RIP, You Crazy Diamond
07.11.06 (2:06 pm) [edit]One of my heroes, Syd Barrett, has died.
I'm a HUGE Pink Floyd fan, and I'm madly in love with the first two albums, and with Syd's solo work.
To me, Syd doesn't represent psychedelics, or rock mental-breakdown acid burnout, or any of that other shit that they usually write about him. To me, Syd's music was about retaining the sense of wonder and beauty from our childhood, even when faced with the reality of a corrupt adult world.
It made me very happy when David Gilmour started his recent solo tour to find that he was covering one of Syd's solo songs (Dominos) live. The band has never forgotten Syd, and neither should we who owe such a vital part of our lives to the music he made and the band he began.
I'm going to fucking miss him, and he hasn't made music in over three decades.
Shine on, Syd. You'll always be loved.
Sad,
Dougie
posted by: danielmacdonald (reply)
post date: 07.11.06 (9:28 am)
He was a very talented person. He pick up a instrument and learn it in a helf hour. I am also a big Pink Floyd. But who knows with all the drugs he had taken.
Dan
posted by: danielmacdonald (reply)
post date: 07.11.06 (9:35 am)
He was a very talented person. He pick up a instrument and learn it in a helf hour. I am also a big Pink Floyd. But who knows with all the drugs he had taken.
Dan
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 07.11.06 (11:11 am)
reply to danielmacdonald:
No doubt the drugs didn't help, but there are plenty of people from the same era who took as much and likley more than he did. Syd was just in a different place, with a different set of problems. The acid intake is a very limited way of percieving his music, though that of course will be how everyone remembers him anyway.
posted by: da9ve (reply)
post date: 07.11.06 (1:42 pm)
Sad here, too. Dammit, I'll miss just knowing Syd was out there somewhere puttering in his garden. Gonna go play that first album now.
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 07.11.06 (1:58 pm)
reply to da9ve:
Been listening to The Madcap Laughs all day. I came back here and wrote and recorded a song for him in about 20 minutes. I really do feel like I've lost a friend.
posted by: Spooooooooooooock! (reply)
post date: 07.11.06 (2:05 pm)
I guess I just never felt the love for the man. His music never appealed to me. But without him there'd be no Pink Floyd, and for that I give him my thanks and respect. RIP, Syd.
posted by: Spooooooooooooock! (reply)
post date: 07.11.06 (2:05 pm)
"I guess I just never felt the love for the man." should read, "I guess I just never felt the love for the man's work." Hurrrr...
posted by: jhillst (reply)
post date: 07.11.06 (3:43 pm)
I'm with Spock. For some reason Piper has never been a favorite album of mine, and it never inspired me to check out any of Syd's solo stuff. I really WANT to get into it the way a lot of his fans do, because I can really sense what a unique character Syd was...but it just doesn't do it for me. I'll keep trying.
But the tragedy he went through in his life was almost inevitable. Yes, partially because of the drugs, but moreso because of the kind of person he was -- his childlike persona made it virtually impossible for him to function in society after the age of 24 or so. I remember seeing on his offical website, the picture that was taken of him in 1975 after the incident where he showed up unannoucned at the studio during the Wish You Were Here sessions. God, that's sad. If I had been there, I'm sure I would have been crying right along with Roger and the others.
posted by: Chris Ingalls (reply)
post date: 07.12.06 (4:07 am)
Really nice post, Doug. I quoted a section of it in my livejournal yesterday (username: trocadero - apparently I can't post links in your comments).
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 07.12.06 (5:00 am)
reply to Spooooooooooooock!:
His stuff isn't for everyone. I can't imagine too many people listening to that stuff on a regular basis like I do. But hey, acknowledging his importance is what's important now.
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 07.12.06 (5:13 am)
reply to jhillst:
For not being into his stuff, you certainly seem to understand it better than most do.
