Syd Barrett - Barrett

 

Syd's second solo (and final) solo album was begun shortly after the release of The Madcap Laughs with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Richard Wright, along with Humble Pie's Jerry Shirley, all once again helping to complete the somewhat crazed vision of the psych mastermind. 

I just discovered that the guitar opening for "Baby Lemonade" was simply some of Syd's noodling that Gilmour captured on tape, showing that Syd could really play, at least when he was in the right frame of mind. The song itself is one of his strongest pop tunes (which led at least one band to name themselves after the title), with a strong band backing - Shirley is particularly good here, accenting effectively without overplaying. The slower "Love Song" is a keyboard-based ballad, still quite melodic and somewhat dreamy, while "Dominoes" is quite Pink Floyd-ish in its psychedelia-filled backwards guitars and tripped out mid-section, "Isn't It Obvious" is kinda sing-songy psych, and "Rats" is a rambling bit of borderline vicious lyrics over what started as a jam and remains loosely structured, but becomes a powerful piece when put together.

Another jam, a twisted, percussion-heavy blues, became "Maisie" with Syd muttering over the backing, followed by another of his poppier number, which also became a band name, "Gigolo Aunt", while "Waving My Arms In The Air" is sorta circuitous, with some hints of a couple of his older numbers melodically, as is "I Never Lied to You", while "Wined and Dined" is a bit more structured and apparently Barrett has said that the more edgy (in a psychedelic way) "Wolfpack" was one of his personal faves and then he finishes out with a novelty child's tune, "Effervescing Elephant" (hell, was that a band name, too?) that is silly, but fun.

I think both this and Madcap are essential psychedelic listening, but you should know that by now!