How we wish we were there … back in 1975, that is, and able to again listen to Pink Floyd‘s magnum opus “Wish You Were Here” as a fresh work for the very first time, as opposed to hearing it through 50 years of hindsight. [Insert “mind blown” hand gesture here.] But the hindsight’s not bad, either, especially if it means we’re 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.

Nick Mason can claim bragging rights as the only member of Pink Floyd to appear on every one of the band’s albums, from 1967’s “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” – when Syd Barrett was the ostensible band leader, before he soon exited and David Gilmour entered the picture – on through to the group’s protracted final act, after Roger Waters’ 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 “WYWH” 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 writen about him.

Mason spoke with Variety about his memories of Barrett showing up at those sessions,and of the album’s tortured beginnings as a “Dark Side of the Moon” follow-up that ended up being a little less experimental than first intended. (As in: they finaly 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 “antidote” to Floyd’s more conceptually tight outings.

‘Wish You Were Here’ boxed set cover
Sony Legacy

it’s certainly a wonderful showcase for what he brought to the group. Since you mentioned that this was “a bit of a wander,” do you think that there was a conscious decision not to make this a concept album per se?

Yeah, I think there was a feeling that when you have a prosperous album, that the next one… can we do it again? I don’t think that would’ve been a good way forward. So I think there was very much a feeling of let’s not make something quite so structured. Because, yeah, there’s a lot of structure in “Dark Side.” And actually what’s nice about this record is just the amount of atmosphere around it… air around it.

People have tried to apply a theme to it, whether there’s one there or not. And the word “absence” has popped up…

Mm-hmm.

…in Roger talking about it, and how he feels that was reflected in the different elements of cover art as well.

the packaging includes a kind of portrait photo that we’re now seeing that you took of Syd during that visit in the studio.

Yeah, that’s right. But there are some other pictures of syd that were taken, I think, by Dave’s guitar tech, Phil. Because I always assumed he only came down one day, but I think that’s because I wasn’t there on the second day. And so it was this rather strange thing of everyone having a slightly different version of what he’d said or what he was doing. But I don’t 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.

it’s 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?

Nick Mason on the Organic, Intuitive Drumming of Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’

Just to talk about your drumming on the album a little bit… I’ve seen interviews where David talks about, on “Shine On,” you switching between a 12/8 shuffle to a swing beat and back again, which impressed him enough to bring up many decades later… One would imagine some thought or discussion went into something like that. Or did it just come naturally just based on the material?

Absolutely. I’ve never really been very good at learning things properly. It’s one of those things where you just sort of… I think it’s 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’s recordings, certainly up to “The Wall,” 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.

So there were no moments of everyone in the studio going, “What if we go out of 12/8 into something more straightforward for a few bars?”

If anyone had said something like that, I’d have collapsed, I think.

Were there points in time at which your retr

Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ Reimagined: A deep Dive into the New Box Set

Do 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?

I think I’d go for the vinyl. I still like the sort of Japanese tea ceremony of putting the disc on the turntable.

Do 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.

Yeah, 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’s a fantastic selection of things. Storm was wonderfully argumentative about it. The finest thing at Storm’s memorial was when someone said,”he’s a man who wouldn’t take yes for an answer,” which was such a good summary of him.The record company, I think, lived in fear of Storm, because he did all these wonderful sleeves and then said, “And we’ll shrinkwrap it in black vinyl.” he allowed them to put some small sticker on the outside of the shrink-wrap. But, yeah, it was remarkable.

Nick mason on Pink Floyd’s Future and catalog Sale

Yeah, absolutely. I really loved it. And if there’s an appetite from people who’d like to see it, yeah, I think we’d fire it up and go out again.

Surely there are more 50th anniversary commemorations to come after this, whether official or just celebrated by fans. Of course, “Animals” already got a remix and a reissue just a few years ago. But do you think there’ll be a similar sort of boxed-set project around that when the 50th comes around in a couple years?

I’m not sure. I don’t know how much there is to get from “Animals.” We’ll probably just have to wait for “The Wall.”

to ask about the catalog sale… 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 – such as they are, anymore – with the same sense of trepidation that maybe they did.

Oh,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 actually, so far, it has worked really well.The reissues of “Wish You Were Here” and “Dark Side” both worked really well. And you know, we’re getting to the age where we really are thinking: Well, so what happens long-term to the catalog?