{"id":314995,"date":"2025-12-14T04:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T04:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/314995\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T04:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T04:19:09","slug":"pink-floyds-nick-mason-on-wish-you-were-here-50th-anniversary-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/314995\/","title":{"rendered":"Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason on ‘Wish You Were Here’ 50th Anniversary Set"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tHow we wish we were there \u2026 back in 1975, that is, and able to again listen to Pink Floyd<\/a>\u2018s magnum opus \u201cWish You Were Hear\u201d as a fresh work for the very first time, as opposed to hearing it through 50 years of hindsight. [Insert \u201cmind blown\u201d hand gesture here.] But the hindsight\u2019s not bad, either, especially if it means we\u2019re alive and kicking a half-century later, and most especially when it can result in an experience as enhanced as the 50th anniversary boxed set commemorating the classic, with everything from previously unreleased demos and live tracks to Dolby Atmos mixes sweetening the deal.<\/p>\n

\n\tNick Mason<\/a> can claim bragging rights as the only member of Pink Floyd to appear on every one of the band\u2019s albums, from 1967\u2019s \u201cPiper at the Gates of Dawn\u201d \u2014 when Syd Barrett was the ostensible band leader, before he soon exited and David Gilmour<\/a> entered the picture \u2014 on through to the group\u2019s protracted final act, after Roger Waters<\/a>\u2018 departure, with Gilmour as sole frontman. So the drummer had a full measure of the shock when Barrett showed up at the studio during the \u201cWYWH\u201d sessions after years of being MIA with mental illness. Barrett was in no shape and probably had no desire to participate in those sessions, even as a cameo player, but in a way, he is a star of the album nonetheless, as the record came a little bit closer to having a throughline once parts of it started being written about him.<\/p>\n

\n\tMason spoke with Variety about his memories of Barrett showing up at those sessions, and of the album\u2019s tortured beginnings as a \u201cDark Side of the Moon\u201d follow-up that ended up being a little less experimental than first intended. (As in: they finally abandoned the idea of making it without using any musical instruments at all.) Read on for a Q&A exploring his thoughts about why he thinks the album ended up being such an eternal fan favorite in spite of (and\/or because of) being an \u201cantidote\u201d to Floyd\u2019s more conceptually tight outings.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Wish You Were Here<\/a>\u2018 boxed set cover<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSony Legacy<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re probably not always in a retrospective mood and looking back and being nostalgic, but does having this \u201cWish You Were Here\u201d set out allow you a chance to feel proud of the anniversary, as a commemoration of something that obviously people have been very attached to for 50 years?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s perhaps a little bit surprising, how much people are enjoying going back 50 years. But when you reach my age, you spend a lot of time thinking about the past rather than planning much of a future. Oh, that sounds too grim!<\/p>\n

\n\tWhere the album sit in your thoughts among the whole catalog after all these years? There are a lot of people who feel this is their favorite Pink Floyd album.<\/p>\n

\n\tYes. It\u2019s a curious one, really, because it\u2019s not the biggest seller, but it seems to have lasted particularly well. And I think it\u2019s almost an antidote to things like \u201cDark Side\u201d and \u201cThe Wall,\u201d which are very organized. This feels a lot more like a bit of a wander. And particularly if you\u2019re listening to music, that works particularly well.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you say \u201ca wander\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s right, a wander.<\/p>\n

