It's New To Me: Barrett by Syd Barrett (1970)

Image "Maestros" from Burlesques by Henry Mayo Bateman, 1916

I admit that I don't understand Pink Floyd. Most of the "big rock" of the '70s, including most of what you'd call prog rock and arena rock, hold no appeal for me - something about noodly song-suites, I think. The first Floyd-related thing I ever heard that appealed to me at all (no, not the snippet of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" from the Laser Floyd ads on the radio) was an a capella rendition of a song called "Dark Globe" that Michael Stipe used to do as an intro during REM's live shows. (I know - I've already mentioned REM at least five times in this blog's short history.) I found out that the song was written and recorded by Syd Barrett, the original lead singer of Pink Floyd, but I had no idea how to find a proper recording of it.

Years later, I found a Syd Barrett CD in a used CD store, and it had "Dark Globe" on it. The album was called Opel, and I bought it on the spot. And I found it a much more difficult listen than I expected, all unhinged-sounding singing and tinny acoustic guitar. I started reading up on Syd Barrett and found that he'd only really been in Pink Floyd in the late '60s. By 1970, he had been ousted as lead singer and songwriter because of increasing behavioral problems, apparently related to mental illness or drugs (or both). I found out that Syd had released two proper albums with the help of his friends during his difficult years, after which he faded into anonymity more or less to this day. It turned out that the albums were The Madcap Laughs and Barrett - Opel was an odds-and-ends collection of other recordings by Barrett during the same period. I tracked down The Madcap Laughs and kind of understood the appeal, but I recently bought Barrett, and it's easily my favorite of the three records.

Barrett contains what I think are Barrett's two best-known songs from his solo career, "Gigolo Aunt" and "Baby Lemonade", but the whole thing is as close to a pop record as a troubled soul like Syd could have been expected to create. Apparently, this had a lot to do with Syd's friends taking control of the recording process and limiting his involvement in order to get things done. His distinctive voice still dominates the album, and I am particularly drawn to the song "Wined and Dined". It's fairly fleshed out for a Syd solo song, with Floyd's David Gilmour playing the organ part, but I think its sound has aged fairly well. It shows how Syd could easily have been a major influence on Elliott Smith's songwriting around the time of Smith's self-titled album.

"Wined and Dined" by Syd Barrett