Customer Reviews

Barrett

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3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There is no way to predict either "The Madcap Laughs" or "Barrett" based on the few things we originally heard from Syd on Pink Floyd's debut album. At once, the records are miles apart and still as close as they could ever be. Of the two solo albums, "Barrett" is perhaps more readily accessible than "The Madcap Laughs" simply because it features a more typical rock line-up and a more traditional "songs" approach. But there is nothing typical or traditional about "Barrett".

This album is eccentirc in different ways: the "oh I forgot I was playing a solo" solo in "Gigolo Aunt", the bizarre atmosphere of "Maisie", the stylistic symmetry of song pacing between side one with side two, on the album anyway. (Baby Lemonade / Gigolo Aunt. Love Song / Waving My Arms in the Air. Dominoes / I Never Lied to You. It is Obvious / Wined and Dined. Rats / Wolfpack. Maisie / Elephant.) What it took to make this album one can only imagine and it seems a great deal of credit belongs to David Gilmour for pulling, and keeping, things together. There is a pervasively sad beauty to everything. Sad not from pain, but from surrender to a nostalgia and longing. These are the emotions that provide the record with a deeper sense of organization, intentional or not.

There is also a loose and improvised feel to much of what's going on here, and yet there are many many familiar markers. The bluesy riff on "Maisie" is nothing special, but the surpressed, almost mumbled delivery of the lyrics transforms the simple music into something ethereal. And we hear the lyrics of someone, no matter how altered by drugs and shades of mental illness, who has a singular voice. It would be too much to compare Barrett to Rimbaud, but there is a parallel sense of disorientation, dislocation and perceiving the everday as suddenly strange and saturated with new and concealed meaning. The clowns of "Baby Lemonade" remind us of "Octopus" from "The Madcap Laughs" -- originally called "Clowns and Jugglers". Here reality is transformed through incongruous juxtaposition: "sad town; cold iron hands; party of clowns; rain falls in grey." For lack of a better term, these are signature lyrics and belong only to Barrett because they show an uncanny ability to turn everything inside-out: "In the evening, sun going down, when the earth streams in, in the morning."

Even with these brilliant words "Barrett " is a disarming record because as familiar as the music is, the whole is much stranger than the surface reveals. The instrumental passages are almost all very casual and offhand, and still unique -- the backwards guitar on "Dominoes" is something that would usually make me breathe the word "cliche", yet in the context of that most sad song it feels neither cliche or even derivative. At every moment, we're experiencing something very different and very unique. Taken apart and taken together "Barrett" is remarkable music, and anything but obvious.

I should start with a few caveats. First, I thinks it's something of a scandal that no one has reviewed this album before me. Second, I freely admit that although I love Syd Barrett's music, and count him among the greatest songwriters ever, I'm a little hard-pressed to explain why. The best I can do is to say that this is music that bypasses the head and goes straight for the heart.

"Barrett", Syd Barrett's second solo album, is a little more polished than his first ("The Madcap Laughs", q.v.). This seems to be due to the contributions of his ex-bandmates, David Gilmour and Rick Wright, who produced this album. It's almost as if they led Syd into the studio, sat him down, bid him play, recorded what came out, and fleshed it out later. (Maybe that's exactly what happened, I don't know.) In any case, some of Barrett's lovliest songs are here, including "Baby Lemonade", "Love Song", "Dominoes", and "Gigolo Aunt". "Waving My Arms In The Air" ranks very high among my favorite Barrett songs (I like to bemuse my friends with this one), "Wined And Dined" is an achingly beautiful love song, and "Effervescing Elephant" is a charming nursery ditty (try singing this one as fast as possible without running out of breath). Hardly a bad song here.

Barrett is a fine album, a bit choppy and unrefined, but spotted by such wonderful explosions of chaos (Rats whips me into a frenzy every time I hear it.) It also provides some fine juggling of the English language (The Effervescing Elephant has great metre, Rats has a wonderful rhythm (comparable to Cirrus Minor)) and every song has very creative lyrics. I don't recommend this album to any superficial Floyd fans who can only extend their affection to The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon, while, with supercillious airs, spurn Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Saucerful of Secrets ("Gee, this music's getting creepy...")

This album is not for casual listeners. And it is not for those who require the jauntiness of some of Syd's Pink Floyd songs. Syd's life was falling apart when this album was made, and it shows. The songs often seem to start off as simple, perky pop songs and take turns for the worse; the chord progressions are unexpected and weird; Syd's voice is unbearably broken and plaintive. Songs like "Baby Lemonade" are hooky enough to be immediately satisfying, but on repeated listening the poppiness conceals a terrible ache: "In the evening, sun going down, when the earth streams in in the morning. Send a cage through the post, make your name like a ghost..." The lyrics are brilliantly surreal; like all the best art, they cannot be understood, but must be FELT.

