Syd Barrett - Madcap Laughs
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Free Music Notes for Madcap Laughs
Free Music Review: A gem, unlike anything I've heard before
Hit: 5 Stars
I just got Syd Barrett's solo album "The Madcap Laughs," after ordering it quite a while ago-- before his death. I've found myself almost unable to listen to anything else. For a few days all I've been listening to is The Madcap Laughs. This album is priceless. The thing about it that makes it different is Syd's worldview, something sort of hesitating between childhood and adulthood in a beautiful way.
Now a song-by-song analysis:
-"Terrapin" is a wonderful opening, just a really sweet song. When you hear it you think it's the best song ever... yet the album even manages to eclipse that.
-"No Good Trying" took me a few listens, but after that it quickly became one of my top songs. The strange rhythms, the incredible juxtapositions of the lyrics, the subject matter-- it's like nothing ever heard before.
-"Love You" is cute, a little bit strange but poppy and rather enjoyable.
-"No Man's Land" I really like. It's the most normal song of the bunch, and the one that most resembles Syd's -looks-, I think. Very rock-y but quite easy to get into.
-"Dark Globe" is a plea for help, and although the song itself isn't delivered in an incredible way, just the words are heartbreaking.
-"Here I Go" is blues that actually sounds different from most blues! It's a good song, fun to sing along with.
-"Octopus" used to be my favorite song, but it's eclipsed now by a couple others on this album. Still, it's an amazing song, with patterns and a tune that you can really sink your teeth into.
-"Golden Hair" I actually like the least; it's a little creepy. If you like "Chapter 24" from Piper, it's pretty similar. Lyrics by James Joyce.
-"Long Gone" is unremarkable but rather nice. Two words, by the way, that Syd uses a lot in this album are "hand" and "understand."
-"She Took a Long Cold Look" is, I think, actually really beautiful. The lyrics and tune are quite lovely, and I sort of like how you can hear Syd turn the page. Then there's a bit of talking, which is a little sad and also interesting. The talking is more of a window into his mind, the way he communicated, which is cool.
-"Feel" is a decent song with a nice hook.
-"If It's in You" isn't great, and you can tell that Syd is just sort of plugging through it, trying to get it over with. Nevertheless, it's not a bad song. I doubt the guy could write a bad song if he tried.
-"Late Night," finally, is a perfect ending. This song is so beautiful. It rivals "Here Comes the Sun" in tenderness and touchingness and, well, just beauty. This song alone is worth the album price.
At first I had this rated four stars, but I just changed it to five. Because it is quite a good album. Can you tell Syd is losing it? Yes, you can, but not by the material. The songs are great, and he clearly was an artistic genius. Again, I've never heard anything that sounds like this. The closest I can get is Pink Floyd (some songs in The Wall sound a bit like a few of these), and maybe Lou Reed a little bit, with the solos. But neither of those are really like Syd's childlike, unique songs at all. I would play many of these for my kids, if I had them. Yet they hold my own attention completely.
Syd was a true artist, and his descent into madness and seclusion (and recently, his death) is a real tragedy. Rest in peace, Syd.
Free Music Review: an unfortunate reputation as a curiosity
Hit: 5 Stars
This collection of songs, while certainly not the most well produced in the world, are, I think, some of the most compelling. Unfortunately, many people seem only willing to look at it on the surface, and see it as a sort of novelty. Even many of the reviews on this site are focused mainly on the supposed state of mind Syd Barrett was in while recording this album. And indeed, it is a very compelling legend, that of Syd. Pink Floyd has made their entire career on selling Syd's legend as art.. so I understand the temptation to see this album from the point of view of a man losing his mind.
However... I think that it is only a small part of the picture, and I think that it does a disservice to the legitimacy of this material as art. There is a book called "The Making of The Madcap Laughs" by Malcolm Jones, who acted as producer on a large chunk of Barrett's solo output, including much of the material from the Opel CD, as well as many tracks from this album. In the book, Jones describes the sessions as productive and relatively trouble free. He mentions briefly the lack of studio time for The Soft Machine to adequately rehearse and learn the abrupt changes in the songs, and Jones laments that he was not able to book more time for them. He describes Barrett as being enthusiastic, lucid, upbeat, and very inspired.
This is quite a different picture than what Waters and Gilmour have had to say about their brief three session wrap-up of the production.
I bring this up because I obviously think that too much emphasis is put on Syd's supposed "madness" when discussing his music.
I think these songs are brilliant. For a variety of reasons, many of the sessions were rushed, and probably could have been recorded better. There is no denying that. However, Jones also mentions in his book that Syd had a tendency to become less enthusiastic in performing his songs after doing multiple takes, so often they would stop after 3 or 4 takes and leave them for overdubs later. I think if they had been recorded to perfection, they would have lost much of the charm that these recordings now possess. The lyrics on this album are some of the most evocative and baffling that I've ever heard... particularly on Octopus, Dark Globe, and Feel. It's clear that Syd has been influenced by his experiences with drugs, but it's also clear that he isn't just talking nonsense. The imagery that he uses is certainly deliberate and focused. After hearing the album, you may never want to hear another song from it for the rest of your life, but I bet if you were to listen to it a few more times and start picking up on the lyrics, you'll find that you won't be able to get it out of your head.
This is one of my favorite albums. For whatever reason, Syd lost interest in music after one more album. It's a shame, but in a way it also makes his few recordings unique and special. The emphasis on his mental illness is, I think, highly overblown... but if it helps to get his name out there so that others can enjoy these recordings for years to come, then I guess it is a small price to pay. I just wish more people took his albums seriously.
