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Syd Barrett

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Syd Barrett

Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (January 6, 1946 – July 7, 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, guitarist and artist.

Best remembered as one of the founding members of the group Pink Floyd, Barrett was active as a rock musician for only about seven years before he went into seclusion. His creative legacy and quintessentially English vocal delivery have since proven remarkably influential.

Early years

Barrett was born in Cambridge, England, to a well-off middle-class family. He was the youngest of five siblings. His father, Arley James David Barrett, was a prominent pathologist, and both he and his wife, Winifred, encouraged the young Roger (as he was known then) in his music. His father died when Barrett was 14 years old. He attended the Cambridge County School for Boys, now known as Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge and enrolled in Camberwell art school in South London in 1964 before forming his first band in 1965. Barrett acquired the nickname "Syd" at the age of 15, a reference to an old local Cambridge drummer, Sid Barrett. Syd Barrett changed the spelling in order to differentiate himself from his namesake. [1] [2]

Musical career

Pink Floyd years (1965–1968)

File:Philips BBL-7512.jpg
Philips BBL-7512

Starting in 1964, the band that would become Pink Floyd underwent various line-up and name changes such as "The Abdabs", "The Screaming Abdabs", "Sigma 6" and "The Meggadeaths" (not to be confused with Megadeth). In 1965, Barrett joined them as "The Tea Set", and when they found themselves playing a concert with a band of the same name, Barrett created the name "The Pink Floyd Sound" (later "The Pink Floyd"). He derived the name "Pink Floyd" juxtaposing the first names of Pink Anderson and Floyd Council he had read about in a sleeve note by Paul Oliver for a 1962 Blind Boy Fuller LP (Philips BBL-7512): "Curley Weaver and Fred McMullen, (...) Pink Anderson or Floyd Council -- these were a few amongst the many blues singers that were to be heard in the rolling hills of the Piedmont, or meandering with the streams through the wooded valleys."

While the band began by playing cover versions of American R&B songs (much in the same vein as contemporaries The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, and The Kinks), by 1966 they had carved out their own style of improvised rock and roll, which drew as much from improvised jazz as it did from British pop-rock, such as that championed by the Beatles. In that year, a new rock concert venue, the UFO, opened in London and quickly became a haven for British psychedelic music. Pink Floyd became their most popular attraction, and, after making appearances at the rival Roundhouse, became the most popular musical group of the so-called "London Underground" psychedelic music scene.

By the end of 1966 , Pink Floyd had gained a reliable management team in Andrew King and Peter Jenner. The duo soon befriended American expatriate Joe Boyd, who was actively making a name for himself as one of the more important entrepreneurs on the British music scene. Boyd produced a recording session for the group in January 1967 at Sound Techniques in Chelsea, which resulted in a demo of the single "Arnold Layne". King and Jenner took the song to the recording behemoth EMI, who were impressed enough to offer the band a contract, under which they would be allowed to record an album. The band accepted. By the time the album was released, "Arnold Layne" had reached #20 on the British singles charts (despite a ban by the BBC) and a follow-up single, "See Emily Play" had sold even better, peaking at #6.

These first two singles, as well as a third ("Apples and Oranges"), were written by Syd Barrett. Barrett wrote most of the Floyd's early material, and was the principal visionary/author of their critically acclaimed 1967 debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Of the 11 songs on Piper, Barrett wrote eight and co-wrote another two.[3] He was also an innovative guitarist, exploring the musical and sonic possibilities of dissonance, distortion, feedback, and the echo machine; his experimentation was partly inspired by free improvisation guitarist Keith Rowe. One of Barrett's trademarks was playing his Fender Esquire guitar by sliding a Zippo lighter up and down the fret-board through an old echo box to create the mysterious, otherworldly sounds that became associated with the group.

File:PinkFloyd-album-piperatthegatesofdawn.jpg
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was recorded intermittently between January and July 1967, much of that time in the studio right next door to recording sessions for the Beatles' landmark album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. When Piper was released in August of that year, it became a smash hit in the UK, hitting #6 on the British album charts (the album was not nearly so successful in the USA). However, as the band began to attract a large fanbase, the pressures placed on Barrett contributed to his experiencing increasing psychiatric illness.

