An early version of a Wish You Were Here classic has been hailed as a brilliant version thanks to one “crazy” change.
Pink Floyd‘s masterpiece celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year, and a remastering, along with deep cuts and a selection of live songs, will be released in December. A handful of songs have been released from the album since its announcement, including The Machine Song. The demo of Welcome to the Machine was a hit with Pink Floyd fans, who believe it’s “so good” and a worthy alternative to the first released version. Fans have since shared their praise on the r/PinkFloyd subreddit, where they hailed the early version of Welcome to the Machine as a must-listen. Praise was also heaped on Sony, who purchased the Pink Floyd music catalogue in 2024 for an eye-watering $400million.
Since then, the publishers have remastered Pink Floyd at Pompeii, and are now set to release Wish You Were Here. One fan praised Sony for the speediness of these releases, writing: “People can complain all they want about expensive reissues, but Sony came out of the gate fast!”
Another added: “Damn, I didn’t realise that deal was finalised. Makes me kinda sad, but as long as they scrape every note out of every archive they have, I’m ok with it. Shit, I’m surprised there ain’t an app yet with everything ever.” A third added: “Hopefully that means we’ll get a Blu-ray/4K UHD release of The Wall!”
For The Machine Song (Demo #2), fans were delighted by the context this adds to the eventually reworked song, Welcome to the Machine. One person shared the big change between the two versions is the “crazy” difference it makes hearing Roger Waters on lead vocals, and not David Gilmour.
One fan wrote: “Hearing Roger’s voice singing this instead of David is kinda crazy.” Another agreed, adding: “In a way, I like it better, maybe because it feels less emotional than when David sings it, it sounds colder.”
A third person added: “Yes. The vulnerability of it all, like he is indeed trapped in the machine. The vocals were great, considering it was a demo version, and I am sure they could have gotten a better take in the studio. He should have tried for a better take on Have a Cigar too.”
Others believed the instrumental parts are amazing, and that the “darker feel” brought on by the song has Waters to thank. One fan wrote: “I like this version. Waters’ voice really suited it and gave it a darker feel.
“I’m not sure if I prefer this one or the ‘official’ version. Anyway, my favourite version is the one from Delicate Sound of Thunder. That instrumental part at 5:20 is amazing!” Another added: “The basic structure is there and I like the machine-like effects, but it doesn’t have enough life in it yet compared to the final released version. It seems as though Roger is representing himself as the machine, which may be part of the point, but his delivery is too mechanical.”
Not everyone was a fan of The Machine Song, either. One detractor shared: “It sounds like a demo. Clunky and unrefined. To be fair, whilst very interesting to hear demos and early versions on all these remasters (of any artist), I’ve never heard anything I couldn’t have lived without.”