\n\tI like that. In thinking about reasons why it might seem like the quintessential Pink Floyd album to some people, even though ultimately there are only four songs \u2014 at least if you count \u201cShine On You Crazy Diamond\u201d as one song \u2014 it covers a large gamut of what people think of even from different eras of Pink Floyd. There are a couple of kind of angry songs of Roger\u2019s (\u201cWelcome to the Machine,\u201d \u201cHave a Cigar\u201d), and then a couple of the songs are very sad or wistful. And then there are the long instrumental passages that people associate with the earlier Pink Floyd, more than the latter-day. So there\u2019s a lot of trademark stuff packed in there, given how really compact the song list is.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, and I think also there\u2019s perhaps a little bit more of a recognition for Rick [Wright, the group\u2019s late keyboard player]. Because one\u2019s always sort of hooked up with (thinking about) Roger and Dave arguing about things or whatever. But actually, there\u2019s never quite enough credit to be shared around with successful projects. And I think sometimes Rick gets a bit sort of pushed out. Not pushed out \u2014 just not recognized, for what he contributed.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPink Floyd<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStorm Thorgerson \/ courtesy Sony<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s certainly a wonderful showcase for what he brought to the group. Since you mentioned that this was \u201ca bit of a wander,\u201d do you think that there was a conscious decision not to make this a concept album per se?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I think there was a feeling that when you have a successful album, that the next one\u2026 can we do it again? I don\u2019t think that would\u2019ve been a good way forward. So I think there was very much a feeling of let\u2019s not make something quite so structured. Because, yeah, there\u2019s a lot of structure in \u201cDark Side.\u201d And actually what\u2019s nice about this record is just the amount of atmosphere around it\u2026 air around it.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeople have tried to apply a theme to it, whether there\u2019s one there or not. And the word \u201cabsence\u201d has popped up\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tMm-hmm.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2026in Roger talking about it, and how he feels that was reflected in the different elements of cover art as well. But for those of us who, as young people, sat there and pondered every bit of this, it was like: Well, is there kind of a thematic connection unifying the album \u2014 a connection between the stuff having to do with the record industry and cynicism over that, and then the stuff about Syd Barrett representing an innocence that maybe stands in stark contrast to the music buisness stuff? Maybe it\u2019s too much of a stretch of imagination to connect those two things, as a conceptual force on the album, but fans do make those stretches.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think Syd was much more a driving force than the sort of bit about the record company. I think that was a sort of one-off, if you like \u2014 whereas I think the whole element of Syd appearing in the studio and so on was far more of a catalyst to make this record.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s that chicken-or-the-egg question of whether Syd appearing in the studio influenced the album ending up being more about him, or whether that was already written to a large extent, and then writing about him kind of mysteriously manifested him showing up unexpectedly as a vistor in the studio.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think the arrival of Syd in the studio was a major part of what then transpired. I don\u2019t think there was much of a theme to the record until the Syd visit, and that really gave a bit more clarity or a bit more direction, particularly with Roger\u2019s lyrics. But not only that, I think also the way the various elements on the record worked out were very much part of songs that could have been about moving on from a relationship to being about Syd.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m wondering what recollections you have of Syd\u2019s studio visit,. At the time, as long as it had been and as shocking as it apparently was, you\u2019re probably still not thinking, \u201cOh, this is the last time I\u2019ll ever see this person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are a couple of things from my point of view, one of which was that when Syd actually arrived, I was putting a drum track down in the studio, and it was when I went back into the control room that I saw, for me, a stranger standing there. I didn\u2019t recognize him at all. It actually took David to say, \u201cYou know, that\u2019s Syd,\u201d and that was fairly shocking, really \u2014 unsettling, I think, is the word. The others, I think, had seen more of him in the last few years, but I hadn\u2019t seen him for probably five years.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSyd Barrett visits the recording studio during Pink Floyd\u2019s \u2018Wish You Were Here\u2019 sessions, photographed by Nick Mason<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNick Mason<\/p>\n

\n\tThe packaging includes a kind of portrait photo that we\u2019re now seeing that you took of Syd during that visit in the studio.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, that\u2019s right. But there are some other pictures of Syd that were taken, I think, by Dave\u2019s guitar tech, Phil. Because I always assumed he only came down one day, but I think that\u2019s because I wasn\u2019t there on the second day. And so it was this rather strange thing of everyone having a slightly different version of what he\u2019d said or what he was doing. But I don\u2019t think there were any sort of words of wisdom from him. It was a very, very disjointed visit. I have no idea how he knew we were in there. There was no forewarning.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s clear that there could be no sort of a happy ending to that relationship with Syd, given the seriousness of his issues. But is there some gratitude, at least, that there was able to be some closure just by having material that was about him before you moved on any further?<\/p>\n

