Pink Floyd and Mr Barrett
fada
Posts: 1,032
How do people perceive Syd Barrett's contribution to music? "Piper at the gates" is a good album but I much prefer Syd's singles of that time. They seems a real sort of madness to them.
I can't rate him as a genius as he was one just one album but he sure was flawed.
How do people here rate him and is his importance over estimated when considering that Pink Floyd rise was post BArrett?
I can't rate him as a genius as he was one just one album but he sure was flawed.
How do people here rate him and is his importance over estimated when considering that Pink Floyd rise was post BArrett?
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Personally, I don't go wild for post-Syd Floyd. Compared with Syd's off the cuff lyrical brilliance, Waters' writings seem ponderous and laboured. Technically, they might have improved vastly as musicians by the time of DSOTM, but their sense of wild abandon had long gone.
well for starters, you note you "can't rate him as a genius" because of only one album but you should check out his solo albums: "Barrett" and "Madcap Laughs." not that they're "genius" but they are good and worth listening to if you like Piper....though they are more acoustic based than Psychedelic.
as far as his role in Floyd, it's obvious that a lot of his guitar style carried over to Glimour and a lot of his lyrical style carried over to Waters. Saucerful of Secrets, More, and Ummagumma could be viewed as the band trying to execute what Syd had taught them. many would argue that they didn't really find their "sound" until Meedle.
so while he's not really a household name and the common joe isn't familiar with his contributions to Floyd, hardcore Pink Floyd fans like myself consider him as much a part of the band as any of them, despite his short tenure.
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
When did you meet him FinsburyParkCarrots and what was his appearence and mind frame like?
Yes
Roberto Clemente.
A friend of mine lived three doors away, so I saw him around, from about the mid-eighties onwards. Didn't know who he was at first. I knew of the Floyd, of course, as a kid, but I was always a retro Hendrix fan really, growing up in the decade of shitemongous synth pop.
In recent years, Syd (or Roger as he was known) was rather portly, and shaven headed/balding at best. He wore jeans with paint flecks on them, and comfy jumpers. He looked like someone's dad, really, though of course he wasn't. He lost a shitload of weight in the months before he died.
I spoke to him in the pub a couple of times, occasionally. He was very quiet, and was only interested in talking about everyday things such as - believe it or not - horseracing (not the gambling side, but the sport itself), and DIY. He seemed alright, in my opinion, but I know the neighbours had a hard time when he first moved into his mum's house. (She soon moved out, and passed away in the early nineties, as I recall.) Who knows what a lot of people are like behind closed doors?
I agree Syd was unique talent but saying he defined Floyd before and after is bollocks.
His shadow hung over Water's lyrics no doubting that but Floyd got being the Band which is hugely influential and produced some of the best albums ever (my opinion) after they chucked Syd out.
Piper does not define Floyd, it's a great debut but is so overrated by the trendy crowd and their's nothing cool or clever about Barrett, he's a tragic figure who ruined his life with drugs.
It annoys me the way people seem to think it's far cooler to like Barrett than it is Floyd just cause he's a druggy.
So many British indie types look him as some kind of genius. I don't believe any of Floyd are genius's, I do think as a collective post Barrett they are but individuals no.
It's a term which is bandied around far to flippantly. Lennon & McCartney yes but separately no.
Barrett for me gets far too much credit at Floyd's expense, in a recent most influential NME article he was included but not Floyd.
Floyd post Barrett are probably after the Beatles the most influential Band of all time.
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Having influenced not only Rock in all it's genre's, they have influenced the Dance scene. Their revolutionary production has undoubtedly permeated into all music genre's including Hip Hop.
Darkside is easily in the top 5 most influential albums of all time, you don't sell that many albums over that period of time for The Smiths to be regarded more important.
Floyd are a national treasure and it's a about time people recognised it, instead of bigging up some talented but vastly overrated tragic figure who gave them their name.
Even though I disagree with all of that, that's a great post.