Syd Barrett
The Madcap Laughs

THE REVIEW

It might be the media, it might be his rebellious air, or perhaps that video capturing Syd Barrett in the throes of an acid trip, but even today many are convinced that the physical and mental destruction of this genius was solely due to drug abuse. This is absolutely not the case. Syd aka Roger Keith was just a fragile person who only wanted to escape life with those six strings that made him one of the major musical exponents in late 60s Old Albion.

He couldn’t face the terrible world of the music business; he was swallowed by a vortex of pressures that quickly destroyed him, especially on a psychological level. Syd did not want to expose himself to the public, didn’t want to become a VIP or be constantly in the spotlight; he just wanted to tell his rhymes with his guitar to people, to move them, to take them away for a few minutes from everyday reality. Sure, drugs contributed to hastening his fall but the harm was already etched in his mind; there was nothing left to do but to retreat forever from the music scene after 2 significantly important albums.

Who knows, if maybe Syd could have withstood the media impact surrounding him, maybe he would still have been the historic leader of Pink Floyd, David Gilmour would be just an ordinary citizen with a failed attempt at a musical career behind him, boasting with friends at the pub in the evening about being one of Syd&company's best friends, and Roger Waters would never have destroyed Pink Floyd with his demands and claims of being the principal composer. But these are just illusions of my poor mind amid boredom and summer heat; perhaps it’s better this way, it’s also because of this that Syd Barrett continues to live in those who see themselves in him.

I know, I’ve digressed enough, let's move on to the album "The Madcap Laughs" which was released in January 1970 with the help of his two friends David Gilmour and Roger Waters. Well, what can I say... it's simply a masterpiece; many consider it inferior to the subsequent work (Barrett), but for me there are no comparisons. "The Madcap Laughs" is much more suited to Syd's personality, free to roam to distant places with his acoustic guitar, without a necessarily full-bodied accompaniment, which also helps his voice to be more profound and touching.

It starts with "Terrapin", a name taken from the fanzine of the fan club created after leaving Pink Floyd, a perfectly successful track with that slow voice and that chord progression that takes Syd Barrett away from the world for more than 5 minutes with a declaration of love with dreamlike references. It would be pointless to describe all the songs in detail; among the most successful tracks, we find "Dark Globe" with an introduction inspired by "A Hard Rain is A-Gonna Fall" by Bob Dylan, of whom Syd is a great admirer. The song talks about a desperate plea for help to a girl Syd is in love with; it's one of my favorite tracks from Syd's entire solo repertoire, "Oh where will you be now, smiling willow that smiled among these leaves? When I was alone, you promised your heart of stone".

Not to forget "Octopus", perhaps the most successful track on the album, with that no longer tender and relaxing but rather determined and aggressive guitar attack. Here we find the unmistakable Barrett style made up of analogies, wordplay, and allusions; the chorus is now etched into my brain cortex for life. And to conclude the detailed analysis of the pieces, I don’t want to forget a masterpiece like "Golden Hair", where Syd, concerning songs with references to parallel worlds, surpasses himself, with that guitar riff that penetrates the epicenter of the soul. A splendid song with a very detailed metric study of the text, " Come by the window golden hair I heard you singing in the night air ".

Perhaps I've written too much and I want to conclude without making statements like an enamored fan and similar clichés, but only with a part of the lyrics from Dark Globe.

"Won't you miss me? Wouldn’t you muss me at all?"

Yes Roger, I will truly miss you.

Shine on.