Syd Barrett- Opel (1989)

Quality: 3 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.5 out of 5

This collection of unreleased songs and alternate takes from Syd Barrett's two 1970 albums appeared almost 20 years after Barrett jumped ship form the music world to lead a more reclusive life in Cambridge. It's safe to say that the man himself did not have a hand in this compilation. As such, this is basically a clearing house for Barrett's music, and not so much of an album. And the quality here ranges from completely spectacular to unlistenable.

The title track and "Swan Lee" are the major revelations here. Both of them could have easily replaced some lesser tracks on The Madcap Laughs (I'm looking at you, side two!). "Opel" has an unfinished feel as there are about two minutes of guitar chords just waiting for some overdubs. Still the melody and lyrics are so great that this doesn't detract at all from the song. Barrett's vocals really work here, and they tend to be extremely hit-or-miss on his solo performances. The abstract lyrics are some of his best ever, not at all succumbing to pretensions or silliness.

"Swan Lee" is a more finished product sounding like a submerged surf song, complete with a few Ventures'-like guitar fills. Actually except for the lead guitar and vocals, everything here sounds like it's been reversed, buried underground for 15 years, dug up, and then re-reversed. It's a strange, completely psychedelic sound that I haven't heard anywhere else. Other than the fact that the backing track occasionally threatens to fly off the rails and become completely un-synched (which I find charming), I have no idea why this one stayed in the vaults. The American Indian narrative that makes up the lyrics is fun too, although not on the order of "Opel."

Just a notch under these stellar tracks is "Milky Way." It's a great song with a fine demo-quality acoustic performance, but it really could have been fleshed out a little more with some overdubs. Barrett armed with only an acoustic guitar was a risky proposition in the late 60's.

It's not hard to see why "Birdie Hop," "Let's Split," "Dolly Rocker" and "Word Song" stayed unreleased. They aren't particularly well composed and the performances are unhinged in a bad way. Those of you who hang on every one of Barrett's words and fractured performances will probably love these. I just can't bring myself to do so. Well, I do have a strange affinity for "Dolly Rocker."

"Lanky, Pt. 1" is the last of the new tracks present here. I believe the idea here was to create something in the mold of the Barrett-led Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive." Unfortunately, by this time Barrett's mental state did afford him the attention needed to do this. This track is basically a five-and-a-half minute long mess. But it is almost the only glimmer of Barrett's signature lead Telecaster that we get in his solo career.

The rest of the tracks here are alternate takes. Many of them resemble the album versions, but simply without the overdubs. I tend to prefer the more complete versions on the albums. "Wouldn't You Miss Me (Dark Globe)" is a little different as Barrett sings it in a much lower register, but I miss the singing in the shower quality of the Madcap version.

The standout alternate take here is "Clowns And Jugglers," a completely different version of "Octopus." Unlike "Octopus," Barrett is backed here by the Soft Machine. They struggle to follow Barrett even more than the cuts that they appear on on Madcap (which I guess is why it was unreleased), but it's still a lot of fun. I particularly love Robert Wyatt's drumming on this cut. Since he can't really stick with a beat as Barrett keeps changing it, he has to be particularly ingeneous.

There's enough here to warrant obtaining Opel, along with two of Barrett's very best songs, but it's definitely a mixed bag. This is a must for fans of Syd, but listening to Opel often feels more like an archeological exercise than an enjoyable listening experience. Also, the cover image creeps me the hell out.

Buy Me:
Syd Barrett - Opel

Syd Barrett- Barrett (1970)

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Barrett's second disc is basically a mish-mash of some great songs mixed with some literally half-baked creations. By this time, both Richard Wright and David Gilmour had taken some time away from Pink Floyd to try to shore up Mr. Barrett's music ideas. Whether this stemmed from guilt over Barrett's departure from Pink Floyd or genuine respect is up for debate (I like to opt for respect), but the fact is that on this recording Waters and Gilmore did quite a bit of sonic manicuring and created a much more polished recording that The Madcap Laughs.

