I tend to listen to post-Syd Pink Floyd a lot more than Syd-Era Floyd, but no matter what, Syd's influence on Floyd is forever. I can't hear 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond,' which from the music and lyrics alone already brought me to tears, without thinking of the story behind the song and, more recently, of the crazy diamond I knew personally, too. Reminds me very much of someone I know who died at age 18 from an OD, and it haunts me. Syd Barrett is quite a story, and heartbreaking every time I learn more about it. I have to give this one star, but please understand it's a highly qualified one star in no way reflective of Syd Barrett's talent. But one can wish an album show its creator a little more dignity. Barrett's contemporaries Brian Wilson and Nick Drake both made excellent albums whilst struggling with debilitating mental illness. This is not to say that a work by someone with significant mental health issues is by its nature compromised either aesthetically or morally. It didn't feel like the demonstration of a lost genius it felt like a ramshackle using of a talented but troubled man. It felt slightly sordid listening to this album. Sadly, the last few tracks degenerate into essentially studio outtakes, revealing an ugliness to the whole exercise. The first side is okay, exercises in Barrett's warm eccentricity, but not spectacular. Yes, by inclination Syd Barrett was a whimsical songwriter with an obviously far better sense of humour than Roger Waters, and on the surface this album showcases that to the point of incoherence, but this album isn't just a mess, although it is an absolute casserole of an album. I was not prepared for how grim the experience of listening to this album would be. This is proving to be the hardest album I've found to review so far, not because I'm confused by my opinion of it, but because I don't know whether to consider it accidentally exploitative.īruef summary: Roger Waters and Nick Mason forms the Architectural Abdabs at art college (a standard incubator for artsy British bands), Syd Barrett joins and changes the name to Pink Floyd after two blues musicians he loved, they achieve their first success with Piper at the Gates of Dawn, tragically Syd suffers from serious mental health issues and cannot continue with the band, Syd records two solo albums, Syd quits music and lives reclusively until his death in 2006. A newly remastered version was released in 2010. The album was remastered and reissued in 1993, along with Barrett's other albums, Barrett (1970) and Opel (1988), independently and as part of the Crazy Diamond box set. It was re-released in 1974 as part of Syd Barrett (which contained The Madcap Laughs and Barrett), which saw the first US issue of the two LP's. The Madcap Laughs, released in January 1970 on Harvest in the UK but not released in the US until 1974, enjoyed minimal commercial success on release, reaching number 40 on the UK's official albums chart. Among the guest musicians are Willie Wilson from Gilmour's old band Jokers Wild and several members of Soft Machine. The album had a chequered recording history, with work beginning in mid-1968, but the bulk of the sessions taking place between April and July 1969, for which five different producers were credited − including Barrett, Peter Jenner (1968 sessions), Malcolm Jones (early-to-mid-1969 sessions), and fellow Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Roger Waters (mid-1969 sessions). It was recorded after Barrett had left Pink Floyd in April 1968. David Bowie, who recently paid homage to the Syd/Floyd single 'Arnold Layne' at the Albert Hall, says Syd was one of the few pop stars at that time who sang in an unaffected English voice, making no effort to sound American.The Madcap Laughs is the debut solo album by the English singer-songwriter Syd Barrett.

The tape-in my idealised memory-is wonderful: just Syd's voice and acoustic guitar, the songs witty, melodic, charming, vulnerable, often flirtatious and concerned with the pursuit of an elusive girl like the 'boon tune' which was recast as 'Here I Go' on the Madcap Laughs, one of his two solo albums. The Floyd couldn't incorporate everything he wrote into their repertoire and I was keen to see if any other artists of mine might want to record one of them. Among the many possessions my life has scattered by the roadside is a tape of songs Syd gave me that winter. Bassist Roger Waters and manager Pete Jenner were the spokesmen of the group, the ones I dealt with about recording sessions and gig times.

Six months later, the band were signed to EMI and crowds were queuing down Tottenham Court Road to hear their Friday night shows at the UFO Club.

Madcap laughs