\n\tPossibly. I think we dealt with or looked after Syd very poorly, but we really didn\u2019t know any better. I mean, when Sid left the band in \u201868, we were still thinking that if we took a day off, that maybe he\u2019d recover. I mean, the naivete\u2026 Now, people are far, far wiser, but it\u2019s extraordinary to look back and realize how little we knew or were able to do for him.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a bonus for the new boxed set, \u201cShine on You Crazy Diamond\u201d has been reconfigured into a single, continuous track, rather than being broken up to open and close the album. Everyone knows that initially, it was not conceived to be in two parts. Do you think it was purely sort of LP side issues that caused the splitting of that, or\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tThe trouble is, as with a few things, I simply don\u2019t remember. I don\u2019t remember how we\u2019d got to that point. But I think there probably was a sort of reference to \u201cDark Side\u201d and trying to make things work in a different way and have a different feel to the whole record. And it was quite a battle\u2026 not a battle, but it was something to keep reminding ourselves about, because there was always that little bit of pressure to sort of look at \u201cDark Side\u201d and see if we could do it again, and I think we were determined not to find ourselves caught up in that.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you care about the Dolby Atmos and any of those sorts of things that are part of the new set?<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, yes. I actually really love that thing of taking something and polishing it up. But I\u2019m constantly amazed at how good recording (technology) was 50 years ago at Abbey Road. It\u2019s great when the things have sort of been tidied up a little more and a little bit more definition brought to the sound. But it\u2019s a long time ago to have records played that still sound fresh. And credit to the technical side of it all, particularly to the people who recorded it originally.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNick Mason of Pink Floyd<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTracey Kraft<\/p>\n

\n\tJust to talk about your drumming on the album a little bit\u2026 I\u2019ve seen interviews where David talks about, on \u201cShine On,\u201d you switching between a 12\/8 shuffle to a swing beat and back again, which impressed him enough to bring up many decades later\u2026 One would imagine some thought or discussion went into something like that. Or did it just come naturally just based on the material?<\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely. I\u2019ve never really been very good at learning things properly. It\u2019s one of those things where you just sort of\u2026 I think it\u2019s actually a sort of Ringo thing. You just get to feeling what works. And one of the nicest things is that I think most of the time, we rarely had to tell each other what to do. Most of the time, whatever we did worked really well for the record. That was true of sort of most of Pink Floyd\u2019s recordings, certainly up to \u201cThe Wall,\u201d where maybe there was a bit more production with those. But in the earlier things it was much more a case of: Just play it.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo there were no moments of everyone in the studio going, \u201cWhat if we go out of 12\/8 into something more straightforward for a few bars?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf anyone had said something like that, I\u2019d have collapsed, I think.<\/p>\n

\n\tWere there points in time at which your retrospective opinion about the album changed? In past interviews you\u2019ve suggested that maybe it took you a while to warm up to the album again and have a more positive take on it, because you had it stuck in your mind how difficult it was to just get it started.<\/p>\n

