Shine On You Crazy Diamond

One of my all time favorite songs has been remade. Wait, I don't think you heard me, (ahem) ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SONGS HAS BEEN REMADE!!! Hear me now? Good! The song in question is the Pink Floyd classic Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Now I am a big Floyd fan, HUGE even, so when I came across this version of the iconic tune honestly, I was all prepared to hate it. I was all prepared to rip it to shreds and then just summarily dismiss it. Shockingly, I can't.

This version is performed by Kendra Morris and while it doesn't quite have the magic and and majesty of the original, it does come across with a similar feel and spirit as the original. With Floyd songs, that's no easy feat. There's a reason why there aren't more remakes of their songs, they are damn difficult to pull off. Kendra however, comes out wailing, reminiscent of Floyd's back up singers back in the day which is a nice nod to the past. The guitar, while it's no David Gilmour is serviceable and while Roger Waters was singing about ex-band mate Syd Barrett, you could hear the pain and frustration in his voice in the original, something Kendra can't capture, she does give the song a refreshing bounce vocally.

My favorite part of this version comes at the 3:59 minute mark where it becomes almost Beatle-esque. Kendra and the people behind this remake did the best they could and you can hear that. They didn't half step, they came at this thing full bore and I can respect that. And though the ending was a massive let down, really I'm just happy they didn't fuck it all up. Enjoy!