Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs
(1970)
Tracks
1. Terrapin 5:04
2. No Good Trying 3:26
3. Love You 2:29
4. No Man's Land 3:03
5. Dark Globe 2:02
6. Here I Go 3:10
7. Octopus 3:47
8. Golden Hair 1:59
9. Long Gone 2:50
10. She Took A Long Cold Look 1:55
11. Feel 2:17
12. If It's In You 2:26
13. Late Night 3:10
Syd Barrett left Pink Floyd in 1968; his final contribution to Pink Floyd was the last song on "A Saucerful of Secrets", the very apt Jugband Blues. From here he left to focus on a solo career, whether he left of his own accord or was pushed we can leave for another day, but it took a further two years for Barrett's first solo outing to be released.
"The Madcap Laughs", released in 1970 on Harvest, was two years in the making and had production assistance from various people most notably Roger Waters and Dave Gilmore, as well as session musicians of some esteem to perform overdubs on most of the tracks, musicians including Jerry Shirley of Humble Pie on Drums. It's also worth noting that some of these esteemed musicians never actually met Barrett.
The various sessions involved in writing and recording the songs for this release were dogged with Barrett's internal and well documented mental turmoil, but this record was recorded in the end and what a record it is. The album opens with "Terrapin", despite the number of producers involved throughout the album; this opening track echoes the style, which will make Madcap Laughs the album it is.
Every strum is heard, the lyrics are quite mysterious, the vocals are eerie and because the overdubs are done after and away from Barrett's erratic musicianship, the beats and bars are quite unpredictable, which I happen to believe is a good thing. This trend, which I like to think of as classic Barrett recording techniques, continues with "No Good Trying", the marvellous "Octopus", "Golden Hair" and the beautifully composed "She Took a Long Cold Look" and "Dark Globe".
The album does have some upbeat moments, "Love You" and "Here I Go" are probably as close to pop songs Barrett ever got, but thankfully he's still a million miles off the norm.
Along with "Barrett", another album from Syd Barrett released in 1970, The Madcap Laughs remains a beacon of the talents of this great songwriter, a man whose demons would tragically halt his career but thankfully did not result in this record never being released. Yes, some of the vocals are erratic and sometimes off key, yes some of the songs go off on one a bit with the overdubs trying to keep up, and yes this album is far from being polished, but don't let that stop you, the sum of all the parts of this album make for an unbelievably addictive and surprisingly wholesome record.