Syd Barrett

Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett in 1969
Background information
Birth name	Roger Keith Barrett
Born	(1946-01-06)6 January 1946 Cambridge, England
Died	7 July 2006(2006-07-07) (aged 60) Cambridge, England
Genres	Psychedelic rock, space rock, psychedelic folk, blues rock, experimental rock, avant-garde, psychedelic pop
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter, artist
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, mandolin, piano, ukulele, banjo
Years active	1964–1975
Labels	Harvest, EMI

Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006), was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter, best remembered as a founder member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic direction in their early work, including their name. He left the group in April 1968 amid speculations of mental illness exacerbated by drug use, and was briefly hospitalised.

He was active in music for only about seven years, recording four singles, the debut album (and contributed to the second one), plus several unreleased songs with Pink Floyd. In 1969, Barrett released a solo single, "Octopus", which foreshadowed his first (of two) solo album, The Madcap Laughs (1970). The Madcap Laughs was recorded over the course of one year (1968–1969) with 4 different producers (Peter Jenner, Malcolm Jones, David Gilmour and Roger Waters). Nearly two months after Madcaps was released, Barrett begun working on his second album, Barrett (produced by Gilmour and Richard Wright), which would be released in late 1970, before going into self-imposed seclusion lasting more than thirty years. In 1988, an album of unreleased tracks/alternate takes, Opel, was released by EMI with Barrett's approval.

Barrett's innovative guitar work and exploration of experimental techniques such as using dissonance, distortion, and feedback had an enormous legacy, with a wide variety of musicians from David Bowie to Brian Eno to Jimmy Page and more drawing influence. In his post-musician life, Barrett continued with his painting and dedicated himself to gardening, never to return to the public eye. He died in 2006. A number of biographies have been written about him since the 1980s, and Pink Floyd wrote and recorded several tributes to him after he left, most notably the 1975 album Wish You Were Here.

Biography

Early years

Barrett was born as Roger Keith Barrett in the English city of Cambridge to a middle-class family at 60 Glisson Road. Barrett was the third of five children. His father, Arthur Max Barrett, was a prominent pathologist and it was known he was related to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. Max Barrett was member of the Cambridge Philharmonic Society and both he and his wife, Winifred, encouraged the young Roger (as he was known then) in his music. After playing piano occasionally, preferring writing and drawing, Roger got a ukulele at 10 or less, then a banjo at 11, then an Hofner acoustic guitar when he was 14. A year after he got his first acoustic guitar, he bought his first electric guitar and built his own Amplifier. In 1951, when Barrett was four years old, his family moved to 183 Hills Road. After his brothers and sisters left home, his mother rented out rooms to lodgers, including a future Prime Minister of Japan. One common tale of how Barrett acquired the nickname "Syd" at the age of 14, is of a reference to an old local Cambridge jazz double bassist, Sid 'the beat' Barrett, which claims Syd Barrett changed the spelling in order to differentiate himself from his namesake. However, when he was 13, his schoolmates nicknamed him "Syd" after he showed up to a field day at Abington Scout site wearing a flat cap instead of his Scout beret; making reference to "Syd" being a "working-class" name. He used both names interchangeably for several years and his sister Rosemary stated, "He was never Syd at home. He would never have allowed it". He attended Cambridgeshire High School for Boys (with Roger Waters) and Cambridge College of Arts and Technology.

His father died of cancer on 11 December 1961, less than a month before Barrett's 16th birthday. Also on this day, Barrett had left the entry in his diary, for this date, blank. Eager to help her son recover from his grief, Barrett's mother encouraged the band he played in, Geoff Mott and the Mottoes, a band which Barrett formed, to perform in their front room. Roger Waters and Barrett were childhood friends, and Waters often visited such gigs. At one point, Waters even organised one gig: CND Benefit at Friends Meeting House on 11 March 1962, however, shortly after this gig The Mottoes broke up, as Jeff Mott joined The Boston Crabs. In September 1962, Barrett had taken a place at the Cambridge Technical College art department. It was here, that Barrett met David Gilmour. To Barrett, Gilmour was known as "Fred". During the winter of 1962 and early 1963, The Beatles had made an impact on Barrett, he once said to fellow school friend (and later, Pink Floyd's album designer), Storm Thorgerson: "Storm, man, this is it". For a while Barrett began to play Beatles songs at parties and at picnics.

In 1963, Barrett became a Rolling Stones fan, Barrett and Libby Gausden saw The Rolling Stones perform at a village hall, in Cambridgeshire. After the performance, Barrett had a chat with Mick Jagger at the bar. Later that year, Barrett and Gilmour saw Bob Dylan perform. It was at this point, Barrett started writing songs, one friend recalls hearing "Effervescing Elephant" (later to be recorded on his solo album, Barrett). Barrett and Gilmour occasionally played acoustic gigs together. Barrett had played on bass with Those Without during the summer of 1963, and, on guitar, with The Hollerin' Blues the next summer. Barrett, now thinking about his future, decided to apply for Camberwell of Arts College in London. The day of which the interview was on, was the same day The Beatles were to perform in Cambridge. However, against his own dismay he went to the interview, and he was accepted. Barrett enrolled in the college in London in summer 1964 to study painting.

