204. Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs (1970)




















Track Listing

1. Terrapin
2. No Good Trying
3. Love You
4. No Man's Land
5. Dark Globe
6. Here I Go
7. Octopus
8. Golden Hair
9. Long Gone
10. She Took A Long Cold Look
11. Feel
12. If It's In You
13. Late Night

Review

This is a weird one. Syd Barret makes a very schizophrenic album here, and no wonder. It can go from pretty to weird to just demented or even exploitative crap. It is overall not a bad album and you do learn to quite like it, but in fact his guitar playing isn't great and the less said about his voice the better.

Actually his lyrics although interesting are equally hit and miss as the rest of the album. Some of the songs are quite excellent and he seems to be actually working better in the confines of a group than soloing. When he is accompanied his songs sound much more cohesive, when he is playing solo they can go to each of the ends of the spectrum, from the insightful to the plain barking.

There is a low-light to the album and that is If It's In You a track that is here for no reason except making people go "look at the kuhrazzzy man!", although I have learned to sing it extemely loudly around the house as a way to annoy my girlfriend and freak out my cat. All in all a positive experience. Buy it from Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. Here I Go
2. Octopus
3. No Good Thing
4. Golden Hair

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

"Octopus" was released as a single in November 1969 and the album itself followed in January 1970. It reached #40 in the UK at the time and was fairly well-reviewed, though many critics have since pointed out the nakedness of some of songs, such as "Dark Globe" and "Feel", to be somewhat despairing and reflecting Barrett's anguished mental state at the time. Most of the songs on the album are held in high regard, with the exception of "Feel", "She Took a Long Cold Look", and "If It's In You"; all of which are disjointed and sung in a near-scream from Barrett.


Newsnight feature on Syd... I love Newsnight, don't you... If you do please e-mail me with your credit card details, and me and I will deposit all the money that the Nigerian General left me on your bank account, yes indeed: