their own aggressive, percussive approach while Sheffield's Firegarden who play "sexy, funky prog 'n' roll" and apply that to Time from Dark Side Of The Moon, closing this celebration with some mind altering progness.  

So the five cuts from Pink Floyd's ninth album and the two from their sixth and eighth, are all reinterpreted brilliantly by the bands involved, paying homage to this classic album of 1975 (which is a year FULL of classic albums). Pale Wizard just have a knack of picking the best bands for the songs, giving them a new lease of life while celebrating them 50 years after their release. 

As for 1976? My choices would be 2112, Jailbreak, Agents Of Fortune, Rising or as a left field choice Songs In The Key Of Life. For now though let Wish You Were Here 50 Years Later combine your love of prog and stoner and give you the ultimate tribute in my opinion one of the best albums ever made. 10/10