Pink Floyd years (1965–68)

Starting in 1964, the band that would become Pink Floyd underwent various line-up and name changes such as "The Abdabs", "The Screaming Abdabs", "The Sigma 6", and "The Meggadeaths". In 1965, Barrett joined them as The Tea Set (sometimes spelt as T-Set), and when they found themselves playing a concert with a band of the same name, Barrett came up with the name "The Pink Floyd Sound" (also known as "The Pink Floyd Blues Band", later "The Pink Floyd"). He devised the name "Pink Floyd" by juxtaposing the first names of Pink Anderson and Floyd Council whom 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 who were to be heard in the rolling hills of the Piedmont, or meandering with the streams through the wooded valleys". Barrett used "Pink and Floyd" as the name of his two pet cats. Barrett also told the story that the name was transmitted to him by a flying saucer while he was sitting on Glastonbury Tor.

During 1965, they went into a studio for the first time, after a friend of Richard Wright's was giving the band free time. They recorded a cover of Slim Harpo's "I'm a King Bee", and 3 Barrett originals: "Double O Bo", "Butterfly" and "Lucy Leave". "Double O Bo" and "Lucy Leave", were pressed as vinyl acetates. At this time, Barrett had moved to Earlham Street, in Covent Garden. With the new residency, Barrett met (among others) Peter Wynne Wilson and Susie Gawler-Wright, "The Psychedelic Debutante", which would provide lighting for Pink Floyd shows later on. In the summer of 1965, Barrett had begun a affair with Lindsay Corner. It was during this summer, Barrett had his first acid trip in the garden of friend, Dave Gale, with Ian Moore and Thorgerson. While on the influence of the acid, Barrett had placed an orange, plum and a matchbox into a corner, while staring at the fruit, which he claimed symbolized "Venus and Jupiter". Thorgerson later used this imagery, by adding the previously mentioned items to the cover of the double album combination of Barrett's solo albums: Syd Barrett.

In August 1965, Barrett (without the band) together with other people, went to St. Tropez, in France, travelling via Land Rover, meeting up with Gilmour at the end of the journey. There, Barrett and Gilmour were arrested for busking on the streets (they played Beatles songs). Later, they trekked to Paris, camping outside the city for the course of a week and visiting one of the landmarks, the Louvre. After arriving back in London, the entire band were taking acid frequently. In one period of experimentation with acid, Barrett and another friend end up naked in the bath, reciting: "No rules, no rules". Later on in the summer, as a consequence of the continuation of drug use, the band became absorbed in Sant Mat, a Sikh sect. Thorgerson (now living on Earlham Street) and Barrett went to a London hotel to meet the sect's guru; Thorgerson managed to join the sect, while Barrett, however, was too young to join. Thorgerson perceives this as a deeply important event in Barrett's life, as he was intensely upset by the rejection. While living within close proximity of his friends, Barrett decided to write more songs ("Bike" was written around this time).

London Underground

While Pink Floyd began by playing cover versions of American R&B songs (in much 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. After Bob Klose departed from the band, for the rest of the members, the band's direction changed, with more improvising on the guitars and keyboards. Mason said on the change: "It always felt to me that most of the ideas were emanating from Syd at the time". In October 1965, after a jam with Gilmour at the 21st birthday party of Thorgerson's girlfriend, Libby January, the band got drunk. They were so drunk that Barrett tried to whip off a tablecloth, with all items on the table, managing to crash the items on to the floor. Barrett, frequently at his Earlham Road residence, played The Mothers of Invention's Freak Out!, The Byrds' Fifth Dimension and The Fugs' and Love's debut albums, repeatedly. All these albums were connected by their proto-psychedelic field, which had begun to guide Barrett's songs, as much as R&B had, previously. "Interstellar Overdrive" (included into the band's setlist from autumn), for example, was inspired by the riff from Love's "My Little Red Book", the free-form section (and also, "Pow R. Toc H.") was inspired by Frank Zappa's free-form freak-outs and The Byrds' "Eight Miles High". The Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon" was an important influence on Barrett's songwriting.

At this time, Barrett's reading reputedly contained (among others: Grimm's Fairy Tales, Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan (hippie bible), and The I-Ching. During this period, Barrett wrote most of the songs for, not only, Pink Floyd's first album, but also most of the songs that would later be on his solo albums. In 1966, a new rock concert venue, the UFO (pronounced as "you-foe"), opened in London and quickly became a haven for British psychedelic music. Pink Floyd, the house band, was its 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.

Blackhill Enterprises and gigs

See also: Blackhill Enterprises

By the end of 1966, Pink Floyd had gained a reliable management team in Andrew King and Peter Jenner. Towards the end of October 1966, Pink Floyd, with King and Jenner, set up Blackhill Enterprises, to manage the group's finances. Blackhill was staffed by lodgers Jenner found in his Edbrooke Road house, among others, Barrett's flatmate, Peter Wynne Wilson (who became road manager, however, since he had more experience in lighting, he was also lighting assistant). King and Jenner wanted to prepare some demo recordings for a possible record deal, so in November 1966, they booked session at Thompson Private Recording Studio, in Hemel Hempstead. The demo recordings consist of "I Get Stoned" (aka "Stoned Alone"), "Let's Roll Another One", "Lucy Lee in Blue Tights" and a 15 minute version of "Interstellar Overdrive". King said of the demos: "That was the first time I realised they were going to write all their own material, Syd just turned into a songwriter, it seemed like overnight".

