Syd Barrett - Madcap Laughs
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Free Music Notes for Madcap Laughs
Free Music Review: The Once and Future King
Hit: 5 Stars
According to legend the grave stone of King Arthur bears these words "The Once and Future King". These words could apply to Syd Barrett.
For driving force of the original Pink Floyd whose arrangements and playful lyrics caused a revolution in music (as seen in the watershed album "Piper at the Gates of Dawn"), had at least one more swan song in his album "The Madcap Laughs".
The genius was famous for his love of the drug LSD and his witty lyrics.
As to those witty quirky lyrics I give for example this excerpt for the song Bike off of Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
"I have a mouse and he hasn't got a house
I don't know what I call him Jerold
he's getting rather old but he's a good mouse"
After a while, by most accounts, the band considered their leader, because of his continued drug use to be a liability, and was ousted by them.
From that time on Pink Floyd's albums changed in style to a form of artrock although time and again the specter of Barrett appears in their music (most notably in the albums "Wish You Were Here" and "The Wall").
But that was not the last we would here of Syd Barrett and this album "The Madcap Laughs" leaves one wondering why he was really ousted from the band as the album crackles with brilliance. The witty lyrics are still there and in some cases more mature and developed. The songs on it are sung with great poignancy.
My favorite song of the album is "Dark Globe" which is filled with lyrics great surrealistic imagery and sung with a beautiful desperation. The repeated lines in it "wouldn't you miss me, wouldn't you miss me at all?" are indeed somewhat mysterious. Not to be overly analytical but are these words directed to his fans or his former band?
Although he is helped out by some of his former Pink Floyd band members on this album it excellence seems to beg the question again as to what the complete details were of Barrets departure from Floyd as is competence as a musician and lyricist are still quite evident. Was he really by that time out of his gourd or was he the victim of a palace coup?
This album was followed by the less impressive but still excellent "Barrett" (otherwise known as "the bug album").
Barrett has a great cult following. There are rumors of him being fat and balding and spending most of his time sitting alone surrounded by his collection of guitars. But like the legend of Arthur I hope for his return someday inspite of that event becoming increasingly unlikely as the years wear on.
An incredible album that should be in the collection of every fan of modern music.
Free Music Review: Genius
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a great solo album period. After Syd left/was fired from the Floyd in the late 60's most of the public was hungry for a second helping of the top 40 hits he released from the band and also from the their excellent psychedelic hit album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn". Well soon as Syd gathered what was left of his feeble sanity he released this to surprisingly little success and welcome. It was mostly an underground hit, but the Pink Floyd were doing no better with their "soul searching" albums such as "Ummagumma" and "Saucerful of Secrets". To be perfectly blunt, most of Pink Floyd(especially Waters)were intimdated by Syd's creative genius(and they do admit it), fearing that his solo works would far outdo their albums as a band. However, Roger Waters and David Gilmour both produced this record, but to listen to it you would never guess it. The sound is brittle and thin, much in contrast to the Floyd's elegant, symphonic sound they often produced. This works out great for the album though, giving it a more mellow, intimate touch that Syd possessed himself. The songs are mostly just Syd with his guitar occassionaly backed up by the Soft Machine to add a litte meat to the over all sound. "Terrapin" is a great opener, a dreamy, almost lazy sounding song concering relationships of love among sea animals. This cut and "Golden Hair" are both the creap of the crop. The latter is Syd performing a poem written by one of his favorite poets James Joyce. Most cite "Dark Globe" as another great track but I cannot listen to it without sadness. The song is like listening to a man croon out his mental illness to the world. Listening as he breaks apart, losing sanity; I skip it most of the time. Other than that this is a great album, but if your expecting something sounding like the Floyd be warned this is Barrett not Pink Floyd and yes their is a rather big difference. This is the Madcap masterpiece!Free Music Review: farewell to the world
Hit: 5 Stars
It's been decades since I first listened to Syd Barrett's "The Mapcap Laughs". During this time I assumed I lost the cassette copy I had taped from a friend's record album over 20 years ago; but to my delight I found it this morning, and gave it a listen.No, the production for the most part is not to the same level as Pink Floyd releases, but if this is the criterion one is using to judge "The Madcap Laughs, " one is certainly missing the point.
