An Introduction to Syd Barrett Album | October 2010

[nosaj]

There have been reviews about Rhamadan in the past by one or two poeple who have heard it...can't think of where or who right now (from the 80s though).

Anyway, clearly it can't be that great based on the review I read in the past (basically bongos or something, like somebody said earlier in this thread), because it has never been released and finally, because it is only a bonus download...still, I want to hear it.

Oh, J Ed, I bet the download from purchasing the cd will be for an mp3...and, yes, iTunes is simply wrong.

[psychocandy]

and when will they release "millionaire"

was it finished? Not much lyrics in it.

who cares? there's a description of it on random precision and it sounds just as interesting as rhamadan so i'd love to hear it. maybe on the next comp...

[moom]

who cares? there's a description of it on random precision and it sounds just as interesting as rhamadan so i'd love to hear it. maybe on the next comp...

True.

[movement]

I'm not disappointed in the absence of unreleased material on this CD...AS LONG AS the band releases a deluxe version of ASOS which would be a more appropriate place for the tracks anyway. I'm honestly not sure what they're waiting for.

I do wish Opel were on the CD, however.

[henno]

I suppose the main attraction of this release is the inclusion of solo stuff alongside Floyd stuff.

However, i feel it would have been a better arrangement to have the songs intermingled, like Floyds Echoes a few years back.. instead of the chronological order it appears to be set in....

but i suppose if it is to be sold as an "introduction...." type thing they decided chronological was better..... hummm, cant win can you...

i wont be buying straight out.... but maybe in the future simply from a completionish view point...

[walter5]

No doubt an enterprising bootlegger will get "Ramadan" out soon enough-- I'll buy it from him or wait to download it if it's MP3 sourced. It's really quite disappointing that this is all that they claim to have left to release.

Yes I too recall the review of "Ramadan" from the liner notes of "Opel", IIRC, it was supposed to be little more than an extended drum track that hadn't had anything else laid down on top of it yet. This is the smallest and least bone that they could have thrown Syd's fans, it's worse than an insult: they're gonna screw Syd's fans again and wipe their dicks off on the drapes.

Dear Gods, we *know* Rick had that studio tape of the unfinished "In The Beechwoods", he played it for that kid he did the interview with in 1970. We know there are several mixes of "Scream" and "Vegetable Man" that have been made over the last 30 years, PLUS the BBC live performances of these and other of Syd's songs by Pink Floyd. "Wouldn't You Miss Me" was weak enough, including "Bob Dylan Blues" was just enough meat on the bone to get me buy all those songs again, after the 2-LP set, Opel on Casette & then CD, the original releases of the 2 solo albums on CD and the CD Box Set with the extra tracks. But not this. Perhaps I'll just wait until I can get it for under $5.00 from some second-market reseller on Amazon, because it will happen-- this is unneccesary emphemera. Quite disappointing.

[nosaj]

Near the bottom of this page, you can read an opinion of Rhamadan: http://www.sydbarrett.net/subpages/maki ... /intro.htm

Here is the excerpt:

" ‘Lanky’ and ‘Rhamadan’ were very long and rambling percussion instrumentals. Engineer Peter Bown’s announcement on the tape of ‘Lanky Part One’ is, rather wearily, ”Five minutes of drums!”. It wasn’t very good! “Rhamadan” lasted for almost twenty minutes, and in its unfinished state was also pretty boring. Syd too was not satisfied with it (he’d overdubbed several conga drums in random improvisation) and we agreed to abandon that."

[Idisaffect]

unneccesary emphemera

That would be a great title for this compilation. I wanna see the Storm T. cover for that album.

There's no need for a comp when there are only 3 albums.

[Wolfpack]

Near the bottom of this page, you can read an opinion of Rhamadan: http://www.sydbarrett.net/subpages/maki ... /intro.htm

Here is the excerpt:

" ‘Lanky’ and ‘Rhamadan’ were very long and rambling percussion instrumentals. Engineer Peter Bown’s announcement on the tape of ‘Lanky Part One’ is, rather wearily, ”Five minutes of drums!”. It wasn’t very good! “Rhamadan” lasted for almost twenty minutes, and in its unfinished state was also pretty boring. Syd too was not satisfied with it (he’d overdubbed several conga drums in random improvisation) and we agreed to abandon that."