King and Jenner befriended American expatriate Joe Boyd, the promoter of the UFO Club, who was making a name for himself as one of the more important entrepreneurs on the British music scene. The newly-hired booking agent, Bryan Morrison, and Boyd had proposed spending in better quality recordings. From Morrison's agency, later November, the band played a gig outside London for the first time. On 18 November, the band performed the first (of many) strangely named concerts: Philadelic Music for Simian Hominids, a multimedia event arranged by the group's former landlord, Mike Leonard, at Hornsey College of Art. The next night, they performed at the Canterbury Technical College, with a 15-foot tinfoil Buddha towering behind them. This attracted much press attention. They continued to perform the Free School for the following two weeks, before performing on 3 December at the Psychodelphia Versus Ian Smith event at the Roundhouse, arranged by the Majority Rule for Rhodesia Campaign, and an Oxfam benefit at the Albert Hall (the band's biggest venue up to this point).

Releases

Tonite Let's All Make Love in London

At the beginning of 1967, Barrett was dating Jenny Spires (who would later marry future Stars member, Jack Monck), however, unknown to Barrett, Spires had an affair with Peter Whitehead. Spires convinced Whitehead (who thought the band sounds like "bad Schoenberg") to utilize Pink Floyd in a film about the swinging London scene. So at the cost of £80, in February, Whitehead took the band into John Wood's Sound Techniques in Chelsea, with Boyd in tow. Here, the band recorded a 16 minute version of "Interstellar Overdrive" and another composition, "Nick's Boogie". Whitehead had filmed this recording, which was used in the film, Tonite Let's All Make Love in London and later on the video release of London '66–'67. Whitehead later commented about the band that: "They were just completely welded together, just like a jazz group".

Record deal

Boyd attempted to sign the band up with Polydor Records. However, Morrison had convinced King and Jenner to try to start a bidding war between Polydor and EMI. In February, Boyd produced a recording session for the group, with them returning to Sound Techniques in Chelsea again, which resulted in a recording of the single "Arnold Layne", and the recording of other songs: "Matilda Mother", "Chapter 24", "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Let's Roll Another One" (which was renamed to "Candy and a Currant Bun", at the suggestion of Waters). Referring to the choice of "Arnold Layne", Nick Mason said: "We knew we wanted to be rock'n'roll stars and we wanted to make singles, so it seemed the most suitable song to condense into 3 minutes without losing too much". After the aforementioned bidding war idea was finished, Pink Floyd signed up with EMI, the deal (unusually at the time) included recording an album, which meant the band had unlimited studio time at EMI Studios, in return for a smaller royalty percentage. The band then attempted to re-record "Arnold Layne", however, the Boyd version from February was released instead.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

The band's first studio album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, was recorded intermittently between February and July 1967 in Studio 3 at Abbey Road Studios, and produced by former Beatles engineer Norman Smith. At the same time, The Beatles were recording the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in Studio 2.

By the time the album, was released on 4 August, "Arnold Layne" (which was released months eariler, on 11 March) had reached number 20 on the British singles charts (despite not even being played by Radio London) and the follow-up single, "See Emily Play", had done even better, peaking at number 6. The album became a smash hit in the UK, hitting number 6 on the British album charts.

Their first three singles, including their third ("Apples and Oranges"), were written by Barrett, who also was the principal visionary/author of their critically acclaimed 1967 debut album. Of the eleven songs on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Barrett wrote eight and co-wrote another two.

Barrett's departure from Pink Floyd

Through late 1967 and early 1968, Barrett's behaviour became increasingly erratic and unpredictable, partly as a consequence of his reported heavy use of psychedelic drugs, most prominently LSD. Many report having seen 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 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. Interviewed on Pat Boone's show during this tour, Syd's reply to Boone's questions was a "blank and totally mute stare"; according to Nick Mason, "Syd wasn't into moving his lips that day". Barrett exhibited similar behaviour during the band's first appearance on Dick Clark's popular TV show American Bandstand. When asked two questions by Clark, Barrett's answers were terse, almost to the point of rudeness (though, as Clark admitted, they had been flying non-stop from London to Los Angeles). Before a performance in late 1967, Barrett reportedly crushed Mandrax tranquilliser tablets 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". Nick Mason later disputed the Mandrax portion of this story, stating that "Syd would never waste good mandies".

During their UK tour with Jimi Hendrix in November 1967, guitarist David O'List from The Nice was called in to substitute for Barrett on several occasions when he was unable to perform or failed to appear. And sometime around Christmas, David Gilmour (Barrett's old school friend) was asked to join the band as a second guitarist to cover for Barrett, whose erratic behaviour prevented him from performing. For a handful of shows Gilmour played and sang while Barrett wandered around on stage, occasionally deciding to join in playing. The other band members soon grew tired of Barrett's antics and, on 26 January 1968, when Waters was driving on the way to a show at Southampton University, with the band in Waters' Bentley-Rolls, the band elected not to pick Barrett up: one person in the car said, "Shall we pick Syd up?" and another said, "Let's not bother." As Barrett had, up until then, written the overwhelming bulk of the band's material the initial plan was to keep him in the group as a non-touring member — as The Beach Boys had done with Brian Wilson — but this soon proved to be impractical.

