Quality vs. Quantity

As an early Christmas present today, I received Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here."

Granted, I had heard the album hundreds of times, and even saw Pink Floyd in concert a few times, but for some reason, the album was missing from the thousand or so that I have.

After unwrapping the CD, I was shocked to realize that there were only five songs on the CD. Five songs?!? That's it?!? Maybe that's why I never bought it.

Then, I looked at the titles:

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part One) - It's got to be one of the greatest, epic, two-part songs ever written. The saxophone toward the end of part one, the long six or seven minute intro... "Remember when you were young..." It's just fantastic.

Welcome to the Machine - The slow droning music and eerie vocals.

Have a Cigar - A nice funky, melodic number. Funny how when I hear this version I'm always reminded of Primus' cover version. (Worth checking out, if you never heard it).

Wish You Were Here - No words needed. Simply a classic.

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part Two) - A nice closer for the album, and the song.

So there it was. 45 minutes of music, and just five songs. But WOW - those are some impressive songs.

In the past eight years or so, during my music writing career, I've reviewed piles of CDs. Some good, some bad, some horrendous.

I've reviewed double CDs, EPs and everything inbetween. I've always found the short ones to be the most frustrating.

Can't they put out 10 songs at least? If they only put six songs on the album, did half of them have to be so bad?

Pink Floyd proves the one fact that is often missing in today's music.

If you are going to release an album - make it solid from beginning to end. Give us something memorable. Don't put 15 tracks, just to put 15. But don't just give us five if you've got eight great ones.

For "Wish You Were Here," five songs doesn't sound like much, but for 45 minutes, you can sit back and simply enjoy all that's offered.