As the CD 'Opel' reveals, 'Lanky Part One' contains more than just bongos. It also contains guitar and vibes.
I'm curious if the download 'Rhamadan' will have an old or a new mix. As far as I understood, the motorcycle noises were never actually overdubbed at the time. And will the track be complete or a shortened edit?

I think the tracklist of 'Introduction' is a disappointment for an introduction.
Songs I would exclude: 'Apples and oranges'; 'If it's in you'.
Instead of 'If it's in you', I would have chosen a overdubbed/remixed 'Feel'. (I think 'If it's in you' is more for the experienced Barrett-listener, who'd not easily get a headache.)

Songs I would include: 'Lucifer Sam'; 'Late Night'; 'Wined and dined'.

Song I would overdub/remix: 'Feel', 'Opel', 'Dolly Rocker', 'Birdy Hop', 'Milky Way'. Maybe also 'Word song' and 'Let's Split'.
As the 'Terrapin'-mix was an emergency copy of lower sound quality, maybe that mix could have been reconstructed in high quality.
If they really had to include 'If it's in you', I would have tried to remix it and give it some pitch correction.
And maybe they could have made a proper mix of the much-too-chaotic harmony version of 'Wouldn't you miss me' (Dark globe).

I would have expected more effort in the overdubbing/remixing. Why only 5 titles? And why leave out a track like 'Opel', which is begging for overdubbing and remixing?

My hope is that this compilation is just an early beginning of more overdubbing and remixing of Barrett's released solo efforts. (As long as they will be an addition to Barrett's catalogue - and not a replacement.)

[my breakfast.]

I heard that Syd had recorded a motorcycle for Rhamadan using a cheap tape recorded, and that they had to trawl Abbey Road for adapters to get his tape to work with the bigger recorders in the studio...

However a random drum solo with overdubbed lofi motorcycle noise does not immediately sound good.

[Wolfpack]

I heard that Syd had recorded a motorcycle for Rhamadan using a cheap tape recorded, and that they had to trawl Abbey Road for adapters to get his tape to work with the bigger recorders in the studio...

This is what I recall reading in books: After they got Syd's player connected they found the sound-quality of the recording too bad and decided to get motorcycle noises from a library of sounds. This way they got several motorcycle noises. But at that time, Syd had lost his interest.

I wouldn't have imagined that a amateur player was so difficult to connect with a professional recorder.

Surprisingly, next year's Pink Floyd's 'Atom Heart Mother' contains the noise of a motorcycle driving away. So, the motorcycle noises seems to be one of the bad, bad Syd ideas that eventually were approved as being good. (Like the Salvation Army band and the saxophone.)

BTW. The library of sounds was also used for Pink Floyd's 'Grandchester Meadows', for example. The same swimming bird can be heard in the wildlife version of The Beatles's 'Across the Universe'.

[my breakfast.]

They must have had a small soundeffects library! That bird on the Beatles album sounds a lot like the ones on Cirrus Minor and the bird taking off is also on Granchester Meadows as you say.

I've heard it said that those birds also crop up on a Kate Bush track and other places. I think Pink Floyd had a copy of the Cirrus Minor birds tape for Granchester Meadows during The Man and the Journey gigs in 1969. The birds also crop up on the video versions of some of the tracks Roger recorded for The Body (but not on the soundtrack album).

That skylark in Granchester Meadows is a pretty blatant tapeloop being panned around.

[Wolfpack]

The 'Cirrus Minor' birds can be heard in the intro of 'End of the Season' by The Kinks.
But this is getting off-topic.

I forgot to say that I will buy the 'Introduction'-CD. I'm very curious for the remixes. What would the overdubbed/remixed 'She Took a Long Cool Look' sound like? I guess the turning of the page will be removed. But will the remixes only contain new overdubs, or will they also make use of alternate takes?

[my breakfast.]

My secret hope is that they dig out the multitracks for See Emily Play and those early mono singles etc... and give us a sexy stereo mix.

[Wolfpack]

My secret hope is that they dig out the multitracks for See Emily Play and those early mono singles etc... and give us a sexy stereo mix.

I've understood that many of those early multitracks don't exist anymore, including those of The Piper, because of being erased for reuse.