Barrett's behavior became increasingly unpredictable, partly as a consequence of frequent experimentation with psychedelic drugs such as LSD. Many report seeing him on stage with the group, strumming on one chord through the entire concert, or not playing at all. At a show at The Fillmore West in San Francisco, during a performance of "Interstellar Overdrive," Barrett slowly detuned his guitar. The audience seemed to enjoy such antics, unaware of the rest of the band's consternation. Before a performance in late 1967, Barrett apparently crushed Mandrax and an entire tube of Brylcreem into his hair, which subsequently melted down his face under the heat of the stage lighting, making him look like "a guttered candle".[4] Nick Mason later disputed the Mandrax portion of this story, stating in the Barrett biography, Madcap, "Syd would never waste good mandies". The image of Syd's melting features would later be used in the Wall film.

Following a disastrous abridged tour of the United States, David Gilmour (a school friend of Barrett's) was asked to join the band as a second guitarist in order to cover for Barrett as Barrett's erratic behavior prevented him from performing. For a handful of shows David played and sang while Barrett wandered around on stage, occasionally deigning to join in playing. The other band members soon tired of Barrett's antics, and in January 1968, on the way to a show at Southampton University, the band elected not to pick Barrett up. They attempted to retain him in the group as a songwriter, much as The Beach Boys had with Brian Wilson, but this proved untenable.

There are many stories about Barrett's bizarre and intermittently psychotic behavior - many of which are undoubtedly apocryphal, although some are known to be true. According to Roger Waters, Barrett came into what was to be their last practice session with a new song he had dubbed "Have You Got It, Yet?" The song seemed simple enough when he first presented it to his bandmates, but it soon became impossibly difficult to learn: as they were practicing it, Barrett kept changing the arrangement. He would then play it again, with the arbitrary changes, and sing "Have you got it yet?" After more than an hour of trying to "get it," they realized they never would and that they were simply bearing the brunt of Barretts rather obtuse sense of humour.

Barrett did not contribute any material to the band after A Saucerful of Secrets was released in 1968. Of the songs he recorded with Pink Floyd after Piper, only one ("Jugband Blues") made it to the band's second album; one became a less-than-successful single ("Apples and Oranges"), and two others were never officially released ("Scream Thy Last Scream" and "Vegetable Man"). Barrett supposedly spent some time outside the recording studio, waiting to be invited in (he also showed up to a few gigs and glared at Gilmour), it's possible that his contributions to the album (guitar on some of the tracks) were included as a concession to him. In March 1968 it was officially announced that he was no longer a member of Pink Floyd.

Solo years (1968–1972)

The Madcap Laughs (1970)
Barrett (1970)

After leaving Pink Floyd, Barrett distanced himself from the public eye. However, at the behest of EMI and Harvest Records, he did have a brief solo career, releasing two mercurial solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett. Much controversy has risen around the production work – which left Barrett's more vulnerable moments on tape to give the records a more "authentic" feel – but many feel the treatment does Barrett few favors and instead takes advantage of his fragile condition. Much of the material on both albums dates from Barrett's most productive period of songwriting, late 1966 – mid 1967, and it is believed that he wrote few new songs after he left Pink Floyd.

The first album, The Madcap Laughs, was recorded in two distinct sessions, both at Abbey Road Studios: a few tentative sessions took place between May and June 1968 (produced first by Peter Jenner and then by Malcolm Jones), while the bulk of the album was recorded between April and July 1969 (produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters). This album offers an insight into Barrett's state of mind at the time; tracks such as "Dark Globe," have been seen as first-person narratives of schizophrenia. A few tracks on the album feature overdubs by members of the band Soft Machine.

The second album, Barrett, was recorded more sporadically than the first, with sessions taking place between February and July 1970. This effort sounds more polished than the first, but Barrett was arguably in a worse state. The album was produced by David Gilmour and featured Gilmour on bass guitar, Rick Wright on keyboard and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley.

Despite the numerous recording dates for his two solo albums, Barrett undertook very little musical activity between 1968 and 1972 outside the studio. On 24 February 1970, he appeared on John Peel's BBC radio program Top Gear playing five songs - only one of which had been previously released. Three would be re-recorded for the Barrett album, while the song Two of a Kind was a one-off performance. (The song appears on the 2001 greatest hits album The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me?.) Barrett was accompanied on this session by David Gilmour and Jerry Shirley who played bass and percussion, respectively.

Gilmour and Shirley also backed Barrett for his one and only live concert during this period. The gig took place on 6 June 1970 at the Olympia Exhibition Hall, London, and was part of a "Music and Fashion Festival". The trio performed four songs, playing for less than half an hour, and because of poor mixing, the vocals were inaudible until part-way through the last number. At the end of the fourth song, Barrett unexpectedly but politely put down his guitar and walked off the stage.