Remember that at this stage of Barrett's career, he had been let go from The Pink Floyd due to a mental breakdown, and was having a rough time of it. Many of the tracks on this album were recorded with drums, bass, and keyboards being added later.
In my opinion, what shines through the sometimes rough production quality, vocal slip ups, and other mistakes of "Madcap" is pure creative genius. The songwriting is top notch, and one can hear from this release how much Barrett's influence shaped early Pink Floyd material. Pink Floyd certainly went on to make good music after Barrett, but to my ears it lacks the sophistication, charm and emotional intensity of the early recordings, when Syd led the band.
The track that really stands out for me on Madcap, is "Golden Hair." It is structurally very simple yet as powerful, haunting and beautiful as anything The Floyd has ever recorded. It seems an effort was made to get this one right. With the help of old band mates including Richard Wright on organ, the listener gets a glimpse of sparkling genius behind the mask of mental illness, and the potential of what might have been had Barrett not suffered his breakdown and inability to cope.
"Madcap Laughs," as well as his other solo release, "Barrett" in this sense, are a deeply tragic farewell to the world. In my view this is the criterion on which "The Madcap Laughs" is to be judged.
This is a definite must have.
Free Music Review: See Syd Play
Hit: 5 Stars
As far as I'm concerned, the four great works of Syd Barrett, 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn', this, 'Barrett' and 'Opel' all come very close. But my personal favourite, and the one I hear the most, is certainly this album.
The stoned gleam of 'Terrapin' opens the album with an eerie, yet strangely romantic feel. Even though few others have heralded this song as one of his best, I consider 'No Good Trying' my favourite on this album, though 'Terrapin' and 'Dark Globe' come close. But 'No Good Trying' is just SO PERFECT - on one hand, it is as strange and surreal as any other post-Floyd work of the great Barrett, but it is also gloriously vain in its accesibility, and, first & foremost, only the three Pink Floyd singles, that Syd wrote, beats it, when it comes to psychedelic greatness.
'Love You' is a third masterpiece, a sweet little love song, that makes absolutely no sense at all, giving it an even stronger touch of childish innocence, as if it is sung by a little boy to a little girl.
'No Man's Land' suddenly darkens the mood, and leads up to the great great classic. 'Dark Globe' is haunting, harrowing, and simply divine.
'Here I Go' is somewhat odd, Syd's way of playing Elvis. There's a strong 50's-feeling in the otherwise strange song.
'Octopus' is another classic, almost with a feel of early Bowie (Space Oddity, Hunky Dory), simply the work of a genius, yet a genius with taste and humour!
'Golden Hair' is another haunting classic, and it is followed by a line of dark, despairing songs, 'Long Gone', 'She Took A Long Cold Look' and 'Feel'.
'If It's In You' is hard to explain, but is somewhat different than the songs around it. 'Late Night' closes the album with a standard Syd Barrett-song; one third strangely romantic, one third despairing & haunting, and one third playfully psychedelic!
Free Music Review: Last night..
Hit: 5 Stars
..we had dinner at this buffet restaurant and when we finished we were all full and a little toasted. As we stepped out onto the street a man on the sidewalk was selling these little plastic transparent rubber balls that lit up when you bounced them on the ground. They were cool. They had fish and a bunch of little stars floating around inside them. So I bought a couple just for fun and bought an extra for my friend's girlfriend, who also wanted one. We took a taxi back to my place after that and when we got back, my living room was really cold and me and my friend started throwing these balls back and forth across the living room. You bounce it off the ground to the opposite person, each throwing a ball at the same time. And when they hit the ground they light up like a strobe light. Then someone had the great idea to turn off all the lights and play this game in the dark. Its kind of hard catching a light ball in the dark. They light up suddenly, and you can't see your hands, but you can see the ball. And this game developed between us where if you dropped the ball, you got a point. And the first person to reach 10 points, loses. So my friend and I played and the girls kept score and the winner took on the next challenger and we really had a great time. I had put on this album MADCAP LAUGHS just by accident when we got home, and not long after this, the whole game started up. I couldn't have picked a better soundtrack. I was impressed by how good it was. I had never really listened to this album before, although I've had it for a while. Fortunately it was the closest thing to my CD player when we got home from the restaurant, so now I know. Use this album when you are in need of a light but seriously zany cool mood.