Wish You Were Here - Original 1975 UK 1st Pressing 5-track LP - Black Shrink Wrapping, Postcard

Rare orignal 1975 UK Harvest label 5-track 1st pressing vinyl LP - Pink Floyds maginificent cosmic 9th album - "a set of songs built around absence, starting with the withdrawal of their friend Barrett and spilling over into the creeping disappointment they'd found with one another and in the industry they'd enriched with Dark Side of the Moon."*

Robert Christgau gave the album a rare A- in his consumers guide and stated that "My favorite Pink Floyd album has always been Wish You Were Here, and you know why? It has soul,..."**

Vinyl has white printing and 'robot handshake' design on black and blue background. 'Part 5' is credited to "Waters-Gilmour-Wright."

Vinyl has machine stamped matrix information:

Side 1: SHVL 814 A-1, mother/stamper 8 POG
Side 2: SHVL 814 B-10, mother/stamper 1 LR

Vinyl comes complete with a jagged edge 'splash-less diver at Mono Lake, California' postcard and illustrated card lyric inner sleeve - which has rounded corners and opening at the top with notch.

Vinyl, postcard and inner sleeve are all ultimately housed in a pinched spine single pocket picture cover with intact - but opened - black shrink wrapping with large round 'mechanical handshake on the four elements' sticker - all artwork designed by Storm Thorgerson/Hipgnosis.

Condition: VG++ (Vinyl and Labels)/M- (Inner Sleeve)/M- (Insert)/M- (Cover)/VG++ (Shrink Wrapping)/M- (Front Sticker):

Vinyl is absurdly close to perfect - superlustrous and with a light degree of fine, thin and extremely superficial sleeve wear.

Labels has a very few simple and small spindletrace... less than a handfuls - otherwise mint.

Vinyl is overall graded near mint.

Postcard and inner sleeve are in perfect condition.

Picture cover has the faintest corners rubbing - next to nothing. Shrinkwrapping has been cut open with a pair of scissors and has only extremely marginal tears - probably more from the fact that the packaging has shrunk, than from actual handling - this does not resemble an album listened to more than a very few times and cared for when so.

Even though this is an album manufactured in vast amounts, it is very rare to find it complete with intact shrink and sticker - let alone as a such a beautiful copy.

Trackling:

Side 1:
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (1-5) (Gilmour, Wright, Waters) 13:38
2. Welcome to the Machine (Waters) 7:30

Side 2:
1. Have a Cigar (Waters) 5:24
2. Wish You Were Here (Gilmour, Waters) 5:17
3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts VI?IX) (Waters, Wright, Gilmour - Parts VI - VIII| Gilmour Part - IX) 12:29

Credits:

Pink Floyd:
David Gilmour - vocals, guitar, lap steel guitar, EMS Synthi AKS, keyboards, tape effects
Roger Waters - vocals, bass guitar, guitar, EMS VCS 3, tape effects
Richard Wright - keyboards, EMS VCS 3, clavinet, background vocals
Nick Mason - drums, percussion, tape effects

Additional musicians:
Roy Harper - Lead vocals on "Have a Cigar"
Dick Parry - saxophone on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"
Venetta Fields and Carlena Williams - background vocals

Technical credits:
Pink Floyd - Production
Brian Humphries - engineering
Peter James - engineering, assistant engineering
Bernie Caulder - ?
Hipgnosis/Storm Thorgerson - design, photography
Peter Christopherson, Jeff Smith, Howard Bartrop, Richard Manning - design assistants
George Hardie - graphics

*Jeff Giles, Ultimate Classic Rock, September 12, 2015
** Christgau, Robert (1997), Radiohead - OK Computer, retrieved 30 July 2012