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 and they eventually realised that while they were practising it, Barrett kept changing the arrangement. He would then play it again, with the arbitrary changes, and sing "Have you got it yet?". Eventually they realised they never would and that they were simply bearing the brunt of Barrett's idiosyncratic sense of humour. Waters had called it "a real act of mad genius".

Barrett did not contribute material to the band after A Saucerful of Secrets was released in 1968. Of the songs he wrote for Pink Floyd after The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, only one ("Jugband Blues") made it to the band's second album; one ("Apples and Oranges") became a less-than-successful single, and two others ("Scream Thy Last Scream" and "Vegetable Man") were never officially released. Barrett supposedly spent time outside the recording studio, in the reception area, waiting to be invited in. He also showed up to a few gigs and glared at Gilmour. Barrett played slide guitar on "Remember a Day" (which had been first attempted during Piper sessions), and also played on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun". On 6 April 1968, the group officially announced Barrett was no longer a member of Pink Floyd, the same day, the band's contract with Blackhill Enterprises was terminated.

Solo years (1968–72)

After leaving Pink Floyd, Barrett distanced himself from the public eye. At the behest of EMI and Harvest Records, he embarked on a brief solo career, releasing two solo albums, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett (both 1972), and a single, "Octopus". For some songs: "Terrapin", "Maisie" and "Bob Dylan Blues"; had Barrett recalling his early interest in blues.

The Madcap Laughs

Main article: The Madcap Laughs

After Barrett left Pink Floyd in April 1968, Peter Jenner from the band's management, followed suit. Jenner lead Barrett into EMI Studios to record some tracks in May, that would later be released on Barrett's first solo album—The Madcap Laughs. By the sessions of June and July, most of the tracks were in better shape, however, shortly after the July sessions, Barrett was in a mess of a state, apparently, breaking up with girlfriend Lindsay Corner and then going off on a drive around Britain in his mini, ending up in psychiatric care in Cambridge. During New Year 1969, a somewhat recovered Barrett, had taken up the tenancy in flat on Egerton Road, Earls Court, London, with artist Duggie Fields. Here, Barrett's flat was so close to that of Gilmour's, that Gilmour could actually see right into Barrett's kitchen. Decided upon to return to a musical career, Barrett contacted EMI, and was passed on to Malcolm Jones, the then-head of EMI's new prog rock label, Harvest.

The Jones-produced sessions start in April 1969 at EMI Studios. After the first of these sessions, Barrett brought in friends of his to the next: Humble Pie drummer, Jerry Shirley and Jokers Wild (Gilmour's old band) drummer, Willie Wilson, for the sessions, Gilmour himself played bass. Talking to Barrett wasn't easy, said Jones: "It was a case of following him, not playing with him. They were seeing and then playing so they were always a note behind". A few tracks on the album feature overdubs by members of the band Soft Machine. During this time, Barrett also played guitar on the sessions for Soft Machine founder Kevin Ayers' debut LP Joy of a Toy, although his performance on "Religious Experience" (later titled "Singing a Song in the Morning") was not released until the album was reissued in 2003. One time, Barrett had told his flatmate that he was going off "for an afternoon drive", however, he followed Pink Floyd to Ibiza (according to legend, he skipped check-ins and customs, ran onto the runway and attempted to flag down a jet). One of his friends later spotted him on a beach wearing messed-up clothes and with a carrier bag, that was full of money. At this point, during the trip, Barrett had asked Gilmour for his help in the recording sessions.

After two of the Gilmour (with Waters)-produced sessions, they had remade one track from the Soft Machine's overdubs, and recorded three tracks. These sessions came to a minor halt when Gilmour and Waters were mixing Pink Floyd's then-newly recorded album, Ummagumma, against Barrett's dismay. However, through and up to the end of July, they managed to record three more tracks. The problem with the recording was that the songs were recorded as Barrett played them "live" in studio. On the released versions a number of them have false starts and commentaries from Barrett. Despite being more complete and better produced, Gilmour and Waters left the Jones-produced track, "Opel" off of Madcap.

Gilmour, on the sessions for The Madcap Laughs:

"[Sessions] were pretty tortuous and very rushed. We had very little time, particularly with The Madcap Laughs. Syd was very difficult, we got that very frustrated feeling: Look, its your fucking career, mate. Why don't you get your finger out and do something? The guy was in trouble, and was a close friend for many years before then, so it really was the least one could do."

— David Gilmour,

Upon release in January 1970, Jones was shocked by it: "I felt angry. It's like dirty linen in public and very unnecessary and unkind". Gilmour said: "Perhaps we were trying to show what Syd was really like. But perhaps we were trying to punish him". Waters was more optimistic: "Syd is a genius".

"It's quite nice but I'd be very surprised if it did anything if I were to drop dead. I don't think it would stand as my last statement."

