\n<\/p>\n
\n\tRemember when you were young? Pink Floyd<\/a>\u2018s members (with the exception of drummer Nick Mason<\/a>) don\u2019t seem to relish the thought, but those opening lyrics to \u201cShine On You Crazy Diamond\u201d perfectly evoke the spirit of Pink Floyd\u2019s 50th anniversary box set, a 360-degree retrospective of the tip of the band\u2019s pyramid. It\u2019s a time capsule anthologizing one of the strangest times in the quartet\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n \n\tHalf a century removed from its conception, it\u2019s easy to forget how much pressure the band felt to follow up their breakthrough, The<\/em> Dark Side of the Moon<\/em>, with anything half as good. David Gilmour<\/a> once said the band felt \u201ccreatively trapped\u201d at the time. But they nevertheless rallied to compose a record filled with legends and martyrs and miners for truth and delusion all caught in the group\u2019s kaleidoscopic swirls of fuzzy synths and post-blues guitar.<\/p>\n \n\tThe new Wish<\/em> compendium includes nearly all the bonus material from the band\u2019s 2011 \u201cImmersion Edition\u201d box set, but the band\u2019s new deal with Sony has shaken loose early mixes of songs, a few demos, alternate versions of songs and a newly official bootleg recording of one of the band\u2019s 1975 Los Angeles concerts. There aren\u2019t any major revelations \u2014 it\u2019s already a perfect album; it couldn\u2019t be more perfect \u2014 but it\u2019s a holistic look at a time when the quartet functioned in near harmony and it enriches the experience of listening to the original album.<\/p>\n \n\tFifty years later, the studio LP still shines brighter thematically and musically than Dark Side<\/em> as well as the two albums that followed it. Roger Waters<\/a>\u2018 lyrics remain cynical \u2014 criticizing societal conformity (\u201cWelcome to the Machine\u201d), the record industry (\u201cHave a Cigar\u201d), and the vapidity of humanity as a whole (the title track) \u2014 but there are glimmers of hope and humor within that no wall could confine. The \u201cShine On\u201d suite still sparkles with Gilmour\u2019s cosmic B-flat-F-G-E motif (a monogram as memorable as NBC\u2019s G.E. chimes), Wright\u2019s ethereal, sometimes funky synth lines, and of course Waters\u2019 poetic ode on the madness of Syd Barrett.<\/p>\n