\n\tYes. I think that had a bearing on it, compared to really the ease of \u201cDark Side,\u201d where it all began to click together quite early on. You have to remember that we tried this other project called \u201cThe Household Objects,\u201d which had wasted a couple of months. I have no idea how long it was, actually. It felt like about a year, but it probably was a month of what amounted to messing about with this \u201cHousehold Objects\u201d idea of making music not using instruments. It was about using sort of stroked glasses, or, I think, as an alternative to a bass drum was the idea of an ax hacking into a wooden log or a tree stump. It took away quite a lot of enthusiasm, that project, that then had to be rekindled, really, for \u201cWish You Were Here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, no regrets on your part that the band never went any further with \u201cHousehold Objects\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tNone at all. I think the one good thing was the relief of leaving it. In the last few months, a number of people have actually put together an album as a sort of tribute to \u201cHousehold Objects.\u201d But of course, it\u2019s much easier to do that sort of thing now because all the electronics can more or less make any sound into a musical instrument.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are so many formats this newly reissued material is in\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tThe fashions change, in what people want to listen to\u2026 I mean, the most remarkable thing is the CD, which was transforming the music industry and the whole business of how we listen to things. And that\u2019s now been pushed to one side. Everyone\u2019s gone back to vinyl, because it\u2019s that slightly softer quality\u2026 it\u2019s gentler on the ear. But the CD is still remarkable in terms of sound quality.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Wish You Were Here\u2019 boxed set contents<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSony Legacy<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you have a favorite format yourself at this point? If you were going to buy the set, would you prefer the vinyl or the Blu-ray or the CD or listen to the Atmos?<\/p>\n

\n\tI think I\u2019d go for the vinyl. I still like the sort of Japanese tea ceremony of putting the disc on the turntable.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you remember much about the packaging decisions? I can remember buying the album the day it came out and being conflicted about ruining the opaque sleeve it came in by tearing it open, but of course you had to. But the real treasures from Hipgnosis were within.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, with Hipgnosis, it was their finest hour, because they managed to more or less get away with doing about six different album sleeves, and making them all work. It\u2019s a fantastic selection of things. Storm was wonderfully argumentative about it. The finest thing at Storm\u2019s memorial was when someone saiid, \u201cHe\u2019s a man who wouldn\u2019t take yes for an answer,\u201d which was such a good summary of of him. The record company, I think, lived in fear of Storm, because he did all these wonderful sleeves and then said, \u201cAnd we\u2019ll shrinkwrap it in black vinyl.\u201d Finally, he allowed them to put some small sticker on the outside of the shrink-wrap. But, yeah, it was remarkable. I think the record companies were suffering as well because the Grateful Dead had released a record and the boardroom asked what the title of the album was, to be told that it was \u201cSkull Fuck.\u201d I think after that, everyone sort of retreated to a dark room.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cWish You Were Here\u201d artwork is the apotheosis of Hipgnosis using photography that has surrealism taking place in broad daylight. That combination of something that\u2019s very bizarre, but that is actually taking place in a real life setting, seemed reflective of Pink Floyd somehow in a way.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think it probably is, as well for me, the best album cover of any of the work that Hipgnosis did for us, and as you say, you can unpack it and look at it again and again. I like the diver wiith no ripples, still [with a diver holding his breath doing a handstand in Lake Mead]. We didn\u2019t have Photoshop then, so everything was done for real, including, of course, the burning man. I know that they got to the point where it was suggested they do another take and he just said, \u201cNo. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve said that one of your regrets is that the band didn\u2019t do a proper tour behind \u201cDark Side\u201d and for your mind went too quickly into trying to do \u201cWish You Were Here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, it would\u2019ve been nice to have had a record of it. The \u201cPink Floyd at Pompeii\u201d film is terrific because it absolutely shows what we were doing then, and it would\u2019ve been great to have had a definitive version of \u201cDark Side\u201d (live) to do the same thing a year or two years later. It would just have been easier for us to have spent a bit more time touring with \u201cDark Side\u201d and a bit less time than on \u201cHousehold Objects\u201d or anything else.<\/p>\n

\n\tMoving toward the present, we were so glad to see the \u201cSaucerful of Secrets\u201d tour that you did a few years back, touring the early, pre-\u201cDark Side\u201d material with a great group of musicians. Are there any plans to do more with that in the future?<\/p>\n