Free Music Review: A MOST UNIQUE ALBUM. DARK, DETACHED, DISTURBING
Hit: 5 Stars
This one is not for everyone, and the casual Floyd fan (Waters fanatics as well) or the creatively-impaired will certainly be disapointed. It may help to explain the circumstances regarding the recording of Madcap Laughs. Syd was in a frame of mind that made recording an album by typical standards impossible. The vast majority of the material was spur-of-the-moment, none of it was extensively rehearsed, and worst of all, Syd never played the same song the same; each take was in a different key, tempo, or had time changes. Excellent studio musicians were brought in to offset these problems on some tracks; on others, it would have to be just Barrett and his guitar. He would up and leave during takes, would show up days later while Gilmore was tweaking the tapes, with or without a guitar, which was often out of tune, at least when the strings were on... This album strikes an emotional nerve. It is dark, ominous, and forboding, however it has a gentle quality that counterbalances , making for one hell of an emotional rollercoaster heading for disaster. And it is all completely honest. This album is not contrived or formulated to be anything other than a man's decent into his own delusion. Nothing else, not even Piper, sounds like this. This album was not made in the caliber of Pink Floyd. Pink Floyd was more about concept, audio textures, and the endless possibility of studio gadgetry. Not this one. There are tracks on here, like Dark Globe, that are so personal and delicate that no band, not even the Floyd, could have improved on. yes the many flaws are one of the factors that make this album unique. Admittingly, the delivery of the music is compromised. The material itself is extraordinary. This paradox makes for a challenging listen that has undoubtedly perplexed many listeners. That is to be expected! Early Floyd is a challenging enough listen anyway. Syd Barrett out of his mind is opening up a whole new uncharted pandora's box. Those who can't appreciate this album for what it is rather than how it was recorded simply have no aptitude for music from the soul. I think Madcap Laughs forces listeners to search inside their own psyche for some interpretation of whatever point Syd is trying to get across. After all, the man was simply trying to find himself with this music. So you too must find yourself... if you don't like what you find, you will hate this album. Brave enough to take the challenge? This album will make you think like no other. Do not put this on in the car or while washing clothes, you need to set aside time for a spiritual experience and LISTEN. Syd lived by the sword, he died by the sword. Drugs being the sword. This album is the crossroads, the point where Syd's ill drug habit began to erode his sense of organization and guitar playing ability, his conception of ideas, and his creative ablility as a songwriter. Not to mention his sanity. Madcap demonstates like no other, the true reality of drugs WITHOUT HAVING TO TAKE THEM YOURSELF. This album requires at least 10 or more spins before one can honestly begin to appreciate it. If it's NOT in you, there's no hope for you. Try Barry Manilow or Radio KAOS instead.Free Music Review: Haunting
Hit: 5 Stars
One could argue that Syd Barrett never intended for his 1971 first solo debut to be as hauntingly intimant as it is. Perhaps the former Pink Floyd frontman was only attempting to channel the charisma and playfulness of his work with the Floyd and accidentally discovered the outstanding starkness of the Madcap Laughs while attempting peel through the layers of brain damage, frustration and psychotherapy to find his knack again. Either way, Barrett created a disturbingly compelling work.The Madcap Laughs presents the post-breakdown Barrett; the slow-strumming, word-slurring, red-eyed depressive who was briskly engulfed by the pressures of rock stardom and the effects of LSD and then passed through the revolving door of underdeveloped 60s psychotherapy. A restructured identity does not mean Barrett has lost all of his boyish, poprock charm. Although the production is much scratchier than that of Floyd, the albums first side somewhat brings back that psychedelic Ray Davies who made Pink Floyds lush debut, the Piper at the Gates of Dawn so fine. Theres just something more manic, more downbeaten about the work that reflects Syds state of mind, such as the chronic mumbling of Here I Go and No Mans Land or the Prozac cheerfulness of Octopus and Love You or the more direct pleas of Dark Globe. (My head kissed the ground/I was half the way down/Treading the sand/Please, please, please lift the hand/I'm only a person with Eskimo chain/I tattooed my brain all the way/Won't you miss me?/Wouldn't you miss me at all? ).
In a way, this frantic first half hooks listeners into Syds colorful world and works to effective drudge them through the bleakness of the second. After the perky Octopus, Syd adds music to a James Joyce poem with Golden Hair and feverishly shrieks for a departed lover on the breathtaking Long Gone. What follows is probably some of the oddest music of the psychedelic age. With a sole, brittle, acoustic guitar and practically no involvement from producers, Syd murmurs through the song-suite of She Took a Long Cold Look, Feel, and If Its In You almost incoherently tossing shaky phrases like broken pier on the wavy sea, the end of truth, inside my eye be the lonely one, my bride and skeleton kissed the steel rail in a primitive word-bath. The listener wants to cheer the songwriter who charmed him or her so effectively on Terrapin and Here I Go, he or she wants Syd to think a happy thought or a sensible expression but the words are too dismal and the speech too blurry to appease any hopes.
The suite is complimented, but not outdone by the albums wailing, forbidding closer, Late Night, a song that effectively sums up the feel of this somewhat accidental masterpiece: When I lay still at night seeing/Stars high and light/Then I wanted to be with you/When the rooftops shone dark/All alone saw a spark/Spark of love just to stay with you/Inside me I feel alone and unreal.
Free Music Review: Disintigration On Vinyl
Hit: 5 Stars
Ok, so it's more like disintigration on CD these days. 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 Malcomb 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 Gilmour 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 the more acoustic 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 replace them with "Opel" and "Silas Lang." These are outtakes from the Malcomb Jones sessions that I think are amazing (especially "Opel") and bewilderingly left off the album. They 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. Better yet, get all of Barrett's remastered studio legacy in the "Shine On Crazy Diamond" box set (which may be a bit difficult as I think it's out of print).