Syd Barrett-The Madcap Laughs [1970]

Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs



Release Date: Jan 3, 1970



Recording Date: May 28, 1968-Aug 5, 1969



Label: Capitol Records



Run Time: 37:48

Wisely, The Madcap Laughs doesn't even try to sound like a consistent record. Half the album was recorded by Barrett's former bandmates Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour, and the other half by Harvest Records head Malcolm Jones. Surprisingly, Jones' tracks are song for song much stronger than the more-lauded Floyd entries.



The opening "Terrapin" seems to go on three times as long as its five-minute length, creating a hypnotic effect through Barrett's simple, repetitive guitar figure and stream of consciousness lyrics. The much bouncier "Love You" sounds like a sunny little Carnaby Street pop song along the lines of an early Move single, complete with music hall piano, until the listener tries to parse the lyrics and realizes that they make no sense at all.



The downright Kinky "Here I Go" is in the same style, although it's both more lyrically direct and musically freaky, speeding up and slowing down seemingly at random. Like many of the "band" tracks, "Here I Go" is a Barrett solo performance with overdubs by Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, and Robert Wyatt of the Soft Machine; the combination doesn't always particularly work, as the Softs' jazzy, improvisational style is hemmed in by having to follow Barrett's predetermined lead, so on several tracks, like "No Good Trying," they content themselves with simply making weird noises in the background.



The solo tracks are what made the album's reputation, though, particularly the horrifying "Dark Globe," a first-person portrait of schizophrenia that's seemingly the most self-aware song this normally whimsical songwriter ever created. Honestly, however, the other solo tracks are the album's weakest tracks, with the exception of the plain gorgeous "Golden Hair," a musical setting of a James Joyce poem that's simply spellbinding. The album falls apart with the appalling "Feel."



Frankly, the inclusion of false starts and studio chatter, not to mention some simply horrible off-key singing by Barrett, makes this already marginal track feel disgustingly exploitative. But for that misstep, however, The Madcap Laughs is a surprisingly effective record that holds up better than its "ooh, lookit the scary crazy person" reputation suggests. - Review by Stewart Mason @allmusic.com



All in all, a fair review, I think. Nonetheless, an LP that's very much worth having. 'Dark Globe' alone is worth the price of admission.

1. "Terrapin" – 5:04



Take 1, recorded 11 April 1969, overdubs added 4 May

Produced by Malcolm Jones



2. "No Good Trying" – 3:26



Take 3, recorded 11 April 1969, overdubs added 3/4 May

Produced by Malcolm Jones



3. "Love You" – 2:30



Take 4, recorded 11 April 1969, overdubs added 3 May

Produced by Malcolm Jones



4. "No Man's Land" – 3:03



Take 5, recorded 17 April 1969, overdubs added 4 May

Produced by Malcolm Jones



5. "Dark Globe" – 2:02



Take 1, recorded 5 August 1969

Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters



6. "Here I Go" – 3:11



Take 5, recorded 17 April 1969

Produced by Malcolm Jones



7. "Octopus" – 3:47



Take 11, recorded 12 June 1969, overdubs added 13 June

Produced by Syd Barrett and David Gilmour



8. "Golden Hair" – 1:59 (Barrett, Joyce)



Take 11, recorded 12 June 1969

Produced by Syd Barrett and David Gilmour



9. "Long Gone" – 2:50



Take 1, recorded 26 July 1969

Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters



10. "She Took a Long Cold Look" – 1:55



Take 5, recorded 26 July 1969

Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters



11. "Feel" – 2:17



Take 1, recorded 26 July 1969

Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters



12. "If It's in You" – 2:26



Take 5, recorded 26 April 1969

Produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters



13. "Late Night" – 3:10



Take 2, recorded 28 May 1968, overdubs added 11 April 1969

Produced by Pete Jenner, Malcolm Jones (overdubs)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Madcap_Laughs