\n\tNot at the moment. I mean, I\u2019d love to do some more. But there is a point at which you don\u2019t really feel like doing all the traveling so much. And I loved doing it. It was sort of a little bit of having the childhood I never had, in terms of actually doing it in a tour bus\u2026 You know, we (Pink Floyd) rather quickly went from the back of a transit van to the charter jet. I missed out on a whole bunch of stuff, which this was a good way of catching up with quite quickly.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo you don\u2019t know if there\u2019ll be more, but it was satisfying to have done it, for a few years?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, absolutely. I really loved it. And if there\u2019s an appetite to people who\u2019d like to see it, yeah, I think we\u2019d fire it up and go out again.<\/p>\n

\n\tSurely there are more 50th anniversary commemorations to come after this, whether official or just celebrated by fans. Of course, \u201cAnimals\u201d already got a remix and a reissue just a few years ago. But do you think there\u2019ll be a similar sort of boxed-set project around that when the 50th comes around in a couple years?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m not sure. I don\u2019t know how much there is to get from \u201cAnimals.\u201d We\u2019ll probably just have to wait for \u201cThe Wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo ask about the catalog sale\u2026 Obviously it means something financially, but does it mean anything personally to you to sort of have divested yourself of that? We talked with David earlier this year, and he said what a relief it was for him to not have to worry about band meetings anymore, which had been a source of tension for him. I always got the feeling that you got along pretty well with both Roger and David. So maybe you did not approach band meetings \u2014 such as they are, anymore \u2014 with the same sense of trepidation that maybe they did.<\/p>\n

\n\tOh, so far I think it was absolutely the right move to sell the catalog. I think there were too many arguments that were not in any way constructive. And in fact, so far, it has worked really well. The reissues of \u201cWish You Were Here\u201d and \u201cDark Side\u201d both worked really well. And you know, we\u2019re getting to the age where we really are thinking: Well, so what happens long-term to the catalog? And I think the record company\u2019s probably the right place to leave things for future generations to be able to access them.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe songs have not been exploited very much over the years for movies or certainly advertising or anything like that. Do you think that\u2019s OK at this point, if new owners wants to make more use of those?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m not sure how much of our catalog is really well-suited to advertising. I think it\u2019ll probably still continue to pop up in movies. But I think if you\u2019re looking at advertising, you\u2019re probably going to go and get numbers from Queen to do that.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs far as your relations with Roger and David, you said in an interview earlier in the year you had caught up with Roger in Barbados because you were both there. And you\u2019ve never seemed like you would be the especially argumentative type. So it is safe to say you\u2019re still on friendly terms with everyone?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, yeah, yeah. Well, there\u2019s only three of us left now, so\u2026 Yeah, I\u2019m still really fond of both of them, actually.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou had a long gap before the \u201cSaucerful of Secrets\u201d touring where you weren\u2019t out playing a lot or anything, and you enjoyed getting back into it, but are you enjoying your life without being out doing music at the moment? The tour bus was maybe a one-and-done experience for you. Are you enjoying a quiet life these days?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, basically, just getting older, but there\u2019s still quite a lot of things I still like doing, and I\u2019ve still got a collection of cars that I run, and I\u2019m planning to continue doing that.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe did want to ask about the cars\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah. I think I\u2019m getting to the point where probably my children are gonna do more of the driving and I\u2019m gonna do less.<\/p>\n

\n\tHave you had your fill of partaking in whatever you\u2019re partaking in with this boxed set?<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, it might be a case of going to listen to some of the Atmos elements. I\u2019m still interested in what it sounds like and what one can add to these pretty elderly recordings.<\/p>\n

\n\tThank you for this \u2014 a lot of fans will be pleased to hear from the horse\u2019s mouth about something that\u2019s meant so much to us.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe horse is having a bit of a memory problem, I think, these days, but able to dredge up some bits and pieces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How we wish we were there \u2026 back in 1975, that is, and able to again listen to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[32620,96,128,45836,15742,34789,56,54,55,125116],"class_list":{"0":"post-314995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-david-gilmour","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-nick-mason","12":"tag-pink-floyd","13":"tag-roger-waters","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom","17":"tag-wish-you-were-here"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}