— Barrett,

Barrett

Main article: Barrett (album)

The second album, Barrett, was recorded more sporadically than the first, with sessions taking place between February and July 1970. The album was produced by David Gilmour and Richard Wright, featured Gilmour on bass guitar, Wright on keyboard and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley. The first songs were attempted as a go for Barrett to play and/or sing to an existing backing track. However, Gilmour thought they were losing the "Barrett-ness". One track ("Rats") was originally record as Barrett on his own and that would later be overdubbed by musicians, despite the changing tempos. Shirley said of Barrett's playing: "He would never play the same tune twice. Sometimes Syd couldn't play anything that made sense; other times what he'd play was absolute magic." At times Barrett would say: "Perhaps we could make the middle darker and maybe the end a bit middle afternoonish. At the moment it's too windy and icy".

These sessions were happening while Pink Floyd had just begun to work on Atom Heart Mother. On various occasion, Barrett went to "spy" on the band as they recorded their album.

Wright said of the Barrett sessions:

Doing Syd's record was interesting, but extremely difficult. Dave [Gilmour] and Roger did the first one (The Madcap Laughs) and Dave and myself did the second one. But by then it was just trying to help Syd any way we could, rather than worrying about getting the best guitar sound. You could forget about that! It was just going into the studio and trying to get him to sing.

— Richard Wright,

Performances

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 programme 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 compilation The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me?) with the lyrics and composition having since been credited to Richard Wright. Barrett was accompanied on this session by David Gilmour and Jerry Shirley who played bass and percussion, respectively (these five songs were originally released on Syd Barrett: The Peel Session).

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 barely audible 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. Barrett made one last appearance on BBC Radio, recording three songs at their studios on 16 February 1971 (these three songs, along with the five from the Top Gear performance, were released on Syd Barrett: The Radio One Sessions). All three came from the Barrett album. After this session, he took a hiatus from his music career that lasted more than a year, although in an extensive interview with Mick Rock and Rolling Stone in December, he discussed himself at length, showed off his new 12-string guitar, talked about touring with Jimi Hendrix, and stated that he was frustrated in terms of his musical work because of his inability to find anyone good to play with.

Later years (1972–2006)

Stars and final recordings

In February 1972, after a few guest spots in Cambridge with ex–Pink Fairies member Twink on drums and Jack Monck on bass using the name The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band (backing visiting blues musician Eddie "Guitar" Burns and also featuring Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith), the trio formed a short-lived band called Stars. Though the band was initially well received at gigs in the Dandelion coffee bar and the town's Market Square, one of their gigs at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge with the MC5 proved to be disastrous. A few days after this final show, Twink recalled that Barrett stopped him on the street, showed him a scathing review of the gig they had played, and quit on the spot despite having played at least one subsequent gig at the same venue supporting Nektar. A tape of the Eddie "Guitar" Burns gig surfaced recently but has yet to see a commercial release though brief snippets have appeared on the internet. Similarly, all the Stars shows were recorded but the tapes are considered lost. The tenuous Pink Fairies connection is continued with the appearance of Barrett on at least one track, possibly more, on a posthumous release by founder Fairy and ex Tyrannosaurus Rex percussionist Steve Peregrin Took alongside assorted members of the Pink Fairies and Took's own band Shagrat.

Syd attended an informal jazz and poetry performance by Pete Brown and former Cream bassist Jack Bruce in October 1973. Brown arrived at the show late, and saw that Bruce was already onstage, along with "a guitarist I vaguely recognised", playing the Horace Silver tune "Doodlin'". Later in the show, Brown read out a poem, which he dedicated to Syd, because, "he's here in Cambridge, and he's one of the best songwriters in the country" when, to his surprise, the guitar player from earlier in the show stood up and said, "No I'm not".

By the end of 1973, Syd had returned to live in London, staying at various hotels and, in December of that year, getting accommodation at Chelsea Cloisters. He had little contact with others, apart from his regular visits to his management's offices to collect his royalties, and the occasional visit from sister Rosemary.

In November 1974, Peter Jenner persuaded Barrett to return to Abbey Road Studios in hope of recording another album. According to John Leckie, who engineered these sessions, even at this point Syd still "looked like he did when he was younger..long haired". 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 "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 and moved into a London hotel. During this period, several attempts to employ him as a record producer (including one by Jamie Reid on behalf of the Sex Pistols, and another by The Damned, who wanted him to produce their second album), were all fruitless.

Withdrawal to Cambridge

In 1978, when Barrett's money ran out, he moved back to Cambridge to live with his mother. He returned to live in London again in 1982, but this only lasted a few weeks, and he soon returned to Cambridge for good. Legend has it, and his sister confirms, that Barrett walked the 50 miles from London to Cambridge. 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 featured his songs. Gilmour commented that he (Gilmour) "[made] sure the money [got] to him all right".

In 1996, Barrett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pink Floyd. Barrett did not attend the ceremony.

According to a 2005 profile by 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. He was reclusive, and his physical health declined, as he suffered from stomach ulcers and type 2 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 travelled to Cambridge to seek him out, despite his attempts to live a quiet life and public appeals from his family for people to leave him alone. Many photos of Barrett being annoyed by paparazzi when walking or biking, from the 1980s until his death in 2006, have been published in various media. Apparently, Barrett did not like being reminded about his past as a musician and the other members of Pink Floyd had no direct contact with him. He did go to his sister's house in November 2001 to watch the BBC Omnibus documentary made about him – reportedly he found some of it "a bit noisy", enjoyed seeing Mike Leonard of Leonard's Lodgers again, calling him his 'teacher', and enjoyed hearing "See Emily Play" again.

