Barrett the painter. Thoughts and analysis?

[scarecrow]

Well there are enough posts for you to form your verdict, my verdict is that Barrett was talented to an extent but with the lack of sufficient artwork it might be a little bit of regression to premature judging.

(PS. it was a dig at Hans Keller, in case none of you understood. )

Yes, quite.

Still, I think there is room for some more assessment of the various strands of Barrett's visual art.

I find the pop art collage experiments such as Fart Enjoy interesting and very much reflecting London in the mid 60s. I am curious how much Barrett was influenced by the Beats throughout his life ... on one hand his lifestyle in later years was perhaps restricted because of the discomfort he (maybe) felt in social situations and other issues, on the other hand focussing on painting at home for your own enjoyment whilst listening to old jazz recordings could be quite beat.

I think the influence of 'cut up' techniques was present in these collage works and Barrett's lyric writing... I would contend that a lot of stuff on the solo albums cited as evidence of disintegration/ madness/ schizophrenia could come down to this... in the context of Dylan's 'Tarantula' etc... in terms of artistic recognition/ success, I think at that time out of Barrett's various visual styles this might have been the most likely to have gained him recognition, if he'd gone further with it... maybe

Theres another strand of Barrett's visual art based on geometric patterns/ repetition, possibly reflecting philosophical and scientific interest in patterns of nature etc - this perhaps reflected in the solstice drawing (strangely closely resembling the four quarters of colour on the Hipgnosis Wish you Were Here cover), triangular patterns of the 1978 painting, interest in gardening, continual repainting of his house interior in blocks of colour. Or maybe he just liked the appearance of patterns and colours and it was fun like DIY

The later landscape paintings don't break new ground and you could say German Expressionists in early twentieth century did the same to far greater effect, but I think are quite evocative and although sometimes a bit scrappy certainly took some technical and observational skill

[yippeeyoucantseeme]

Ray and The Kinks are great.
Of course Van Gogh was a one off, and so was Syd. I thought that was pretty obvious..??

I seem to have drifted myself off topic completely. Ill be in the corner with a wicker basket

[rememberaday]

This is where the post is gonna go completely off-topic!

yipeeyoucantseeme,

In what way do you mean a one-off? In terms of commercial success and popularity? If that's so, both Van Gogh and Syd can be termed as a one-off. But otherwise their quality is highly subjective. Surely Syd DID decline in his music by the time Madcap had come, but his solo works I find to be great. Sure, every artist has his ups and downs, but that hardly means they are one-offs. By that logic, humanity is a one-off since it has declined since the Renaissance

Each one to their own opinion.

[yippeeyoucantseeme]

By one-off I mean no one really had the style he had. Not saying he was always good 'cos he wasn't, but what I mean is he has his own voice and identity, so you straight away know it is Syd. There are a lot of people I would call one offs, people who exist outside anything else, regardless of technical skill. These are the most interesting people to me.

[rememberaday]

Oh! Guess I really misinterpreted you then

My taste is also something like that. I don't always like the technically pefect things as they usually tend to be blank, insipid, dull, uninspired, etc. That's why I like the 60s eras. The rockstar personalities were really unique and striking.

[rememberaday]

Barrett and Van Gogh are Two of a Kind

[rememberaday]

I seem to have drifted myself off topic completely. Ill be in the corner with a wicker basket.

I'll be joining quite soon!

[Chris Moise]

They recorded a piece of music to go with his projection, although this was lost and very unlikely to resurface, and became known as 'John Latham'...

The 4-track master of the Latham session (E68416) is in the Abbey Road tape library with the other '67 tapes. Not lost, but seemingly forgotten. I understand the powers that be are aware of it now however.

I think people don't realize the band thought highly enough of what they recorded to submit it to Latham for use in a film that they knew would be screened in high profile places like the Arts Lab. The Latham recording was a finished track, it was sent to Latham himself who rejected it for being "too musical"!

[rememberaday]

Chris Moise is right. John Latham was indeed completed in the De Lane Lea sessions, which also comprised of Vegetable Man, Scream Thy Last Scream, Remember a Day, and Jugband Blues.

It would be interesting if John Latham the track ever surfaces.

[scarecrow]

Ah OK I didn't know it was in the vaults - thanks for the info, Chris

Wasn't Mason asked about this in a recent interview and had no recollection of recording it? Maybe I have just made that up. Also quite possible all of the surviving band have forgotten about this recording?

Would be nice to see this released along with Stockholm Golden Circle and the other stuff

[rememberaday]

Um.. As far as I know you can already get the Golden Circle (Gylenne Circklen) bootlegs. Its one of the few shows in which they played See Emily Play live. The sound quality is pretty average,though.

[scarecrow]

The Golden Circle bootleg is a mic in room recording of a professional high reel-to-reel recording.

It is also missing the first song of the set... the owner of the professional recording has been trying to persuade EMI/ the band to release it officially... I think the leakage of the incomplete bootleg is tied in with the owners frustration that EMI won't release it. I may have slightly misremembered this also, but the story behind the bootleg was explained on some website somewhere...

Also people have speculated that the band probably won't advocate its release because the vocals are so buried in the mix... personally I don't think this is a massive issue and the recording really captures how the PATGOD songs were played live and mixed in with longer freeform pieces (not that I was there at the time)

[moom]

The first time I saw his works, I thought they suited his music very well. Same good ol' crazy diamond, thinking he's a vegetable.

[rememberaday]

The first time I saw his works, I thought they suited his music very well. Same good ol' crazy diamond, thinking he's a vegetable.

And blam-blamming his fouses and mouses with an old lady's casket !

[rememberaday]

I'm guessing the Gylenne Circklen bootleg was sometime in October 1967. For all that news of Syd's decline, he plays pretty well (I judge that by listening to the See Emily Play slide guitar part and Interstellar Overdrive version).

By the way, anyone knows the definitive set-list for that gig?