Syd's an acquired taste. If someone likes their music (or their Pink Floyd, for that matter) all nice and clean and with everything in its place and no rough edges, Piper isn't going to be on their favorites list, and Syd's solo stuff will likely make them run away screaming. The solo work is pretty fucking raw. I compare it to things like Beck's early work, or Neil Young when he gives even less of a shit about his image than he normally does. Or the kind of old blues stuff that Syd named the band after. It's sloppy, often out of tune, his voice is fucked up half the time, he makes outright mistakes that are left in, and it's such the complete opposite of what Pink Floyd eventually became without him (and I love that shit too) that I can imagine very few people enjoying it. It's easy to imagine that, because so few people DO talk about it.
The two solo albums he put out when he was still active (The Madcap Laughs and Barrett) are among my favorite albums. But I pulled out Opel (the outtakes collection) today for the first time in quite a while and remembered why - some of it just isn't very good. But some of it is.
Personally, I love the big sweeping masterworks of Floyd from Dark Side on, but I get more EXCITED listening to what they did in the years between Syd leaving and recording Dark Side. Put those albums on in chronological order and spend an afternoon learning about what it means to evolve in the space of a very few years. Listening to them grow and find themselves and not be afraid to fuck up is a fucking adventure. Listening to David Gilmour find his voice as a guitarist is a goddamn JOY. (I could write a goddamn book about that subject alone.) My favorite "official" Floyd is Wish You Were Here, seemingly the opposite of Syd's rawness at the same time it's their tribute to him. But the Floyd I listen to more often is the "unofficial" 1970-1971 recordings, because that's where they took the promise of the Syd era and ran with it. Christ, I goddamn fuckin' love Pink Fuckin' Floyd.
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 07.12.06 (5:14 am)
reply to Chris Ingalls:
Thanks, man. Nice to hear from you again. And yeah, there seems to be some weird thing about putting links on here, I've noticed it before.
posted by: jhillst (reply)
post date: 07.12.06 (5:43 am)
I like plenty of music that doesn't have "everything in its right place" (thank you Radiohead), but Piper still isn't a fave. Of course, I'm comparing it to all the other Floyd albums, so maybe I just need to look at it more as a piece of work in itself and detach it from the rest of their catalog. I *do* enjoy it, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't give me the big thrill that other fans seem to get from it.
I really enjoy the 1968-71 period of Floyd too. In fact, some of my favorite stuff from there is the Rick Wright compositions...of all the Floyd members, I think he carried on the "childlike" nature of Syd the best (even though he put about five times more chords in his songs than Syd did.) Remember a Day, Paintbox and Summer '68 are great songs...and PLEASE tell me I'm not the only Floyd fan who likes See Saw...
posted by: verucassalty (reply)
post date: 07.12.06 (5:57 am)
it is a sad day. i plan on catching teh Roger waters show here laster this summer. i hope that he pays appropriate tribute to the man.
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 07.13.06 (4:57 am)
Reply to: verucassalty
I saw Waters in '99 and 2000, and was shocked at how great those shows were. I saw the last Floyd tour in '94, and it was a hell of an experience, but Waters put out a much more intimate and warm vibe, and genuinely seemed very happy, even grateful, to be there. The show I saw in Columbus, Ohio was one of the more beautiful concert experiences of my life, and I cried at the end of Shine On. I wish I could see him again.
posted by: eraserhead667 (reply)
post date: 07.13.06 (5:03 am)
Reply to: jhillst
Yeah, detaching Piper from the rest of the catalog is important, because it has almost nothing to do with the other albums, but it isn't easy to do if you're going backwards in time.
I like Wright's songs quite well. They have this sorta cluttered, boxy, clunky thing that is actually part of the appeal to me. I like See Saw. Don't love it, but I like it. Summer '68 is probably my favorite of the ones you mentioned. In fact, I'm totally in love with the whole Atom Heart Mother albums. It borders on the ridiculous at times, but that's why I love it, and those three individually written tunes (If, Fat Old Sun, and Summer '68) are damn near perfect in context.
I assumeyou have Wright's solo stuff. I like Wet Dream a lot. Very realxed, laid-back, no attempts at being anything more than a pleasant little ride. I even sat down and learned one of those tunes, but I can't remember the title right now. I've written out a few of his parts (like when I sat down with a '71 boot and figured out all the keyboard parts to the 4-piece live version of AHM) and I need to find that shit. Another box in storage to go through.