Hands down the best solo album of any Floyd member and one of my all time favourites.
My only real quibble (apart from the exclusion of Opel) is with She Took a Long Cold Look. To my ears, take 4 (as issued on the extended version) sounds far superior to the one used on the album.
I did my own extended version of Madcap, including these tracks:
Terrapin
No Good Trying
Love You
No Man's Land
Dark Globe
Here I Go
Late Night
Octopus
Golden Hair
Long Gone
She Took a Long Cold Look (take 4)
Feel
If It's In You
Opel
I been thinking lately it was a missed opportunity that Soft Machine didnt collaborate more with Syd
I think Robert Hugh and Mike would have gotten Have You Got It Yet, instead of dismissing it as a deliberate game of obstruction as his own band claimed
remember Syd was into stuff like Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk, and the Softs were all jazz heads who viewed pop music as an object to dissect and deconstruct
and they didnt have a guitar player of their own
I think Syd would have fit right in, much better than with the aspiring rock star band that everybody wanted the Floyd to be
This is the album that has lived on for all this time. There is a little something special in each song. The emotion you can FEEL in Syd's playing and singing are in your face. This album is what pure talent sounds like. He knew how to couple words and music. This is a very difficult thing to do.
Syd will remain a legend, a mystery, a person to be drawn to forever.
Glimpses of what Syd USE to be. Terrapin is beautiful as are all the tracks except where Syd falters. It Kinda tells ya what state of mind he was in. Why they recorded the mistakes....I'll never understand. I cry when I hear "Dark Globe". Syd IS my music, the lyrics are darker than PATGOD, but NO ONE writes like that NO ONE!! And who doesn't like "Octopus". Soft Machine try to play along w/ Syd & they were good too. Check out their 1st album...Classic!! The lyrics seem to take no effort from Syd & he touches on ideas that he didn't on PATGOD!!
The definition of a perfect album: completely unique, timeless, unforgettable, bursting with brilliant songwriting & ideas & esp. performance... Syd Barrett has long been my favorite musician and this, in a nutshell, is why (even moreso than his first masterpiece, Piper). The backing band does a fantastic job with these very unusual songs, and seems to tap right into the same space of carefree yet explosive creativity from which Syd drew his songs.
As for the songs themselves... well, I don't have much to add to the other 5-star reviews above. Every single track is a masterpiece, including the off-the-cuff ones, false starts and all (I can totally see why someone would hate If It's In You, but man... pure, delightful Syd right there). If I had to select favorites, I'd say Octopus, Long Gone, and Golden Hair (with regard to this last, who but Syd would not only be familiar with Joyce's Chamber Music but also eager to set one of the poems contained therein to beautiful music, and then deliver such a haunting vocal performance to boot?).
This album is always capable of cheering me up, and making me thoughtful too - it's so easy, and so great, to get lost in that amazing mind of Syd's. It's a shame he couldn't have kept on making & releasing music after his second solo album, but I am so extremely grateful for what we are left with that ultimately I don't mind, really.
And maybe I should start a thread like the "Great Gig In The Sky Pitch Change" but regards "If It's In You"...
What's with the trumpet playing in the background after the first version breaks down?
It never used to bother me, but it does now!
There's some great stuff on this. Side 2 lets the Syd down a bit, but Late Night... I can play that!
I'd still prefer Opel on it but there you go. We weren't there so we have to make do with what we get.
[quote="J Ed"]I been thinking lately it was a missed opportunity that Soft Machine didnt collaborate more with Syd
I think Robert Hugh and Mike would have gotten Have You Got It Yet, instead of dismissing it as a deliberate game of obstruction as his own band claimed
I agree with that. The tracks on this record with Soft Machine are the best. It's a shame they did'nt collaborate on the whole album, instead of just 3 tracks. I even prefer Opel version of Octopus to the one on Madcap.
There are some odd moments even for huge fans of Syd like myself but it is easily as cool as "Barrett" and "Piper" if you open yourself up to the rough edges. The man wrote great songs and performed them in his own offbeat way. I wouldn't have it any other way.
It has a very rugged, "homely" feel. I love listening to it late night (pun intended ) or early evening. Syd's songs maybe not be as sparking as on Piper, but he sings with more emotion and tenderness. Terrapin calms me instantly each time I listen to it, it's got such a beautiful, melody and lyrics. Dark Globe is very Syd like and taught Waters how to sing. Roger Waters' singing on Sheep is a remake of the last "Won't you miss me at aaaalllll?" line which Syd sings.
In short, this album is the one that I've liked each time I play it out.
This is a nice album. Sad and all, but it has some great stuff going on. I also enjoy Golden Hair a lot, a song that I did a cover of back in the days.