Death and aftermath

After suffering from diabetes for several years, Barrett died at his home in Cambridge on 7 July 2006. He was 60 years old. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer. The occupation on his death certificate was given as "retired musician." He was cremated, with his ashes given to a family member or friend.

In 2006, his home in St. Margaret's Square was put on the market and reportedly attracted considerable interest. After over 100 showings, many by fans, it was sold to a French couple who bought it simply because they liked it; reportedly they knew nothing about Barrett. His other possessions were sold at an auction at Cheffins, with £120,000 being raised for charity. NME produced a tribute issue to Barrett the week after with a photo of him on the cover. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Barrett's sister revealed that he had written a book: "He read very deeply about the history of art and actually wrote an unpublished book about it, which I'm too sad to read at the moment. But he found his own mind so absorbing that he didn't want to be distracted."

According to local newspapers, Barrett left approximately £1.7 million to his two brothers and two sisters. This sum was apparently largely acquired from royalties from Pink Floyd compilations and live recordings featuring songs he had written while with the band. A tribute concert was held at the Barbican Centre, London on 10 May 2007 with Robyn Hitchcock, Captain Sensible, Damon Albarn, Chrissie Hynde, Kevin Ayers and his Pink Floyd bandmates performing (albeit not on stage at the same time).

Legacy

Wish You Were Here sessions

Syd Barrett, visiting Abbey Road Studios on 5 June 1975.

Barrett had one noted reunion with the members of Pink Floyd, which occurred in 1975 during the recording sessions for Wish You Were Here. He attended the Abbey Road session unannounced, and watched the band record "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" — a song that happened to be about Barrett. By that time, the 29-year-old Barrett had become quite overweight, had shaved off all of his hair (including his eyebrows), and his ex-bandmates did not at first recognise him. Eventually, they realised who he was. Barrett's behaviour at the session was erratic; he spent part of the session brushing his teeth while standing. Roger Waters finally managed to ask him what he thought of the song and he simply said "sounds a bit old". He briefly attended the reception for Gilmour's wedding to Ginger which immediately followed the recording sessions; however, he left early without saying goodbye.

Apart from a brief encounter between Waters and Barrett in Harrods a couple of years later (of which, when Barrett saw Waters he ran outside, dropping his bags full of sweets in the process). This was the last time any member of Pink Floyd saw him. There is a reflection on the day in Nick Mason's book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd. A reference to this reunion also appears in the film The Wall, where the character Pink, played by Bob Geldof, shaves his body hair after having a mental breakdown, just as Barrett had.

Compilations

In 1988, EMI Records (after constant pressure from Malcolm Jones) released an album of Barrett's studio out-takes and previously unreleased material recorded from 1968 to 1970 under the title Opel. The disc was originally set to include the unreleased Barrett Pink Floyd songs "Scream Thy Last Scream" and "Vegetable Man", which had been remixed for the album by Jones. However, the two songs were pulled (by Pink Floyd) before Opel was finalised.

In 1993 EMI issued another release, Crazy Diamond, a box set of all three albums, each with further out-takes from his solo sessions that illustrated 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 16 April 2001, and in the US on 11 September 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. Gilmour still has the tape, which also contains the unreleased "Living Alone" from the Barrett sessions. The 2010 compilation An Introduction to Syd Barrett includes the downloadable bonus track "Rhamadan", a 20 minute track recorded at one of Syd's earliest solo sessions, in May 1968. In October 2010 Harvest/EMI and Capitol Records released An Introduction to Syd Barrett—a collection of both his Pink Floyd and remastered solo work. In 2011, it was announced that a vinyl double album version would be issued for Record Store Day.

A number of bootleg LPs, CDs and other recordings of Barrett's live and solo material exist. For years the "off air" recordings of the BBC sessions with Barrett's Pink Floyd circulated, until an engineer who had taken a tape of the early Pink Floyd gave it back to the BBC—which played it during a tribute to John Peel on their website. During this tribute, the first Peel programme (Top Gear) was aired in its entirety. This show featured 1967 live versions of "Flaming", "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", and a brief 90-second snippet of the instrumental "Reaction in G". In 2012, engineer Andy Jackson said he had found "a huge box of assorted tapes", in Mason's possession, containing versions of R&B songs that (the Barrett-era) Pink Floyd played in their early years.

Creative impact and technical innovation

Barrett's first acoustic guitar

Mirrored Fender Esquire

Barrett wrote most of Pink Floyd's early material. He was also an innovative guitarist, using extended techniques and exploring the musical and sonic possibilities of dissonance, distortion, feedback, the echo machine, tapes and other effects; his experimentation was partly inspired by free improvisation guitarist with the group AMM, active at the time in London, Keith Rowe. One of Barrett's trademarks was playing his guitar through an old echo box while sliding a Zippo lighter up and down the fret-board to create the mysterious, otherworldly sounds that became associated with the group. Barrett was known to have used Binson delay units to achieve his trademark echo sounds. Daevid Allen, founder member of Soft Machine and Gong has cited Barrett's use of slide guitar with echo as a key inspiration for his own "glissando guitar" style.

