Customer Reviews

Opel

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Fans of Syd Barrett will justly celebrate this collection of outtakes and previously unreleased recordings, culled from the last few years of Barrett's brief creative career. Known for his querly songwriting in Pink Floyd, this collection finds Barrett less self-consciously trying to wrestle a psychedelic vision, and just letting his inner world flow out. Syd's playing is often clumsy, but never insincere in these uncompromising yet good-humored numbers. The sound quality is excellent and pared-down, often merely Syd and his guitar feeling his way through the new material (though there are some fascinating experiments like the murky basses on "Swan Lee" and the vibraphone instrumental version of "Golden Hair.") It gives me chills to hear his quiet, accented voice gently intoning a series of random words on "Word Song" - some of them ("glaucous") quite nonsensical. There is a childlike purity to this work that defies proper description. For those who prefer stream of consciousness, visionary work to radio pandering, you will not want to miss this. Fans of Barrett's other solo work will enjoy the intimacy of this inclusion to the canon.

Opel is a collection of unreleased recordings from Syd Barrett, they're either demos, alternate versions or unfinished tracks. Syd was one strange dude and very unperdictable. He would wander into the studio and start playing and would quit without warning. While he was in the studio, the backing members of Soft Machine would hang around and try to play along. But Syd would change chords or notes so often that it became virtually impossible to keep up with him. A collection of Syd Barrett's material was released a few years ago and it uses tracks from all three albums, a definitive collection of music world's most eccentric individual.

Recommended for psychedelic music fans.

It's sad to me to read some of these reviews that long for "what could have been" with Syd Barrett. The man was little off and that's what made his music, his singing and his lyrics so great and original. If he'd been like the other glam-pop acts of the seventies, he would've just written shallow overproduced radio cotton candy crap that melts in your brain as soon you hear it and sticks, not because it's sincere, but just because it's intentionally catchy, and ultimately without much heart and soul. That is one thing that Barrett had in spades without really seeming to try, yet very evidently paying for it. Listen to the end of the title track "I'm trying to find you," repeated over and over and tell me you don't feel his sincerity and anguish. I've listened to a lot of music in my days, and I don't hear that kind of heart anywhere. Barrett pours out his soul and it makes you want to cry for him, for yourself for the whole bloody doomed race of man. He remains one of the most original singer-songwriter, artist, musician, mystery, tragedy whatever you want to call him and he's always a consideration in my mind. Opel is a great collection of rough tracks - the best way to hear any musician - with great gems like Clowns and Jugglers (aka Octopus); Rats; Wouldn't You Miss Me (a thorazine-laden version of Dark Globe); and Milky Way. Also on this collection are just plain weird songs like Dolly Rocker, Word Song and Birdie Hop. "Birdie hop, he do, he hop along." That always makes me bust out laughing. You're only as mad as you don't realize. Maybe Barrett wasn't so crazy after all. Maybe he just had real artistic integrity.

The collection "Opel" was released in the late 1980s and consists mostly of outtakes from Barrett's two solo albums as well as a few alternate takes. Most of the tracks had not even seen the light of day for years before their release, and the fact that Syd had this many songs left is really quite surprising considering that he only recorded two albums during his solo career.

First off, I am a huge Syd Barrett fan (see my reviews of his other albums for proof of this), but I feel that this outtakes collection is extremely inconsistent. Many of these songs weren't finished at the time of recording, and it shows as Syd fumbles through a few of them. "Opel," despite being the long-lost cult classic, is a great song in theory, but it just goes on for way too long while Syd fumbles around aimlessly with the chord progression. Some of the lyrics are very chilling and evocative, but overall this isn't his best work. "Clowns and Jugglers" (aka "Octopus"), presented in a slightly faster electric version here (again featuring the Soft Machine on backup) is just plain painful to listen to. The overdub-less version of "Rats" is interesting, but still doesn't represent Syd at his best. "Let's Split" starts off really well, but falls apart somewhere in the middle, "Birdie Hop" is embarrassing, while "Word Song" just doesn't do it for me.

Most of the songs that I just mentioned are the only real "rocky" spots on the album that warrant skipping, everything else should be smooth listening from here on. "Swan Lee" is another one of Syd's "storytelling" songs (see "Here I Go" form "The Madcap Laughs"), and is very interesting because Syd relates the story of the title charcter, who is a Native American warrior. Among all of the references to "wigwams" and "canoes," it is interesting to point out that some of the guitar work here is very reminiscent of the Ventures with its echo-laden surf-rock twang. A curious listen indeed. Syd makes a complete left-turn on the instrumental piece "Lanky (Part 1)." Rather than use an acoustic guitar and a simple strum like he tends to do sometimes, here he picks up his electric again and actually attempts to play it in a lead guitar jam fashion not heard since the Pink Floyd days. In fact, "Lanky" is highly reminiscent of two of the Floyd's best Barrett-era jams: "Stoned Alone" (aka "Reaction in G") and the now classic "Interstellar Overdrive" from the "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" album. The closing track, an instrumental take on "Golden Hair" is a bit inessential but a fascinating listen nontheless.

Here are the real gems that make owning this collection worth it. "Golden Hair," although not too different from the version used on "Madcap" (save for the lack of keyboard and cymbal embellishments) still sounds great. The demo version of "Wined and Dined" here features Syd unaccompanied, and works really well. "Wouldn't You Miss Me" (aka "Dark Globe") is by far the best version of this song ever, and outdoes the "Madcap" version by a long shot; this track alone is well worth getting this album for. Outside of the alternate versions that I just mentioned, two previously unreleased tracks stand out here as being two of the best that Syd ever did: "Dolly Rocker" and "Milky Way." "Dolly Rocker" in particular is an absolutely beautiful song, one that's definitely worth singing to your girlfriend (she'll instantly love it). When Syd stops to turn the page, and then goes into the "Oceans may travel" section, it beautifully affecting, and truly makes me want to cry, it's just that beautiful. A must listen. "Milky Way" is one of Syd's best kept secrets; unlike some of the material here, this is Syd at his absolute best! Great chord progression, great rhythmic guitar playing from Barrett, and above all, a joy to listen to. One of Syd's best songs, hands down.

As I've said, this affair is extremely hit and miss in the truest sense, and should only be approached AFTER you have already bought Syd's two proper solo albums. The handful of really great tracks ("Dolly Rocker," "Milky Way," and "Wouldn't You Miss Me" in particular) make up for any lackings elsewhere, and show proof that even at this stage, Syd could occasionally pull it all together and create a song that is just pure magic. Even casual listeners would be smitten with songs like "Milky Way," but as an album I can only recommend this to the diehards who have everything else Syd ever did. Approach "Opel" with caution, but don't pass it by, either.

Much like the REM album Dead Letter Office, Opel is the scrapings of Syd's unpublished studio career, for the good or the bad. Songs like Opel and the lower take of Dark Globe were more haunting than most of Cobain's later Nirvana pieces. Other interesting songs like Word Song (a string of unconnected, barely rhyming words that seem perfect together), Birdie Hop (a great sing-along song), and Milky Way are pieces of vocal mastery, showing the range of Syd's post-sanity music. Also, the stripped-down version of Wined and Dined is probably Syd's best solo.

But with all of this treasure, there is a mound of trash. Cows and Jugglers is barely listenable (especially if Octopus is one of your favorite songs), Lanky is like a toned down Stoned Alone from earlier PF times, and Swan Lee's Native American story simply doesn't sound right coming out of a very British Barrett. The rest of the songs are tolerable and enjoyable.

Syd is one of my heroes, and my favorite musician, so I am a bit biased toward his outtakes, but some of these songs were just the wrong flavour.

...had more genius & greatness (o.k., maybe more acid as well) in his pinky than all your MTV award winners put together! Only a brilliant natural (a la Barrett) could prop himself up in front of a mike with an uneffected e. guitar & create a visionary gem of such transcendent breadth & depth as the cut "Opel", for instance....& the following cut "Octopus" I'm comfortable to declare to be the single greatest-strangest-best-lyrics-&-perfect-backing psych/rock/pop song ever! It holds up!

Yes, Barrett had/has his problems with the drugs, the fame, the mad pressure, but I say he's at a similar approaching-superhuman level to a Jack Kerouac, a Nick Drake, a Bob Marley, a Miles Davis, an Edie Sedgwick: you gotta forgive such figures their foibles, focus on their achievements, hear THROUGH their shamanic slurs & hallucinatory goneness to the artist's communicating heart. -This from a listener who cannot bear any Pink Floyd unless it's the Syd cuts; i.e. their greatest album = THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN! & the Syd singles: Heaven! You wouldn't want OPEL to be the only Barrett album in your collection, but it is an important gem (a veritable Opal!) containing cuts of both breathtaking beauty ("Golden Hair") & savage strangeness ("Rats")...

Well,everyone knows the story already...after leaving(or being left behind - only the Floyd can say for sure)Syd went on to record two studio albums and leave some scattered songs and instrumentals in the vaults.For years most was available on bootlegs of various sorts,mostly of bad quality.I was very happy to see this disc come out and fell in love with it on the first listen...the title track is one of the most compelling songs he ever wrote(David Gilmour-who produced most of his recordings- did not remember this song and it probally just slipped through the cracks and ended up in the vaults at EMI)and is a testement to just how out there and alone he really was.
Yes, it has versions of songs already available on the first two discs but it`s the title track and the odd bits of instrumentals that make this disc stand out.
Given the state of our world it is great to know that even if it costs them everything,the really great artists will always find a way to shine.Syd isn`t gone...not really - he just got lost and shared with the world just how it really felt to be alone with no way back.Spooky,brilliant and worth adding to anybodys collection.
I just found out that Syd died July 7th.....rest in peace man.

This music was unknown to me only months ago.Now it is something to go through a day without Syd. It struck a strong chord inside (pun intended)as I delved farther into his world.It takes awhile to love all his music, but even the tunes I forgave him for writing are my favorites today.
Opel is a great tune in itself, and the differant takes of other material I already own are always illuminating in SOME way!BARRETTMANIA 4 EVER!

The late Pink Floyd co-founder/original guitarist/singer/songwriter Syd Barrett's rarities album entitled Opel was released in October of 1988 (it was released in the US in early 1989).
The Opel album consisted of songs that were not used on Syd's two officially released solo albums from 1970 The Madcap Laughs and Barrett respectively. Many people (back in 1988 and even today) scoff at this compilation. However, Opel was the first Syd Barrett album I ever got on CD in May of 1994 after hearing a dub of this album on cassette tape in late 1993.
The title track is one of the highlights on this album and was one of the first things recorded for The Madcap Laughs but left off the original album and the title cut is one of my favorite Syd songs ever. Other songs on this rarities collection that were not ever issued previously on the two Syd Barrett solo albums were "Dolly Rocker", "Birdie Hop", "Let's Split", "Swan Lee" (an excellent song about Indians (Native American tribes)), "Lanky (pt.1)" and "Milky Way".
Some of the earlier takes of "Octopus" (here as its original title "Clowns and Jugglers" recorded with The Soft Machine members in 1968), "Golden Hair" (in both an early take and the closing instrumental recorded in early 1969) and "Wouldn't You Miss Me" (better known as "Dark Globe") are way better on Opel than the finished versions on The Madcap Laughs album by a longshot in my view.
On the European issue of Opel, which was originally part of the Crazy Diamond 3-CD boxed set released in Europe in 1993, there are more alternate takes of songs. First is "Gigolo Aunt" (with full band of Syd on guitar and vocals, Syd's successor (and close friend) David Gilmour on bass guitar, fellow Pink Floyd bandmate (the late) Rick Wright on organ and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley on drums), two versions of "It is Obvious" (one take with Syd singing in a low octave on electric guitar then an acoustic guitar sounding version with Syd singing in a seemingly falsetto voice), "Late Night" (without the vocals nor the overdubs) and a great early take of "Effervescing Elephant".
The European edition of Opel which was re-released in 1993 was superior to the US version originally released in 1988. The
The Opel album/CD is a great rarities collection and is recommended!

This is a collection of recordings that were left out of the two solo albums presumably because they were too clever for EMI's pop chart entrepreneurs.

Clowns and Jugglers is better and more imaginative than the version called Octopus on Madcap (good as that is), and it and the sparkling instrumental Lanky look towards the 1980s.

Birdy Hop is unique and difficult to describe. It is a blues word sculpture which has the singer and the subject of the song (the bird) built into the shape of the song as well as into the words. Another experimental song is Word Song which is the most condensed example of his song writing style. It consists of a list of mostly nouns playing off against each other, but it makes a fascinating song. There was a third song form experiment on the second album (Mindshot), but someone changed the title to It Is Obvious and made it seem just barmy.

On first impression I didn't like there being so many accoustic guitar tracks and it took me years to like Rats (from the second album) without the group sound. But over the years I have become fascinated by his style of playing it, especially on Birdy Hop, Word Song, Rats, and the accoustic version of Golden Hair.

This is a collection of out-takes but it is close to being as good as Madcap Laughs. It has several of Syd Barrett's best recordings and is essential for fans.