| The Madcap Laughs | 1970 |
| Barrett | 1970 |
| Opel | 1988 |
| Wouldn't You Miss Me? (compilation) | 2001 |
As everyone knows, Syd Barrett was one of the most notorious madmen in musical history, as if that wasn't obvious from his not exactly normal songwriting on Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, the only full-length album he ever made with Pink Floyd. Not surprisingly, it was just this insane personality that ultimately not only led him to his exit from Floyd, but also the briefness of his solo career, which really only lasted two proper studio albums (The Madcap Laughs and Barrett, both released in 1970), plus the subpar outtakes effort Opel. Not surprisingly, these albums are very closely tied in to the 'child-like' moments on Piper, only with a great majority of them on acoustic guitar and some absolutely crazy arrangement ideas. Several tracks on his albums were even produced by Rick Wright and David Gilmour themselves, making a few of them recall early 70's Floyd in style.
Okay, so I've established that Syd's solo career is very much linked to Floyd in the end, but I decided to move these reviews to a separate page anyway because: a) the Floyd page is getting too damn big otherwise, and I wouldn't want these reviews completely buried there, and b) there really is an intriguing, schizophrenic personality (maybe even demented genius) apparent in these albums that you really won't find anywhere else. Completely nonsensical lyrics, often out of tune instrumental parts, frightening moments that really show his troubling mental state, false starts - all of these are definitely well apparent throughout. Maybe there isn't too much fantastic quality within a lot of this stuff, but at least you can't call it uninteresting. Here come the reviews....
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Octopus, Late Night, Love You, Long Gone, Golden Hair. LOW POINTS: Terrapin, She Took A Long Cold Look.
Syd began his solo career during a time where his mental state was on a severe decline, and as such his debut can definitely be called the work of a madman, living up to its' title very well. However, I must stress, the first time I listened to this album, these songs seemed rather normal, same-sounding and dare I say boring. This, however, is probably because the material doesn't initially show itself to be something out of the ordinary, as the weirdness here appears to be somewhat more subtle than the crazy feedback experiments of "Interstellar Overdrive" or whatever. The material is almost entirely acoustic, and there's much more of a focus on playful lyrics and overall enthusiasm. Future listens also uncover such things as unexpected song shifts, a downright creepy vibe in a couple tunes, and glimpses of genuine sadness, among other interesting ideas found throughout this effort's 37 minute running time.
The initial impression probably isn't helped by the opening "Terrapin", which is, for me, the most pointless and directionless tune on here. The lyrics about being a fish are certainly charming, and the melody is pretty, but the song itself doesn't go anywhere interesting, and it's a bit too repetitive. "No Good Trying", though, is a fairly interesting song that is actually much more complex than it seems at first, with constant shifts in the tempo and chaotic backing from The Soft Machine (particularly in the drumming) - cool melody, too. The nonsensical "Love You" is an even more singable and entertaining highlight, with fast-paced and meaningless, but extremely amusing lyrics coming through in a crazy and quirky tune. "No Man's Land" is also another oddly played song that's less normal than it sounds, with a really unconventional melody, and it's hard to understand what Syd was going for there, but irrationality is good in this case.
"Dark Globe" is a real curiousity here, as it actually features Syd whining over a basically tuneless guitar part, but it still manages to resonate in its' charm and utter wrongness, with the line 'WOULDN'T YOU MISS ME AT ALL??' particularly coming through. "Here I Go" has a cool little rock 'n' roll groove going for it as Syd laments about how 'she didn't like my songs and it made me feel blue', and the extremely upbeat "Octopus" has a great energetic feel with lyrics that are again meaningless, but the melody is just so irresistibly catchy. But on the other hand, I really get an unsettling vibe out of the ballad "Golden Hair", a James Joyce poem set to music, as the atmosphere just sounds so scary and depressing, as if it was recorded just before a breakdown. Likewise, "Long Gone" features Syd singing in a dark overtone over an ominous acoustic guitar part and haunting, well placed organ in the chorus.
The next couple tracks ("She Took A Long Cold Look", "Feel") are mostly unmemorable, short tossoffs, but toward the end of the latter track comes the most striking moment on the whole album, as Syd out of nowhere belts out the line 'yes I'm thiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIInnnnnnking' in transition to the next song, the softer "If It's In You" (which bases its' fun melodic hook on that line). In the context of this album, then, the closer "Late Night" almost sounds melancholic - it has a typical atmosphere of a closing tune that lets you wave goodbye to the album, but when we consider where Syd ended up, it's almost like I'm hearing the end of something special. It's really a simultaneously gorgeous and sad number, for sure. And that's basically it - I wasn't impressed at all by this album at first, but it's really grown on me as of late to the point where I can consider it both a curious look at a demented genius and a fun listening experience. A bit too unfinished to call it a true masterpiece, but I recommend it nonetheless.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Wined And Dined, Maisie. LOW POINTS: It Is Obvious.