There is a reason this album became a bible for generations of "alternative" songwriters. The more you listen to it, the more emotion it reveals. The odd musical turns and evocative lyrics are what makes it endlessly rewarding; your brain never quite gets used to it all. This is one of the only albums I've ever heard that is not dated at all; it could have been made yesterday. Even the production values are plain, simple, up-to-the-minute. This is the album all those DIY, lo-fi bands are trying to create, but no one can equal Syd. This is where it started.

The eponymous follow-up to Syd Barrett's outstanding, scratchy, stark solo debut, the Madcap Laughs, finds the ex-Pink Floyd frontman joined by producers, David Gilmour and Rick Wright, both from his former band, who attempt to recreate the buoyant, lush sound of the psychedelic rock outfit's debut, the Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Unfortunately by 1970 the ingenuous innocence that made the songs on Piper so charming had been somewhat eroded by mental illness, loneliness and maturity. Still, the duo pressed on and thankfully managed to help Barrett hit upon a somewhat abrasive version of his imcomprable flair for playful, poprock ditties, producing a strongly varnished, yet ultimately high-quality, collection of Barrett's trademark strange imagery and pop melodies. The hilarious "Evervesting Elephant," bizarre "Baby Lemonade" and feverish "Wolfpack" are each prime Syd. Gilmour, Wright and Humble Pie drummer, Jerry Shirley, coat each track with an appropriate, loose fitting addition such as the merry bop of the breezy "Gigolo Aunt," the smoky buzz of "Dominoes," the jerky guitar of "Waving My Arms In the Air" and the fantastic blues licks of the playful "Baby Lemonade." The erosion of Barrett's boyish charisma may have prevented the album from recapturing the peculiar giddiness of Piper and Gilmour and Wright's sleek production many have disallowed the utterly affecting desolation of Madcap to return, but this self-entitled release's own finely-crafted, eccentric pop gives it a worthy place in the Barrett catalogue.

Unfortunately you cannot seperate the music from the stories that have been told about Syd. There was help from his former pals at Pink Floyd and while some prefer the "nakedness" of The Madcap Laughs I do prefer this album. Yes it does kinda feel like a masking of Syd's problems and sometimes Syd can barely strum a note but there's a feeling you get in the song Dominoes that hits harder than anything else. Syd sounds depressed and sings with an utter hatred that's not apparent in songs these days. He doesn't even want to sing the song and it's all the more effective. It does seem like such a shocking waste that Syd went the way he did. Some songs Syd sings is in on his own tune while the others are trying to stay with him and in a sense that perfectly describes him really - he was walking away from it all and being in his own world. It's confusing and sometimes perhaps scary but this is Syd's world and it really is hard not to feel sorry for him. As the Pink Floyd song goes " Shine on you crazy diamond "

Last week (at this writing), some of us were gathered at a friend's house for a cookout, and when the topic of conversation went to music, someone mentioned Syd Barrett, and a guy I have known for many years said, with a lot of venom in his voice, "Syd Barrett was a complete waste," I felt the need to defend him. Sadly, many people feel this way. But, on the good side, he still has a lot of fans and supporters, myself included.

In my review of "The Madcap Laughs," I rated it with four stars. This wasn't necessarily due to it having a piecemeal format; that is fine, I did so because of the disjointed way the second half goes. It sort of falls apart. And the version of "Dark Globe," was simply shrieked, as opposed to the superior version included on "Opel." "If It's In You?" Imagine the Gong Show panelists "gang gonging" him; it isn't difficult to picture. Roger Waters and David Gilmour said it was a nightmare doing that record ("Madcap," that is).

"Barrett," the one with with the insects on the cover, was also an allegedly frustrating experience to record, but the results were a lot more even and professional sounding. First, there is a consistent line-up here. Humble Pie's drummer, Jerry Shirley, also on some of the "Madcap" sessions, plays most of the drum parts on this. Rick Wright plays all of the piano and organ this time, and one-man-band David Gilmour plays bass, as well as uncredited guitar, keyboards, and does some drumming as well. It must have been strange, doing sessions with several members of the band that fired you at the peak of your success. But, with the exception of Floyd drummer Nick Mason, they all have nothing but kind things to say about him. And if you ever have the opportunity to watch any Mason interviews, you'll notice he becomes strangely quiet when talking about Syd Barrett. I personally think he didn't like him very much, as a musician or as a friend. If I am wrong, I'll stand corrected, though I doubt I am.

"Baby Lemonade" starts it off, with an arpeggiated guitar solo provided by David Gilmour, and via overdubs, he doubles on bass. Barrett sings two-part harmony with himself with the overdubs, and as with almost all of Barrett's material, it has a certain innocence to it. Same with "Love Song," a pleasant no-frills song about a girl he knew and liked; he could tell the simplest stories, the kind you could tell to a little kid, but with an adult sophistication. It's hard to believe this is the same mind which came up with "Arnold Layne," the infamous cross-dresser song. Of course, this child-like delivery is offset with "Dominoes," somber and bleak-sounding, with a backward guitar solo and double-tracked drums. One track plays foreward, as the other plays backward. A better-known performance which uses this trick is Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" If you haven't heard "Dominoes" before, it has the same kind of production. Of course, it's a different piece altogether, but you get the idea.

"It Is Obvious" is just a basic two-chord song, similar in mood to "Love Song," in it's just him delivering a somewhat catchy melody with the back-up band accompanying him, which leads into "Rats." It's everything one would picture. A one-chord, cacaphoneous jumble while the lead vocal provides a recitation of what sounds like coffee house beatnik poetry. As Frank Zappa would say, it has "No Commercial Potential." This is geared to the more hard-core fans of Barrett's work, and myself, I think it's great.

"Maise" is a gloomy blues number, Barrett droning the lyrics in a lower-register voice about "...bad luck, the bride of a bull..." to a minor key jam which sounds like it could be used in a cheap, really bad B movie. But he brings us back up a little with "Gigolo Aunt," one of his "hits," per se. When he is good, he is very good, as this, and the next number, "Waving My Arms In The Air" show. In "Waving..." he gives a very wise, sage-like message: "You shouldn't try to be what you can't be." This segues into "I Never Lied To You." There is an honesty in his more accesible lyrics I feel a lot of people miss. He had a very simple approach to life, however much he complicated it himself.

"Wined And Dined" is another good example of his simple approach to things: "...Wined and dined, oh it seemed just like a dream. Girl was so kind; kind of love I'd never seen..." He really was a poet of the highest calibre.

"Wolfpack" gives us a look at the more frantic approach to his work. Interesting is his double-band approach to this. In one channel, you have the band playing it acoustically, with piano and acoustic guitar and Barrett singing melody, and in the other, the band is playing electric instruments, organ and some interesting Fender Telecaster abuse(I say this jokingly) with Barrett singing a histrionic, higher version of the same lyrics. This is overlooked creative genius.

"Barrett" winds down with "Effervescing Elephant," a return to the child-like approach he often used in his writing. Once again, it is a silly song that young child and seasoned adult can appreciate equally.

Syd Barrett may be gone, but his legacy WILL live on, even if some folks look at him as a "waste." He was, and still is, a VERY important figure in contemporary music. I don't care what anyone says, I think he was great.

I guess I'm in the minority here in preferring this record to "The Madcap Laughs." True, Pink Floyd had more to do with it, the arrangements are fuller and more 'of the period' and I think Gilmour said about recording it that Barrett came into the studio with almost no ideas, unlike with "Madcap." Maybe it's because I heard this one first, or maybe I'm a craven wimp who likes the easier stuff. But for me one test of the record's excellence is the way the seven demo tracks included on the CD hold up against the finished versions. These are eccentric, imaginative, original songs independent of any particular production style. 'Baby Lemonde,' 'Dominoes,' 'It Is Obvious,' 'Waving My Arms,' 'Gigolo Aunts'--all glued themselves to the top of my brainpan and stayed there, they're there now as I write this, Help! I can't get them out! And 'Effervescing Elephant' is a totally charming coda that gives McCartney's 'Her Majesty' a real run for its money. In some ways I'm glad Barrett didn't stick around to go prog. This album's like a forgotten piece of the psychedelic Sixties lost in the bog and ambered for all time.

If "The Madcap Laughs" was (and remains) a jarring wandering through a disassembled psyche, Syd Barrett's second stab at a solo album seems to be a momentary lapse of incoherence. Maybe it's due mostly to the support musicians - Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Rick Wright, plus Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley make damn sure that whatever Barrett has left, he doesn't go off the rail to deliver it. And Barrett has a little something left; "Baby Lemonade" is about as good as it gets for what was left of Barrett groping back to what he used to be, "Waving My Arms In The Air/I Never Lied To You" is an insinuating little combine, and "Wined and Dined" a striking little ballad with Barrett writing one of the least self-immolating lyrics of his post-Floyd life. He also recovers the better side of his formerly cheery absurdism (just listen to "Maisie" and "Effervescing Elephant") for a few brief and engaging moments. But you and I both know it couldn't last for more than a short while. Barrett had done too profound a job of feeding his fragile enough mind the wrong drug for that.

Syd Barrett... not many know of him, but the ones who do will never forget his contribution to music. The mad genius's final complete studio album features some great songs and outstanding guitar work. Though Roger Barrett is still alive and well, Syd, has died and gone to a better place. Let us never forget his genius, and the band he made, Pink Floyd.