This unfortunately erases some of the charm of Barrett's debut solid album. There is some consistant backing on Barrett in the form of James Shirley (drums) along with Wright (keyboards) and Gilmore (guitar and I'd imagine bass). This creates a much less polarized sound than The Madcap Laughs, but tend to homogenize the sound.

Some of the winners here include "Baby Lemonade," which features an awesome 12-string guitar intro from Gilmore and some of Syd's lyrics at its best. "Dominoes" is a hazy yet evocative suggestion of what Pink Floyd may have sounded like had the maestro remained with the band. "Wined And Dined" is a composition that rivals anything on The Madcap Laughs and may be one of Barrett's best songs, with or without the Floyd. "Effervescing Elephant" is a twisted kids song whose composition apparently predates Barrett's days with Pink Floyd. I've also always had a soft spot for the sometime maligned "Gigolo Aunt." The song itself resembles a mildly twisted version of something you might hear on the Brady Bunch. Regardless, it's damn catchy and is one of my personal highlights on the album.

The problem with Barrett is that there is a fair amount of material that suggests lazyness, or Barrett's detachment from reality a bit too strongly. "Wolfpack," for example meanders on for almost four minutes without much of a pont or a melody. "Rats" provides one of Barrett's signature word games, but once again basically wastes its running time musically. Although the acoustic material on Barrett is greatly reduced, "Waving My Arms In The Air" and "I Never Lied To You" are spare tracks that sound much more like the results of mental ravages than anything on The Madcap Laughs.

Despite it's shortcomings. Barrett is one of the few solo recordings that Syd Barrett left behind. The highlights here are truly great and deserve your listening ear. Once again the EMI version of this disc includes some alternate takes that give the listener a window into Barrett's fractured mind.

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Syd Barrett - Barrett

Syd Barrett- The Madcap Laughs (1970)

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Syd Barrett's first solo album is the work of a man completely falling apart. As the founder of Pink Floyd, Barrett ingested enough LSD to drive a medium sized country mad, and by 1968 and 1969 (when this album was recorded) his mental state was very schizophrenic. Even with these problematic mental disorders (or maybe becasue of), Barrett managed to create a classic.

Following Barrett's dismissal from Pink Floyd in early 1968, the band's managers followed Barrett, assuming that the band could not survive without their creative light (oops). While time has obviously proved them wrong, they soon set Barrett to work with producer Malcolm Jones and the trippy combo The Soft Machine to create a pop album. Barrett's performances soon proved to be erratic and strange, and it was soon apparent that the music was not going to set the teen scene on fire. The sessions were shelved (although temporarily as many tracks are included on the album) and "Octopus" was unleashed as a single. It unsurprisingly did not go far.

Cut forward a few months and former bandmate Roger Waters and Syd's own replacement David Gilmore wheel Barrett back into the studio for some more fun and games. These sessions were acoustically based, and allowed Barrett to do pretty much whatever he wanted to do, even if it was endlessly strange.

The final album is a somewhat daunting listen, but quite phenomenal if you can get your mind into Syd's world, where things like rhythm are rather amorphous. "No Good Trying," "No Man's Land," "Octopus," and "Late Night" are strange but amazing masterpieces of psychedelic rock. On the first two especially, the backing musicians sound like they're furiously trying to keep up with Syd (no good trying?) and the music is always on the verge of flying apart at the seams in a wonderful and interesting sort of way. "Terrapin," "Dark Globe," and "Golden Hair" are more acoustic-based classics.

Now I'm guilty of a bit of blasphemous resequencing in regards to my own copy of "The Madcap Laughs." I've taken out "Feel" and "If It's In You," which I think qualify as acoustic shambles, and replaced them with "Opel" and "Silas Lang." These are outtakes from the Malcolm Jones sessions that I think are amazing (especially "Opel") and bewilderingly left off the album. I think that these tracks better compliment the strange vibes of the other material on the LP. These tracks can be found on the otherwise hit or miss odds-and-sods complation "Opel."

Although more expensive, I heartily recommend the EMI reissue of this disc. The remastering is far superior to Capitol's disc, and the alternate takes are illuminating. Barrett never played a song the same way twice; that was likely part of his madness.

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Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs