Syd Barrett
Barrett

THE REVIEW

That Barrett was an unruly genius, was known. That Barrett was the soul of the late '60s Pink Floyd, was also already known. But that very same "crazy diamond" Syd Barrett could manage to create a "simple" record, not particularly challenging to the human ear, was something no one expected.
The second and last chapter of Barrett's discography (where the sessions lasted just four days) was entirely produced by two renowned former colleagues, David Gilmour (who plays bass here) and Richard Wright (on keyboards), and it is a less dark work than the previous one, the debut "The Madcap Laughs".

"Baby Lemonade", which opens the album with a beautiful and long arpeggiated intro, seems to come straight out of "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn", as does the following "Love Song". "Dominoes" is perhaps the song that most noticeably has significant psychedelic incursions, with reverse tapes in the style of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and a keyboard fixed on one note which are decidedly Floydian in brand. With "Rats", one finds themselves listening to an almost folk track, with particularly characteristic guitar parts. "Maisie" is a blues episode of excellent craftsmanship, with typically crazy "Barrett-style" vocal parts. The concluding tracks "Wolfpack" and "Effervescing Elephant" are extremely sunny, which almost makes one regret Barrett's disappearance from the musical world.

A very turbulent character within Pink Floyd, with whom he made the first three albums before being kicked out to make way for the emerging great figure of Gilmour, he had several psychological instabilities that seriously compromised his future within the band and also as a solo musician, and this is a real shame. In the '70s he took up the hobby of painting, then probably abandoned it. Now he seems to have stabilized, but of course, nothing is certain about the life of this "crazy diamond". Essentially, the record feels like a collection of b-sides from "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn", with which Pink Floyd debuted in 1967. Surely, it is a notch below the entire production of Pink Floyd, but that does not mean it should be underestimated. It deserves to be listened to, there are no doubts about this. And trust me, it will surprise you with the simplicity with which it will get inside you. It may not take ten listens to fully understand and appreciate it, but two or three at most could be enough. And you won't be rid of it anymore, guaranteed...

NOTE: A box set containing Syd Barrett's three solo records, "The Madcap Laughs" ('70), "Barrett" ('70), and "Opel" (Released in '88 and containing unreleased tracks and old b-sides. The release was pushed by the record label), with the original tracklist plus some outtakes has been marketed.