Syd Barrett

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 David 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…

Au printemps 67, la pop psyché de Pink Floyd quitte l’underground londonien. Porté par les innovations débridées de Syd Barrett, le Floyd barrettien semble être la recette du succès. Pourtant, début 68, juste après l’intégration de David Gilmour, le groupe décide de laisser son leader sur le côté. Aussi vulnérable qu’ingérable, broyé par le LSD, Syd est viré de son groupe. Inscrit dans son acte de naissance, l’épisode marque la mémoire du quatuor au fer rouge. …

The sudden departure of Pink Floyd's founding member Syd Barrett in 1968 marked the closure of the first prolific chapter in the Pink Floyd story. A maverick artist and true individual, Syd Barrett helped forge the British psychedelic scene when he formed Pink Floyd with Roger Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason in 1965.

For several years, the existence of "lost" material by Syd Barrett had been speculated about by the singer's vociferous cult, fueled by numerous patchy bootlegs of intriguing outtakes. The release of Opel lived up to, and perhaps exceeded, fans' expectations. With 14 tracks spanning 1968 to 1970, including six alternate takes and eight songs that had never been officially released in any form, it is equally as essential as his two 1970 LPs. The tone is very much in keeping with his pair of solo albums; ragged, predominantly acoustic, melodic, and teetering on the edge of dementia. At the same time, it's charming and lyrically pungent, with Barrett's inimitable sense of childlike whimsy. The production is generally more minimal than on his other albums, even bare-bones at times, but if anything, this adds to the music's stark power…

After years of demand from Barrett's considerable fan base, Opel was compiled and released.