Syd BarrettBarrettStudio albumRecorded: February - July 1970
Released: 14 November 1970
All tracks authored by Syd Barrett.
Side A1. Baby Lemonade (4:10)
2. Love Song (3:03)
3. Dominoes (4:08)
4. It Is Obvious (2:59)
5. Rats (3:00)
6. Maisie (2:51)
Side B1. Gigolo Aunt (5:46)
2. Waving My Arms In the Air (2:09)
3. I Never Lied To You (1:50)
4. Wined and Dined (2:58)
5. Wolfpack (3:41)
6. Effervescing Elephant (1:52)
ReviewThis album very audibly suffers from Syd's deteriorating mental state. As he became more and more difficult to work with in the studio, the opportunities to simply get a song down on tape became rarer and rarer, and as a result the quality of performance on the release suffered. That's not to say it's altogether a bad album, but it's much less consistent than
Madcap, having fairly severe ups and downs. That said, the ups on this album are my all-time favourite solo Barrett songs.
With David Gilmour and Richard Wright both appearing prominently on this album, there are parts which sound like the contemporary
Atom Heart Mother-era Pink Floyd. The backing music on It Is Obvious reminds me fairly strongly of Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, for instance. Many of these tracks, especially the ones recorded later in 1970, seem to be carried along by David and Rick's rhythm work, while Syd seems to falter in and out of prominence as the lead vocalist and guitarist.
The tracks which stand out as being worthwhile Barrett songs are almost exclusively those recorded between February and May; on side A, those are Baby Lemonade, Rats and Maisie. The album's opener is a return of the silly dysfunctional pop music from
Madcap, while the latter two deviate from that formula somewhat into one-chord rock jams, with Syd doing little more than talking the lyrics, but the effect is really enjoyable. Maisie in particular is the highlight of side A for me; Syd sounds like he's completely out of touch with what the other musicians are doing, but I find that's what really makes this track.
Gigolo Aunt brings a turn for the better, being both an unusually standard pop tune for Syd in terms of melody and an unusually coherent performance for this album. Syd's guitar still seems to be in a different room from the rest of the band, and the lyrics are still unmistakeably of Syd's creation. This is, without a doubt, the highlight of side B, and possibly of the album (I'd rate it about on par with Maisie).
The remainder of side B follows the overall pattern of the earlier recordings being better, those being Waving My Arms/I Never Lied To You (which make up a mini-medley with a segue between them) and Wolfpack. Wolfpack is another foray out of Syd's usual silly pop comfort zone and into pop rock, and aside from the one-chord jams getting a bit old, it's a pretty great tune.
Finally, Effervescing Elephant is the exception to the rule that earlier tracks are better. It's the only track recorded in July that I really enjoy. Very unusually for this album, Syd was on top form for this recording, and it's also unusual in that it's much more like his early pop material than the rest of the album. It's a cutesy, almost childish tune about an elephant who warns other animals about a tiger, only for the tiger to decide he wanted a large meal and eat the elephant instead.
This album is worth listening to if you enjoy
The Madcap Laughs, but
Madcap is overall a better album, so get that one first. The main highlights of this one are Baby Lemonade, Maisie, Gigolo Aunt and Effervescing Elephant; the rest of it ranges from almost as good as those four to entirely missable. This isn't a flattering final farewell for the floundering former Floyd foreman, whose career was cut tragically short by his mental health issues shortly after its release, but it's all we have to document his later work.