Syd Barrett made one last appearance on BBC Radio, recording three songs at their studios on 16 February 1971. All three came from the Barrett album, and were presumably aired to encourage people to buy the record. At this stage, though, Barrett seemed to have little interest in recording music, and even less interest in performing it live. After this session, he would take a hiatus from his music career that lasted more than a year.

Later years (1972–2006)

In 1972, Barrett formed a short-lived band called Stars with ex-Pink Fairies member Twink on drums and Jack Monck on bass. Though the band was initially well received, one of their gigs at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge proved to be disastrous and Barrett decided to leave soon afterwards. (Monck describes just how disastrous it was in a TV interview in 2001 for the BBC Omnibus series documentary 'Crazy Diamond').

In 1974, Peter Jenner convinced Barrett to return to Abbey Road Studios in hope of recording another album. However, little became of the sessions, which lasted three days and consisted of blues rhythm tracks with tentative and disjointed guitar overdubs (the only titled track is the intriguing If You Go, Don't Be Slow). Once again, Barrett withdrew from the music industry. He sold the rights to his solo albums back to the record label, moved into a London hotel and when the money ran out he walked back to Cambridge to live in his mother's basement. Further attempts to bring him back (including one endeavor by The Damned who wanted him to produce their second album) were all fruitless. Until his death, Barrett still received royalties from his work with Pink Floyd from each compilation and some of the live albums and singles that had featured his songs; Gilmour has commented that he "[made] sure the money [got] to him all right."

Wish You Were Here sessions

Syd Barrett had one noted reunion with the members of Pink Floyd, in 1975 during the recording sessions for Wish You Were Here. Barrett attended the Abbey Road session unannounced and watched the band record "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" — coincidentally, a song about him. At that time, Barrett had gained a lot of weight and had shaved off all of his hair, including his eyebrows, and his ex-bandmates did not at first recognize him (one of the photographs in Nick Mason's book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd appears to have been taken that day; it is captioned simply: Syd Barrett, 5th June 1975). Eventually, they realised who he was and Roger Waters was so distressed that he was reduced to tears. A reference to this reunion appears in the film Pink Floyd The Wall (1982), where the character 'Pink,' played by Bob Geldof, shaves off his eyebrows (and body hair) after succumbing to the pressures of life and fame.

In an interview for the 2001 BBC documentary The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story, which aired in the US in January of 2002 as a VH1 special, Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett: Legends, Rick Wright spoke about the session, saying: "One thing that really stands out in my mind, that I'll never forget; I was going in to the "Shine On" sessions. I went in the studio and I saw this guy sitting at the back of the studio, he was only as far away as you are from me. And I didn't recognize him. I said, 'Who's that guy behind you?' 'That's Syd.' And I just cracked up, I couldn't believe it... he had shaven all his hair off... I mean, his eyebrows, everything... he was jumping up and down brushing his teeth, it was awful. And, uh, I was in, I mean Roger was in tears, I think I was; we were both in tears. It was very shocking... seven years of no contact and then to walk in while we're actually doing that particular track. I don't know – coincidence, karma, fate, who knows? But it was very, very, very powerful". In the same episode, Nick Mason stated: "When I think about it, I can still see his eyes, but... it was everything else that was different." In that same interview, Roger Waters has said: "I had no idea who he was for a very long time". David Gilmour stated on Legends: "None of us recognized him. Shaved...shaved bald head and very plump". (These interviews also appear in the BBC Omnibus documentary cited above. The US programme is probably a reversioning of the 2001 Omnibus).

Compilations

Opel (1988)

In 1988, EMI Records released an album of Barrett's studio outtakes and previously unreleased material recorded from 1968 to 1970 under the title Opel. In 1993 it issued another release, Crazy Diamond, a box set of all three albums, each loaded with further out-takes from his solo sessions that illustrated vividly Barrett's inability or refusal to play a song the same way twice.

EMI also released The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me? in the UK on April 16, 2001, and in the United States on September 11, 2001. This was the first time his song "Bob Dylan Blues" was ever officially released, taken from a demo tape that David Gilmour had kept after an early 1970s recording session.

A number of bootleg LPs, CDs and other recordings of Barrett's live and solo material exist. The most widely available is Have You Got It Yet?, a 19-disc collection compiled by the fans in the Laughing Madcaps Yahoo! group. Essentially all of Barrett's material not available on a commercial release, from both the Pink Floyd and solo years, is included.

Beyond the music

File:Barret 2002.jpg
Roger (Syd) Barrett in 2002

According to a 2005 profile by a recent biographer Tim Willis, Barrett, who had reverted to using his original name of Roger, continued to live in his late mother's semi-detached home in Cambridge, and had returned to his original art-form of painting, creating large abstract canvases. He was also said to have been an avid gardener. His main point of contact with the outside world was his sister, Rosemary, who lived nearby. While reclusive, it was his physical health that prompted most concern, being afflicted with stomach ulcers and type two diabetes.

