Pink Floyd Announce Wish You Were Here 50 Anniversary Release Featuring Never-Before-Heard Material

Pink Floyd Announce Wish You Were Here 50 Anniversary Release Featuring Never-Before-Heard Material
Out December 12th
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​Half a century to the day since its 1975 debut, Pink Floyd have revealed the 50th anniversary edition of their landmark album Wish You Were Here. Out December 12th via Sony Music, the new release titled 'Wish You Were Here 50' offers fans a fresh perspective on one of the band’s most celebrated works. At its heart are six never-before-heard alternate versions and demos that reframe Pink Floyd’s eighth studio album in surprising new ways.

The anniversary set will be available in multiple formats, including 3LP, 2CD, Blu-ray, digital, and a Deluxe Box Set. The digital edition features the original 1975 album with a brand-new Dolby Atmos mix by longtime Pink Floyd collaborator James Guthrie, along with 25 bonus tracks: nine studio rarities and 16 live recordings from the band’s April 26, 1975 Los Angeles Sports Arena concert, captured by legendary taper Mike Millard and officially released here for the first time. The live audio has been meticulously restored and remastered by Steven Wilson.

The Blu-ray package includes three original tour screen films and a short film by Storm Thorgerson, while the 3LP and 2CD editions pair the classic album with the nine studio bonus tracks. The Deluxe Box Set collects it all—2CDs, 3LPs on exclusive clear vinyl, Blu-ray, and a fourth LP (Live at Wembley 1974)—plus memorabilia such as a replica Japanese 7” single, a hardcover photo book, a comic-style tour programme, and a reproduction of the Knebworth concert poster. Limited-edition anniversary merchandise will also be available at PinkFloyd.com.

To mark the announcement, the band has shared a previously unheard demo of “Welcome to the Machine,” originally titled “The Machine Song.” This shorter, rawer version—“The Machine Song (Demo #2, Revisited)”—offers a preview of the studio rarities included in the box. Other highlights include Roger Waters’ original home demo of the track, an instrumental mix of “Wish You Were Here” showcasing David Gilmour’s pedal steel guitar, and for the first time a seamless full-length version of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1–9),” newly mixed in stereo by Guthrie.

Since its release, Wish You Were Here has remained a fixture on “greatest albums of all time” lists and was Pink Floyd’s first to reach #1 on both sides of the Atlantic. Following the runaway success of The Dark Side of the Moon, the record captured the band’s uneasy relationship with fame while paying tribute to founding member Syd Barrett. Songs like the sprawling “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” the biting “Have a Cigar” (featuring Roy Harper on vocals), and the timeless title track cemented its status as one of the most important rock albums ever made.

The album’s iconic cover art—Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell’s surreal image of two businessmen shaking hands, one engulfed in flames—remains one of rock’s most recognisable visuals.

Reflecting on the shoot, Powell recalls:
“In the 1970s, album covers were just as important as the music, because they had to stand out among thousands in record stores. I remember asking Storm, ‘How are we going to set a man on fire?’ and he said, ‘Po, you’ll just have to do it for real.’ That’s what made Pink Floyd unique—they gave us total creative freedom, just like they themselves were pushing musical boundaries.”

The release follows renewed global interest in the band, sparked by the restored 2025 reissue of Pink Floyd at Pompeii – MCMLXXII, which debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart and was praised as a “mesmerically peculiar portrait of a band on the cusp of greatness” (The Guardian).
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Fifty years on, Wish You Were Here remains as vital, haunting, and relevant as ever. With Wish You Were Here 50, fans can immerse themselves more deeply than ever before in this pivotal chapter of Pink Floyd’s story.