Barrett's free-form sequences of sonic carpets pioneered a new way to play the rock guitar. He played several different guitars during his tenure with Pink Floyd, including an old Harmony hollowbody electric, a Harmony acoustic, a Fender acoustic, a single-coil Danelectro 59 DC, several different Fender Telecasters, and a white Fender Stratocaster used in late 1967. A silver Fender Esquire with mirrored discs glued to the body was the guitar he was most often associated with and the guitar he "felt most close to."

Musical and pop culture influence

Many artists have acknowledged Barrett's influence on their work. Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Blur, Kevin Ayers, Gong, Marc Bolan, Tangerine Dream, Julian Cope and David Bowie were inspired by Barrett; Jimmy Page, Brian Eno, and The Damned all expressed interest in working with him at some point during the 1970s. Bowie recorded a cover of "See Emily Play" on his 1973 album Pin Ups. The track "Grass", from XTC's album Skylarking was influenced when Andy Partridge let fellow band member Colin Moulding borrow his Barrett records. Robyn Hitchcock's career was dedicated to being Barrett-esque; he even played "Dominoes" for the 2003 BBC documentary The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story.

Barrett's decline had a profound effect on Roger Waters' songwriting, and the theme of mental illness permeated Pink Floyd's later albums, particularly 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon and 1975's Wish You Were Here which was a deliberate and affectionate tribute to Barrett, the song, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", The title track borrows imagery of a "steel rail" from Barrett's solo song, "If It's In You," from The Madcap Laughs album.

In 1987, an album of Barrett cover songs called Beyond the Wildwood was released. The album was a collection of cover songs from Barrett's tenure with Pink Floyd and from his solo career. Artists appearing were UK and US indie bands including The Shamen, Opal, The Soup Dragons, and Plasticland.

Other artists who have written tributes to Barrett include his contemporary Kevin Ayers, who wrote "O Wot a Dream" in his honour (Barrett provided guitar to an early version of Ayers' song "Religious Experience: Singing a Song in the Morning"). Robyn Hitchcock 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". Phish has covered "Bike", "No Good Trying", "Love You", "Baby Lemonade", and "Terrapin". The Television Personalities' single "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives" from their 1981 album And Don't the Kids Love It is another tribute. (The Television Personalities became the subject of controversy and derision when, as they had been selected as the opening act on Gilmour's About Face tour in the early 1980s, lead singer Dan Treacy decided to read aloud Barrett's real home address to the audience of thousands. Gilmour removed them from the tour immediately afterwards.) In 2008, The Trash Can Sinatras released a single in tribute to the life and work of Syd Barrett called "Oranges and Apples", from their 2009 album In The Music. Proceeds from the single go to the Syd Barrett Trust in support of arts in mental health.

Johnny Depp has shown interest in a biographical film based on Barrett's life.

Barrett is also portrayed briefly in the opening scene of Tom Stoppard's play Rock 'n' Roll (2006), performing "Golden Hair". His life and music, including the disastrous Cambridge Corn Exchange concert and his later reclusive lifestyle, are a recurring motif in the work. Barrett died during the play's run in London.

Mental state

There has been much speculation concerning Barrett's psychological well-being. Many believe he suffered from schizophrenia. A diagnosis of bipolar disorder has also been considered. Some have also suggested that Barrett might have had Asperger's Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. Barrett's use of psychedelic drugs, especially LSD, during the 1960s is well documented. In an article published in 2006, in response to notions that Barrett's problems were the result of such, Gilmour was quoted as saying: "In my opinion, his nervous 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." Many stories of Barrett's erratic behaviour off stage as well as on are also well-documented. In Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey, author Nicholas Schaffner interviewed a number of people who knew Barrett before and during his Pink Floyd days. These included friends Peter and Susan Wynne-Wilson, artist Duggie Fields (with whom Barrett shared a flat during the late 1960s), June Bolan and Storm Thorgerson, among others.

"For June Bolan, the alarm bells began to sound only when Syd kept his girlfriend under lock and key for three days, occasionally shoving a ration of biscuits under the door." A claim of cruelty against Barrett committed by the groupies and hangers-on who frequented his apartment during this period was described by writer and critic Jonathan Meades. "I went [to Barrett's flat] to see Harry and there was this terrible noise. It sounded like heating pipes shaking. I said, 'What's up?' and he sort of giggled and said, 'That's Syd having a bad trip. We put him in the linen cupboard'". Storm Thorgerson responded to this claim by stating "I do not remember locking Syd up in a cupboard. It sounds to me like pure fantasy, like Jonathan Meades was on dope himself." In the book Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett and the Dawn of Pink Floyd, authors Mike Watkinson and Pete Anderson included quotes from a story told to them by Thorgerson that underscored how volatile Barrett could be. "On one occasion, I had to pull him off Lindsay (Barrett's girlfriend at the time) because he was beating her over the head with a mandolin". On one occasion, Barrett threw a woman called Gilly, across the room, because she refused to go to Gilmour's house. According to Gilmour in an interview with Nick Kent, the other members of Pink Floyd approached psychiatrist R. D. Laing with the 'Barrett problem'. After hearing a tape of a Barrett conversation, Laing declared him "incurable".