Although Barrett had not appeared or spoken in public since the mid-1970s, time did little to diminish interest in his life and work; reporters and fans still traveled to Cambridge to seek him out, despite his attempts to live a quiet life, and many photos from the 1980s to his passing in 2006 of Barrett being annoyed by paparazzi when walking or biking to the store had been published in various places. A planned screen biography entitled Crazy Diamond, which was to have been produced by Ridley Scott and directed by former Pink Floyd collaborator Peter Medak from a script by Ted Shuttleworth, ran into legal and rights issues and was shelved indefinitely.

Apparently, Barrett was not happy being reminded about his past as a musician and the other members of Pink Floyd had no direct contact with him. However, he did go to his sister's house in 2002 to watch the BBC Omnibus documentary made about him – reportedly he found some of it "too noisy", though he's said to have enjoyed hearing "See Emily Play" again.[5]

Wikinews has related news:

Barrett died on July 7 , 2006 at his home in Cambridge at the age of 60 due to "complications arising from his diabetes".[6]

Musical influence

File:Syd Barrett.jpg
The Peel Session

Barrett was a remarkable guitarist for his free-form style in playing syncopated chords (and also for the use of echo, tapes and other effects): his rhythm guitar, as well as his often minimalist and dissonant solos, are seen even today as a major influence on punk, post-punk, and similar scenes.

Many artists have acknowledged Barrett's influence on their work. Paul McCartney and Pete Townshend were early fans; Jimmy Page, David Bowie, Brian Eno, and The Damned all expressed interest in working with him at some point during the 1970s. Indeed, Bowie recorded a cover of "See Emily Play" on his 1973 album Pin Ups. On a VH1 program, honoring rock bands and artists, Pete Townshend gave a speech honoring Syd Barrett, and telling a story where he told Eric Clapton that he had "to come see this guy play", who was Barrett. Townshend called Barrett legendary.

Barrett's decline had a profound effect on Roger Waters's songwriting, and the theme of mental illness would permeate Pink Floyd's later albums, particularly 1973's Dark Side of the Moon and 1979's The Wall. One track from Dark Side of the Moon, entitled "Brain Damage", contained a specific reference on this issue: "the band you're in starts playing different tunes". Wish You Were Here (1975) was a conscious tribute to Barrett. Other artists that have written tributes to Barrett include his contemporary Kevin Ayers (of the Soft Machine), who wrote "Oh Wot a Dream" in his honour. (Barrett provided guitar to an early version of Ayers' "Singing a Song in the Morning"). Barrett fan Robyn Hitchcock is repeatedly compared to Barrett, has covered many of his songs live and on record, and has paid homage to his forebear with the songs "The Man Who Invented Himself" and "(Feels Like) 1974". The Television Personalities' track "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives" from their 1978 album And Don't the Kids Love It is another tribute.

R.E.M. have covered the haunting "Dark Globe",' as have Soundgarden, Placebo and Lost and Profound. Plasticland has covered "Octopus" and recorded it for the Syd Barrett tribute LP Beyond The Wildwood. The Smashing Pumpkins have covered "Terrapin", and Pink Floyd's own David Gilmour frequently includes the song in his live shows. Gary Lucas and Voivod have covered "Astronomy Domine". The Industrial collective Rx composed of Kevin Ogilvie, aka Nivek Ogre, and Martin Atkins has recorded a version of "The Scarecrow". At the Drive-In's frontmen (now the main members of The Mars Volta) covered "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" (a Waters' song that features one of the speediest performances by Barrett), and have claimed that they tried constantly to emulate The Piper at the Gates of Dawn's sound in their music. Slowdive covered "Golden Hair", which was a Syd Barrett version of the poem by James Joyce, on their EP "Holding Our Breath". Phish has performed several Barrett solo songs in concert, including "Love You", "Terrapin", "Baby Lemonade", "It's No Good Trying", and the Piper at the Gates of Dawn track "Bike".