I'm not sure a review of this album is possible without going into how as the producers and core of the 'backing band' here, Syd's former bandmates in Pink Floyd (David Gilmour and Rick Wright) made his second solo effort somewhat more 'accessible' than the first one. On closer listen to the album, you might notice that there are often just as many potentially crazy ideas throughout as there are on Madcap, but the actual arrangements of the songs sound, in many cases, fairly normal and conventional. What appears to have happened is that Gilmour and Wright, in making the songs this way, have taken away a good portion of what made the last album special in the first place - it's off-the-cuff, almost demo quality charm filled with false starts and bizarre twists and turns in the songwriting. Factor in that not all the melodies here are really all that special, and you have a bit of a step down from before.
But as dull as the songs can be at times, there are still enough crazy Syd elements within the material here to make it somewhat enjoyable at times, particularly the crazy horn-led, brief closer "Effervescing Elephant" and stuff like "Rats" and "Wolfpack", which are probably the craziest and least structured songs here - they're hardly very tuneful at all, but there's something really neat about experiencing them, especially since they serve as a good representation of Syd going over the edge. Even as much as "Dominoes" and "Gigolo Aunt" are sometimes obscured by lengthy, boring, Floyd-ian jams at the end, they still have quite a lot of Barrett's personality otherwise - the former track has a nice amount playfulness within its' slightly forgettable, but still interesting melody and odd guitar breaks, and the latter, regardless of having the dullest jam on the album, is at least entertaining for awhile with its' excellently bouncy, infectious bass/organ groove (with a neat shift right before the chorus).
There's also two really interesting diversions here which probably count as the ultimate highlights here - you've just got to hear the completely creepy way Syd reinterprets generic blues in "Maisie" with his really low and frightening vocal and ominous guitar tone, while the normal pop song "Wined And Dined" is probably my favorite on the whole album. It's also arguably the single catchiest tune he ever wrote, with a melody that will probably stick in your head for awhile after the album's over. Elsewhere, there's some standard, not really mindblowing, but still very charming poppy fare in the two opening tracks ("Baby Lemonade", during which a haunting guitar line turns into an upbeat number, and the appropriately pretty "Love Song") and conventional, dull filler (the particularly grating and generic "It Is Obvious", the decently singable but interchangable suite "Waving My Arms In The Air" and "I Never Lied To You"). And that's it - not much really intriguing here, not much bad, not as much that's truly out there. But a good album anyway, and unfortunately, the last proper one Syd ever made.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Wined And Dined. LOW POINTS: Lanky (Part 1), Word Song.
Some 18 years after the release of Madcap and Barrett, I guess someone randomly decided that there should be more Syd albums on the market or something. So the vaults were dug up, and in the end, Opel was compiled. It's an almost totally inessential album for pretty much anyone who didn't really, really love the first two albums, though, as this probably shows that Syd clearly doesn't have much interesting material in the vaults. Need proof? Damn near half of these songs are just alternate takes of earlier songs. At least this alternate take of "Wined And Dined" is more enthusiastic, uplifting and probably better than the original (making this track arguably Syd's peak as a solo artist), while "Octopus" (here retitled "Clowns And Jugglers") is most likely crazier, and the all-instrumental take on "Golden Hair" which closes the album is curious, but for the most part, only Syd freaks really need to hear alternate versions of stuff like "Dark Globe" and "Rats" that are pretty much similar to the originals.
Of course, none of this would matter if Opel justified its' release with exceptional non-album gems contained within, but it doesn't, as there really isn't a song here among those I would call that great. Coming closest would be the opening title track, which, at an over 6 minute length, is kind of a neat epic ballad - it's definitely something very clumsy (especially the acoustic playing) and not all that special, but it has a nice vocal melody and an emotionally compelling middle section ('I'm cryyyyyyying...') Also worth noting, I suppose, are "Swan Lee (Silas Lang)", which has equally spooky low-register vocals and guitar tone (though not much else), and "Birdie Hop", a song where Syd really sounds completely out of it. Sure, the melody and lyrics are cute, but there's something distressingly wrong about his vocal delivery, and some of those chords he plays here are downright depressing. Poor guy.
The rest of the album is almost entirely pointless, though. Stuff like "Dolly Rocker" and "Milky Way" (which has particularly crappy production) are quirky Syd-by-numbers tunes where the guy's instability actually sounds more annoying than cuirious, even though they're not awful. And then there's some total crap like the incoherent "Word Song", where he just strings completely random words together over a boring rambling melody and acoustic backing, and the atrociously tuneless instrumental "Lanky (Part 1)", which never finds a melody, a groove, or any kind of reason for someone to care about it much. What a headache of a listening experience, and definitely one of the worst jams I've heard. I hate to come down on the guy so hard, but most of this stuff really should have been left in the vaults, with the better material saved as bonus tracks. For hardcore fans and completists only.
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