After Barrett died, his sister, Rosemary Breen, spoke to biographer Tim Willis for The Sunday Times. She insisted that Barrett neither suffered from mental illness nor received treatment for it at any time since they resumed regular contact in the 1980s. She allowed that he did spend some time in a private "home for lost souls" — Greenwoods in Essex—but claimed there was no formal therapy programme there. Some years later, Barrett apparently agreed to sessions with a psychiatrist at Fulbourn psychiatric hospital in Cambridge, but Breen claimed that neither medication nor therapy was considered appropriate in her brother's case. His sister denied he was a recluse or that he was vague about his past: "Roger may have been a bit selfish — or rather self-absorbed — but when people called him a recluse they were really only projecting their own disappointment. He knew what they wanted, but he wasn't willing to give it to them." Barrett, she said, took up photography and sometimes they 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.

Commemoration and recent events

An auction of Barrett's house contents at Cheffins auction house in Cambridge on 28 November 2006 raised £119,000 for charity. Items sold included paintings, scrapbooks and everyday items that Barrett had decorated.

A series of events called The City Wakes was held in Cambridge in October 2008 to celebrate Barrett's life, art and music. Barrett's sister, Rosemary Breen, supported this, the first-ever series of official events in memory of her brother. After the success of The City Wakes festival in 2008, arts charity Escape Artists announced plans to create a centre in Cambridge, using art to help people suffering from mental health problems. The charity has set up a trust to raise money for the centre and has started fundraising by auctioning a mosaic designed by Syd while he was a teenager growing up in Cambridge. The glass mosaic of two warriors was donated by Rosemary Breen, who was keen to help others affected by the problems that plagued her brother until his death in 2006.

In March 2011 the book Barrett: The Definitive Visual Companion to the Life of Syd Barrett was published by Essential Works, as authorised by the Barrett family. This large format illustrated book collected and catalogued for the first time all of Barrett's existing paintings and artworks along with photographs by Barrett himself, many of his letters and many unseen and rare photographs of Barrett and Pink Floyd. The book was said to show that 'Barrett's work evinces the true emotive quality of a real artist, a passion that's evident even in a simple illustration of a turtle' Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung suggested "this book is a sensation ... The most amazing coffee table book in years." An exhibition accompanying the publication was held at The Idea Generation Gallery in London from 18 March to 10 April 2011 showing a large selection of Barrett's original artworks and letters.

Discography

Main article: Syd Barrett discography

Singles with Pink Floyd

• "Arnold Layne" (Barrett) / "Candy and a Currant Bun" (Barrett) (1967) number 20 UK
• "See Emily Play" (Barrett) / "The Scarecrow" (Barrett) (1967) number 6 UK, number 134 US
• "Apples and Oranges" (Barrett) / "Paint Box" (Wright) (1967)
• "Flaming" (Barrett) / "The Gnome" (Barrett) (1967) [US Only]

Albums with Pink Floyd

• The Piper at the Gates of Dawn – (5 August 1967) number 6 UK, number 131 US
• A Saucerful of Secrets – (29 June 1968) number 9 UK
• London '66–'67 (19 September 1995)

Compilations with Pink Floyd (featuring his work)

• The Best of the Pink Floyd (1970)
• Relics – (14 May 1971) number 34 UK, number 152 US
• A Nice Pair (December 1974)
• Masters of Rock (1974, Europe)
• Works (June 1983) number 68 US
• Shine On (24 November 1992)
• Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd – (5 November 2001) number 2 UK, number 2 US
• Oh, by the Way (10 December 2007)
• Discovery (26 September 2011) number 175 US
• A Foot in the Door – The Best of Pink Floyd (7 November 2011) number 14 UK, number 50 US

Solo single

• "Octopus" (Barrett) / "Golden Hair" (Barrett/Joyce) (14 November 1969)

Solo albums

• The Madcap Laughs - (3 January 1970) number 40 UK
• Barrett – (14 November 1970)

Solo compilations

• Syd Barrett – (14 November 1974) number 162 US: The Madcap Laughs and Barrett packaged together
• Opel – (17 October 1988)
• Octopus: The Best of Syd Barrett – (29 May 1992) Greatest hits album issued on the Cleopatra label.
• Crazy Diamond – (26 April 1993) Boxed set with all three studio albums with bonus tracks
• The Best of Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me? – (16 April 2001) Contains one previously unreleased track ("Bob Dylan Blues")
• An Introduction to Syd Barrett – (October 2010) number 104 UK: A collection of Barrett tracks including Pink Floyd and his solo work (2010 remixes)

Solo radio session recordings

• The Peel Session (25 January 1987) Recorded for John Peel's BBC radio show "Top Gear" with David Gilmour and Jerry Shirley backing. Contains the otherwise unrecorded "Two of a Kind".
• The Radio One Sessions (29 March 2004) The album contains the five songs from The Peel Session and bootleg-quality recordings of three songs broadcast on the Bob Harris radio show in 1971.

Appearance

• Joy of a Toy by Kevin Ayers (November 1969) Plays guitar on "Religious Experience: Singing a Song in the Morning" – bonus track on remastered 2003 CD.

Filmography

• London '66–'67 (1967)
• Tonite Lets All Make Love in London (1967)
• The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story (2003)

See also

• List of Syd Barrett songs

External links

• The Syd Barrett Archives
• Official Syd Barrett Fund Website
• Official website
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