Other artists/bands that have claimed influence and/or covered Barrett's work include Étienne Daho, This Mortal Coil, Marc Bolan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Robert Smith (of The Cure), Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths), Kevin Shields (of My Bloody Valentine), Primal Scream, Voivod, XTC, The Libertines, Animal Collective, Ghost (band), Dirty Pretty Things, The Beta Band, Lone Pigeon, Julian Cope, Robyn Hitchcock, The Flaming Lips, R.E.M., Mercury Rev, Nicodemus #9, Replicants (featuring former members of Tool and Failure), East Bay Ray (of the Dead Kennedys), Camper Van Beethoven, The Three O'Clock, Pearl Jam, Love and Rockets, Elevator To Hell, The Melvins, Transatlantic, moe., Phish, Dream Theater, Graham Coxon (formerly of Blur), John Frusciante (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), Eppo, Skobot Bzzzz, and the Vinyl Skyway; most bands in the Elephant 6 collective, such as Of Montreal, have a very distinct Barrett influence in their music.

Mental illness

There has been much speculation concerning the psychological well-being of Syd Barrett. Many believe he suffered from schizophrenia, although he didn't exactly fit the typical profile for that condition. Additionally, some have suggested that Barrett had traits associated with Asperger Syndrome (mild autism).

Barrett's use of psychedelic drugs, especially LSD, during the 1960s is well-documented. Some believe that Barrett's drug use helped trigger (or at the very least contributed to) his mental illness. In an article published in 2006, Gilmour was quoted as saying: "In my opinion, his breakdown would have happened anyway. It was a deep-rooted thing. But I'll say the psychedelic experience might well have acted as a catalyst. Still, I just don't think he could deal with the vision of success and all the things that went with it." [7]

David Gilmour proposed, in an interview with the National Post's John Geiger, that the stroboscopic lights used in their shows combined with the drugs could have had a seriously detrimental effect on Barrett's mental health if he was a photo-epileptic who suffered partial seizures. When partial seizures occur in the temporal lobes patients are often misdiagnosed with schizophrenia or psychosis.[8]

After Syd died, his sister Rosemary, spoke to biographer Tim Willis for The Sunday Times. She insisted that Syd neither suffered from mental illness nor received treatment for it at any time since they resumed regular contact in the 1980s. At first, she said, he spent some time in a private “home for lost souls” — Greenwoods in Essex — but she says there was no formal therapy programme there. Later he agreed to sessions with a psychiatrist at Fulbourn psychiatric hospital, Cambridge, but neither medication nor therapy was considered appropriate. Nor, said his sister, was he a recluse. Syd took up photography, and sometimes he and his sister — a nurse — went to the seaside together. “Quite often he took the train on his own to London to look at the major art collections — and he loved flowers. He made regular trips to the Botanic Gardens and to the dahlias at Anglesey Abbey, near Lode. But of course, his passion was his painting,” she said.

Trivia

  • Syd Barrett is the subject of the Television Personalities' song "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives". The Television Personalities became the subject of controversy and derision when, as they had been selected as the opening act on David Gilmour's About Face tour in the early 1980s, the lead singer decided to read aloud Barrett's home address to the audience of thousands. Gilmour removed them from the tour immediately afterwards.

Discography

Singles with Pink Floyd

Albums with Pink Floyd

Compilations with Pink Floyd (featuring his work)

Solo albums

Solo compilations

Solo live recordings

  • Peel Sessions (1 July, 1991): Recorded live on John Peel's BBC radio show with David Gilmour and Jerry Shirley backing. Contains the otherwise unseen "Two of a Kind".
  • The Radio One Sessions (March, 2004): The album contains five songs of Peel Sessions and live versions of three songs

Solo singles

Music samples

References

  • Julian Palacios, Lost In The Woods: Syd Barrett and the Pink Floyd (Boxtree, 1997) ISBN 0752223283
  • Nicholas Schaffner, Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey (Delta, 1991) ISBN 0385306849
  • Mike Watkinson and Pete Anderson, Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett and the Dawn of "Pink Floyd" ISBN 0711988358 (includes some of Barrett's paintings).
  • Tim Willis, Madcap: The half-life of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd's lost genius (Short Books, 2002) ISBN 1904095240
  • My lovably ordinary brother Syd, by Tim Willis, The Sunday Times, July 16, 2006. [1]

Notes

  1. ^ Bloomberg.com Pink Floyd Founder `Syd' Barrett Dies of Diabetes (Update2) Accessed July 2006
  2. ^ The Australian Obituary - Accessed July 2006
  3. ^ EMI Records Ltd., "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" insert
  4. ^ Schaffner, p. xv
  5. ^ The Observer, 6 October 2002
  6. ^ braindamage.co.uk, 11 July 2006
  7. ^ The Independent January 7 2006
  8. ^ The National Post, p. A11, 12 July 2006
  9. ^ Coming Soon.net, 29 June 2005, retrieved 13 July 2006
Wikiquote has quotations related to Syd Barrett.


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